by Spear, Terry
“They had great reviews for good reason. The ‘costumes’ were ours and perfectly authentic. Anyway, no, Ian’s not allowing another movie to be filmed at the castle. Why? If he did, would you want to fight in it?” The MacQuarrie brothers had been having trouble with another clan during the last filming and hadn’t been able to take off to join the MacNeills. The guys were all about fighting. The MacQuarries hadn’t had a good battle in a while—even if it was just film-making magic—and she knew the need to fight was in their blood.
Enrick gave her a smirk.
“I thought so. You know that if it’s in the works, the ones in charge wouldn’t want anyone to leak the details until they’re ready to share it with the rest of the pack.”
“Then Ian is allowing another one. Great.” Enrick smiled, then frowned. “So how come these guys had some idea it was happening when no one else does?”
She sighed. “I didn’t say it was happening, but if it were, would you sign up to be an extra?”
“If the film is at the MacNeills’ castle? Sure. See you around. And thanks for the pie.”
See you around? To check on her? Make sure she was behaving herself? He was more interested in being in the next movie. “You’re welcome.” Except for buying a pie for his pack leader, he was not welcome here just to do what her brothers bid. She sighed as Enrick left the pie shop.
Lana immediately came over and punched her lightly on the shoulder. “You didn’t ask him out on a date or tell him anything that would indicate you wanted to go out with him.”
“He wasn’t here for that.”
“Aye, he was here to protect you. And he asked how you were feeling. It helps to have wolf hearing. Coming here has to mean he wants to have something more to do with you. But since he’s a man, he’s cautious and is afraid of rejection. Oh, and what’s this business about a movie being filmed at Argent Castle?”
Heather shook her head. “There isn’t going to be a movie shot there. Ian wouldn’t hear of it. Trust me.”
Enrick wouldn’t be happy with her when he learned she had known all along the film was set at his castle, not hers, and she hadn’t told him. And she even had a role in the film. She glanced at the New York men eating their pies. The star of the film could be sitting here right this minute, but Enrick hadn’t even seen him. She was glad he hadn’t, or the man could have given it all away.
Enrick had been fuming when he saw the Kilpatricks had parked their red truck at the MacNeills’ pie shop. He’d suspected they were up to no good. He hadn’t planned to be anywhere near the shop today, yet he’d driven in that direction, not even realizing where he was going until he was there. Subconsciously, he’d wanted to see Heather for himself and learn if she was ready to start dating again. Like her brothers, he was concerned that she would date the wrong wolf. He didn’t want to be insensitive about her feelings though.
Her dark hair and eyes had always captivated him. Even now. She’d always caught his attention. But she was not the she-wolf for him, he told himself. He envisioned someone who was a lot less…spontaneous. More predictable. Less out of control.
When he saw the Kilpatricks’ vehicle there, the notion of approaching her about a date had flown out the window. Protecting Heather after what Patrick had put her through was all he could think about. Enrick still didn’t know what to think of Heather. She had put on a brave face in front of the Kilpatricks, but he’d smelled the tension she’d been feeling too. He wanted to throw the two men out of the shop bodily, but he didn’t want to react to them the way Timothy had and get himself in the same predicament.
Since Timothy had been a wolf of the MacQuarrie clan, that had also kept Enrick from approaching her. He didn’t want her or anyone else thinking badly of him for not giving her the proper time to grieve, while her brothers were insistent she could just start dating a rogue wolf at any moment.
Enrick had been so busy helping Grant run the estate that he hadn’t had time to find a female to court. What with the trouble Grant’s mate, Colleen, had from the Kilpatricks and their cousins, and being second-in-command, Enrick had had his hands full. Yet he had seen Heather was making a mistake with Timothy and tried to stop her from courting the wolf. Though from what her brothers had said, if they told her not to do something, she was sure to do it.
Enrick let out his breath. Now she was free and could be hurt all over again, if he and the others didn’t watch out for her.
He was much more levelheaded than Timothy and couldn’t see mating a woman like Heather. Enrick had been way too much like that until his father had set him straight. Sure, dating her for fun could be enjoyable, but becoming a permanent mate? No. He suspected she liked being with someone who could be more free-spirited, show her a good time, and fight for a cause, no matter if it was uncalled for or not. He was not that kind of wolf.
Enrick called his older triplet brother, Grant, on the way back to Farraige Castle.
“Hey, did you hear Ian is having another film shot at his castle? We missed out on fighting in the battle scenes the last time, but if we can manage to get free, maybe the three of us can go over there and fight against the MacNeills.” Enrick was always up for a fun-hearted clash with Ian and his brothers. And he hoped during breaks from the shoots he would be able to see Heather and help make sure she didn’t run off with some American actors like she’d tried to do the last time.
