A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,107

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.

Fear for her engulfed him. He tore after her, his brother racing beside him. His stomach was knotted, every muscle tensed, adrenaline coursing through his veins.

Male snarls and snaps greeted her as she responded in kind. Her cousins were trying to force her to return with them, and she was telling them in wolf terms—no way.

Someone yipped twice.

Not her. He remembered the sound of her yip when he’d startled her by coming up behind her in the river.

Then a yip sounded from her.

Cearnach saw red.

Chapter 27

If his tongue wasn’t lolling out of his mouth as he ran, Cearnach would be grinding his teeth. He’d kill the bastard who had frightened her so.

He knew her cousins would be pissed off at her. They’d take out their frustrations on her because of her perceived disobedience.

What did her cousins plan to do with her? They couldn’t knock her out with drugs, not while pursuing her as wolves. They had to be trying to corral and take her back to the cars parked at Senton Castle and to that bastard Rafferty. That’s all Cearnach could imagine they’d try to do.

He wanted to call out to her, howl, bark, to let her know her Highland warrior was on his way. But he didn’t want to alert her kin that he was coming to rescue her, afraid they might deal with her more harshly if they thought their time was quickly running out.

Instead, he moved swiftly over the glen and through the woods, scattering birds, and then he dashed across a shallow stream, sending the water flying, trying to judge where she was.

Dogs began to bark south of them. Oglivie’s collies. He frowned and glanced over his shoulder, couldn’t see anything but trees. He and Duncan were too far from the farmhouse for the collies to come this way. Unless… Guthrie had to be passing the farm. Cearnach briefly worried about the old man getting into his rusty pickup truck and trying to hunt Guthrie down.

Then Cearnach saw Elaine standing proud and tall, tail straight out behind her, her fur standing on end to make her appear more threatening. Five male wolves circled her, ganging up on her, bigger, meaner, more powerful. She was just as aggressive as they were. Every time one moved in close, she charged him, and the wolf would veer out of her path.

Trees surrounded the area on all sides but one, and that backed up on a swiftly moving