Chapter 12

12

W hen Accalia gave Erik’s neck a love bite, he was amused and very interested. She had a way of making everyone love her. But when she nipped at his tail with a featherlight touch, he thought she wanted to play with him.

He had never done so with a she-wolf and didn’t want to hurt her because of his size or become too enthusiastic during wolf play like he could be when fighting with his brothers or other kin and pack members. Certainly, his late wife had never wanted to.

The notion encouraged him that Accalia wanted to deepen their relationship. She eyed his tail again as covertly as she could. He observed her without being obvious about it. He was ready to play the game. His tail swished back and forth, teasing her, encouraging her to try and make another attempt at nipping at him.

The instant she turned and leaped for him, he swung around to his right and meant to tackle her. Once he turned, she recognized the game was on and dashed off. He wanted to laugh, she was so cute, but he was in hot pursuit. Despite her legs being a little shorter than his because she was a female, she was fast.

All the guard wolves ran off with them, keeping their distance and ensuring Accalia and Erik could play without anyone causing problems for them. Likewise, the soldiers on horseback continued to protect them, smiling at the change in activity.

Again, Erik wasn’t sure what to do. He could catch her, but he was afraid he might be considered overzealous or injure her if he pounced on her. She didn’t give him a chance to think about it for long. She whipped around to her right and when she did, she opened herself up to an attack and he tackled her.

Catching prey was instinctive. He hadn’t given it another thought, just pounced on her since she was within his reach. Down she went, and he was on top of her. She didn’t fight him back, her chest heaving with exertion. He listened to her heart pounding, as her tongue lolled out of her mouth. Her lips curved slightly into a grin, while her eyes were bright with excitement.

He still had her pinned down and she didn’t even try to unseat him, appearing happy to be under his control—for the moment. He smiled down at her, licked her cheek, and nuzzled her face.

She nipped at his chin and woofed—a happy woof that said she was very pleased with how he played with her. He sighed with relief, his breath turning to fog in the cool night air.

They had been running, loping, and walking for over an hour. Thunder rumbled and he glanced at the storm building off in the distance. Lightning flashed across the dark clouds billowing into a massive storm system, appearing more ominous. The wind began blowing hard and they could smell the rain coming. Thunder followed from a distance again, but the storm was getting closer.

Erik was enjoying the run with Accalia and playing with her, and she didn’t appear to want to quit anytime soon. He wished they could have stayed out here longer. But he knew the boys would be afraid of the storm and fear that she and he were still out in it. Maybe not so much that he was, but that Accalia was. They would believe he could manage any adversity.

As much as he loved pinning Accalia down because she appeared to be content with it and he loved the wolf intimacy between them, they needed to return home. He worried about her safety.

He knew the boys’ nannies would do their best to soothe the boys’ fears during the storm, though he hoped his sons would overcome them soon enough. It didn’t help that a fortnight ago they had been in the stable playing in the hay when lightning had struck the wooden frame and set it on fire.

Between those rescuing the horses and the boys, and others putting out the fire, his sons were well-traumatized. Erik had been upset with them and their nannies that the boys were playing where they weren’t supposed to be in the first place and the nannies hadn’t been watching the boys. If they’d been safe in the castle, none of that would have happened as far as them being afraid of storms, that was.

He nudged at Accalia to return home with him and let her up and they raced in the direction of the castle. Though she tried her best to beat him to the castle, he was sticking by her side the whole way. He was so glad it had been just the two of them and that they hadn’t been running with his sons or they would have wanted him to tackle them instead. Wolf play with his future mate—because Erik wasn’t letting her go—was the best thing ever.

Before they reached the portcullis, Erik howled to let the gate guards know they were almost home. They reached the open gates and headed inside, the guards shutting and locking them after the last of the pack members were inside. Everyone howled to let the others know they had returned. They heard a few howls from the barracks and the keep, acknowledging them with a greeting.

Erik and Accalia were near the castle doors when the rain began to fall in a deluge, but their guard hairs kept their soft, downy inner coat dry. Guards hurried to open the doors for them, and they headed inside. Lightning was overhead now, and he was glad they were safely inside.

Accalia sprinted through the castle and up the stairs. Before settling in, Erik ensured everyone who had joined them on their excursion had entered the keep. After completing the task, he wondered if Accalia would stay with him now that she saw he could play with her as a wolf. He sure hoped she would.

He was certain she would check on the boys, but he wanted to guarantee she would come to bed with him afterward. He shifted in his chamber, dressed, and headed for the lads’ room. He wouldn’t leave it to chance that she would join him.

