Page 6 of Wolf Alliance

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Erik was sincere about the danger in this area. They’d already encountered thieves on the way to her da’s castle, whom they had dispatched, but he worried about Accalia’s safety now that she was with them. Everyone was keeping a lookout for trouble, including the lass.

As they journeyed to his home, he was pleased to see the lass had spirit. He could not abide a woman who was meek and mild-tempered, who would faint at the first sign of danger and could not ride for days without constant complaint. He’d been amused when she’d stood up on her own after having a break, annoyed with him, not wanting his help, but then couldn’t mount her horse and he had to help her.

She seemed to have a warrior’s fierce determination. She was a pretty woman with a stubborn chin and flashing green eyes. Though it was a plus, he had more important reasons to take her as his mate.

Her golden hair was braided and pinned up, a wool hood covering most of it. He would like to see it down, hanging about her shoulders, to touch its silkiness, to smell her fragrance, her wolf and woman’s sweetness and spiciness. The breeze had been blowing in his direction, carrying her scent to him when he first saw her, of lavender and thyme, and he’d wanted to press his nose against her hair and take a deeper, closer whiff.

“Do you know how to use the sword?” He motioned to the sword belted at her waist.

“Aye, of course. We have many barbarians roaming the land.”

“But only one tyrant chief?”

She cast him a hint of a smile.

He chuckled, glad she seemed to have a sense of humor, but then got quiet. They needed to be silent through this area. Brigands looking for whatever treasure they could take would attack an unsuspecting party. One such as his, maybe not so much. Except for the prize they escorted through the land.

He wanted to know if Accalia was the right one for him who would carry on if anything bad should befall him. And who would bear his children to increase their clan numbers and be the mother to his three young sons.

They’d traveled for a couple of miles, surprised they hadn’t discovered anyone. Maybe they had cleared out all brigands in the area the first time through here.

Then a scout came riding back to them. “We have seen movement in the woods ahead,” his scout warned. He spoke in her language so that she would understand the threat.

“Are they wolves?” she asked.

“Humans, thieves,” the scout said.

That’s when they saw them watching from the woods. Seven brigands who looked to be thieves, dressed in motley garments, and judging from their ages, around twenty to thirty years old, but they must have thought Erik’s party wasn’t as large or armed as it was at first.

Erik’s wolves growled at the men hiding in the woods.

“That’s Norwulf,” they heard one of the thieves say. “And his vicious wolves.”

Erik had never hidden the fact that wolves were part of his chiefdom. People would think what they would. Most believed that instead of having trained hounds, he had wolves.

He drew his sword. Logan and Erik readied their bows.

Accalia unsheathed her sword,ready for a fight.

“He killed Olson and the others,” a thief said. Then the thieves slipped back into the woods like mist and vanished.

Erik glanced at her sword in hand. “These thieves learned of us killing the ones who attacked us on the way to your castle.”

She was glad that they hadn’t had to fight. On the other hand, if they had eliminated the threat, they could have safeguarded other travelers coming into this area who were not as well-armed. “I guess they willna follow us and try to attack anyone isolated from the others.”

“They would have a pack of wolves on them in an instant. They wouldna be successful in any case.”

The damp chilly air made Accalia shiver as they stopped to set up camp. And she realized her wool brat to wrap herself in was all she had to withstand the cold night air. At her da’s insistence, she’d worn a gown more for showing her off than wearing something for riding long distances and through the night. Now she had no other clothes to wear for the week she was at Whitehaven.

She shivered, unable to control the tremors running through her body. If she’d had a tent, she could transform into her wolf in private. She was usually comfortable doing so in front of her people, but in front of Erik and his men, she hated to admit she felt bashful and hesitant. Typically, she would retreat to her chamber to undress and shift in private.

Erik and his men were conversing quietly with his brothers. Erik looked back at her. He motioned to one of his men, spoke with him, and said, “Take my fur blanket to the lass.”

“Aye, my lord.” The man grabbed a fur blanket from Erik’s saddle and brought it to her, then inclined his head to her.

“Thank you.” Grateful for the warmth, she smelled Erik’s male wolf scent on it, of horse and the piney woods where the fur had rested on the ground at some point. She laid it out and then wrapped herself in it on a cushion of pine needles.

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