Page 66 of Wolf Alliance

Then the chase was on as several men on foot and Erik and Alasdair on horseback raced off to take down the boar for this eve’s meal. The boys wanted to go with their da, but he wouldn’t allow it. They were too little for such a dangerous hunt.

Instead, they had to help the others in camp set up the tents. Some of the men gathered water. The women and the lads remained in camp so that no one would grab them, or a wild boar would charge them. After they had nearly set up all the tents, and the boys and the ladies had gathered more twigs and branches for the fire—their wolves’ night vision helping them see what they needed to without the aid of lanterns—the men returned from the hunt.

They had enough smoked food to see them through to her da’s castle, but it was nice that they had fresh meat for this eve.

The boys were eyeing the boar on the spit in anticipation of eating their share of the meat.

She was amused because as hungry as they looked, she knew they wouldn’t have enough room in their bellies to eat a lot.

Everyone was talking about battles they’d been in, fascinating the boys. Accalia asked Isobel how she was doing, worried a little about her traveling such long distances when she was pregnant.

“Good. Thanks for asking. Alasdair has been way too anxious. We can ride for months until it gets closer to when the baby, uh, babies are born. No’ that I would probably be riding too late into the pregnancy. I’m sure Alasdair wouldna allow it, even if I thought I could ride. I understand his concern and I would do naught to harm our bairns.”

They all enjoyed their dinner and retired for the night, most of the men sleeping outside of the tents, some as wolves, others on guard duty as humans. Isobel, Accalia, and Bessetta slept with the exhausted lads. Despite that, they were so excited that they were able to sleep with the ladies in the tent, they had a time getting them to settle down and fell asleep. Accalia wished she was snuggling with her mate though. Once she had him, she wanted to be with him always.

But she loved being with the boys and her she-wolf friends too. It didn’t seem long before she smelled cooking, and she glanced at Isobel who smiled at her. “Time to rise, it appears.”

“Aye.” Accalia hopedshedidn’t fall asleep on her horse while traveling this time. She’d been up so late making love to Erik the two nights earlier and then last eve, stopping so late after riding most of the day, she was exhausted.

“Is it me, or are the two of you ladies as tired as I am?” Bessetta asked, plaiting her hair.

“Oh, I am,” Accalia said.

“I am, but only because of the bairns I’m carrying,” Isobel said.

“Oh, aye, I imagine that’s tiring.” Poor Isobel. Accalia had seen a woman with child who was tired in the beginning, then seemed to get over the tiredness after a few weeks. “Are you feeling well enough to travel otherwise?”

“Ja.‘Tis naught. I’ll be back to my old self soon.”

“Good.” Then they woke the boys and helped them to dress.

They were tired, grumbly, and it wasn’t easy getting them up this morn. She hoped they would feel better once they had something to eat.

As soon as they stepped out of the tent, Erik and Alasdair were waiting for them, and each gave their respective mates hugs and kisses, appearing as though they had missed being with them last night.

Accalia loved that Erik was always loving toward her. She had never seen Alasdair in that light either when it came to being with a mate. He ran his hand over his mate’s belly, the first time she had seen him do that and she smiled. So did Bessetta.

Erik looked at his sons who were rubbing their eyes, looking angry at the world.

“Come on, lads. We eat and then we ride again.” Erik ruffled their hair.

They sat with everyone, ate porridge and bread, packed camp, and left.

“While you watch the boys and make sure they dinna fall asleep on their saddles, can you do the same for me?” Isobel asked.

Accalia laughed. “Aye, as long as Bessetta watches me.”

Logan said, “I’ll keep an eye on you lasses.”

“You will have us to watch then,” Accalia said.

“It will be my honor to keep all of you upright in your saddles.”

Accalia glanced at the boys. They had hardly started their ride when they looked about to drift off.

Erik joined Logan and the ladies and the boys. “How is everyone doing this morn?”

“Could we have no’ have started later in the day to ride?” Thorfinn asked, surprising Accalia.

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