Claimed by the Highland Wolf

by Stephanie Marks

  “Look at me, lass,” he said.

  I slowly raised my eyes to meet his.

  “Don’t do anything foolish,” he told me very slowly.

  I swallowed and nodded my head. The skin on my face felt like it was burning at his touch. “I won’t,” I whispered.

  He released me and walked away from us without another word.

  Donald and I stood quietly at the edge of the trees and watched as the men crept down toward the small grouping of houses below. Once they reached the homes, they dashed in and out of the shadows, heading for the barn.

  It wasn’t long before I noticed that another shape had joined the men in the dark, and I gasped when I realized that giant wolves were with them. With their large jaws wrapped around fence posts, they tore down parts of the small garden fences and trampled the edges around the vegetables. It took me a moment to realize that they weren’t actually doing any real harm to the crops themselves.

  Soon they were scratching at the doors of the houses and sending up loud howls, which seemed to signal to the men that it was time to fall back.

  The men came running back into the trees, two of them leading horses and yelling the MacGregor clan war cry into the night. They wasted no time mounting their horses and taking off into the woods at top speed with their spoils.

  “Come along, now. It’s time to go,” Donald told me, tugging on my arm.

  I hurried with him over to our horse and let him boost me up into the seat. Soon we were off with the rest of them, galloping away from the Boyle crofting as fast as we could.

  My mind swirled with confusion as we raced through the night. There had been no violence, no fires, no death and only minor damage done. Where were the bloody beatings I had been warned about? No wives or daughters had been dragged from their beds to slake the craven lust of these MacGregor men. It was not at all what I had been expecting, what I had been warned about my entire life.

  Even my own treatment at the hands of these men had not been wholly unpleasant. I suddenly wondered if any of us really knew who these people were, these men of clan MacGregor.

  CHAPTER 6

  A few days later we arrived at Meggernie Castle, nestled in the center of the beautiful valley of Glen Lyon. The tired and dirty men sent up a cheer as their home came into view, eager to get back behind the magnificent castle’s walls.

  I, on the other hand, was filled with trepidation. On the other side of those gates, a whole new life was waiting for me, and I had yet to be told exactly what would be expected of me. The circumstances of my situation meant that I could not expect to be treated as a political guest here. I was not wed to the MacGregor but was in fact a hostage, which meant that I could be tossed in irons and locked away at his whim. Especially since none of my clan knew where I was, or had the ability to visit to ensure that my treatment was befitting of my rank.

  My uncle had tossed me at the MacGregor’s feet with permission to do what he would with me. And no matter their decent treatment of me up to this point; nothing was guaranteed until the terms of my capture were officially laid out.

  We dismounted from our horses and handed them off to the grooms who greeted us at the castle doors. I took a deep breath and held my head high in the face of all the people who had come out to see their chief and his men safely home.

  “Donald, bring her,” said the MacGregor in a clipped tone as he led us into the keep.

  I followed him through the halls of the keep with Donald following close on my heels, ignoring the curious looks of the castle occupants as we passed.

  I was led to a large study which boasted a fireplace as tall as a man with two large leather chairs pulled up in front of it. On one side was a large bookcase, and the center of the room was dominated by a large desk, which the MacGregor moved to stand behind.

  “Thank you, Donald. You can leave us now.”

  I turned around to look at Donald, shooting him a pleading look. I was not ready to be left alone with this terrifying man.

  “Don’t worry, lass, you’ll be just fine,” Donald said to me. He stepped forward and gave my hand a quick squeeze before exiting the study and closing the door behind him.

  “Take a seat, Glenna Gordon. There’s much we need to be discussing.”

  A shiver went down my spine at the sound of his deep voice. It felt strange to hear my name on his lips, but not unpleasant.

  He waited until I had arranged myself in the seat across from his great desk before sitting himself. Leaning back in his chair, he studied me quietly for so long that I began to shift uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

  “How did you come to be here, lass?” he asked suddenly.

  “You know that as well as I. My traitorous uncle handed me over to you.”

  “Yes, but I’m still not sure I believe his reason why.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Was there really any doubt in his mind about the lengths a desperate man would go to when faced with the idea of dealing with the infamous highland chief?

  “My uncle wanted to ensure that you would leave our people in peace. He believed that handing me over to you was the only way that peace could be guaranteed.”

  “And ye know this for certain, then, do ye? How do ye know that it’s not some part of a larger plot?” He leaned forward over the desk and looked me in the eye. “How can I even be certain that ye are who ye say ye are? Ye could be a serving wench for all I know.”

  I bristled at the accusation, my back going stiff.

  “How dare you, sir. You sit there and accuse me of being a liar after all that I’ve been through? Dragged from my bed. Bound and gagged by my own blood. Dragged through the forest for three nights and three days only to be thrown down at the feet of the dreaded highland chief Alastair MacGregor, he who has the very hounds of hell at his command. What exactly do you think I would have to gain from putting myself in such a precarious position? I am Glenna Gordon, daughter of Cameron Gordon, and I will not have my word on the matter doubted again.”

