The Wolf Wore Plaid

by Terry Spear

  If anyone was to eat at “his” castle, they ate his food.

  Heather let out her breath in exasperation as the stubborn wolf wouldn’t budge and everyone preparing the meal had to make their way around him. No amount of talking to him was going to change his mind. She pulled her cell phone out of her pouch at her waist and called Grant. “Hi, Grant. Maynard is still in the kitchen. He doesn’t want to listen to me, but he can’t be in the scene.”

  “Let me talk to him.”

  “Aye, thanks, Grant.” She handed her phone to Maynard. “It’s for you.”

  Maynard took the phone from her. “Aye? Aye. All right.” Then he handed the phone back to her, scowled at her, and stomped out of the kitchen.

  She asked, “Are you still there, Grant?”

  “Aye. I told Maynard he has the day off to go fishing, and I want to eat whatever he catches for dinner tonight.”

  Heather smiled, then she frowned. “Does he like to fish?”

  Grant laughed. “Aye, when I tell him I’ll eat the catch.”

  “Okay, good. We’re about ready to do this. Talk to you later.”

  They had just finished the last battle scene outside, having needed only a couple of hours to retake a couple of scenes, so all of the men involved in that were returning to the castle. Some would be sitting in the great hall eating the meal next.

  For the scene she was in charge of, the wizard would show up unannounced and inspect the food for the lord, making sure nobody had tampered with it. The lord of the castle had received so many death threats—in the film’s story line—that they were constantly on guard.

  Of course, the magic would appear on-screen when the wizard just would “poof,” using his wizardly abilities, and appear.

  Heather and her female crew were busily preparing the meal in an authentic way in the old kitchen where they’d preserved the history of the castle. The fires were going strong, orange and yellow flames licking the bottoms of the large, black cast-iron pots filled with fish stew. Everyone had practiced making the meal beforehand, since they only did this for historical celebrations of their past, and they had a few more helpers than they were used to from the MacNeill clan. Plus Heather had never done this here, so she’d needed the practice. They also had some of the women and a couple of men working in the lower level of the castle where they baked the bread in ovens of the period. Cameras were set to roll down there after the scene above was shot.

  Heather knew it was about time for her “crew” to pause their actions in the old kitchen, while the director called “Cut.” Then they were to hold their positions while the wizard hurried into the kitchen from a side entrance to inspect the meal.

  But then a woman in traditional Highland dress, who Heather didn’t know, suddenly showed up in the kitchen. Heather thought maybe the woman had a speaking role and the director had added her at the last minute.

  Heather frowned at the woman as she hurried over to one of the pots and added something to the fish stew, then turned to do the same thing to the other pot. Heather didn’t like that she was adding ingredients to the pots that she hadn’t approved of beforehand.

  Everyone else should have been watching what they were supposed to be busy doing in the rest of the kitchen, while holding their positions. So Heather thought only the director and his film crew and she had noticed. She kept thinking the woman and her actions weren’t part of the script. Yet the director and actors had improvised on several occasions and no one had told her or Enrick about the change of plans at the time, so she thought this could be another situation like that.

  Still, Heather felt a sense of disquiet. Maybe the woman was pretending to add poison to the meal for the sake of the film. But what if she did add something that truly made everyone sick? What if she was one of the Kilpatrick or McKinley family members and she had been paid or coerced to cause trouble for the MacQuarries?

  Heather moved closer to her, but the woman ignored her, and that was when Heather smelled her scent. She was a wolf! And she wasn’t supposed to be here.

  Heather reached into her boot to whip out the sgian dubh she always wore when she was in her long kilt and grabbed the woman by the arm. Heather held the knife at the woman’s ribs before the woman could hurry out of the kitchen and vanish. If Heather was wrong about the woman, the director wouldn’t be happy with her and they would have to reshoot the scene.

  If the woman was with an enemy clan and she’d added something bad to the stew, Heather might have saved them from disaster.

  “Who are you, and what did you put in the stew?” Heather asked, squeezing the woman’s arm as she struggled to get free. Heather couldn’t really use the knife on her and the woman knew it, but Heather wasn’t losing her grip on her no matter what.

  They were supposed to pause all their actions for the magical arrival of the wizard. Instead, everyone who was working for Heather turned to watch them, mouths agape. Lana, who’d been deboning fish, eyed the situation and then ran out of the kitchen, also not part of the story line. In a couple of minutes, Enrick and two other men in full battle dress rushed into the kitchen, still grimy from the recent fight scene. Enrick looked just like Guy, so Enrick couldn’t have been a guard in the film, if the director was keeping this impromptu scene in the story. Though Heather couldn’t imagine why he would if it messed up their story line. Though the director seemed to like to let things develop organically and often left things in that weren’t in the script.

  The wizard suddenly walked into the room, like he was supposed to do, but he appeared surprised to see the changes to the scene.

  “Who are you?” Enrick asked, taking hold of the woman’s arm as Heather released her other arm. His grip was much firmer and made the woman’s dark eyes water.

  “She put something in the stew,” Heather said, slipping her sgian dubh back into her boot. She hoped Enrick could put fear in the woman to get her to confess her crime. “I was afraid she put something in it that would make everyone sick.”

