Craved By The Highland Wolf (The Clan MacGregor Book 3)

by Stephanie Marks

  THE CLAN MACGREGOR

  CRAVED BY THE HIGLAND WOLF

  STEPHANIE MARKS

  RED DAGGER

  Copyright © 2015 by Stephanie Marks

  All rights reserved.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Acknowledgements

  To my editor, Carol, thank you for all of your hard work. I couldn’t have done this without you.

  A NOTE TO THE READER

  I hope that you enjoy this book. If you are interested in finding out about my latest releases, be sure to visit my website to sign up for my newsletter.

  - Stephanie

  http://www.StephanieMarksBooks.com/

  EXCERPT

  I smiled up at my new husband as he crossed an arm in front of himself and dipped into a low bow before extending his hand out for me to take. I slipped my hand into his larger one and he pulled me into his embrace, then I followed his lead as he twirled me around the floor, keeping an easy pace with the lively pipes and bodran drums.

  “Well, then, wife, are ye having a fine time?” he asked me.

  “I am, husband. Thank you,” I told him. I broke out into an unmanageable grin.

  “There’s no going back now, Glenna. You’re well and truly mine.”

  “I thought I was already yours. Did you not believe that I meant to stay with you, then, even after everything? Maybe you expected me to slip out in the middle of the night, having changed my mind?” I teased him.

  He raised an eyebrow at me and frowned slightly. “Aye, well, it surely wouldn’t have been the first time, now, would it? I’m not ashamed to say I considered sleeping outside your door last night to make sure that I could catch ye in case ye decided to make a run for it.”

  “I’m glad you decided to trust me instead. That could have made for an awkward conversation with Anna in the morning when she came to help me get dressed.”

  “Do ye think she would have believed me if I told her I was there due to sleepwalking?” he asked me with a grin.

  “I think she would have thought you a terrible liar, but would have been too polite to tell you so,” I laughed.

  Alastair pulled me tightly to him and kissed me swiftly on the lips. I pulled away from him, my face burning as I heard the hollers of the revelers around us cheering at the sight.

  “I look forward to being able to do that much more often. In fact, whenever the mood strikes me from now on,” he said, grinning at me mischievously. Then he lowered his head to my shoulder and placed a soft kiss there before whispering softly in my ear, “There is one other thing I look forward to having the opportunity to do with you whenever the mood strikes.”

  My face flushed at the suggestiveness of his tone and I squirmed slightly as his fingers caressed my spine. He straightened slowly and looked me in the eye, his gaze unwavering, before looking away over the top of my head with a quick glance around the room. I followed him as he tugged on my hand and moved us quickly through the crowd as subtly as possible. We were stopped a few times by well-wishers but it didn’t take us very long to make our way across the great hall in order to slip out the door as subtly as possible.

  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 1

  The highland air was warm and the summer moon was large above the thick, lush canopy of the forest. It was only a few nights past the full moon, but even without its bright silver light I would have been able to see the world around me as clearly as if it were midday. Twigs snapped easily beneath my paws as I ran free, my large, powerful body weaving through the trees and over the rolling hills behind the keep. I had never felt as free as I did at that very moment.

  As I ran, I could hear the sounds of the night world around me. Sounds that I had been deaf to before the blood of the wolf began to pump through my veins. An owl hooted loudly up above, and I glanced up to watch it take flight from a branch high above me into the clear night sky. Its dark shape crossed over the face of the moon before it vanished out of sight.

  As I crested the hill I stopped to look back at the dark, imposing shape of the keep below. Meggernie Castle. I sat back on my hind legs and raised my head to the sky to sniff at the air before letting out a single long howl. Then I crouched low and propelled my body forward as I sped back toward the keep, my home, and Alastair.

  ***

  I came to a stop just before the thinning edge of the trees that surrounded the castle and looked around for any clansmen who might be out walking the grounds late at night, keeping watch. Finding the coast clear, I took a deep breath and shifted back into human form. Shifting the first time had been painful, my body taking its new shape only a few short nights after Alastair had bitten me. I’d thought that I was going to die from the pain of it, the way my body bent as every bone broke and realigned itself into wolf form. But after that first change the shifts had started to come easier and more fluidly over the next month.

  I took a deep breath as I stood up from a crouch and let the fresh air caress my naked body. I was in no rush to clothe myself. Running as a wolf was the most freeing thing I had ever experienced and I had become loath to rejoin the world of man after an enjoyable midnight run.

  With a deep sigh, I slipped the simple forest green gown over my head and started for the doors of the keep, pausing for only a moment to wave to the watchmen once they were within sight to let them know that I had returned safely.

  It was well past midnight as I climbed the stairs to my bedchamber. The castle was quiet, with only a handful of people roaming the halls. I turned the corner and crept down the hallway as quickly and quietly as possible. I was sure that Alastair was still asleep in my chamber, and it wouldn’t do me any good to wake him and be caught sneaking back into the room in the middle of the night.