Once she’d declared she was mating Timothy, Enrick wished he could have stopped the whole dating process at the beginning. Every time he’d seen Timothy with her, Enrick had regretted it. She might be a wild spirit, but Timothy had demons he’d refused to face. Now he was dead, and she’d been left with the collateral damage.
“I was about to call you. We’re having a meeting in the conference room as soon as you return,” Grant said to Enrick.
“Sure, I’m on my way home now. Be there in twenty minutes.” He was going to ask what the meeting was about when Grant spoke again.
“I’ve got to go. See you in a few minutes.”
The line clicked dead. Since Enrick was being called into a meeting in the conference room, he was certain something important was happening.
When he arrived at the castle, he carried the pie into the kitchen and said to a couple of the ladies making lunch, “It’s for Colleen. Don’t ask.” Then he hoofed it to the conference room where portraits of kilted family members past and present hung on the walls, along with the swords and shields of some of their fallen heroes. And portraits of wolves from the early years to today.
A sitting area was situated on one side of the room, and an oak conference table with seating for twelve took up another area.
Since this appeared to be an informal meeting between family members, Grant and Colleen were sitting on a tapestry love seat, and Enrick’s younger triplet brother, Lachlan, had taken a seat on one of the leather chairs across from them in the sitting area.
Glass patio doors that looked out on the patio and gardens were open, letting in a warm breeze and sunlight. It was a beautiful day, perfect to be outside, and Enrick would be as soon as he got another chance.
He took a seat next to Lachlan. “What’s the trouble now?” Some of the men in their pack had squabbled with McKinley wolf-pack members at a pub this past week. He would have hoped in this day and age they were beyond that. The problem was that wolf shifters all lived such long lives that old battles between clans were hard to forget. And the recent issues their friends the MacNeills had had with the McKinleys hadn’t helped. Not to mention that Patrick Kilpatrick had killed one of the MacQuarries’ men.
Enrick noticed Colleen was smiling, so he assumed the issue to be discussed wasn’t anything troublesome, though the American lass was always coming up with new projects, like making the seawall more secure so kids—and foolhardy adults—couldn’t go beyond it, risking being washed out to sea. He figured she had a new plan in mind that imp
acted all of them.
“We have signed a contract to have a Highland time-travel film made here,” Grant said.
Enrick’s jaw dropped. He was surprised his brother hadn’t told him and Lachlan about it already. He supposed since Grant was mated to Colleen, the pack leaders now made the rules. Or maybe they thought Grant’s brothers wouldn’t go along with the idea. Enrick was certain it would wreak havoc with their daily schedules, but he knew the MacNeill wolf clan had made a lot of money off having a film staged at their castle, and many of their men and women had fun playing as extras. So he was all for it.
“I ran off two of the Kilpatricks, Robert and Patrick, at the MacNeills’ pie shop. They were trying to learn from Heather where a fantasy film was going to be set,” Enrick said. “Is this the same one? How did they know about it when we didn’t?”
“The location manager of the film checked out the McKinleys’ castle, too, but the company chose ours,” Colleen said. “We’ve been in negotiations with them for some time, and we didn’t want to say anything to either of you until it was a sure deal. Grant knew you would be on board if we got the contract. I’m sure the McKinleys weren’t happy about losing the contract—they were just told today—but they’ll be even angrier when they learn the film will be shot at an enemy’s clan holdings.”
Enrick stifled a groan. Colleen was right. They would be fuming about it. And they would want to get even, despite the MacQuarries having nothing to do with the ultimate selection of the site for the film.
“Wait, the MacNeills had agreed to have the first movie filmed on location at their castle because they were having financial difficulty,” Enrick said, worried. “Are we?”
He thought about all the expensive but necessary repairs and improvements Colleen had made to the castle and grounds since she’d arrived and mated his older triplet brother. She had wanted to fortify the stone walls and the towers and the keep, major work and expense, but well worth it in the long run.
Everyone loved her for that and a million other reasons. She’d even trained the Irish wolfhounds to behave and taught pack members how to work with them. Grant and his brothers had been afraid she would get homesick and want to return to America, but she loved the castle and their lands and the pack, and she seemed happy to be here and hadn’t said anything about returning there even for a visit. They were glad about that.
“No, we’re doing fine,” Colleen said. “We’ve made sure we have a say in who is hired as extras, learning from the MacNeill clan’s mistakes. We don’t want our enemies showing up to fight us. The Kilpatricks you saw at the shop don’t stand a chance of being cast.” She frowned. “Did you happen to get me a Scotch pie?”
Enrick smiled. “Of course.”
