Hero of a Highland Wolf

by Terry Spear

  “His actions all had to do with taking me away from you. You might have the run of the castle, but he would have taken away something from you that—”

  “I want more than life, lass.” Grant held her tighter, not wanting to let her go. He’d nearly died when he saw what Archibald intended to do with her, fearing he would not reach her to rescue her in time.

  “Why were the pipes still there?” Colleen asked, sounding puzzled.

  “Neda wanted to keep them for nostalgic reasons. Part of the history of the place. Something to show her grandchildren and their grandchildren. I told her we should have sealed them off for good years ago for safety’s sake.”

  “I understand her thinking, but if we have any more enemies lurking out there, seems to me the pipes should be sealed off at once. I agree with you. First thing, when we have a chance. But for now, all I want to do is rest up for the wedding.”

  Grant smiled at that. As crazy as things had been and as excited as his people were, he assumed this was the only bit of rest they could indulge in. Which meant he didn’t intend to let Colleen out of his sight for a good eight hours or longer. To sleep…or whatever else they had in mind to do.

  Chapter 26

  The wedding preparations were tiring, and her cousins would be arriving soon. Needing a respite before the celebration, Colleen finally slipped away to Neda’s room and sat on her grandmother’s bed. Tears formed in her eyes as she ran her hand over the blue bedspread embroidered with gold threads in the pattern of the tree of life. “Thank you for raising Grant and his brothers to be the men they are today. I love you, Grandma, even if I never was able to meet you. I wish I had. I wish I hadn’t listened to my father.”

  She took a deep breath and sighed. “I’m marrying that Highlander you raised like a son and made your manager. He’s all I ever needed in a mate. He and his kin won’t ever lose their place at Farraige Castle. I just wanted you to know that, because I know you loved them as much as I do.”

  She glanced at all the journals sitting in stacks and remembered they hadn’t finished looking for the journal for the time period when Grant’s mother had perished.

  Knowing this wasn’t the time to search for it, she couldn’t help it. She wanted to know what her grandmother had thought about Grant’s mother’s death.

  She sorted through the remaining journals and finally found the one. As she suspected, Neda had been beside herself with grief. Water, probably from her tears, had made much of the ink run on several pages as Colleen envisioned her grandmother writing down the events of what had occurred. Neda had loved Eleanor, whom she’d considered her daughter. And she’d loved Robert like a son. Much more so than her own son, Theodore, whom she suspected had murdered Grant’s mother. And then Neda had taken solace in raising Grant and his brothers as her own grandchildren, caring for them, teaching them to read and write, and keeping them in line.

  Colleen smiled through her tears, loving her grandmother all the more.

  Then she heard someone enter the room and turned to see Grant studying her. “Calla and Julia were worried about you, lass. Search parties have gone out. Some thought you escaped the keep to avoid wedding me, though you have no chance at that.”

  She smiled and sniffled.

  “But I thought that you might be here.” He glanced down at the journal in her hands. “About my mother?” he asked gently, probably afraid Colleen would burst into tears. How would that look when she was about to get married?

  She nodded.

  He closed the distance between them and pulled her from the bed. She quickly set the journal down and wrapped her arms around his waist.

  “She adored you and your brothers,” Colleen said softly.

  “Aye, what’s not to adore, eh, lass?”

  She laughed. “I have to agree.”

  “Are you ready for this?” he asked.

  “Yes. Yes, I am.”

  “Good. Your cousins will be here any minute, and Calla and Julia want to get you into your wedding gown, or I’d take you back up to our chambers and have my way with you.”

  She loved him. “I’m ready. For the wedding, that is. I’d never straighten my hair out in time if we returned to our chambers first.”

  “All right.” He called Calla on his cell and let her know where they were, and then with one lingering kiss, he waited for the ladies to arrive before he left Colleen alone.

  She knew he did so to ensure she didn’t get all sentimental and burst into tears before the ladies could deal with her emotions.

  “Ohmigod, here you are,” Julia said.

  Calla nearly ran into her, attempting to enter Neda’s room at the same time as Julia, wedding gown and veil in their hands.

  “We thought for sure you’d run off or something.” But Julia said it with a twinkle in her eye. She knew Colleen better than that.

  An hour later, Colleen paced the inner bailey, dressed in her white organza and lace-trimmed wedding gown and veil, looking like a fairy-tale princess, with her hair piled high on her head, tendrils curling down about her ears and neck, and pearls placed in several coils of curls. She was anxious to see her cousins, Edward and William Playfair, who were going to arrive at any moment. She would not let the ceremony begin until they arrived.

  Edward was darker haired like Colleen, his brother blonder, and both looked uneasy as Lachlan and Enrick escorted them from their rental car to meet her. The MacQuarrie and MacNeill clans had all dressed in kilts and the men carried swords to the wedding, traditional for them as in centuries past.

  She smiled at her cousins and hurried to greet them, the wolfhounds also racing to meet them.

