Page 62 of Wolf Pack

“Are you going to the loch, perchance?”

“Aye.”

“Do you need anyone to guard your back?” Hans sounded worried.

“Nay. We have this covered.”

“Isobel and you.”

“And her cousin, if we should need him.”

“Aye, and Dawy and Agnes are good fighters if Dawy can manage with his leg. But if you need our help, howl, and we will come to your aid.”

Then Alasdair frowned. “Did Lorne and the others return? I expected a report from him.”

“They havena returned, but you were no’ in the meeting with Mege’s family for all that long.”

“All right, well, I’m off to the croft then.” Alasdair would run into Lorne and the others returning from the croft.

One of the lads hurried Alasdair’s saddled horse out to him, and he glanced at Hans, who just smiled back at him.

Then Alasdair mounted his horse and said, “I’ll see you in the morning unless there’s trouble brewing before then.”

“Aye, safe travels.”

Alasdair headed out and rode like the wind, wanting to ensure that Mege hadn’t talked someone else into harming Isobel if her brothers had said no. Or maybe they had only been privy to what she was up to, and that’s why they appeared so guilty about it.

What he didn’t expect was to hear riders behind him. He whipped his horse about and saw Mege’s brothers attempting to catch up to him. He suspected their da had told them to apologize to him. He didn’t believe they were planning to ambush him.

He paused to allow them to approach. They slowed down, and the brothers, all the same age as Mege since they were quadruplets, inclined their heads to Alasdair.

Bhaltair, the eldest, spoke first. “My apologies, my laird. Mege had her heart set on marrying you, and when you showed interest in the Icelandic woman, she misspoke.”

“Tell me she hasna been stirring up trouble for Isobel,” Alasdair said.

The brothers glanced at each other.

Bhaltair said, “She had no right threatening Isobel, or anyone else for that matter. Da has spoken to her. If she does anything to Isobel, he will disown her, and she’ll be alone.”

“Did she ask you to do anything to Isobel?” That’s what Alasdair had to know. Had she approached them about it, and they hadn’t informed him?

Bhaltair cleared his throat. “We thought she was just making an issue of it. She has done so before over women she hasna liked.”

“So she said what to you? Tell me the truth.”

Bhaltair glanced at his brothers; they looked like they were all going to have their heads cut off in short order. “She said she wanted Isobel to have an accident. She didna ask us to make that happen. We assumed she just hoped for it, no’ that she intendedto make it happen. Nor that she wanted us to be involved in something like that.”

“She gets like that,” one of her other brothers said, running his horse’s reins through his hands. “She never does anything about it. She is all talk.”

“But all of you looked so guilty.”

“Aye, because when you came to speak with us, we assumed that our sister did threaten Isobel. Since Mege had told us she would do that, we would be in trouble for no’ reporting it to you,” Bhaltair said.

“Which you would be,” Alasdair said. “If Isobel had accidentally died, I would have done a thorough investigation of the matter, and once I learned how much she hated Isobel, your family would have been questioned. Protecting your sister could have led to my banning all of you, or worse, from the pack.”

“Aye. Our da said our loyalty to the pack overrides our loyalty to the family if one of us should take it upon ourselves to hurt or kill another pack member over something as petty as jealousy. Defending ourselves against a threat from another pack member would be a completely different story.”

“Aye.”

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