Lachlan laughed. “I was going to get one for Colleen tomorrow afternoon.”
Colleen smiled. “Thanks. As soon as we’re done here, I’ll see if it’s as good as Grant says it is.”
“It is,” Grant said.
“Good. I can’t wait to eat it. Okay, back to business,” Colleen said. “The extras casting director said they normally would provide authentic-looking period dress, but we’ve got it already. The director was thrilled that our outfits are really authentic, based on the original weave patterns. Well, the rest of you have authentic costumes. I don’t.”
“Easily remedied,” Grant said, squeezing Colleen’s hand.
She smiled at him. “When the MacNeills were dealing with the film production, a weapons trainer was sent to teach the clan how to fight.”
The brothers shook their heads.
“We sent them video of our training/fighting sessions and they’ll send someone. He’ll watch to see if he can give us any tips to improve the fighting on-screen, but otherwise he’ll just observe.”
Lachlan and Enrick scoffed.
“As if we need any guidance from someone who has never fought a battle in his life. At least not with a claymore,” Lachlan said.
Enrick folded his arms across his chest. “Too bad we can’t tell him we’ve been doing this for eons.”
Grant agreed. “Since we can’t, we’ll humor the guy.”
“We told them you’ve had masters teach you the art of sword fighting. The director’s staff still don’t believe men in our modern age can do it without their guidance and make it look real, but they’ll see,” Colleen said. “When I first saw all of you in training, no shirts, muscles gleaming, I was totally won over.”
Grant laughed, since he’d done the whole fighting scene in the inner bailey to scare Colleen off, not make her a fan.
Enrick knew she’d won the guys over from the beginning because Grant hadn’t intimidated her like he thought he would.
Colleen began again. “They want actors in their twenties to forties fighting the battles, though in the real old days they could have been much younger and older. For the women, we’ll have a mix of ages. We’ll have some children doing chores—young boys sword fighting in the inner bailey with wooden swords or hauling wood in for the fires and young girls helping with washing linens or other chores. Since none of us are in an actors’ union, we’ll each be paid between $85 and $100 per day.
“They’ll be redecorating the castle to an extent and shooting in certain areas that still appear more authentic to the period. They’ll also be shooting on the ruins south of the castle, doing a mock setting of before and after. We’ll need to keep our people occupied or give them time off while all of that’s happening so they’ll be out of the way of all the activity. Once the company has the scenes set up the way they want, they’ll start shooting.”
“No enemy clan will be allowed to be in the film,” Grant said, confirming Colleen’s earlier comment. “We don’t have enough extras for the film, so the MacNeills will send us more men and women.”
Immediately, Enrick thought of Heather. Would she have a role in the film? He would have to keep an eye on her if she did. He couldn’t shake the need to protect her from any of the male human actors or staff who might want to have a good time with her. Why he was feeling so protective and possessive of her, he didn’t know.
At least he would bump into her whenever he could—so it wouldn’t look like anything more than a casual encounter—to learn what she was up to as the shooting progressed. Then again, she was so busy with her new shop, he wasn’t sure she would have time for anything but that.
“They also want to have trained wolves. They’re having difficulty bringing some here, and a local guy can’t give them a price they can live with, so Grant said we would beat the other guy’s offer and throw in a couple of extra wolves. That’s seven in all. We told them we keep them off-site. Their wolf handler wanted to see the wolves, but we told them we have our own wolf handlers,” Colleen said. “In the movie, they will be kind of like the Game of Thrones wolves, only ours are really shifters.”
“Wolves? I hope the script doesn’t have them eating people. We need to provide an image that portrays us as the good guys.” Enrick hated films where they portrayed evil wolves out to get the good humans as if it were truly the way wolves lived. No wonder wolves had such a bad name.
“They’re with the good guys, so they’ll only be taking down bad guys,” Colleen said.
The Wolf Wore Plaid
On sale April 2021
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Acknowledgments
Thanks to Deb Werksman, who believed in the world I created and gave me the chance to share my story. And to my critique partners who have been there every step of the way—Rebel Romance Writers: Vonda, Judy, Pam, Randy, Tammy, Carol, Betty (may she rest in peace), and Darcy! Thanks to Sourcebooks for more than a decade of sharing my Heart of the Wolf world!
About the Author
Bestselling and award-winning author Terry Spear has written over sixty paranormal romance novels and four medieval Highland historical romances. Heart of the Wolf, her first werew
olf romance, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestsellers list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Spring, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance, continuing with her Highland medieval romances, and having fun with her young adult novels. When she’s not writing, she’s photographing everything that catches her eye, making teddy bears, and playing with her Havanese puppies.
Connect online:
terryspear.com
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