Page 25 of Wolf Alliance

“I will see if ‘tis all right with Erik and will gather the necessary force to protect you. We dinna oft have trouble, but since we have had issues with Freigard because of you being here, we need to take precautions.” Then Logan left to find Erik.

She returned to the boys. “Logan’s going to check with your da about us fishing.”

It took forever for anyone to return to speak to them. Thorfinn shook his head. “Da isna going along with it. I’m sure he doesna want to lose you, even if you can fight with a wooden sword.”

To her and the boys’ surprise, they saw Erik headed their way, his chest bare, glistening in the morning sun, streaked with mortar. He was stunning to look at and she had the strongest urge to pull him into her arms and feel his bare skin against her cheek. But she had taken him away from his duties and he didn’t look happy about it.

He joined them and looked from her to his boys, though her gaze was on his beautiful, muscled chest. Then he said to the boys, “Logan said you wished to fish with the lady.”

“Aye,” Johnne and Hendrie said.

“No rocking the boat on the loch,” Erik warned, but his gaze was hard on Thorfinn. “If I learn you tipped the boat over on purpose, you will wish you hadna.”

“Aye,” all three boys said this time.

“You are sure you want to do this with them?” Erik asked Accalia, sounding a little concerned for her safety should the boys do some mischief.

“Aye. We discussed doing chores around the keep. Catching fish is something they wanted to do, so I’m willing to see how well they fish.” She smiled.

Erik’s mouth quirked up a bit. “And you, lass?”

“Oh, I can fish.” She didn’t think anyone believed her. The truth was that it was all about luck. If the fish were biting, then she was able to catch fish. But even better? When she was in her wolf coat she could catch fish. Everyone back home knew it, but here, no one knew about all the talents she possessed.

“Good. Then we shall have fish at the meal. Logan is gathering an escort as we speak. If the boys give you any trouble at all, let me know.”

“Aye.” But unless it was something bad, she wasn’t about to say anything and ruin the small beginning she had at befriending the motherless boys. She suspected though, that if men were watching them on the loch, the boys wouldn’t do anything to get themselves in trouble with their da.

But she decided she was going as a wolf. “I’ll be right out,” she said to the boys and headed for the keep. In her guest room, she removed her clothes and shifted into her wolf. Then she raced out of the room, startling a maid.

She tore down the stairs nearly colliding with a guard, who laughed, and she ended up at the bottom. She loved running as a wolf. She moved so much faster than a human could.

She ran outside the keep and into the inner bailey where the boys and their guard escort were waiting. Logan frowned at her and said, “Accalia?”

She howled. Erik came to see what was going on. He hadn’t seen her in her wolf coat, so he was probably interested in seeing what she looked like. Not just to know her when she was in her wolf coat, but to see if she appealed to him. It was the wolf way.

“You’re going fishing in your wolf coat?” Erik asked.

Though it seemed obvious to her.

“She canna do that, can she?” Thorfinn asked as if he thought she was cheating.

Erik smiled. “If that’s the way she wants to fish.”

“Then we should shift,” Thorfinn said.

“Nay. She thought of it first. You three will row the boat out on the loch,” Erik said.

She was glad Erik said that because she hadn’t considered that part of the situation. She was too excited about fishing as a wolf.

But then Logan said, “I’ll help the boys row.”

“You’re too easy on them,” Erik said. “But none of you are to leave the boat as wolves. Good fishing.”

“That’s no’ fair,” Thorfinn said.

Accalia ran out through the gates and headed straight for the loch. Everyone else rode horses down to the water’s edge in quick pursuit.

Three boats were waiting for them, fishing poles and buckets in the bottom for the fish. If the boys got into trouble, the men in the other boats could come to rescue them.

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