  I slipped into my chamber and closed the door softly, breathing a sigh of relief.

  “Did ye have a good run, then?” a rough voice asked me from the dark shadows of the bed.

  Closing my eyes with a soft sigh, I turned in the direction of the voice to face Alastair. “Yes, thank you, it was lovely,” I told him.

  “Oh, aye? Good, good,” he said casually. Too casually. “Because ye know I would hate for anything to interrupt your runs. Ye know how irritating those assassination attempts can be.”

  “Now, Alastair,” I said, hoping to soothe him before he got too angry with me. “I was careful. It was perfectly safe.”

  “Perfectly safe!” he exploded. Throwing back the covers, he stood up and stormed toward me wearing naught but his loose nightshirt. I could only barely make out his face in the sliver of light that came through the seam in the shutters of the window, but that was all I needed to see that his expression was thunderous. “This is the third time, Glenna. The third time you’ve snuck off in the middle of the night to go running. Ye know that we’re all in danger and yet off ye go without a moment’s notice and taking your life in your hands. Have ye so little love for me, then?”

  “How could you possibly ask me that?” I gasped, his words a blow. “You know I love you more than anything. After all we’ve been through, how could you possibly doubt that?”

  “Because I’m trying to u
nderstand why ye would do this time and again if ye had any care for me at all. I wake up and find ye missing, your side of the bed gone cold. And I don’t know if you’ve gone to find something to eat or if you’re lying dead in the woods somewhere with an assassin’s arrow stuck in your side!”

  My shoulders drooped and I hung my head in shame. “I’m sorry,” I said quietly.

  Alastair sighed heavily and pulled me into his arms, wrapping them tightly around me. Cocooned within his warmth I grasped the back of his shirt, feeling the strong muscles of his back against my hands, and rested my head against his broad chest.

  “I understand the call, lass,” he whispered. “To hear the wild call to ye and for your blood to cry out in answer. It’s strong, and ’tis a connection that ye will now feel for the rest of your life. It can be tempting to spend more and more time in wolf form, but ye must take care.”

  “I know, Alastair. I know that it’s a dangerous time, and my rational mind tells me that I’m taking such a stupid risk… but then the wolf calls to me. I can feel her inside of me aching to get out and I find myself giving in, and it’s wondrous. I’ve never felt so free. How do you stop? How do you control it?”

  “It takes some practice but it will get easier with time, I promise.” He was quiet for a moment before asking, “Where did you run?”

  “I didn’t go far, just up the hill behind the keep, then back again. I just wanted to stretch my legs.”

  Alastair chuckled and bent over to kiss the top of my head before releasing me. “Am I going to have to keep a closer eye on you?”

  “No,” I told him, shaking my head emphatically. “I won’t sneak out again, I promise. You’re right. I have to be smarter and learn to control my urge to shift.”

  “I’m not trying to cage ye, love, and if I’ve the time I’ll run with ye if ye ask me. But we have to prepare. War is coming, I’ve no doubt of it, and we need to be ready. We can’t afford to be caught unaware another time. Whomever Allina has found to carry out her vengeance has proven to be strong and cunning. We cannot allow them to get the upper hand.”

  “I know, Alastair. I understand. I’m sorry for causing you so much worry. Has there been any news?”

  I moved to the wardrobe and stripped out of my gown, exchanging it for a plain white shift that I slipped into before crawling under the covers of the large bed. Alastair walked around to the other side and slid in next to me, pulled me into his arms and settled back.

  I raised my hand to my mouth to stifle a yawn as my eyelids started to flutter closed. The late hour and the run had taken more out of me than I had thought, and sleep was beginning to quickly overtake me.

  “The men that I sent out to the neighboring clan lands haven’t sent back any news of use yet. There have been no murmurs from the Grahams, Stewarts or MacLarens,” he told me, his voice weary.

  “Have heart, Alastair. We are sure to hear something soon. Don’t worry. Allina is a spiteful woman, and she may have found allies in order to play out her vengeance against us, but you will find a way to protect this clan just as you always have. I have no doubt of that. There will be news soon. Have faith.”

  Squeezing me close, Alastair pressed a kiss to my lips. “Aye love, you’re probably right,” he said, closing his eyes. “We can only wait and see what the morning brings.”

  “I know all too well what the morning brings. I had hoped to be able to put it off for another day, but it has been long enough and it is time. The clan has to know.”

  ***

  Alastair and I walked silently hand in hand toward the great hall. I had awoken early that morning despite my late night run, my stomach full of anticipation as I dressed myself and attended to my hair. I had moved the comb slowly through my locks as I stared out the window, half lost in thought until Alastair tapped me gently on the shoulder and informed me that it was time for us to go downstairs.

  The great hall was loud and hectic that morning, and the long wooden tables were surrounded by men, women and children crammed onto the benches side by side as they readied themselves for the long day ahead.