  “Or kill them. Kill you, milord,” the wizard said, improvising as if this was part of the story all along, looking stern and growly, just as growly as Enrick looked. Except Enrick’s expression was not playacting.

  Heather knew he wanted to force the truth from the woman because they needed to ensure no one was hurt by whoever had sent her. She kept thinking the director would call “Cut!” And then they would have to sort out what was going on before they could set up for the scene again. But he didn’t.

  “Take her to the dungeon for questioning,” Enrick said to his other two clansmen. Then he told Heather, “Your diligence will be rewarded.” Even though he still looked as stern as could be, she saw a glimmer of promise and a smile in his expression. “I must wash before the meal.” Then he stalked out of the kitchen with purpose.

  Still shocked about the woman’s guile and deceit, Heather was wrapped up in thinking about Enrick’s promise, and then she was thinking back to the situation at hand, wondering what was going to happen next.

  Appearing deep in thought, the wizard stroked his long, white beard. “Mayhap the treacherous woman should eat some of the stew.” Then he made a motion to indicate he was vanishing.

  Heather thought that was a good idea.

  The director called, “Cut!” He rubbed his chin in thought. “I take it that was for real? The woman was trying to sabotage the meal?”

  “Aye, she’s not one of either the MacQuarrie or MacNeill clans, and if she’s not one of your actors, I’d say so. We’ll have to empty the pots and clean them out, but we can pretend to serve the food from here and have fresh bowls of stew made in the new kitchen. Since you only show us delivering the food to the tables after this scene, we should be able to make it work,” Heather said.

  “What about the woman?” the director asked.

  “Enrick will call the police.” Not. The woman was a wolf, so they
had to handle it themselves. They would keep her hostage until they learned the truth. If her clansmen knew she’d been caught, maybe they would cease hostilities, but Heather was certain Grant wouldn’t let her go until they had finished making the film here. That could be about three months. The wolves lived by their own rules, and they couldn’t have one of their kind going to jail. Not if they might shift sometime during their incarceration.

  “Good. She was deliberately hiding her face from the camera, and her hair was covered in a veil.” The director frowned. “Do you have a woman who looks similar in build who could play the part of this woman? I want a scene where the two men who came to take the woman away watch her being interrogated in your dungeon. She will be stoic, not revealing the truth, stubborn, loyal to her clan, and then the wizard will force her to eat the stew and she’ll fall from her chair, dead.”

  None of the women volunteered for the role. Heather figured that was because they all wanted to continue as background actors and didn’t want to lose their fun job by expiring in the dungeon too early on.

  “I’ll do it,” Colleen said, entering the kitchen. Heather guessed she’d been watching things for a while. “I filled out the paperwork to be a background actor in reserve, in case any of the women became indisposed and I was needed.”

  “You’re American,” the director said.

  “Who is of Scottish descent and who owns the castle with my husband, Grant. And you said the part to be played is a nonspeaking part.”

  “Lady Colleen, it’s a deal. And, Heather, if you can get ahold of Enrick and have him send the two guards to meet me in the dungeon, that would work for me.” Then the director switched his attention to the wizard, who had returned to the kitchen to learn what his role would be in all this. “We’ll check out the dungeon, set it up for the interrogation, and give you some lines to say. The lady will do her part, and we’ll be done with it. In the meantime, if the ladies can prepare a meal for the great hall, we’ll start the scene there as soon as we’re done with the other and the baking scene. That one is a really short take.”

  “What about Enrick’s voice? Will we have to dub in Guy’s over it?” one of the director’s staff asked.

  “No. I liked the way he was so gruff and feral. I don’t think anyone will notice the difference in the end,” the director said.

  Heather smiled. He was that. Then she frowned. And for good reason.

  Colleen said to Heather, “I’ll have Maynard take care of preparing the meal in the new kitchen while you help serve the meal when the shoot is ready. That will cheer him up.”

  “I thought he went fishing for Grant’s dinner.”

  “Maynard hasn’t left the castle yet. He was still getting ready to leave. I sent him a text when we learned of the trouble here, and he’s eager to help out where he can.”

  “Okay, good. That will work.” Heather was glad Maynard was able to participate in the work he loved doing.

  As the director left with Colleen and the wizard—who glanced back at Heather and winked at her—the director was saying to him, “You won’t lay a finger on the lady. You are all powerful. But she is proud and determined not to bend to your will. You will be conceited, then fatherly toward her, then finally give up and have one of the men feed her the stew. She will eat it because she knows she has no other choice.”

  As his voice receded down the hallway, their footfalls growing more distant, Heather hurried to text Enrick.

  The director wants you to send the two guards you had with you in the kitchen to the dungeon to play a part there. The woman isn’t being interrogated there, is she?

  No. We have her in the conference room. I’ll send the men to the dungeon and have a couple more guards come up to take their place to watch the woman.

  Thanks, Enrick. And Colleen is playing the woman’s part in the dungeon.

  Does Grant know?

  He might not.

