5. Naomi

Naomi

I raised the knife, jabbing it at them like they do in those violent forbidden movies.

But instead of raising his hands like people were always doing when threatened in the movies I'd watched, the one in the bear hood grinned as if we were playing some sort of game.

"Aw, ye've got some fight in ye, Flower, unlike the others in your sect. I like it!"

The moon was waning, yet his eyes glowed electric blue. Letting me know his wolf was close to the surface. Maybe on purpose? He struck me as truly feral. Fear tightened my throat.

I darted right past them toward the baby's room. Not because of any great skill on my part, as it turned out.

When I attempted to slam the door behind me, I discovered they had been playing with me the same as one of the St. Ailbe barn cats toying with the mice they found. Letting the smaller creatures run, just to see how far they'd get before they slammed a paw down on their tail.

In my case, the male in the bear hood slapped a palm against the door, which prevented me from slamming it in his face.

"Was planning on taking ye outta here, nice and easy," he said through the door crack.

I immediately regretted watching The Shining on my forbidden laptop. The only thing scarier than Jack Nicholson eyeing his wife through the large splinter he'd made in the door was now knowing how Shelly Duvall's character must have felt when he called out, "Here's Johnny!"

Or in Bear Hood's case: "But if ye want to play, Flower, sure, we can do that."

Flower . Why did he keep calling me that?

He pushed the door the rest of the way open before I could give that question any further thought, and I went flying back on my butt.

Oof! Pain rattled up my spine when I landed on the bedroom's hardwood floors.

But Ellie! I had to protect her. I scrambled back to my feet as quickly as my skirts would allow me and ran over to the crib to grabthe sleeping baby.

Thank goodness, she remained blissfully unaware of the transfer into my protective hold, even as I held my knife out in front of me to fend off the two invaders who had entered her parents' bedroom.

"Oh, the fire in this one." Bear Hood grinned at his companion.

I noticed then that he'd smeared both his face and chest with black paint — like some kind of ancient warrior who wanted to blend in with the night. "How much fun are we going to have with her, C? "

The male Bear Hood called by a single letter didn't appear to find this situation as much fun as his counterpart. He just stood there, still as a statue, staring down at me with a tightly clenched jaw and narrowed eyes the color of amber.

Was something wrong with him? He'd followed me in here along with his companion, but his face was tight. He wore the same expression my father did last spring when one of the community's cows had a calf turned around inside her, and he had to hold her down while Abel Flosswulf repositioned the babe inside poor Bessie's womb.

The heavily tattooed pirate appeared to be struggling with some animal that I couldn't see.

"C'mon, Flower, don't be cruel. C's barely holding on to his wolf," Bear Hood said, confirming my suspicion. Unlike the Scots, he spoke with a sonorous growl that might have fascinated me under different circumstances. "Put the knife down and come without a fuss. We don't want to see either you or the babe hurt, now do we?"

Before I could answer that the best way to avoid Ellie or me getting hurt was for him and his she-wolf-snatching companion to leave, a voice called from beyond the door, "Naomi? Are you in here?"

My heart skittered at the familiar soft tones of my best friend. "Sadie, don't…"

But too late.

Just when I thought the situation couldn't possibly get worse, Sadie came padding through the bedroom door.

Bear Hood and Pirate froze. They looked more shocked to see her than she did to see them.

"What's…?" Sadie startedto ask .

"It's her!" the Pirate said, his voice full of something akin to awe.

"What's she doing up here?" Bear Hood asked, his expression almost comically confused.

Instead of answering, the Pirate began advancing on my best friend.

"Sadie, run!" I screamed.

I should've been paying attention to getting Ellie and myself out of harm's way, though. Bear Hood used my moment of distraction to lunge forward and grab the knife out of my hand.

"What is happening?" Sadie asked me in W?lfennite as the Pirate grabbed her by the arm. "Why are these mossy wolves attacking us?"

"I think they're Irish," I answered, holding up a blocking hand between me and Ellie and the feral-looking wolf who now held the weapon I'd hoped to protect us with just a few moments ago. "They are once again here to kidnap all the unmated she-wolves."

"Oh, heavens!" Sadie exclaimed.

"No idea what the two of ye are saying, but if ye come with us nice and easy, no will get hurt — aw, fuckin' hell. Ye can't be serious with this."

Bear Hood went from reassuring us, to suddenly grabbing me and holding the knife to my neck. I discovered why when he turned me to face the doorway where the king's brawny red-haired cousin now stood with a fire poker in his large paw of a hand.

"Alban!" Sadie and I both cried out.

I only knew his name because there'd been much noisy lamenting from the Faoltiarn townfolk about how he'd chosen to stay up on the castle roof, installing solar panels, rather than attend the king's and queen's wedding before the ceremony.

"Too bad," Sadie had whispered beside me in the church pew. "He's so handsome and just the right size for me."

"Maybe he'll come to the reception," I'd said, trying to encourage Sadie after weeks filled with males who covered their noses and all but ran in the other direction when they saw her coming.

But now my heart sank at the sight of the large, red-haired Scot.

Apparently, he had gone to the reception. And thanks to the weapon-free event the W?lfennites had insisted on, the fire poker was the only weapon he had to fight with while the two Irish Wolves were armed to the teeth.

"Remember the Irish!"

