Page 13 of Wolf Pack

Isobel suspected she said so because she had been uprooted from her home and didn’t like the human Vikings they’d lived with.

Elene took a deep breath and let it out. “They’ll be guarded, wouldna they be?”

“A couple of guards will stay with the ships. Also, the marauders won’t venture far from them. As long as they dinna return cliffside, they wouldna see the ships burning though.”

“That’s why they were fighting whoever was on the cliffs above. Their ships are nearby,” Conall said.

“Ja. They’ll move down the coast to attack more monasteries and villages after they are done here,” Isobel said.

“It’s dark out now. They canna see us in the dark. We could go now,” Conall said.

Despite being tired after their long journey, Isobel agreed. “Aye, let’s go.”

The Vikings would want revenge but would be shaken when they realized an unseen enemy had destroyed their vessels and vanished.

“Elene, you stay with Conall’s sister and brother.” Isobel stood.

“You dinna need me to fight the men?” Elene asked.

They could use her help, but what if the men managed to kill the three of them? Then, the little ones would be in the cave by themselves, and Isobel didn’t want to think about what could become of them.

Isobel battled with herself over the plan. She wanted to keep her family safe. But she didn’t want anyone who might have been captured to be treated like Elene. Isobel hugged Libby, Drummond, and then Elene.

“Whatever happens, dinna come for us. If we dinna return, take them back to your home, to your wolf kind.”

“Aye.” Elene hugged her back.

“Come. Let’s go.” Isobel grabbed her sword, sheathed it, and carefully walked along the raggedy, slippery stones to the cave entrance.

Conall grabbed his sword and headed out after her.

Before leaving the cave, she told Conall, “If there are more than two guards, we dinna fight them. We watch, waiting for only one to be in view, then if that happens, we make our move. If they are together, we dinna engage them. We slip away. Mayhap observe them for a while, but we can only go after one while the other isna in view.”

“Ja.”

Neither of them was strong enough to make a full-frontal assault on one of the Vikings unless they caught him by surprise, and only if the other guard, if there were two or more, weren’t alerted.

Then Isobel and Conall made their way to the ocean.

“We could climb atop the cliffs and make our way toward the beach that way, but we might run into the marauders,” Isobel said.

“I say we swim to the beach. No one will expect anyone to go ashore there.”

That would give them more time to observe the situation, she hoped.

“Ja.” They would reach a beach a short way from the cliffs at the water’s edge. But they would have to go around more cliffs after swimming to the second beach to reach the ships resting on the shore.

They started to swim toward the beach on the other side of their cave, battling the waves, the currents threatening to take them back in the cave's direction and trying to keep from slamming into the rocks. She and Conall were excellent swimmers but fought to reach the beach.

They clung to the rocks while the waves yanked at them, trying to pull them loose. But they could see the beach around the cliff. The longships were jutting out on the beach beyond the next cliff. They clambered onto the beach, then after catching their breath, they raced across the rocky shore.

At that moment, she wished she was wearing her wolf coat. She could run faster and be much warmer than a human wearing wet clothes.

The cold wind was whipping off the ocean, and she shivered. Not to mention, chills were running up her spine while thinking of the danger they faced. Running across the rocky beach helped to warm her. Her cousin was behind her, his feet hitting the rocks with a soft clatter.

Their hearts beat in unison, like two birds soaring above the crashing waves. They reached the next outcropping of rocks and paused momentarily, catching their breaths. They had to swim again.

“We can do this,” Conall said, hands on his thighs, breathing hard.

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