  By now I was out of my seat and looking down at him, my chest rising and falling rapidly in my ire. When I had finished speaking and had started to calm down, my ire turned to shock and then fear. I had always been known for speaking my mind, but to lose my temper with such a man was beyond stupidity.

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly, gripping the arms of the chair so tightly that my knuckles turned white and lowering myself back into my seat. “The stress of the last week seems to have gotten the better of me.”

  “No serving wench, even one sent here as a spy, would have had the nerve to give me the sharp edge of her tongue. If anything, your outburst has proved what no amount of pretty words could have, Glenna Gordon.”

  I closed my eyes and sighed in relief, easing my grip on the chair.

  “What is to become of me?” I asked quietly.

  “Your uncle has used ye to buy the safety of the Gordon lands. In order for that agreement to be honored, you have no other choice but to stay here with me.”

  “B-but,” I stuttered, “my uncle does not have that authority. My father never would have allowed this deal to be struck. I heard him myself. He was wholly against it.”

  “Would ye prefer I reject the offer and march against your people?” He sat back in his chair and raised his eyebrows at me, his long fingers steepled under his chin.

  “No!” I shouted, appalled at the prospect.

  “Then it comes down to this, lass. If ye agree to stay here with me, then I will consider the deal a binding contract. The Gordons will have nothing more to fear from the clan MacGregor. But if you say nay, then you leave your clan open to further attack. The choice is yours.”

  I sat frozen, deaf to all but the sound of my beating heart echoing in my ears. I had no choice. What was the worth of my freedom if it meant putting my entire clan in danger? Could I give up my future, my family, my freedom, if it meant that my clan no longer had to fear this man?

  “I’ll stay,” I whispered.
>
  He nodded and stood, then walked around the desk toward me. “I’ll show ye to your chamber.”

  He held out his hand to me and after a moment of hesitation I slipped my hand into his. A spark went through my hand at the contact and I started to pull my hand back, but he closed his fingers around mine and placed my hand on his arm, then escorted me from the room.

  CHAPTER 7

  I did not go downstairs to the great hall for dinner that night, choosing instead to spend the evening in solitude, isolated in my new room. My chamber was large and comfortable, dominated on one side by a giant bed, piled high with pillows and furs to ward off the chill in the night air. It also boasted a fireplace, though not as large as the one in the study downstairs. There was a sitting area with a large window and a table with a cushioned stool where I could sit to have my hair dressed in the mornings, as well as a large tub for bathing behind a screen. The perfect gilded cage.

  I was sitting in one of the twin chairs by the window, staring out over the large lush grounds behind the castle, my heart aching for home, when I heard a strange shuffling outside my chamber.

  I crossed the room and pressed my ear to the door, but the sound had stopped. Taking hold of the handle, I tugged lightly on the door and gasped in surprise to find it unlocked. Easing it open, I looked down to see the form of the great black wolf lying across my doorway. I knew in an instant that it was the same beast that had been sent to bring me back to the camp when I had attempted to escape.

  The wolf’s ears perked up and it turned to look at me, fixing me with its great golden-eyed stare. I swallowed and tried to calm the rapid beating of my heart.

  “Are you to keep me from escaping, then?” I asked the wolf, my voice shaking. “Well, you can tell the MacGregor that I have every intention of keeping my word. I am not about to risk the safety of my people. And tell him… tell him that he can go right to the devil,” I snapped, and slammed the door closed.

  The next morning I did not go downstairs for breakfast. I was not ready to face the stares, or speak to anyone. I preferred my isolation.

  Come lunch time there was a knock on my door. I looked up just as the MacGregor stormed into the room, his face red with anger.

  “Do ye plan to starve yourself, then?” he asked.

  “I’m not hungry,” I told him, turning to look back out the window.

  “Ye cannot stay up here all day and all night. I am not about to let ye starve yourself to death. If ye wish for the treaty to stand then ye must live, which means ye must eat. I expect to see ye in the great hall for lunch.” With that he stormed from the room, slamming the door behind him.

  I never left the room, choosing instead to sit and stare blankly out the window until long after the sun had gone down.

  ***

  Late that night I heard that shuffling outside my chamber again, but this time it was followed by a scratching at my door. Trying to ignore it, I pulled the blankets up around my shoulders and rolled over in bed. A few moments later the sound of scratching came again.

  Sighing in annoyance, I climbed out of bed and opened the chamber door. The large black wolf sat before me with a plate of food piled high before it.

  “I supposed I’m expected to eat that, am I?” I asked the wolf, crossing my arms over my chest. “Well, I’ll tell you the same thing I told your master. I’m not hungry.”

  I moved to close the door in the wolf’s face but stopped when it let out a low, menacing growl. Narrowing my eyes, I glared at it, then bent down and picked up the plate.

  “Do you trust me to eat it, or would you like to watch me do that as well?”

  The wolf stood up and I jumped back as it padded into the room and dropped itself down in front of the fire.

  “Of course,” I sighed.

  I curled up on the bed, picking over the chicken and vegetables and eating slowly as the wolf watched my every move. My stomach rolled and protested my slow movements, crying out in hunger. If the wolf hadn’t been there to watch me, there was no doubt that I would have cleared the plate already. But I did not want it or the MacGregor to know just how hungry I really was.

