A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,25
was no longer slippery—made him think she enjoyed his company too.
They headed through the tunnel, their footfalls echoing off the rock walls and floor before they reached the opening into the inner bailey. Despite it being October, the courtyard was covered in soft, bright green grass that was short, as if someone came in and mowed it on a regular basis.
“Where can we hide our clothes? If we shift in the restrooms or anywhere else, our clothes could be found,” she said, finally releasing his hand. “If anyone came along who was crazy enough to be out in this cold, rainy weather.”
He pointed to an eighteenth-century cannon protecting the keep. “See the cannon that was used to defend the castle in later years? I’ll tuck our things in there. No one would ever think to look for them there.”
“You’d have to undress the rest of the way and shift by the cannon.” Her eyes honed in on his chest, the chilly rain dribbling down it.
He was used to the conditions. The strong, cold wind still whipped about but it wasn’t as frigid in the bailey, most likely because of the high, four-foot-thick walls that surrounded it. But even so, a naked body would find the air cold and the light rain chilly. Still, the cold didn’t bother him much.
“I’ve swum in the icy loch, lass. Keeps a body strong. And virile.”
Her eyes sparkled with humor, her mouth curving up just a hint.
He continued, “A little autumn rain won’t hurt.”
She laughed. “I’m from Florida, and when the winter hits, even if it’s not all that cold, I wear a coat and avoid the ocean.”
He shook his head. Yet he was thinking how he’d like to keep her here in Scotland so she’d grow accustomed to their weather. Better than that, he knew just how to warm the lass, even if she didn’t become acclimated to their weather quickly. “You’d never last in our climate when winter arrives, but I could help a lot there.”
“I’ll be long gone before then,” she promised, giving him a small smile. Before he could respond—to tell her he hoped to change her mind, even that he planned to change it—she slipped into the bathroom and closed the door.
He waited outside the ladies’ room while she undressed and shifted. He couldn’t help thinking about her taking off the clingy, wet red dress and him seeing her naked.
When she scratched and whimpered at the door, he broke loose of his vision of her as a naked woman, forgetting she’d be a wolf now, and pulled the door open. A beautiful, mink-brown wolf with dark brown eyes emerged. She wagged her tail and stood by the ladies’ room, waiting for him to get her personal effects.
He scooped up her boots and the bundle of clothes that she’d wrapped inside her raincoat, then tucked them under his arm and strode across the inner courtyard to the outer one. Leaning down, he stuffed her things deep inside the cannon. Then he started to strip, putting each article of clothing inside the weapon as soon as he’d pulled it off.
While he did so, he watched her as she raced all over the castle ruins. She seemed to be chasing smells and unsure which way to go first because everything seemed just as intriguing as everything else. She sniffed around the stone stables, busily exploring them. Then she dashed across the bailey, glanced in his direction, looked at his kilt still riding low on his hips, then bolted up narrow, winding stairs into one of the castle towers. He’d just finished removing his kilt when she peered down at him through a broken part of the wall.
He smiled to see her head poking out of the broken structure as if the hole in the wall was a new window, her gaze perusing his naked form, her eyes catching his as he observed her reaction. If she was in her human form, would she be blushing again?
He willed his wolf half to take over. His muscles stretched, the tendons and ligaments warming as he called upon the change. Shifting felt like getting a gentle workout, but before the shifter had a chance to really experience the warming sensation, he or she was standing as a wolf, a genetic necessity to prevent humans from seeing them during the shift. If anyone observed the change, hopefully they would see a blurring of forms as if their eyes were playing tricks on them.