Page 1 of Highland Games
Prologue
Zoe sat by the side of the bed, holding her great-uncle’s hand as he slept. She stared at the framed pictures on the wall: watercolour prints of countryside scenes, taking the viewer somewhere peaceful and calming, whilst the roar of London traffic outside reminded them they were anywhere but. Great-uncle Willie had spent almost his entire life alone in a remote corner of Scotland. Living off the land, in a one-room cabin, doing odd jobs for the Kinloch estate. It was a life of open space and freedom, but now his last breaths would be the acrid tang of exhaust fumes and disinfectant.
The sound of his breathing changed and she turned to him, running her thumb across the back of his hands, the hills and valleys of veins, bones and sinews, the landscape of a lifetime. His hair used to be a mirror of her own, a crazy cloud of red curls. But now the colour had left, leaving wisps of white behind. He opened his eyes and she moved closer.
‘Uncle Willie, it’s me. It’s Zoe.’
He moved his head and she stood up and perched on the edge of the bed. He spent so much time asleep now, and she was never really sure if he recognised her when he was awake. A spark flickered in his eyes.
‘Princess Zoe?’
Her eyes stung. ‘That’s me,’ she replied, jaw tight with emotion. She tried to smile.
‘Dinnae cry for me, lassie,’ he whispered. ‘I’ve had a good life.’
Zoe swallowed. ‘I…’
Willie looked past her. ‘Your mum?’
Zoe shook her head. Tears dropped onto their clasped hands. ‘She’s having a cup of tea with Dad. They’ll be back in a bit.’
Willie looked back at her, raising up an inch off the pillow. ‘I’ve left you something. Ye have to take it,’ he whispered, urgently.
What?Great-uncle Willie didn’t own anything.
‘The cabin. It’s yours. Go have an adventure. You don’t have to always do what your mum and dad want. Do something for you, love.’
He sagged back into the pillow, his eyes closing and a sigh rushing out between his dry lips.
‘Follow your heart,’ he whispered, before falling back to sleep.
1
Three Months Later
This was it. She was going to die.
Die being mauled and eaten by a bear. Why had she left her flat, her job, her friends, her life, for this wild fantasy only to die on the first night?
And she wasn’t even wearing her best underwear.
Adrenaline shot up Zoe’s body, turbocharged by alcohol, straight to her frantic heart.Think! Can I barricade the door?She tore her gaze from the grimy window, fighting the darkness inside the deserted cabin. The chairs looked rotten and the table too heavy to move without making a noise.What happened to the rest of Willie’s furniture? And why did I neck half a bottle of Prosecco the minute I arrived? On an empty stomach?
She peered back at the large shape shuffling in the blackness outside. It was huge; bigger and broader than a man. But hang on, were there even bears in Scotland? She ran through her memories – a scrambled montage of wildlife documentaries – trying to pick the right country from ice caps, rainforests, and savannah. There had been a film, years ago, about bringing native species back to the Highlands. Had they reintroduced bears? Or was it beavers?She went to Google it, then remembered there was no phone signal.
God, this place really is the ends of the earth.
She tiptoed to the cabin door. It didn’t lock or even close properly, hopeless against a creature that big. She peered through the crack. It was by the outhouse. Maybe it was searching for food. Could she throw it something to eat? She locked her eyes on the figure and bent her knees, her fingers fluttering into the shopping bags on the floor. They knocked against a can and it tipped, tumbling with a crash.
The figure’s head snapped up. Zoe heard a low growl: the sound of a creature preparing to kill.
Shit, shit, shit!
Her hand closed around a loaf of bread. She yanked it out, pushed the door open and catapulted the loaf into the air. It arced overhead and landed with a soft thud at the bear’s feet. The growl changed to a frenzied bark, and a wolf stalked out from behind the outhouse.
Oh god, wolvesandbears!
She was doomed. The bear put a paw out, silencing the wolf, bent down and picked up her weapon.