  Seemingly satisfied once my plate was half empty, the wolf turned its back on me and closed its eyes, clearly enjoying the warmth of the flames.

  “You know, you’re not nearly as fearsome as I once thought,” I told it.

  The wolf turned to face me and let out a low growl, but upon hearing it I realized that I was no longer afraid. I tore off a piece of chicken, crossed the room to the wolf and stood before it, holding the chicken out in front of me. After a moment it sat back on its hind legs and I tossed the morsel of meat to it. The beast snapped it out of the air deftly, then cocked its head to the side, waiting.

  Smiling, I went back to the plate for another piece of meat, this time tossing it across the room and laughing when the wolf moved quickly and caught that piece as well before dropping back down to curl up on the floor.

  “We had dogs at the castle,” I told the wolf as I sat down on the corner of the bed. “I used to sneak them bits of my supper when no one was looking. My father would warn me off about spoiling them, but I never listened.”

  A tear rolled down my cheek and I brushed it roughly away, determined not to cry. The wolf stood up and came over to me, and dropped its large head in my lap. I stared down at it, then very slowly raised my hand and placed it gently on the top of its head. When it didn’t move I curled my fingers and started scratching slowly, over its neck and behind its ears.

  “I miss Fin, my brother. I’ll miss riding horses with him. We used to race,” I whispered.

  I sat in silence for a few minutes, scratching the wolf’s ears and enjoying the fact that with it there I did not feel so utterly and completely alone.

  After moving what was left of the plate of food to the table I curled up in bed and went to sleep while the wolf watched me from its place in front of the fire.

  ***

  When I woke up the next morning my room was empty. I finished off my supper from the night before, allowing myself another day’s respite from having to face eating a meal in the great hall. But a few hours later the door to my chamber crashed open and the MacGregor stormed in.

  “Ye did not come down for breakfast or lunch today, lass.”

  “I did not feel like coming down to eat.”

  He glanced over at my dressing table and saw the empty plate there. “Still not hungry, then?”

  I blushed and averted my gaze. “Thank you,” I mumbled.

  “Ye cannot hide up here forever.”

  “Why not? It’s as good a place as any for me to live out my sentence. If I am to be a captive, why can I not be a captive in peace?”

  “Is that what ye want? To be locked away with no small sense of freedom?” he asked.

  “What I want is to go home!” I shouted. “But since that is not possible, then all I ask is to be left alone. What more could you possibly want from me?” I turned my back on him sharply and dropped my head, wrapping my arms around myself.

  A moment later I heard my chamber door close with a slam.

  ***

  That night I heard the familiar scratching at my door and I opened it without hesitation.

  “I shouldn’t be so glad for your company, knowing that you’re here at his behest,” I told the wolf.

  The wolf nudged the plate of food toward me with its great paw and I picked it up and opened the door wide for it to come inside. It watched me while I ate, eating the morsels of chicken that I shared with it.

  The moment I was done eating the wolf padded over and placed one of its large paws on the door of my wardrobe.

  “What is it?”

  It padded over to me and nudged at me with its great head until I stood up and walked over to the wardrobe, where it placed a paw on the door again.

  I opened the wardrobe door and looked inside, confused. “I don’t know what you want. There’s naught but clothing in here.”

  The w
olf pawed at my gowns then looked at me. If I hadn’t known better I would have sworn it wore an expression of annoyance.

  I reached into the wardrobe and pulled out one of the elegant gowns the MacGregor had brought for me to wear and held it up in front of my body. The wolf lifted one of its front legs and brought it across its muzzle covering its eyes, then put a paw back in the wardrobe.

  I put the elegant gown back and pulled out a simple blue one instead and held it up in front of me. The wolf dropped back onto its hind legs, looking up at me.

  “You want me to wear this one, then?”

  The wolf didn’t move, just sat there panting, so I took that for a yes. I grabbed the hem of my shift, pulled it over my head, and redressed myself in the gown. Reaching into my closet, I pulled out the simple boots that I had arrived in and pulled them on.

  Once I was dressed, the wolf padded over to the door of my chamber. I opened the door and let it out, but did not step over the threshold myself.

  Circling back, the wolf butted its head against my legs, then padded off down the hall again. I looked around but there was no one there to stop me, so I quietly closed the door and hurried down the hall after the wolf.

  It led me through the castle and down to the front door, where two men stood guard. I skidded to a stop, staring at them in horror.

  “I… I don’t…” I stuttered.

  “Have a nice night, lass,” one of the guards said to me, smiling, then he opened the door for the wolf and me to pass through.

  “Thank you,” I said quickly with my head down, and rushed out the door, but I came to an abrupt stop when saw the wolf standing next to a saddled horse.

  I looked at the horse and then back to the castle. I had mentioned riding to the wolf the night before, and then earlier the MacGregor had asked me if I did not want even a small bit of freedom. Was this his way of showing me that I was not completely captive?

  I pulled myself up into the saddle and the wolf took off across the grounds. Pressing my heels into the horse’s flank, I urged it forward and then into a full gallop as I followed the wolf across the lush grass of the valley.