A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,46

family issues to change her mind.”

He laughed. He suspected Elaine might enjoy their family and all its quirks and not be put off by it. Unless his mother had ruined that chance.

His mother smiled. It was a calculating, evil kind of smile. He wasn’t sure what she was up to, but he knew she was planning something. “Lust is only the beginning. You don’t think your father lusted after me until he wore my father down into letting him have me? Of course the feeling was mutual.”

If Cearnach had been human, he might not have wanted to hear the details. As a wolf, he knew his father and mother had been very much in lust and in love. He was glad she’d had so many good years with his father before he died. Though her relationship with Ethan, Shelley’s uncle, wasn’t the same, he thought they were growing closer every day. He’d even witnessed Ethan kissing his mother briefly in the gardens, and she hadn’t even clouted him one. Just turned a rosy pink. Ethan had smiled in his indomitable way.

“Did you treat Elaine as though you wanted her to become one of our pack?” Cearnach asked, frowning.

“Och, Cearnach, you cannot be serious. She doesn’t need my coddling. She’s a fighter—a good one at that. Agnes and I went at her with a two-pronged attack, and she still came out on top.”

He groaned. “You want me to undo the damage? Do you think I’m a miracle worker?” He let out his breath in annoyance.

“I can be the bad guy and you’re her savior.”

Cearnach shook his head. “I think she sees herself in that role.”

His mother chuckled with wry amusement. “Aye, then she can be yours instead.”

He shouldn’t have allowed his mother to speak with Elaine first. “Is that all you wish of me, my mother?”

“Aye, go sweet-talk the lady. I’ll speak with you later.”

Shaking his head, he stalked out of the library and down the hall, wondering just what his mother had said to Elaine during their exchange. He hoped Elaine wasn’t too upset over the whole affair.

Left to their own devices, he figured he and she could work out their relationship just fine. But he had to keep his mother out of it at all costs.

Now it was time to repair the damage.

Chapter 12

Cearnach’s talk with his mother filled Elaine’s thoughts—though she was trying not to think about it—as she walked with Shelley through the great hall where cushioned chairs, sofas, and pillow-covered benches were situated in front of a large fireplace. Flames flickered, casting light against the shadows, the wood crackling and snapping. Elaine felt oddly at home here. She could see the clan gathering here for special activities, particularly when the weather was wet or cold.

Yet her thoughts instantly returned to what was being said between Cearnach and his mother. Did she always rule the roost? More importantly, what she was saying to Cearnach about Elaine now?

As Shelley led her into the kitchen, Elaine was impressed with the newness and size, having expected it to be less than modern and much smaller. But it had to feed a fairly large wolf pack—around thirty or more, she estimated. She wasn’t used to thinking in terms of pack life.

To her surprise, the need to belong to a wolf pack like this one crept into the marrow of her bones. To be understood by others of her kind. To be protected and to protect.

A long honey-oak table was situated next to a wide window overlooking the gardens below, a hedge surrounding them. It made her think of a labyrinth where she could get lost with Cearnach, just strolling and talking like two people on a special date, as small brass lanterns illuminated the paths, a touch of warm yellow light on a dark gray night. The tall hedges hid most of the gardens from view, giving only glimpses into the sectioned-off, outdoor living rooms, making them seem mysterious and intriguing.

The table in the kitchen seated about twelve. Pack members could drop in for a quick meal between working various jobs at the castle and beyond, she assumed. She’d passed through a formal dining room on the way into the kitchen where a dark mahogany table and chairs took center stage. The table would seat around twenty people, and the high-back chairs wore forest-green brocade with braid trim edging the seats. Paintings of local scenery were displayed on the walls, showing snowcapped mountains, dark blue lochs, fields of purple heather and