  I paused at the entrance to the hall in order to take a final steadying breath before squaring my shoulders and walking toward the dais at Alastair’s side.

  Ever since the official announcement of our engagement, the castle inhabitants had slowly begun to open up to me, no longer eyeing me with an air of suspicion. But even more than the engagement, it was the whispers of my change that seemed to have cemented my place in the clan. The fact that I had allowed Alastair to bite me was the reassurance the people had needed to put their trust in me and to finally welcome me into the MacGregor clan—but the news Alastair was about to tell them could easily undo all of that.

  Alastair stood before the head table and silently stared out across the room. One by one the occupants began to fall silent, the first ones to notice Alastair’s call to attention quickly silencing the others around them.

  I stood a few steps behind him and off to the side, offering my support as the woman who was to be his wife. The clan sat patiently waiting for him to speak, and I watched as their eyes flicked to me every so often. A sober reminder that not only were these people a clan, but a pack. More tightly woven than any family.

  “I come to you this morning with grave news.” Alastair’s deep voice boomed out around the hall. “This clan has been betrayed by one of our own.” He paused as the room exploded into murmurs before lifting his hand for order. “Allina MacGregor has betrayed us, and has told someone of our greatest secret. This clan has seen too much death these last months. Death carried out by those whom Allina has enlisted to try to break us.”

  “Why would she do this?” someone asked. “How could she turn her back on her own?”

  My hands balled into fists and I clenched my teeth together so tightly that I started to feel a pain in my jaw as I prayed that Alastair would not give them those details.

  “The why of that matters not,” he told them. “All that matters is that she sent not one but two murderers into our midst. One who attempted to kill me in my study last month.”

  “But that is suicide!” a woman cried.

  “Yes,” Alastair said gravely, “it was. And they both paid for their folly with their lives. You all know that the man calling himself Holme was responsible for the killings in Fortingall and I am telling you now that he will not be the last. More will come for us. They will seek us out and hunt us down. We must be prepared for an attack.”

  “This is unheard of!” a man cried from the crowd. “For centuries we have remained hidden, and now all of a sudden everything that we have worked for is at risk? I do not believe that anyone in this clan would betray us in such a way. What proof have you that Allina betrayed us like this?”

  Alastair’s hands clenched and unclenched as I watched him struggle with deciding how much to tell his people. I took a deep breath and stepped forward beside him. He glanced at me, a look of surprise on his face, and I nodded to him, accepting that he needed to tell them why their secret was now out.

  “Madness has taken Allina,” he told his people. “This madness drove her to not only try to have Glenna killed but to bring her vengeance down upon all of us.”

  “So it is the human’s fault!” a woman wailed. “No good can come of this! This is what comes of trusting outsiders.”

  “The fault lies with Allina and her alone. She has chosen her actions and she will be brought to justice for them. Glenna Gordon has proven her loyalty to me and this clan time and again, and I will not hear of any blame being placed upon her shoulders. Glenna is soon to be Lady MacGregor and I would see you show her the same loyalty and respect that you have shown me.”

  Even as heads nodded I could hear a low rumbling of unhappy murmurs within the crowd and my stomach sank. It felt as if no matter what I did, something happened to put a rift between me and the MacGregor clan, and I wondered if there was anything that I could do to earn their trust. I needed them to believe in me
, especially in the troubled days ahead.

  CHAPTER 2

  Alastair and I rode into Fortingall that afternoon with his uncle Donald and clansman Gregory. Although I had eventually gotten my way, it had taken some persuading on my part for Alastair to agree to let me ride into the village with them. He believed that I would be safer in the keep in case there was an attack, but I had assured him that there was no safer place for me than by his side, and that if we were to be wed I needed to continue to take any opportunity I could to interact with the people in the village.

  While that was mostly the truth, there was no denying that I was also simply desperate for a change of scenery, even if it was just a short ride down to the village.

  Everywhere I had gone in the castle that morning I had found myself being followed by curious eyes, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were asking themselves if the blame for this was something that could be laid at my door. It would not have been the first battle that the MacGregors had found themselves needing to fight due to me, so was it so far-fetched that I was somehow at the center of this latest disaster? It must have felt like I had brought them nothing but trouble from the moment Alastair had brought me to the castle.

  As we got closer to the town square I saw a large crowd gathered around. There was a lot of shouting, with people calling over one another, trying to be heard. From the back of my horse I was able to see over the heads of the crowd to the center of the group, where a large, dark-haired man seemed to be riling up the crowd.

  “We need to stand strong. We need to take care of our own, because the MacGregor, up there in his castle isn’t going to take care of us!” he shouted.

  I gasped at his words and my eyes flashed over to Alastair, wondering if he had heard what the man had said.

  Alastair sat straight up in the saddle. The knuckles on his hands were bone white from the tight grip he had on the reins.