Page 26 of Cree & Dawn and the Wolf

“Kee?”

Cree recognized the voice. “Is that you, Tade?”

“Aye,” Tade said.

Hearing the lad enter the stable, Cree made his way toward the door, relying on his recall of the layout of the place to get him there without incident. He was able to see the shadow of the lad in the mist.

“Your parents are looking for you, Tade,” Cree said, crouching down in front of the lad when he reached him.

Tade made a face and pressed his small finger against Cree’s lips and shook his head, cautioning him not to speak. Then he pushed his sleeve back, tapped his bandage, smiled, and threw his small arms around Cree’s neck and hugged him.

Cree could have sworn he heard the lad growl softly in his ear. Then he was gone, disappearing into the fog.

“Tade! There you are. How many times have I warned you not to go off in the fog on your own,” Sim admonished.

Cree stood listening to Sim chastise the lad, his thoughts more on Tade and what his actions were meant to tell Cree. It was obvious. He couldn’t deny it. Tade had thanked him for tending to his wound, not the wound of a child, but the wound of a wolf pup.

CHAPTER 8

“Werewolves. We are in a den of werewolves,” Cree said, running his fingers through his hair as he paced in front of the hearth in the bedchamber.

Dawn sat quietly, not disagreeing and shocked that it very well could be a possibility.

“I have battled vicious men, some I believed to be the devil themselves they were so cruel, but werewolves?” Cree shook his head, then went and sat next to his wife on the bed. “Between Tade thanking me for tending to his wound and what Lord Tiernan said to you, I don’t see how we can doubt the obvious. We are dealing with werewolves.”

Dawn gestured, pointing out the obvious.

“Aye, they haven’t harmed us… yet,” Cree said.” But Lord Tiernan’s tale of how the wolf scratches got into the floor and how a scent can be followed, which led the wolf to our bedchamber door last night, strikes me as a warning not to pry, which means he must know we have concerns.”

Dawn gestured slowly and Cree followed along nodding.

“I suppose you are right. If news got out that Clan MacMadadh was a pack of werewolves, they would be slaughtered. You do not believe the wolf clan attacks people?”

Dawn shook her head and continued explaining.

“That is true. They could have killed us, and no one would have ever known.”

Dawn scrunched her brow as she gestured.

“Aye, Lord Tiernan cautions us, but you wonder why. Brigid told Sim that the fog was not friendly. I thought that odd, but I now know how Sim could sense Brigid being so near and how he got us through the fog to the stable… scent.”

Dawn once again gestured slowly.

“You say Tiernan talked about the wolves calling their pack home so they would be well rested for the evening hunt?”

She nodded and continued.

“You question what they hunt since meat is plentiful and I did notice that they are partial to meat. So, what is it they hunt? Perhaps it is simply their nature.”

Dawn shook her head, her hands moving.

“You believe there is more to it?”

She nodded and gestured.

Cree stared at his wife surprised at what she suspected. “I never thought of that. Lord Tiernan leads Clan MacMadadh, which would mean he leads the pack of wolves. If that is so, then who was it that called their pack home.” He looked puzzled. “You think it might be a foe who hunts them?”

She nodded, having given the whole matter thought since speaking with Lord Tiernan and trying to make sense of it.

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