Last Alpha: A Highland shifter romance

by Ruby Fielding

  “So four,” said McQueen. “The daft bastart’s set four wolves free.”

  “Why?” asked Jenny. “What would he hope to achieve by doing that?”

  “To cover his tracks,” said McQueen. He glanced across to where a pair of uniformed officers were leading Tsang away. “Because this way he can say he just let them all loose today and all we can do is pursue him for a breach of dangerous animal licensing conditions. It’s going to be very hard for us to prove that at least one of the animals was already loose, and had been for, oh, at least forty-eight hours. Long enough to attack and kill Dr Lee.”

  Carr straightened, opened his mouth to say something, stopped, then went on regardless: “Hold on a moment, McQueen,” he said. “There’s no point making wild allegations like that. Clutching at straws is going to get us nowhere.”

  McQueen smiled. Even with Carr towering over him, he wasn’t intimidated: it was pure stand-off, and the older man had it. “So how would you explain it, Mr Carr?”

  “I wouldn’t,” Carr said swiftly. “And if I were you I’d ask WinstonTsang, rather than blowing hot air like this.”

  “Oh, we will,” said McQueen, that smile never far from his features. “We’ll be asking him exactly why he set four dangerous animals free, and exactly when he did so. And we’ll be asking him who would be ultimately responsible if one of these beasts is responsible for Dr Lee’s death, and upon whose instructions Tsang set them free.”

  All the time, that smile, those beady eyes fixed on Jonathan Carr.

  “And in the meantime,” the retired policeman went on, “we’ll be sending out trackers and marksmen to hunt your wolves down, Mr Carr. Protection of the public is our first priority, I’m sure you’ll understand.”

  §

  As Carr and Cooper strode away, deep in conversation, Billy, Jenny and McQueen remained by the enclosure.

  “Let me help, Jim,” said Billy. “I know these animals. I can track them better than anyone.”

  “Aye, I’m sure ye can, Billy. But this is a public safety matter, and it’s no’ in my hands. Ye can do what ye like on the estate, within reason, of course, but I meant what I said about our duty of public care. Chris Cooper’s already put the call in to round up some trackers. We cannae risk a tranquilizer dart no’ doing its job.”

  “Drugged meat?” suggested Jenny.

  “Aye, maybe,” said McQueen.

  But Billy was shaking his head. “We keep them well-fed,” he said. “They’re going to be so bombarded by new scents and sights right now, they’re no’ going to be too bothered about food just yet. If they’re still free in a few days’ time then they’ll maybe be hungry enough for that to work, but not now.”

  McQueen put a hand on Billy’s shoulder, and squeezed. “Listen, Billy,” he said, “I know you feel responsible. And I understand how hard it is to know your animals are out there being hunted down, and you want to help. But right now, we’re advising everyone to stay indoors. There are wolves out there, and marksmen. You have to stay safe, ye hear me?”

  §

  He paced the library, like a caged animal.

  Jenny sat in one of the wing-backed chairs, watching him.

  Finally, she could hold back no longer.

  “Tell me, Billy,” she said. “What’s Tsang really covering up by letting the wolves free?”

  He stopped, and studied her cautiously.

  “We were at the Lodge this morning. The wolves were all there in the enclosure. I can’t swear that I counted them, but I know you would have noticed if there were any missing. So if one of them wasn’t already running free, there was no need for him to turn them all loose to cover that up. And don’t try to tell me that one must have got out two nights ago and then been rounded up again. So what is it? What was Tsang trying to hide?”

  “I don’t know,” said Billy. “Really I don’t. But right now... Right now I’m more concerned that we have four wolves running loose. Their alpha’s been left behind, so they don’t have anyone to follow. They’ll be excited and scared. And if Jim’s marksmen find them, chances are they won’t manage to shoot all four at once. What if they shoot one and the other three get away? Then we’ll have three really scared wolves on the loose, and a wolf that thinks it’s hunted or cornered is not something you’d want to encounter.”

  “Was it a wolf that killed Lilian?”

  He met her look. “I don’t know what it was,” he said. “I don’t know what’s out there. But I do know that there are four scared wolves and I need to do something. I can’t just leave them to be hunted down, one by one.”

  29

  It was madness. Utter madness.

  For all that she’d spent her adult life tracking down insanity like this, well... this really was madness.

  “I can track them down,” Billy had told her that afternoon. “I can find them.” Then he’d hesitated, met her look again, and continued: “But not as me. You understand? I need to change.”

  Madness.

  And she’d had to reason within the terms of that madness. “But you can’t,” she’d argued. “If you... change... there are armed men out there, looking for wolves. They’d shoot you.”

  She put a hand on his arm, calming him, and again he made her think of a trapped animal. She stroked his arm, trying to soothe, trying to make him settle so he would at least think rationally.

  “I’ll wait until tonight,” he had said, finally. “They won’t be tracking in darkness. They’ll be waiting until morning before they resume the hunt. Jim’s canny: he’ll post guards up at the Lodge because he knows the wolves might be drawn back to the three in the enclosure, particularly when it’s dark, and if the alpha starts calling to them. And there will be marksmen down around the village for the night, just to be safe. I’ll just need to avoid those two places.”