  All right, I’ll let him know. And thanks, Heather. You saved everyone’s arse today. I meant it when I said I plan to reward you for it.

  She smiled and responded, No reward needed for that. But I’m looking forward to seeing what you have in mind. The director was impressed with your acting skill and voice, by the way. You never know. He might call on you for a future film.

  You too. When your friend Lana came running out of the kitchen to warn someone, she saw me and told me you had pulled your sgian dubh on the woman so quickly, no one knew what was happening. Immediately, I was on my way with the men to rescue you.

  Heather hadn’t needed protecting! She texted: Or her?

  She deserves whatever she gets. Grant’s having the stew tested for poisons or other ingredients that would make anyone sick.

  Okay, good. I’ve got to get ready for the next scene.

  See you when the director calls, “It’s a wrap.”

  As soon as Heather put her cell phone away, a man was removing the contents of each pot of fish stew and placing them in sealed containers. Then he left. All the women hurried over to give Heather hugs.

  “If you hadn’t stopped her, Guy could have been deathly ill or dead,” one of the ladies said as if no one else on the set mattered.

  “Or more of the people. Though some just pretend to eat, close-ups show people sampling the food,” another lady said. “And some like the food so much, they want to-go boxes.”

  “I was hoping I didn’t really screw up the scene. I’d thought maybe she was pretending to tamper with the stew and was one of the cast’s speaking actors, but then I smelled she was a wolf.”

  “She’s not one of ours,” one of the MacQuarrie women said.

  “Thanks to Lana for running off to get Enrick and the other men to assist in taking charge of the woman. I was afraid I was going to lose my grip on her and have to tackle her to the stone floor.” Heather wouldn’t have let the woman go no matter what.

  The ladies all smiled.

  “I was just glad Enrick and the other men were nearby when I raced out for help,” Lana said. “You were the true hero.”

  Everyone agreed.

  “I’m so glad Lady Colleen offered to play the role of the saboteur,” one of the women said. “I know one of us would have had to volunteer, but I want to take part in some of the other scenes.”

  Heather smiled. “I suspected as much. I’m glad she did too.”

  “I can’t believe the other clan would stoop so low,” one of the ladies said.

  “I can. It’s a matter of honor and pride that they didn’t win the contract to have the film at their castle. And they’ve always been vindictive. We’ll just have to stay alert.”

  Chapter 11

  That night, Enrick took Heather home to have dinner with her cousins and brothers, and he hoped no one in Heather’s family would make a big deal of him dating her. Lachlan came with them to stay with the wolves afterward and would return with Heather’s brothers and the wolves in the morning. Since Enrick and Heather planned to run as wolves following the dinner, some of the MacQuarrie clan also had come to run as wolves. They would all watch each other’s backs on the return trip home.

  Of course the conversation centered on the concern about the food contamination and the continued effort by the McKinleys and Kilpatricks to disrupt the movie.

  “They won’t stop,” Ian said, then took a bite of his chicken.

  Julia motioned with her glass of wine. “Heather, you are a true heroine.”

  Everyone thought Heather was. Enrick figured if they were living in ancient times, and he was lord of the castle and had mated her, she would be managing the castle and fending off the enemy while he was with the troops in battle. He’d never seen her in that role before, as a leader, intent on saving everyone else. Proactive, not waiting for someone else to see the trouble and react.

  Heather blushed. Enrick smiled and reached over and squeezed
her hand.

  “Aye, if it was not for Heather eyeing Enrick with such interest on the battlefield,” Oran said, “who knows what might have happened.”

  She gave her brother a growly look. So did Enrick. He was feeling super protective of her. She was with him this time, not just seated at the table at a gathering of the families in charge of the two wolf packs. She would usually be on the opposite side of the table down at the end, if she was even here, not in the center with him, since he was representing the leadership of the MacQuarrie pack. He enjoyed the shift in dynamics between them.

  Oran smiled. “It’s true.”

  “I was watching Cearnach, too, since he is our cousin and bragged how he could beat Enrick on the playing field. I had to see if it was so.” She bit into her bun so vigorously that Enrick thought she would have bitten her brother if they’d been in their wolf coats.

  Enrick glanced at Cearnach and smiled, amused he’d been bragging to his kinsmen about besting him in the fight. The rivalry between their clans was mostly in fun, though tempers would flare over she-wolves sometimes.

  “Och, if Robert hadn’t knocked me down, I would have swept you off your feet in an instant,” Cearnach said to Enrick.

  Everyone laughed. Enrick and Cearnach were so well matched that either of them taking the advantage was solely due to a misstep by the other.

  “How did the female saboteur infiltrate the castle?” Julia asked.

  Enrick could just imagine Julia adding the plot to one of her romance stories. “Everyone was so busy that the woman, dressed just like one of the ones in the kitchen-scene shoot, slipped by practically unnoticed. Those who caught a glimpse of her thought she was one of the MacNeill women they hadn’t seen before and she was in a hurry to reach the old kitchen. They just figured she was about to be late for the shoot. They didn’t know shooting had begun. The saboteur was unknown to us. And she hid behind her veil and wimple. Ultimately, it was my fault because I’m in charge of security and—”