A Highland Werewolf Wedding - By Terry Spear Page 0,71

them looked ready to do battle.

Cearnach glanced at Elaine, whose head was held high, lips thinned, eyes narrow. Her whole tension-filled posture said she was angry and she wasn’t about to take crap from any of them.

As soon as they reached the portcullis, Robert opened his mouth to speak as Baird speared Cearnach with a glacial stare.

Everyone’s attention shifted abruptly to Elaine when, to Cearnach’s surprise, she spoke first. “I’m Elaine Hawthorn, daughter of Hans Hawthorn, the third; son of Hans Hawthorn, the second; son of Hans Hawthorn, the first. You are?” she directed at Robert.

“Robert Kilpatrick, my brother, Edmond, and our cousin Baird McKinley. I missed meeting with you earlier at Senton Castle, cousin.” He sounded as though he was trying to emphasize the point that she was on the wrong side of the gate, that she belonged with them and not standing with the MacNeills.

“We did meet already, Robert. At the church. Remember? There was a little matter of you stealing my rental car and personal items.”

“Send her out here now,” Baird growled at Cearnach.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Elaine said to Baird.

Baird looked at her. “I’m talking about Calla.”

Calla had gone into hiding? Cearnach had thought she was at her father’s home.

“Calla’s not here,” Cearnach said. “If she were, I wouldn’t send her to you unless she wished it.”

Robert cleared his throat and motioned to one of the vehicles they had come in. “We’ll take you to the bed and breakfast now, Elaine. I’m sorry for the… mistakes made yesterday. Had I known that you were the bonny lass sitting beside me at the church—”

Looking beautifully obstinate, Elaine folded her arms. “I want my car and all my belongings…” She looked up at Cearnach as if she needed his permission first, even though this was her home now and she didn’t need it.

He nodded, giving her a small smile, which he knew would irk her kinsmen.

She took a deep breath and continued. “I want them brought here.”

“You can’t stay here,” Robert said as if she was considering sleeping in a dungeon and as if he could dictate to her. Then he got more to the point. “We have a private matter to discuss.”

“She’s not going anywhere with you,” Cearnach said, wanting to make that perfectly clear.

Elaine didn’t take her eyes off Robert, watching for every reaction like a wolf would. Like an alpha wolf. “You owe Cearnach a replacement minivan and whatever else he lost in his vehicle, including his clothes and sword.”

“They’re not our friends.” Robert gave Cearnach and his men a cold glare, then turned his attention back to Elaine. “You don’t know the history between us.”

“That may be so, but your history has nothing to do with me. And you know what? Cearnach protected me from hunters when my own kin left me in an untenable situation. More than untenable. Potentially deadly.”

They had to have known what might happen when they stranded them without vehicles or clothes, and Cearnach and Elaine had no choice but to run in their wolf coats across territory not their own. Cearnach assumed they had figured she was a new girlfriend of his and it didn’t matter what had become of her… or him. He was more than irked that they valued her life so little.

“We didn’t know who you were,” Baird growled. “You don’t side with our enemy if you know what’s good for you.”

“Are you threatening me?” Her tone of voice had darkened, she-wolf in battle mode. “You didn’t believe I was related to Cearnach, did you?”

Robert shook his head.

“So then why would you have stolen my car?”

One of Baird’s older brothers spoke up. “We thought you were Cearnach’s new girlfriend. His bringing you to the wedding was an insult and upset Calla.”

“I see. Instead, I was part of your extended family and had every right to be at the wedding. Did my being at the church truly upset Calla?”

Baird huffed out an annoyed breath, folded his arms, tilted his head up in an arrogant way, and didn’t speak.

Elaine straightened and clarified her situation. “Cearnach had a little accident. I gave him a lift to the church. I didn’t know him before this. Then again, I didn’t know who you all were, either.”

“Okay, so we start over. You come with us, and you can have your car and belongings back,” Baird said, his voice dark with annoyance.

Cearnach didn’t trust Baird. The man had to recognize that Cearnach felt protective of Elaine, and he suspected Baird would use that