When he arrived at the chamber, he thought she might still be dressing in her room, but she was trying to coax the boys into their beds. All three were sitting in the corner of the room far away from the shuttered windows where they could see the flashing light from the storm, hear the winds howling, and the rain slamming against the thick stone walls.

“Up with you,” Erik said, not about to pamper the boys. He lifted Johnne off the floor.

Before he could put the boy in his bed, Accalia said, “Oh, aye, what an excellent idea. You will take them to bed with you.”

He had to have looked at her like he thought she was jesting to make such a suggestion. He wanted her in his bed, not his sons! But then he believed he had the best solution of all. “Aye, and Accalia will join us so we can protect her too.” He smiled at her. Two could play at this game.

That got the boys off their bums in a hurry, both Hendrie and Thorfinn grasping her hands as if sealing the bargain. She raised her brows at Erik. He smiled again. He had won this engagement between them.

The nannies’ jaws hung agape as he carried Johnne to his chamber, Accalia following behind, the other boys holding onto her hands with a death grip. When they reached Erik’s chamber, he had this perfectly planned. He would be in the middle of the bed, Accalia to his right where he would snuggle with her, and the boys to his left who would feel safe in his big bed with the two of them showing the lads they had nothing to fear.

But Accalia wasn’t about to let Erik dictate bed arrangements and she immediately had the boys go to the center of the bed, which they eagerly did, scrambling under the furs to take their positions. Accalia took the right side of the bed and Erik was obligated to take the left side. The lass had won again.

Though to be sure, he had her in his bed—with him, delighting him. The next time? He planned for it to be a lot less crowded.

The more Accalia was around Erik, the more she came to love him. She knew he’d been hesitant to play with her as a wolf, though she wondered if he thought he might hurt her, he didn’t believe in playing with a she-wolf, or he was too serious. She’d loved it when he took the chance and had fun.

She wanted to do more of that, but by the time they’d attempted it, she had been too worn out to unsettle him once he had tackled her. So she conceded he had won and she knew he had loved that. But the bed situation?

When she saw the boys were terrified to go to their beds and Erik would force the issue, she knew she had to intervene with a motherly touch. She hadn’t expected Erik to agree, but with the caveat that she had to join them in his bed.

She had guessed his intention, so she was glad she had changed the scenario to suit herself. She was ready to join him in bed, but not with the boys. Since the boys were with them, she didn’t want Erik to show her affection and intimacy, best shared in private.

She and he settled onto the mattress on opposite sides of the bed and looked across the sea of boys, all three already sound asleep, and she knew that his sons joining their da in bed had been the right thing to do. He raised his brows at her and gave her a devious smile that told her she wouldn’t win the game again. She smiled back. Who said she wouldn’t?

Then she closed her eyes and thought of all the good—and bad—things that had happened during the day. She wondered how the visit with her friend Bessetta and her brothers would go on the morrow. She suspected Bessetta would want her to sleep with her as they had done as young girls when visiting one another and tell her all that had gone on since they had last seen each other.

Bessetta had gained a sister-in-law, but nothing much had happened in Accalia’s life—until she had to travel with Erik to his castle.

Then before she was ready, she heard Erik stir and she wanted to groan. She wasn’t ready for the day to begin.

After having pleasant dreams of chasing Accalia while they were wolves, catching her and making her his, Erik woke to find his sons sprawled across his big bed and saw Accalia slipping out the door so she could return to her room and dress. He sighed and rubbed his eyes, wishing he had been able to wish her a good morning before she left.

“Time to get up and break our fast,” he told his sons.

They all groaned a little.

“We have visitors today. Come on. Time to get up.” Erik climbed off the bed and the boys rose, looking half asleep. “Go to your chamber and your nannies will help you get ready.”

“Where is Accalia?” Thorfinn asked, frowning as if he thought she hadn’t slept with them all night.

“She left to get dressed in her chamber.”

“Did you kiss her?” Johnne asked.

“Of course, he kissed her,” Thorfinn said as if he were the expert.

Hendrie watched Erik’s expression as if he didn’t trust that Thorfinn was correct.

Erik would have loved to have kissed her, cuddled with her, and more, but the boys had been an obstacle three times over. He smiled.

“He did,” Johnne said as if Erik’s expression said it all.

Hendrie twisted his mouth in thought, then said brightly, “He couldna have reached her. Not over all of us.”

Hendrie was smart, Erik would give him that.

“She walked to his side of the bed and then kissed him,” Thorfinn said.

Johnne shook his head. “Da would have kissed her first and then she would have kissed him back.”

