Chapter 18

18

I sobel shifted into her wolf and ran through the bracken, hoping she would find nothing was the matter but afraid she would locate her mate sprawled out on the beach where she and he had left their clothes, and he was dead.

That was just what she discovered—Alasdair was lying on the beach, his head bloodied—not dead, she prayed. Her heart practically stopped. Gods! Before she could reach Alasdair, she saw three men headed for the croft, their backs to her.

She was so angry that she could kill every one of the men. But she had to warn her family and the crofters of danger and then take care of Alasdair. She dashed back into the bracken and howled to wake Dawy, Agnes, and her family. And she howled to warn Alasdair’s pack that they were in danger.

To her surprise, the men headed toward the house stopped, and all three of them turned to peer at the bracken before she came out to help Alasdair and protect him.

One of the men called out, “Inge?”

She peered out of the bracken, recognizing the deep voice, though it was much deeper than what she had remembered. That’s when she recognized a scent drifting on the breeze—it was her twin brother’s scent, but he’d been lost at sea. Only her family and Elene knew her name was Inge from Iceland.

“It is me, Leif,” he called out.

She left the bracken but heard wolves howl in the distance.

“What are you doing here?” Leif asked. “I thought you were a slave of these people.”

She couldn’t believe she was seeing her twin brother. During a violent storm, while she and her parents and brother were sailing with a crew, he had been washed overboard, and they’d never found him. He…he was alive. She stared at the man he had become, blond, tall, muscular, the other men darker haired, just as tall and muscular, Scotsmen, she thought.

“Who is she?” one of the men with him asked.

“My sister.”

Dawy threw the door to the croft open. He and Conall charged forth with swords in hand, ready to kill their foe, though Dawy was limping, and she thought any of the three men could easily knock him on his backside.

She shifted and threw on her chemise. “He is my brother, your cousin, Conall.” Then she ran to take care of Alasdair. He was coming to and a modicum of relief washed over her. “Alasdair is my mate.”

They heard horses off in the distance, and she knew Alasdair’s men would kill her brother for harming her mate and the men with him.

“What are you doing here?” Isobel asked, glad to see her brother, but she needed to know their intent.

“We smelled lots of wolves in the area and thought it was a pack, and we might join them. Then I smelled your scent here and thought these people had taken you hostage,” Leif said, looking shocked to see her and to learn she was mated to the man whom he’d struck. “I came to free you.”

She wasn’t sure Alasdair would let them join the pack now. “Help me with Alasdair.”

Leif hurried over to help Alasdair sit up. Alasdair looked at her, his eyes not focusing at first. Then he saw Leif approaching and reached for his sword still lying next to his clothes on the beach.

“He is my twin brother and had come to rescue me,” she quickly said, holding Alasdair’s arm to keep him upright.

“The one lost at sea?” Alasdair asked, frowning.

“Aye, but he has found me.” She looked at the other men, both brown-haired and bearded, both blue-eyed. “I dinna know the other men, but they are wolves also.” She and her brother helped Alasdair into his clothes before Alasdair’s forces arrived.

With tears in her eyes, she kissed Alasdair’s cheek, hoping he would be all right.

“I grew up with them,” Leif said about the men with him, staying with Alasdair to assist him.

She jumped up. “I’ll get our brats.” She ran off into the bracken where, moments earlier, she had mated Alasdair. She returned to Alasdair. “The three of you are on your own?” Isobel asked her brother and the other two men.

“Aye,” Leif said. “The brothers lost their parents to a sickness after they had taken me in, and so the three of us have been working where we can and living off the land. They took me in because I’m a wolf also, taught me the language, clothed me, and fed me until their parents died, and then we were on our own.”

The horses were growing closer, and Isobel howled as a human to tell the ones coming to rescue them that everything was all right so that the pack members wouldn’t kill her brother and the other men.

“Did I hear right? That you mated the pack leader?” Conall asked, sounding surprised, finally sheathing his sword.

“Aye. I just didna think my long-lost brother would show up and nearly kill him.” She felt mixed emotions, horrible and worried about Alasdair and glad to see her brother but hoping Hans and the others wouldn’t kill Leif.

“I am sorry,” Leif said to both her and Alasdair. “He really is the pack leader?” He carefully helped Alasdair to stand.

“Aye, I am. And so is Isobel now,” Alasdair said, unsteady on his feet.

“Do you want to go inside the croft?” Conall asked.

“Aye,” Dawy said. “Bring him inside.”

“You will join my pack,” Alasdair said to Leif, showing no ill will toward him and his friends. “We need able-bodied men such as yourself. You can help rebuild the wall, live in the barracks, and eat with us.”

She was proud of Alasdair and glad she had mated him. He could have managed this situation so much differently. She knew how her former chieftain would have dealt with this. For striking him? His warriors would have killed Leif without hesitation.

The horses were nearly upon them. Hans and Rory were leading ten men to the croft and soon surrounded them before Leif and Conall could assist Alasdair to the cottage.

