Page 19 of Wolf Pack

“Nay, let’s eat. You’re right. I just imagined seeing a serpent in the sea. ‘Tis naught but my imagination playing tricks with me.” Which happened from time to time as unpredictable as the weather was along the coastline.

They were certain the marauders had left their area, but until they could verify this, the villagers from other villages remained with them, which meant twenty more mouths to feed. Theyweren’t wolves either, so Alasdair, his people, and Erik had to retain their human forms until the villagers could safely return home.

They finally reached the keep. The smell of roasting meat filled the air, and Alasdair's stomach growled in anticipation. As they entered the great hall and then took their seats at the head table, he couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction at the sight of his people gathered together, sharing a meal and laughing despite the recent hardships.

“While we were cooking the boar, what were you doing?” Bessetta took a bite of her boar.

“Alasdair was watching the ocean for the Viking raiders about to attack our village and the keep again,” Hans said, the storyteller of the bunch. “We should work faster on repairing the wall.”

Everyone looked up from their meal to see what Alasdair had to say about it. Even though they could guess Hans was making up a story, the threat of Vikings was always a concern, especially since Alasdair had destroyed their ships. Not to mention, they didn’t know where the Vikings were at present.

Alasdair shrugged and took a bite of the boar. Alasdair and his siblings had been born to their mother simultaneously—well, a few blinks of an eye apart. He was the oldest, Bessetta was the youngest, and Hans was the next oldest, Rory, between him and Bessetta.

“Tell us what you think you saw,” Rory said, “before Hans makes up more of a tale and we dinna know what to believe.”

“I thought I saw a Viking ship sailing on the ocean headed for our shore. But you know how it is with the waves kicked up by the recent storm and the fog rolling in, covering everything in its path. I’m unsure what I saw or if I saw anything.”

All eyes were upon him still, as if they believed he had seen something, and the danger could be very real to all of them. Butif he had thought so, he would have had someone serving on guard duty watching the beach.

“But?” Rory asked.

Alasdair shook his head. “It looked like the size of a fishing longship, but the prow had a dragon figurehead. And the sailors looked like wee bairns.”

Everyone laughed. That certainly didn’t inspire fear in them.

“That’s why I dinna believe it was anything more than my imagination. If it wasna just me imagining things, they would still have to navigate the rocks and climb the cliffs. Not an easy feat, either one.”

“Yet you were able to envision that much,” Bessetta reminded him, sounding like she believed he’d seen what he thought he’d witnessed.

“The fair folk,” Rory said. “Naught more.”

“Aye,” Hans said. “Do you think we should post a lookout, just in case what you think you might have seen is true?”

Alasdair ate some more of the boar, then nodded. “Aye. You can schedule watchmen for the duty. I will take the watch in a few hours.”

“I will take watch after we eat,” Bessetta said.

They all did their part in the clan—men and women alike—though if they had to deal with Vikings, he didn’t want his sweet sister to learn the hard way that what he’d seen was right.

He nodded. Under his breath, he said, “As a wolf.”

“Aye.” Though Bessetta could fight well with a sword andsgian dubh, he still wanted her to serve on duty as a wolf.

She could run faster and howl if she spied the enemy. However, as a human, they could howl also. If Vikings were making the dangerous climb up the cliff face, he would think of them as his foe.

“I can go with her,” Rory said.

Alasdair ate another slice of boar. “Nay. We have work to do, sleep to catch up on, and guard our village and castle. If Bessetta canna do this alone, she will stay at the keep, and you will go instead.”

“Nay.” Bessetta gave Rory a reproachful look.

Rory smiled at her, loving to tease their younger sister.

“If they are below the cliffs and Bessetta or anyone else on guard duty hears them trying to climb up if they are far below dinna howl. Just return and report what you’ve seen. But if anyone doesna hear them until it is too late, howl and run like the wind. Dinna try to stop them. A well-placed arrow not only could kill you—” Alasdair said.

“But reveal the truth about us,” Hans said. “Which ismuchworse.”

It wasn’t that they thought if one of their people died, it didn’t matter. It did. As a wolf pack, they were close to each other—family, kin, and more. One death greatly affected them all. But if they died as a wolf, they would become human.

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