“Da was still in bed with us,” Hendrie said.

Accalia walked into the room and said, “What are you lads doing still in your da’s room? You need to get dressed at once.”

They all looked at Erik. “Do as she says.” He was surprised they would get his take on it since they had been listening to her. Besides, he had already told them to return to their chamber and dress.

“He kissed her,” Thorfinn said, hurrying out the door.

Johnne agreed and hurried after his brother.

Hendrie waited a moment, then smiled. “You didna.” Then he joined his brothers.

She shook her head and was about to follow them out the door when Erik caught her arm and pulled her into his arms for a kiss. “You made sure there were too many obstacles between us last eve so that I couldna very well kiss you. And then this morning, you slipped out before I even had a chance to leave the bed. Are you afraid of me?”

“Nay, I’m afraid of what I might do.”

They heard chuckling outside the door. Erik said to the boys, “Go!”

The boys’ footfalls ran down the hall.

Then Erik kissed her as thoroughly as they had in the inner bailey. She was as enthusiastic this time as she was the last time. It gave him hope that she was feeling the same way about mating him as he was her.

“Thank you for playing with me on the wolf run,” he said, kissing her again.

“By the time we played, I was wearing out or you wouldn’t have had such an easy time of it,” she said.

“Next time, we’ll play first and explore afterward.”

“It’s a deal.”

“And tonight, I want you in my bed—alone with me.”

She gave him an exaggerated smile. “Bessetta and I have no’ seen each other in ages, and we always sleep together when we visit each other. I had forgotten that when I mentioned she could have my room.”

He smiled at her as if he didn’t believe her. She raised her brows.

“All right, then they stay one night and no more.”

She laughed. “You wouldna have them come all that way and send them home. They will be gone before long and then?—”

He hung on her every word, his hands caressing her shoulders.

“We’ll see,” she said.

“We will be together.” He would have it no other way. He wanted her and he knew deep down she wanted him. She had already fallen in love with his boys, and they felt the same about her. They were meant to be a family, a mated couple, and she—his pack leader mate. He had to get her to agree. He sighed. “About Beathag?—”

“She isna a problem.”

“If we mated, she would know she has no chance with me.”

Accalia laughed. “I believe she might see that already. I’ll join you downstairs. If you dinna hurry, you may miss your guests.” Then she pulled away and headed for the door.

He was glad she had taken Beathag to task.

He dressed as fast as he could, not wanting Accalia to see Alasdair’s brothers before he could be at her side, showing all of them that he had every intention of making her his mate.

Accalia loved how things had changed so drastically between her and Erik. He had come off so forceful and in charge. At first, he felt she had to prove she was right for him . But now, he desperately wanted her to be in his bed, sharing more.

That was more like it. She’d seen the panic on his face when she left him alone and headed downstairs and she knew it wouldn’t take long for him to join her. She was sure it had to do a lot with his worrying about Alasdair’s brothers’ interest in her. If they showed any interest in her this time, she was sure it would only be to irk Erik in a brotherly way.

When she arrived downstairs, everyone was gathered around to meet their guests as soon as they arrived. The boys hurried to greet her and gave her hugs, which she reciprocated. Then Erik was searching for them, and everyone moved aside so he could join them.

“Alasdair, Isobel, and their kin are here,” Logan said, walking into the castle.

Erik, Accalia, and the boys moved outside with other clansmen to greet the newcomers in the inner bailey. Even the wolfhounds joined them, eager to join in on the excitement.

As soon as Accalia saw Alasdair and his kin, she observed Isobel wearing a sword and a bow and carrying a shield, looking like she was prepared for battle, her blond hair as golden as the sun, hanging in braids down her back, her blue eyes sparkling with humor.

Even though Alasdair leaped down from his horse and gallantly headed to help her down from her horse, Isobel jumped down on her own. Together, they were a striking couple—where she was fair, he was dark-haired and eyed.

Instantly, Accalia liked Isobel. Then she saw Bessetta and couldn’t hold back, dashing forth to hug her. Bessetta had reddish blond hair but was a blond wolf in her wolf form, like Erik’s pack members. She hugged Accalia and whispered, “You are mating the white wolf lord, aye?”

Accalia glanced back at him, standing proud with his lads as if waiting for her answer, though she knew he couldn’t have heard Bessetta’s words. But he was smiling maybe hopeful he could still convince her to stay with him instead. Now he had to prove something—not only with his people but with his friends.

Alasdair and Isobel and Alasdair’s brothers joined Erik. Accalia wished she could hear what they had to say.