  Thankfully, both her cousins loved dogs as much as she did and knew how to make them mind. William pulled out a pen and clicked it. Just like he’d taught her. All three dogs sat before him, and then he hugged Colleen. Edward did the honors next, looking much relieved to see her.

  “Lachlan MacQuarrie said we were just in time for a wedding,” William said, eyeing her in her white gown. “He said nothing about our cousin marrying anyone. He wouldn’t say who was marrying whom. We thought it was one of his clanswomen. Not our own cousin.”

  “Who are you marrying?” Edward asked.

  Both sounded shocked to learn she was getting married. Well, she hadn’t called them about it and hadn’t thought to. She never asked their opinion when she embarked on a mating. She didn’t feel she had needed to this time, either. Of course, part of their surprise was probably because she never actually had a wedding before.

  Grant stalked out of the keep to join them, looking like a warrior on the battlefield. Her cousins looked like they wanted to take a few steps back, but they stood their ground, even though Grant appeared to be a threat.

  Colleen tilted her head at her mate, giving him a look to play nice. The men were only her cousins. She suspected his alpha male posturing had to do with greeting new males to a pack and showing them that no one—not even her family—had any say in what she or he did.

  She made introductions and Grant shook both their hands, then said, “Welcome to the pack.”

  She was glad Grant had said so, except he wasn’t offering but telling them, and she loved him even more for it. Her beta cousins might have tucked tail and run if given the choice after seeing all the kilted men armed with swords and sgian dubhs tucked in their socks and just as fierce-looking as Grant was while they checked her cousins out.

  Grant offered his arm to Colleen. “We have our wedding to attend and you’re just in time.”

  “You’re marrying Grant MacQuarrie?” Edward asked, hurrying to catch up to them.

  “You didn’t ask us what we thought,” William said. “I mean, ask for our permission.”

  She almost laughed at the idea. She loved them. “Well…what do you think?”

  Grant gave them each a look that said they’d bet
ter agree with this, or else.

  “Oh, sure. We agree, if you’re happy,” William said, glancing at Grant’s sword.

  “You can live here if you’d like,” Colleen said. She wasn’t sure if her cousins could manage on their own without her to watch their backs. Here, they’d have a whole pack watching out for them. And she’d really prefer it that way.

  William and Edward shared looks, then smiled. “We thought we were just making a visit here. But…yeah, sure,” Edward said.

  “Sword practice in the morning,” Grant warned. “The two of you will have a lot of catching up to do.”

  They nodded, looking a little as though they weren’t sure what they were getting into.

  “And you’ll wear kilts,” he added, his voice gruff, brooking no argument.

  They glanced down at Grant’s kilt. He gave them an evil smile. All men of the clan wore kilts on special occasions, Grant more often than the rest—and for that Colleen was grateful. She wondered what her cousins would think of the practice when they weren’t supposed to wear anything under the kilts and it was a bit breezy around the place.

  Grant squeezed Colleen against him. “You are the most beautiful bride.”

  “You are the handsomest kilted Highland wolf a woman could want for a groom.”

  He smiled down at her.

  Guthrie opened the door to the keep for them and said, “You couldn’t delay the wedding for another month or so, could you?”

  “Guthrie,” Colleen said, “When you and Calla are back at Argent Castle, you won’t even notice she’s there.”

  Guthrie didn’t look like he believed her.

  They entered the chapel and Shelley’s Uncle Ethan offered his arm to Colleen to walk her down the aisle while Grant made Edward and William join him to serve as a couple more groomsmen, even if they were dressed in only jeans, sneakers, and sweatshirts.

  She swore Ian’s mother was ready to burst into tears, as if Colleen was her daughter, too. Colleen fought her own tears at knowing that her best friend’s clan was taking her in just as much as Grant MacQuarrie’s.

  Frederick took all three wolfhounds in hand, though they wanted to follow her down the aisle, and made them stay with him at the back of the chapel. When the minister asked for objections, Hercules barked, letting her know he wanted to join her up front. Everyone laughed.

  “Sorry, Hercules,” Grant said. “She’s all mine.”

  Which meant absolutely no way was Grant sharing his bed with anyone but her.

  Before long, the ceremony was over and Colleen tossed her bouquet to the eager women, not knowing her own strength. The roses flew up and way over their heads.

  Uncle Ethan caught the roses as they headed straight for him, and he blushed crimson. She was trying to send it to either Heather or Calla. Guthrie looked much relieved.

  Everyone roared to see the older man holding on to the bouquet, his face the same color as the red roses.

  “You’re supposed to let a lass catch the flowers,” Ian’s mother said, scolding him and taking the flowers away from him.

  More laughter ensued.

  And to a shocked audience, Uncle Ethan said, “All right, ma’am. I accept.” He took Lady Mae’s arm and tucked it under his own.

  “Accept what?” she asked crossly.

  “A mating. Marriage. Whatever you’d like,” he said, looking down at her with an adoring expression.

