The Speed of Lightning
White-hot with wrath, he knew already what was about to happen, but kept his voice gentle. “Tell me, mo neòinean. Dinnae worry what I do.”
(Summer 2025) The war in the Scottish Hebrides begins to unravel when the King of the Isles dies and his throne usurped. Forbidden from continuing their work in the Shield, Hector MacLean’s elite fighting force is ordered to disband as the Wolf moves in.
Among Hector’s fighters, Calum MacLean is the most savage. Able to strike with lightning-fast precision, Calum’s wild upbringing on the tribal island of Jura has secured his place as one of the Isles’ most gifted warriors. Yet it is his heathen past he desires to outrun most, having fled his home after betraying his father, and his duty as tànaiste. But when the identities of the Shield are exposed by a bard called the Storyteller, Calum is forced to return to the island he escaped from.
Ten years after the ill-fated decision that cost her everything, Freya MacSorley is trapped in a double life. With her father she lives in extreme seclusion, and in secret, she spins tales and songs about the lad she helped escape, and the missions he carries out as a member of the revered Shield. Assured that they will never meet again, Freya is stunned when Calum returns to the shores of Jura—no longer a lad, but a fierce and deadly warrior, one that is on a mission to find the bard who has betrayed his team.
When Freya is harmed and Jura attacked, Calum is faced with a series of life-altering decisions. Instead of fleeing from heathen Jura, he begs God to send him on his most important mission—to protect the bride he is beginning to cherish and to save his homeland. Yet as the threats to Freya’s life grow more brazen, Calum begins to realize that all is not as he believes.