Page 5 of Wolf Pack

“We return to the keep.” Alasdair and his men slipped back to their horses and mounted them.

“Do you want me to stay out here, and when I see them appear, howl a warning?” Rory asked.

“Nay. Come with us. We’ll need every man we can gather to fight against them.”

“Aye.” Rory shifted into his wolf and raced back to the keep.

Alasdair and the rest of their men raced him home on horseback.

When they arrived, they shut and locked the portcullis. Alasdair hoped they would be successful in fighting off the Vikings this time.

He asked Hans, “Is everyone from the village and farms accounted for?”

“Everyone except Rheba, our midwife. She was taking care of someone’s new bairns, and the mother, father, and babies are here, but no one has seen Rheba since. Do you want me to take a party out to search for her?”

“Take six men, run as wolves.”

“Will do.”

Bessetta ran out of the keep and smiled at Alasdair. “We have three new members of the pack.”

Frowning, Alasdair nodded. Deep down, he was concerned about the coming battle and what had happened to Rheba. If the Vikings breached their walls, they would not live to see another day.

As soon asFuni returned home, victorious from pillaging another village and bringing more slaves into the clan, Isobel hurried to pack food, water, tools, clothes, weapons, and fursand moved them to the cave. They’d taken anything they could use to survive on the journey for when they arrived in Scotia—just in case they had to flee.

At the meal that evening, the chieftain celebrated their success in the longhouse. Isobel saw her uncle unsheathe his dagger, and chills raced up her spine. She didn’t even want to see the outcome at the celebration when the mead and beer flowed freely, and everyone ate to their heart’s content.

She glanced around to see if Funi’s son, Vigge, was there. Across the lodge, he held a tankard up to her in greeting. His blue eyes glittered with interest, but she knew that would change when her uncle made his move against his da.

A fire burned in a pit in the longhouse, making the place smoky and providing some cover for Isobel and her cousins as they made their way toward the exit.

Everyone but her uncle, Inge, and her cousins were eating and drinking. She knew the way her uncle was inching his way through all the revelry what he was about to do.

As soon he drew close enough to the chieftain, he would kill him. And the men who supported her uncle would eliminate the chieftain’s staunch supporters.

Suddenly, the chieftain mocked her uncle loudly, “You couldna have fought and won against a mere child if you had come with us on the last raid. I hear you plot against me when I’m no’ around.”

He knew. The chieftain already knew.Did Vigge also? Inge and her cousins would all die if they didn’t flee now.

Her uncle went after the chieftain and yanked his ax off his belt, now armed with both the dagger and ax.

Inge pulled her younger cousins out of the longhouse as fast as she could so they didn’t witness the fight. However, she had to know how it turned out. But if her uncle died right then, so would she and her cousins. They didn’t have any choice.

Once her uncle failed to take over the clan to become the new chieftain and lost his life, she and her cousins would be considered traitors as well, though they hadn’t taken up arms against him.

As soon as she was outside, she realized Bodolf hadn’t followed them out. With her heart in her throat, Inge guided the twins to a bunch of wooden barrels and made them hide behind them. “Stay here. Stay quiet.”

Their eyes were wide, but both vigorously nodded.

She started back into the longhouse when Bodolf ran into her.

“Where are Lizzy and Drummond?” Bodolf appeared panicked, breathing hard, and grabbed her arm to steady her.

Fear raced through her body that they would get caught. She pointed to the barrels several feet away. “Hiding there. What happened?”

“You were right. Da tried to attack the chieftain, but before he could touch him, the men who were supposed to be backing him cut Da down.” He sounded bitter.

She didn’t blame him. “They told the chieftain earlier what your da had been plotting then.”

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