Page 48 of Wolf Pack

Still, the notion nagged at her that she hadn’t been perfectly honest with them or with Alasdair about the man she had killed. What if they thought she and her cousins had been learning the trade and hadn’t been alone if she told them how she knew Ari?

What if Libby or Drummond let it slip that the man Isobel had killed on the beach was Ari, the cousin to the chieftain of the clan they had belonged to?

They all sat down to eat dinner, but Isobel had to tell them the truth. “I have something I have to tell you about.”

Everyone looked at her with rabid attention.

“The Viking watchman I killed on the beach? That was Ari, cousin to the chieftain who ruled over the clan we belonged to in Iceland.”

“I canna believeyou didna insist Isobel eat with us during the dinner,” Bessetta said.

“You know the reason,” Alasdair said. “She is worried for her kin if Cleary and Baine should go to the croft and try to hurt them.”

Bessetta scoffed.

Alasdair smiled. “Once we know that the brothers willna bother them, I will insist that Isobel eat every meal with us.”

Bessetta brightened.

“She gave you a good workout,” Alasdair said.

“Aye. And I will be feeling it for days. But I want to work with her again. She’s a great teacher. All the rest of the afternoon, Rheba couldna sing enough praises of her either.” Bessetta ate some of her fish soup. “Though Mege and her lady friends said disparaging things.”

Alasdair waited to hear what they had said, but Bessetta didn’t tell him. “What disparaging things?”

“That Isobel is just as wild as the ones who raided the villages. Rheba and I defended Isobel. So did Elene, but it didna matter.”

Alasdair shook his head. He normally didn’t listen to women’s gossip and bickering when it happened. Bessetta could manage it the best. But when it came to Isobel, he didn’t like hearing anyone disparaging her name.

Alasdair looked around the great hall from the high table and saw no sign of Cleary and Baine. Concerned, he asked Hans, “Where are the brothers?”

“Cleary and Baine?” Hans asked.

“Aye. I dinna see them anywhere in the great hall. Were they no’ told to eat with us?”

“Lorne told them, but he’s up on the wall walk, training a new guard,” Hans said. “Mayhap they wanted to serve guard duty?” Hans shook his head. “I’ll check on it.” Hans hurried off.

Bessetta frowned at Alasdair. “What is the matter? You dinna think they learned you’ll ambush them in the barracks tonight, do you? I mean, no one would tell them they would be bitten and turned into wolf shifters, but maybe they were worried something bad would happen?”

What worried Alasdair most was that Cleary and Baine would head for the croft and do something to Isobel and her kin. He rose from the head table. “Continue with your meal.”

Rory joined him and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Get a group of half a dozen men, in addition to ourselves, including Hans. If he doesna find them up on the wall walk, we’re heading for the MacEachen’s croft.”

“On it.” Rory ran out of the great hall, and Alasdair stalked after him, swearing that if the brothers hurt any of the Icelandic family, he would kill them—forget about turning them.

13

After Isobel told Agnes and Dawy that the man she had killed on the beach was one of the men from the clan they’d been living with, Dawy asked, “Have you told Alasdair?”

She suspected the laird would not like hearing it. “Nay, no’ yet.”

“Tell him, dear,” Agnes said. “He needs to know. When the rest of the clan that raided our lands return to their longships and see that their guards are dead and the ships are ashes, they’ll smell your scents and could even track you here.”

Isobel took a relieved breath. “They’re human. We didna live with a wolf pack there. Only our kin were wolves.”

“Oh,” Agnes said. “Then there’s naught to worry about.”

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