“What has happened here?” Hans dismounted and helped Alasdair as Isobel finished dressing.

She sheathed her sword and secured her sgian dubh in her boot, then grabbed Alasdair’s weapons.

“Everything is secure,” Alasdair said, though his forehead was bloodied, and he was still wavering a bit where he stood.

“Aye, and who hit you?” Hans asked, none of the other men dismounting.

“I did. I thought the Scots had captured my sister and made her a slave. The last thing I knew about her whereabouts was that she was still in Iceland. Now she’s here? What was I to think when I smelled Inge’s scent here?” Leif asked.

“That I had made a home here like you have done. This is Alasdair’s brother Hans, and the other is Rory. This is my brother Leif,” Isobel said. “And I go by Isobel now, Leif.”

“We are mated,” Alasdair said as Leif and Hans helped him inside the croft.

Hans, Rory, and the rest of the men smiled.

Hans said, “I take it that a celebration is in order.”

“Aye,” Alasdair said and held his head. He sat down on a chair at the table, and Agnes quickly washed the blood off his head and bandaged it with a spare cloth.

Awake now, Libby and Drummond were looking on, wide-eyed, though Drummond was holding his small sword prepared for a fight.

Isobel explained to Leif who Conall was.

“Bodolf?” Leif said in surprise. “You were a wee bairn when I saw you last.” And then he met the younger siblings. They hadn’t been born before Leif was lost at sea. “My cousins.”

Leif gave everyone bear hugs, looking delighted to have found his family again, but when Isobel told him all their parents had died, he was saddened to hear it, his shoulders drooping.

“What do you want us to do with them?” Hans asked Alasdair.

“I’m going with Alasdair to the keep,” Isobel said, deciding the matter for them. “My brother will stay with his cousins to provide security and to get to know them.” She knew the crofters would be pleased her cousins were staying with them. “If that is all right with you and Agnes,” she said to them. “And if it is all right with you, Conall, Drummond, Libby.”

“Aye,” Conall said, and everyone agreed with him.

She didn’t ask if everything was all right with Leif, but he needed to get to know his cousins and she wanted him to stay there for their protection.

“In the morn, we can break our fast together,” Isobel said. “Leif’s friends can come with us and stay in the barracks.”

Alasdair smiled at her. “We do as the lass says. She is now your pack leader also.”

She hadn’t realized that she had automatically taken charge of the new wolves.

For wolf pack leaders, it was different than if Alasdair had just been a human clan leader in which the wife might not have much say in the clan’s leadership. Isobel would help rule the pack just like her husband. She was glad he seemed to appreciate how she’d handled the situation when he appeared a little out of it for now.

Hans helped Alasdair onto his horse and then lifted Isobel behind him to make sure her mate didn’t fall from Alasdair’s mount. Two other riders gave both brothers a lift. They said good night to the crofters and Isobel’s family and rode back to the keep.

“I think you did this on purpose,” Isobel said, hugging Alasdair tightly. Not because she thought he might fall off the horse—well, maybe that too—but because she loved feeling his hard body pressed tightly against her.

“That I encouraged your brother to hit me?” Alasdair sounded like he wasn’t following her line of reasoning.

“Aye. So that I would come home with you tonight, and he would stay with the rest of my family, and all would be well.”

Alasdair grunted. “He struck me.”

“Aye, but he didna kill you.”

“Which is why I’m taking the lot of them into the pack.”

“Because they can help rebuild your wall.”

“Our wall.” He turned his head to look at her, and she kissed his cheek.

She sighed. “I love you. Thank you for taking them in, despite what my brother had done to you.”

“I love you, Isobel. You saved me when I couldna save myself. Your quick action, both in warning the crofters and the pack, proved to me just how invaluable you are. And then telling them that all was well before unnecessary blood was shed? You will make a great pack leader.”

“As fair-minded as you, I should hope.”

“Aye. You will be. It is the reason I continue to rule the pack.”

They finally arrived at the keep, and Hans said, “We willna wake you in the morn, but we’ll bring food to you in your chamber when you wish to break your fast.”

“And a celebration is in order also,” Rory said.

Alasdair smiled. “Aye, but we will break our fast in the great hall and make the announcement.”

“If he is feeling better,” Isobel said.

The brothers smiled at Alasdair. “It seems you have met your match,” Hans said.

Alasdair chuckled. “Aye, she is perfect for me.”

Then he and Isobel retired to his own chamber, and she helped him undress. She thought he was just going to climb into bed, but he wanted to help her disarm first, pull off her shoes, brat, léine, and chemise, and then join him in bed.

“Are you truly feeling all right?” she asked, snuggling with him under the furs, worried about him.

“Aye. I canna believe my fortune when your brother came along so I could take you home with me.”

She sighed and kissed his chest. “I’m sorry he hit you. But you must admit you are adding more able-bodied wolves to the pack.”

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head, his hand sliding down her back in a gentle caress. “You do realize that you have added eight wolves to the pack since your arrival? I have you to thank for that.”

And she thought she would add even more to the pack with her loving mate in time.