Page 37 of Wolf Alliance

Erik nodded. “Aye.” He wondered if she would like to watch the sunset with him. Or would she think it was a waste of time? Since she was so interested in keeping the boys busy with chores, he wondered if watching sunsets wasn’t something she would be interested in.

Logan smiled at him. “I can see you are overthinking this. You can do it. But if you need any ideas, Finlay and I can think of something for you to try.”

“I’ve got this.” Erik hoped. He didn’t want his brothers telling him how to woo the lass. He helped others to place another stone.

The first time she had taken the boys’ side against his, and did what was good for them, he had recognized her innate mothering ability. His mother had been like that until she died of a raging fever when he was about the boys’ age. With a wolf’s stronger healing genetics, they recovered quickly, but several of his clansmen had come down with the fever and nearly a dozen had succumbed.

“She’s doing right by the boys, you know,” Finlay said, carrying another stone to the wall.

“Aye.” That’s all Erik needed was his brothers ganging up on him about his love interest. He paused to drink some ale from his flask.

Before seeing how Accalia worked with the boys, he thought maybe they were too old to need a mother nurturing them, but after seeing how she handled them, he knew now what it meant to the boys.

“I admit she is the woman I want for their mother. Their nannies are loving and caring, but they have a duty to perform. They aren’t free-spirited like Accalia. They would never suggest teaching the boys to fish in the loch, run with them as wolves, or encourage them to practice archery.”

His brothers nodded.

“Moreover, their mother”—Erik had never admitted his late mate’s shortcomings to anyone, his brothers even—"had never done these things with them either.”

“Exactly,” Logan said, as they all went to work on the wall.

“In the short time Accalia has been here, she has shown us what a real mother should be toward my sons, and she isna even their mother. She has all the natural nurturing instincts though,” Erik continued. More than that, he wanted her as his mate with all the benefits.

Logan folded his arms. “Iwould woo her.”

Erik cast him a dark look.

Finlay laughed.

Logan slapped Erik on the back. “I know that expression. You want her and no one will have her but you, unless the lass isna agreeable. Which then leads me to the conclusion that you are no’ doing something right.”

It was true that when wolves decided they were right for each other, they didn’t wait a long time before they mated. Erik knew he had to convince Accalia he could have more of a romantic side. But she was shying away from any aspect of that, except for kissing him in the bailey.

They continued to work on the wall, seeing some real progress, lifting another stone with Erik’s help.

As far as seeing him as her lover and wolf mate, he felt he wasn’t making any headway with her. Well, mayhap a wee bit when he kissed her in the inner bailey the one time. When she kissed him back, she did it with feeling, not like she was forced to, but that she had been as much into the kiss as he had been.

He smiled. He wanted to kiss her like that again. But it was her reluctance to join him in his bed where he could be more intimate with her that she was balking at.

His brothers laughed at him. “What I wouldna give to know what you’re thinking that makes you smile so wolfishly,” Logan said.

“Have you told the lass that company is coming?” Finlay asked.

“I need to.” Erik suspected Alasdair and Isobel had learned he had been bringing Accalia here and they wanted to see who his prospective mate was. He was hopeful they would put in a good word with her concerning his character.

If Alasdair gave him grief—in his typical fashion, as Erik did with him—he hoped he didn’t react in a way that showed any unfavorable traits. Normally, they bantered back and forth in a good-natured way, but while he was trying his darndest to impress Accalia, he wasn’t sure how that would all play out.

“You know Alasdair will bring his bachelor brothers, Hans and Rory,” Finlay said.

Erik would have to keep them far away from Accalia if one of them tried to romance the lass more than he did!

When it wastime for the meal, Accalia and the boys headed for the great hall to eat with the rest of the pack. She worried that the three men who had come about Erik’s oldest brother were causing trouble. Then Beathag sashayed past her, bumping into her, making Accalia lose her footing.

Accalia could have let the slight go, but not only was she alpha, but if she were to mate Erik, she would manage the staff, and the woman had to know her place.

Then she told the boys, “Go to your seats and enjoy your meal.”

“Are you going to join us?” Thorfinn asked, his eyes wide, his voice hopeful.

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