She could run. But they could shift and run after her. Males could catch up to her with their longer legs.
She didn’t have a choice.
She closed her eyes. She could only do one thing. Attempt to return to Argent Castle. God, how could this nightmare get any worse?
As much as she hated to, she had to solicit the MacNeills’ help to get away. Like Cearnach had intended to aid her so many years ago.
She shoved open the car door, yanked off her clothes, and heard the men shouting, “She’s shifting!”
Car doors were thrown open. She willed herself to be a wolf, and before anyone could strip or chase after her, she dashed off. She would never be Rafferty’s punching bag again.
She would have to find a way to defend herself in the future. Arm herself. Be prepared. Kill him if he ever found her again.
She raced toward the castle ruins, wishing she had an army of men who could rain arrows down on her own kin. Then she tore down the stairs until she reached the walkway and leaped to the beach. She would have to find her way home. No not home. To Argent Castle. Cearnach’s home. Not hers.
He’d be so angry with her. She didn’t want to face him. She’d ask Ian instead. He’d probably be just as angry with her. She’d mated with his brother when she should never have done so.
What a mess she’d made of things.
All because she’d returned to Scotland, wanting the treasure, just like her own family whose greed had made them pirates.
She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, knowing some of her kin would turn wolf and follow her. Had they picked up Rafferty, too? Probably. He was much older than her. He probably couldn’t keep up with her or the rest of them like some of the younger, stronger wolves.
If they got hold of her and could stop her from running, Rafferty would catch up to her, too.
Cearnach had been flooring the gas nearly the whole time and hadn’t seen any sign of her on the road ahead. Which way did you go? Which way, Elaine?
Duncan’s phone rang, and he lifted it off his lap. “Yeah, Guthrie?”
“She’s running as a wolf. Up near Senton Castle. Five wolves are trying to track her down. Three are McKinleys—Vardon, Baird, and another brother. And both the Kilpatrick brothers are in hot pursuit,” Guthrie said.
Cearnach was already turning his car around.
“How the hell did you know she went that way?” Duncan asked.
“You went one way, I went the opposite,” Guthrie said.
“Where’s the wolf who met her in the kennel?” Duncan asked.
“Up on the walk to the castle. He’s in wolf form still, but he’s older, and I figured he’s letting the younger wolves chase her down and bring her back to him. Or he’s planning on catching up to them if they can grab her and hold her for him.” A pause followed. “Hell, he’s run after them.”
“They’re dead wolves,” Cearnach growled. Then he frowned. “Why would Rafferty hold back?” Cearnach asked. “He’s alpha. I didn’t see that she’d been physically abused when she dashed out of the kennel. He’s a hitter. He had to know she’d been with another male. And now, up on the walkway. Why would he let the others go after her first? He should have been the first one after her. Why would the bastard have held back?”
“He’s older, in charge? Paying the money for her kin to bring her to him? Above chasing her down? In the kennels, he couldn’t afford to beat her. Injured, she wouldn’t have been able to escape him, or us,” Guthrie said. “She appears to be headed south toward our castle.”
“Bloody hell,” Cearnach said, thinking of how she knew the way on foot, smelling their scents, tracking better than she could find her way while driving a car. She would face the farmer’s wrath again, the dogs, and the falls.
He pulled off onto another road.
“This isn’t going to take you to the ruins. Where are you headed?” Duncan asked.
“To intercept her, fight the other wolves, and take her home.”
“She’s mated to another wolf,” Duncan warned.
“Aye.” He cast Duncan a dark look that told his brother just what he had in mind.
Duncan nodded. “Aye. Guthrie, you get all that?”
“I don’t understand,” Guthrie said.
“The wolf who was watching from the pathway is Kelly Rafferty, Elaine’s mate. He was thought dead since a year after her uncle’s hangings,” Cearnach said.
Duncan snorted. “If he’s waited that long to reclaim his mate, he doesn’t deserve her.”
“He beat her, killed her parents, and I suspect, murdered the men who became interested in mating her. He forced the mating. He’s a dead wolf,” Cearnach said. “She should have known she didn’t have to run.”
“I remember when she got away from us in St. Andrews, Cearnach,” Duncan said. “She was frightened then, had no family to call her own. This is the only thing she knows how to do. To her way of thinking, she’s dishonored our clan, the pack, you. She has no family to fall back on. She won’t return to Rafferty, so she intends to disappear again.”