The old Scottish male's voice echoed in my head as I yelled out to the Kingdom's Enforcer from inside Bear Hood's chokehold, "Save the baby! Don't worry about me. Just get her away from them!"

Alban, who'd most likely been sent up here to protect the only infant who'd been born to the Scottish kingdom in years, started toward me — only to stop when Bear Hood growled,

"Stay where ye are, Defender."

His voice was a black curl of smoke next to my ear. "If ye make me cut her, I'll gut ye and feed yer entrails to the forest boar for their supper."

"So, you ken my title," Alban asked with what could have been mistaken for a bored expression if not for the way his eyes were flashing with violence. "Then you also ken that I can't let you take any of these females out of here without a fight."

Bear Hood stilled and I sensed he was about to take Alban up on his offer of a fight.

But then, the Pirate holding Sadie's arm, said, "Don't. We discussed this."

His voice held a quiet authority, and I noticed that he didn't even wait for Bear Hood's response before addressing Alban. "Kingdom Defender, this situation isn't the same as in the 1500s."

"So, you're not looking to steal all our females?" Alban asked, his voice dryly furious. "Again."

"Not all of them, no," the Pirate answered in a surprisingly diplomatic tone. "We will leave behind the mated ones this time. The ones we do take will be brought back to our kingdom to give our males their consideration for mate hood. But in the spring, they will be given a choice about staying, and the ones who are not heat mated, and no longer wish to stay with us will be delivered back here to Faoiltiarn. Tell your king he has my vow on that."

"Tell him yerself," Alban sneered. "After I deliver you to the dungeon cells underneath the castle."

The Pirate merely smirked. "There are two of us. And one of you. We can do this the easy way, where you step aside and let us leave. Or…"The Pirate's diplomatic tone turned as cold as the ice house the W?lfennites built as soon as we arrived in Scotland. "We can do this the hard way and risk the life of the precious first baby born to the Faoiltiarn royal family in over thirty years."

"Either way, she is ours!" Bear Hood proclaimed next to my ear. "We will not be leaving Dùn Faoiltiarn without her."

The feral hunter pressed his nose into my hair, sniffing at me like an animal — before licking his tongue up the side of my neck!

Oh mein Gott! Oh mein Gott! Oh mein Gott!

I shuddered, my stomach turning into a swirl of an emotion I'd never felt before. And had no desire to label .

"Leave her alone!" Sadie screamed at him.

And Alban gripped the fire poker tighter, taking a step forward toward us.

"Stop!" I called out before a dangerous fight could break out. "I agree to go with them. Just take the baby. Take the baby so she doesn't get hurt."

Everyone other than Bear Hood stared at me. Including Alban, who hesitated before declaring, "I cannae let you make that sacrifice."

"It's not up to you," I insisted. And I couldn't believe I was having to do this, but I reminded him. "I made sure the rule was included when we put together the New St. Ailbe Ordnung. She-wolves can come and go as they like — without restraint or repercussion."

Yeah, I'd added that rule to ensure I'd be able to leave when it was time for me to fly back to Ontario at the beginning of next year. But if it meant saving Ellie, I was more than willing to wield it for her greater good. Especially now that I no longer had a physical weapon to defend her with.

"I volunteer to go too," Sadie cried.

"No, Sadie, you can't!" I strained to look at my best friend over the butcher knife at my neck. "This is my sacrifice alone."

"Actually…" The Pirate regarded me with a faintly bemused look. "Going with us isn't a choice. You're both coming with us for this special opportunity either way."

"See Nay, it's already all decided," Sadie told me with a shaky but brave voice. "I'm going with you."

Had I thought I felt guilty earlier? My heart clenched with so much regret. If only Sadie had hidden and never come up here .

"Okay, then, we'll be on our way." The somewhat reasonable Pirate turned to Alban. "If you'll put down the pokey stick and step aside, Defender."

The stormy look on Alban's face let me know he wasn't on board with this plan. Like, at all.

"Please, just put down the fire poker and take the baby," I begged before he could start another back and forth with the maniac holding a knife up to my neck. "We volunteered to go. The only thing left for you to do is save the innocent child who never asked to be here."

"So what will it be, Defender?" the Pirate asked Alban. "The she-wolves who have already volunteered to go with us? Or the baby?"

Alban spent several seconds looking completely torn. But in the end, he lowered the poker and said, "Aye, give her to me, then."

There came the relief of handing the sleeping baby over to amuch worthier protector.

Then the terror of knowing Sadie and me most definitely weren't…

"Alright, enough of this drama," the Pirate said, bringing Sadie to stand next to me as Alban backed out of the room with Ellie. "We've a mission to carry out."

"Ye're going to need both our jabbers for sure to know the potential is out," Bear Hood said. "Here take mine. I've got some other stuff to give to our banríon ."

Banreen . I both wondered and was afraid to know what that meant as I felt Bear Hood's free hand fumbling behind me.

Sadie whimpered when he handed the Pirate a huge needle filled to its highest point with some clear liquid.

Oh God, she was so afraid, and unlike, the Scottish Wolves, neither of us had any inkling about how to "find our wolves" outside of a full moon.

But Sadie's terror helped me regulate my own fear.

"It'll be alright. Everything will be alright," I vowed to her. "No matter what happens, we'll be all right, and I'll figure out how to get us out of this."

Then a hand covered my mouth with a cloth that filled my nose with a terrible chemical smell and turned my world to black.