Page 23 of Wolf Pack

Conall was all for it, but Elene was quiet.

“I want to go,” Drummond said.

“Nay. You stay with your little sister. You’ll both come with us once we scout around and learn what we can.” Isobel glanced at Elene. “What do you think?”

She had to remember that Elene was from this land, and she would know the people and their customs better than Isobel and her kin would.

“I believe I should go with you or with Conall, should you choose to stay with the wee ones. I’m a Scot, and they’ll know it. I can do all the speaking for us. But we could also run into danger. Like your people, mine also have clan fights, so we willna know which clans are in this area and if they are friend or foe of my people.”

Conall looked ready to object but said, “I’ll stay behind. As much as I dinna want to, my brother and my sister are my responsibility, and two women may no’ be seen as much of a threat. They would be wrong, but they wouldna know it.”

“You saw no one up there?” Elene asked Isobel.

“The forest was alive with the songs of birds, but there was no sign of human life. We’ll take our bows and see if we can findsomething to eat, and then we’ll fill our waterskins at the nearby loch."

Elene frowned. “Are you sure the others will be safe?”

“Ja.While we’re gone, you three gather more wood and put it into the cave. I smell rain in the air, and we need all the dry wood we can find. Hopefully, we’ll also find something to eat,” Isobel said. “Are you ready, Elene?”

“Aye, let’s go.”

Then the two women left the cave and ran across the beach to the cliffs as fast as they could go. Elene was also wearing trewes instead of a kirtle, which the women wore. They had taken Isobel’s parents and her aunt’s clothing for warmth and to change into when they were too wet.

At one point, Isobel swore she saw a wolf peering over the cliff at them, but it was gone so quickly that she had to have been mistaken. The first time up the cliffs had been wearying, but she was getting winded the second time.

Elene was doing well, and Isobel was glad about that. They worked hard in the clan, so they were in good shape, not to mention all the rowing they had done for weeks at sea whenever they were becalmed.

When they finally reached the top, Isobel peered over first, and seeing that the way was clear, she climbed up on top. Then she helped Elene the rest of the way, and the two raced across the meadow grasses to the safety of the forest. But she was surprised to smell a wolf had been there—a male wolf—watching them at the cliff’s edge.

“Do you smell a male wolf?” she asked Elene, whispering the words.

“Aye. One of our kind? Or a real wolf?”

“I dinna know.” Wolves could be territorial, either kind. Isobel was surprised. If their kind lived in the area—Scots’ wolf shifters, not Norse wolf shifters—would they be more receptiveto taking them in? Or would they want to eliminate them, fearing they were here to fight them for their land? Or steal from them?

As soon as they reached the woods, Isobel felt they were being watched. She looked around but didn’t see anyone, and her skin prickled with unease.

“Do you sense it, too?” Elene asked. “That we are being watched?”

“Aye.” That’s when Isobel saw a wolf and then another. Gray wolves suddenly surrounded them. Isobel and Elene didn’t dare ready their bows. There were too many wolves. All Isobel thought about was poor Conall and her young cousins and how they had led them into a trap.

One of the wolves suddenly shifted into a tall man—with glorious dark brown hair, a beard, and dark brown eyes, and the rest of him was well-muscled. He appeared to be a warrior, and he was truly beautiful to look at. And then she realized where she’d seen him before. He and his men had killed the other guard watching the longships and set them ablaze, setting the hostages free also.

Isobel and Conall hadn’t stuck around to see them set fire to the ships, only that this man had killed the guard before she and Conall made their way around the rocks and swam back to their cave. They’d seen the orange flames as they glanced back when they reached the second beach though.

She should have been alarmed to see him naked before her, but she was—impressed. He was looking at Elene, and Isobel chanced to look at his remarkable staff, but when her gaze returned to his face, she saw he was looking her straight in the eye, a small smile settling on his lips. She was blushing, her face afire.

“I am Alasdair, these are my pack members, and you are wolves trespassing on our land. Who are you, and what do you want?”

Isobel’s mouth gaped. He was the pack leader? She thought he would want to kill her right there, but he seemed—reasonable—at least for now.

“We mean no one any harm,” Elene quickly said. “We were slaves of an Icelandic clan and escaped from there, traveling for weeks to get here.”

“You are a Scot.” Alasdair sounded surprised.

“Aye. The Norsemen killed my family. I dinna know if any of the rest of the pack survived,” Elene said, tears filling her eyes.

It was the first time Isobel had seen Elene shed tears and she wanted to hug her and comfort her when the man called Alasdair said, “You are welcome to join us. Where is your longship?”

---