  When you’re a freaking wolf.

  How could she be thinking in these terms?

  How could she not be trying to talk him down, get him treatment?

  How could she have agreed to climb into the Land Rover with him and drive him up here? Up the trail towards the Lodge, then that sharp turn, the climb up the hillside in the vehicle’s lowest gears, the headlights only just picking out the two shallow ruts through the heather that marked the track up to Loch Ellen.

  “I need somewhere safe and out of the way,” he had said. “Somewhere quiet. Away from the armed men.”

  So now they pulled up to a halt, the waters of the loch ahead of them, the blocky stone shape of the bothy just visible down among the trees.

  She turned, just as he leaned over. Slightly clumsily at first, their lips pressed. His hand came up to the back of her head, strong and reassuring.

  Two seconds to forget everything, then he drew away.

  “Don’t be scared when it happens,” he said. “I’d never hurt you. I love you.”

  He pushed the door open, climbed down, paused and then swung the door closed again.

  She thought that would be it, that he would just walk away into the darkness.

  She wanted that.

  All of a sudden, she didn’t want to see any more. Didn’t want confirmation, one way or the other.

  He paused, just ahead of the Land Rover, still off to the left. His arms went round his body, hugging himself. She imagined a bolt of pain stabbing through him, the first internal shifting.

  Stopped herself. It wouldn’t help anyone if she succumbed to this insanity, too.

  He pulled at his jacket then, shrugging it off his shoulders, tugging his arms free, dropping it on the ground. His shirt followed. Just how far through this was he going to go?

  She gripped the steering wheel, squeezed her eyes tight shut, just wanting this to be over.

  When she opened her eyes he was down to white shorts. Now he stooped to pull them down, and then stepped clear.

  Naked, his back to the Land Rover, he stretched, then twisted at the waist, looking back at her.

  What was in his head?

&
nbsp; Was this the moment when he realized his madness was about to be exposed? When he realized it actually was a madness, a thing that had only ever been in his head?

  He dropped to his knees.

  Arched his back, like an angry cat.

  She saw darkness then, some kind of patterning towards the top of his spine and across his shoulders. A trick of the low light. Shadows cast from the headlights, from the way he held himself.

  It was hard to make out anything in this light.

  She just wanted to go out, put her arms around him, soothe him and ease him back into the Land Rover. Take him somewhere safe.

  He moved position so his legs were tucked up, his knees against his ribs, his weight on his toes.

  His body looked... longer now.

  So hard to make out any detail in this low light.

  That dark marking across his shoulders was spreading. It looked textured. Like thick fur.

  She blinked hard. Shook her head from side to side.

  Looked again and saw a creature that was neither man nor beast.

  Narrow waist and rump, deep rib cage, skinny legs – rear and fore. Thick fur spread down from shoulders, along back, down legs, becoming more replete with every second that passed. Fur that took on a silvery sheen in this low light.

  And the head... a face drawn out into a muzzle, a thick neck, small triangular ears pricked up from deep fur.

  A wolf.

  She was staring at a wolf, where maybe half a minute, a minute, before there had been a naked man.

  The beast held itself low to the ground, a cautious, timid look. It flicked its head from side to side, as if tasting the air, then turned and peered back through the darkness towards the Land Rover.

  Nothing could have prepared her for this moment. For the confrontation between her beliefs and the reality of what was before her.

  Nothing.

  And before her, the wolf dipped its head briefly, then turned and slunk away over the heather, heading west in the direction of the Lodge.

  Would it – would he – remember to stay clear of the wolf enclosure behind the lab building now that he had changed into wolf form?

  She remembered his words. Don’t be scared when it happens. I’d never hurt you.

  Even now, having seen what she had just seen, she wasn’t scared of him. Rather, with the knowledge she had, she was scared for him.

  §

  He holds himself low to the ground. Disoriented. The smell of diesel and metal and heather. Dazzling, twin lights. The squared off box of metal and glass. A human staring out.

  Breathing fast, on the edge of panic, on the edge of fight or flight.

  Hackles raised, ears twitching, he raises his head, tastes the scents on the air. Pine trees and heather, grouse, voles, bracken, deer.

  He twists, spine cracking, frame not yet stabilized.

  Pale face, still watching.

  He is confused.

  He knows to fear humans. Always.

  But this one... He feels the bond like something physical. Muscle. Bone. Rock.

  He dips his head and then turns. Body still low, he trots away over the heather towards that other familiar smell which binds him like something physical.

  The smell of wolf.

  §

  He comes to a rocky outcrop. In daylight this position would command a clear view out over the treetops and the valley, across to where the next line of hills rose up. In darkness, even with his refined vision, before him is only a mass of dark shapes. He senses a gulf before him, hears the rustle of pine needles in the trees below, the scrambling footfalls of a small creature nearby. Hears the sound of music, faint on the night air, carried up from the distant castle. Hears a short contact yap from one of last year’s pups.