“Aye, she’s a woman. She doesn’t think like a warrior,” Guthrie said.
“If you don’t kill him, I will, Cearnach. She should never have run. She’s one of us now,” Duncan said.
“I’ll kill him,” Cearnach promised.
“Where do I need to go to meet up with you?” Guthrie asked.
“A quarter mile south of Oglivie’s farm. She’ll be headed for the river, and we’ll need to stop her kin from pursuing her and keep her from crossing the river,” Cearnach said.
“Oglivie’s got two border collies,” Duncan warned.
“Aye.” How well Cearnach knew.
“Meet you there,” Guthrie said.
“Be careful,” Duncan told him.
“And you.”
“She won’t make it to the river.” Duncan set his phone back on his lap.
“Not without me to help her.” Cearnach headed down another road.
Duncan frowned. “You’re going to intercept her earlier? You’re not going to include Guthrie in the fight?”
“I have to do it this way.”
Duncan sighed and folded his arms. “That means facing five wolves.”
“I wanted Guthrie with us. But I can’t describe the location adequately so that he would find it. The best I can do is to have him meet us beyond the Oglivie’s farm and his dogs. We’ll rescue her, then take her to the car, then get in touch with Guthrie.”
“All right.” Duncan made another call. “Ian, she’s running as a wolf, headed back to Argent Castle from Senton Castle and pursued by some of the Kilpatricks and McKinleys. We’re going to intercept them.”
“Why did she run? She has to know we’d protect her,” Ian said over the sound of men shouting in the background at Argent Castle and the dogs barking wildly.
“She learned she has a former mate who’s still alive.”
Ian snorted. “The pirate Rafferty? The wolf is a dead mon. Guthrie with you?”
Cearnach swore under his breath. When had Ian learned the truth?
“Not exactly,” Duncan said to Ian.
“How many wolves are after her?”
“Five. We can manage.”
“Duncan, I know how capable the two of you are. But you have to include Guthrie. I don’t want to lose either of my brothers or the lass.”
“Cearnach doesn’t think he can guide him to the right location.”
“Try. I’ll send men to Senton Castle to grab their vehicles and hers. This time they’ll be stranded. Give them a taste of their own treachery.”
Duncan smiled. “Aye. Revenge is sweet, Ian. I’ll call Guthrie.”
Cearnach could envision his pack members driving the cars back to Argent Castle while Kilpatrick and the others had to return home as wolves. Let them face Oglivie’s gun and dogs. He hoped if the farmer saw the pack of wolves, he’d be drinking a wee bit much and believe he was seeing things.
“Guthrie,” Duncan said, “change of plans. Head north of Oglivie’s farm.”
“Aye, meet you north of that location.”
Duncan shoved his phone into the console between the front seats and began yanking off his clothes.
“Another five miles to go yet, brother,” Cearnach said.
Duncan smiled. “Aye. If you get stopped, just say I’m your pet dog. I’ll give the nice policeman a big grin.”
Cearnach knew his brother would, too.
The five miles seemed to take forever. When they reached the place Cearnach had in mind, he pulled the car off the road into a turnout and began to strip. Duncan was panting, waiting for him to open the door for him.
Cearnach reached around his brother and pushed his door open. Duncan jumped out of the car and shoved the door closed with his nose.
Cearnach pushed his own door open and locked the doors with the electronic keypad. Thankfully, they had a keypad on the outside door panel on their cars, so there was no worry about getting back into their vehicles after they were done with business.
After shifting, he pushed the door closed with his paws and joined his brother. Duncan greeted him, nose to nose, then the two ran to where Cearnach was certain Elaine would be headed. When he didn’t find her scent, he figured she hadn’t made it this far, and his heart began skipping beats. Hell, what if the wolves had already encircled her much closer to Senton Castle? What if they had forced her to return to the car park already?
He went north, hoping to reach her quickly. They were now northeast of the Oglivie farm.
Guthrie would be able to detect their scent once he’d reached where they’d left their car and begun to run on foot. Their paws would leave their scent, easy for him to locate.
Cearnach heard growling about a half mile away. He recognized the vocal sound at once. It was Elaine’s warning growl—long and low and threatening. Not quite like when she had stood beside him in the woods outside Argent Castle and growled at Baird McKinley and Robert Kilpatrick. Loud this time as if warning them that if any got near, she’d rip them to shreds.