  Then: a low, guttural clearing of a man’s throat.

  He edges forward.

  Below is the building, a narrow pathway running between one of its walls and the foot of this crag. There is a light inside, but there always is, even when there are no humans about.

  Toward the front, a vehicle lies in wait, two men inside. He hears a low voice, then the grunted reply of a different voice.

  Danger hangs heavier than any scent on the night air.

  He shuffles back, body low to the rocky ground. Moves away to the right and threads a path down the side of the crag until he comes to stand in the open area between building and enclosure.

  The wolves have heard him, scented him. They trot back and forth behind the fence. One makes an anxious whining sound.

  Hackles raised, ears pricked, he approaches.

  The two youngsters hold back, their bodies held low, their ears and fur flattened, submissive. The third, the big alpha, stands his ground just beyond the fence. Ears pointing forward, lips drawn back to expose sharp teeth, his front legs braced so that he stands high, he confronts the newcomer.

  And that newcomer, a shifter nan lub, in wolf form, moves forward, his own lips drawn back in an angry snarl. He is heavier, taller, easily the winner of any confrontation if a fence did not intervene.

  A low rumble of a growl bubbles up from somewhere deep.

  Eyes locked, they stand facing each other, a moment that draws out.

  Then, as if nothing has happened, the captive alpha flicks his head away, turns to the side. His fur slicks itself back down, his body drops lower and he trots away.

  And the newcomer moves forward, raises a back leg, and pees on the fence, marking it with his scent.

  He turns and immediately senses something new. The scent of humans overlays everything here, but now...

  A light shines bright, pinpointing him. A man speaks. Something clicks.

  He runs. Low and fast along the line of the fence to where the ground falls away. Leaps into the void where the slope falls away.

  Sound rips through the night. Explosion, reverberating jarringly.

  Pain.

  Darkness.

  30

  She’d seen it with her own eyes.

  Watched him... change.

  Something she’d never before thought possible.

  It wasn’t that she’d ever set out to spend her working life disproving things like this; more that every single case she’d investigated had turned out to have a rational, mundane explanation. This stuff was never true.

  Until now.

  What she had witnessed made her reassess everything. Every little strangeness and quirk that she’d seen in Billy. The intensity. The difference.

  He really was different. He really did have some pretty dangerous secrets to protect.

  He really was dealing with some very weird shit.

  And he really was in love with her, in an intense, in it for life kind of a way.

  She felt such a bitch.

  §

  She sat back in the driver’s seat of Billy’s Land Rover, hugging herself. She wasn’t sure if the shudder that had just ripped through her was a delayed shock thing, or simply that the night was a cold one.

  She didn’t know where this left her. Them. How could you possibly have any thoughts about what might come next, when something like this throws itself into your life?

  She had to force herself to remember that she was in the thick of a dangerous and volatile situation. A woman had been killed. Dangerous predators were on the loose. She should head back down to the safety of the castle and shut herself in her room as she had promised Billy she would do.

  Not just sit here in the middle of nowhere going over and over that image in her head.

  Billy was a shifter.

  He was a goddamn shifter!

  §

  A single gunshot cut through the night.

  She still hadn’t moved, still was going over it all again and again in her head.

  She jumped, gripped the wheel even harder, leaned forward but saw nothing.

  The gunshot had been close enough to startle her, but not immediately nearby.

  The Lodge. They’d both agreed the police would h
ave posted marksmen at the Lodge in case the escaped wolves returned under cover of the night to what remained of the pack.

  She fired the engine, wrestled the Land Rover into reverse and sped backwards, wheel turned hard right. Then she remembered to flip the selector for low range gears, as Billy had shown her to do for off-road driving, engaged first gear and crawled tentatively forward over the moor. It took all her concentration to find the ruts of the track in the heather, and the return trip across the moor took far longer in darkness than it had when Billy had driven this route in daylight that morning.

  Eventually, she came to the sharp drop where the ground fell away to the main trail between lab and castle.

  She paused here, looking across to the right to where lights were on at the Lodge. There had only been one shot, unless she had missed more when she was driving, but one was enough.

  She felt sick with fear.

  Cautiously, she guided the Land Rover down onto the main trail, then swung back to the right and pulled up before the laboratory building.

  A silver car was parked here, doors open, interior lights on. There were lights in the Lodge, too, and an external light at the back of the building. She followed the narrow path round and emerged into an open area awash with light. Saw two figures over at the far side, shining flashlights down into the gorge.

  “Hey,” she called, “what’s happening?”

  The men turned, and she saw that one was Jim McQueen.

  “Miss Layne?” he said. “What on earth are you doing out here tonight?”

  He hurried over, and she saw that he had a rifle slung over his back.

  “What’s happening?”

  “You need to be getting back to the castle, you hear?”

  There was steel to his voice. He was angry that she had come out, but also protective; he knew she was close to Billy, and Billy was like a son to him. There would be questions, she knew, and she would have to find an explanation, but right now the old man only seemed concerned to get her away.

  He put a hand to her arm, turned her, and led her back around the building.