  Cheers went up and Colleen swore Ian’s mother looked like she would expire on the spot.

  Ian and his brothers were clapping hard and whistling and cheering, showing their approval for their mother’s mating with Shelley’s uncle. Now, whether their mother would agree was another story. She probably wanted to sock him for saying so at Colleen’s wedding, but Colleen loved it.

  Grant had the privilege of removing the garter from Colleen’s leg, running his hand over her bare thigh a little too intimately, and several of the men teased him about the show. Then he tossed the garter to a groom-to-be. It hit Guthrie in the chest, and he caught it, turned red-faced, and tried to hand it off to one of Colleen’s cousins, who both shook their heads vehemently and wouldn’t touch it.

  Laughter resounded and then the music started and Grant and Colleen had their first dance, followed by everyone else, mated wolves and singles. Ian’s mother and Uncle Ethan even danced at his coaxing and he held her so tenderly that Colleen assumed they were in for a mating.

  The reception was buffet style, and though they knew they should stay longer, Grant and Colleen had another mission in mind. They went up to their bedchamber, and he removed her gown, then ditched his kilt and shirt. Both of them shifted into wolves, then ran through the castle while everyone hailed them with toasts of champagne.

  Three of the men had to grab the wolfhounds to ensure they didn’t chase after Grant and Colleen. Guthrie opened the front door for them. The mated couple ran out and through the inner bailey and then beyond. They ran and ran until they reached the glen where the sheep grazed on the green hills and the white, foaming burn rushed under the wooden footbridge.

  The weather had turned colder, perfect for their fur coats, a wet mist draping over them as they reached the place they had shared their first kiss. On top of the hill as the sky turned yellow, orange, and pink and the sun began to set, Grant nuzzled Colleen’s face in a wolf’s way of courtship and she licked his face. And for a brief moment, they shifted, embraced each other tight, and kissed again.

  Only this time they were husband and wife and mated wolves.

  “God, I love you, Grant.”

  “Hmm, lass. You are my one and only love. Are you ready to return to the keep and our chamber?” he asked, rubbing her chilled arms.

  She smiled. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  And then they shifted and raced off across the glen, in love with each other, with their home and their pack. Not in a million years would Colleen have ever thought she’d inherit a castle and a mate and his family all in one fell swoop.

  Grant had run as a wolf through this glen so many times that he couldn’t count the number, but seeing Colleen ahead of him, her tail wagging in delight, and knowing just what they were in for when they returned home, he couldn’t have been happier.

  He still wondered: if he’d been chivalrous and welcoming when Colleen had first arrived, would they be where they were today? All he knew was he was damn glad that the she-wolf had captured his heart and made him see the error of his ways.

  Note to Readers

  I gave my character Colleen the family name of Playfair, as I have done with Roux, the MacNeills, and the Campbells in previous works. I’ve done so much genealogy work and I’ve enjoyed including the family in the wolf packs for various reasons. MacNeill and Campbell because they had a love for one another that couldn’t be denied in Scotland. Roux, because that means redheaded, and she’s a red wolf. And now Playfair, because they were Scots as well.

  The Playfairs truly are famous Scots, so that’s why I wanted to base this story on their family. John Playfair was a brilliant mathematician and geologist. Craters on the moon and Mars were named after him. James, his brother, was a famous architect. When James died, John raised his young nephew, Andrew, who became even a more famous architect. The brother I’m descended directly from was William, the youngest and a twin, who was the inventor of statistical graphs and an engineer. He studied under a famous Scot—James Watt, engineer and inventor.

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks to Loretta Melvin for her invaluable research and keeping me straight on names and such, to Loretta, Donna Fournier, and Dottie Jones for being my beta readers, and to Brooklyn Ann for being my critique partner. Thanks to Deb Werksman for helping to make the books even better, and to Danielle Jackson for all her help with guest blog tours and tons of other promotions. And thanks to the cover artist gods and the models and the photographers
who create real wolf works of art.

  Silence of the Wolf

  by Terry Spear

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Life for the Silver pack just got wilder…

  Elizabeth Wildwood has been a loner all her life, ostracized because of her “mixed” half-wolf, half-coyote blood. When she ventures into gray wolf territory on a dangerous quest of her own and is thrown together with the sexiest shifter she’s ever met, she begins to wish for the first time that she could be part of a family.

  When this unusual shifter female comes into his pack’s territory, it’s Tom Silver’s job to protect her—if only she would let him…

  “Ms. Spear brings her characters to life, both old and new, and you will find yourself invested in the story.”—Night Owl Reviewer Top Pick, 4.5 Stars

  “Nobody does werewolf romances like Terry Spear. The romance sizzles, the plot boils, the mystery intrigues, and the characters shine.”—The Royal Reviews

  For more Terry Spear, visit:

  www.sourcebooks.com

  Jaguar Hunt

  by Terry Spear

  USA Today Bestselling Author

  Two deadly predators…

  As a feline Enforcer, Tammy Anderson has one objective: locate the missing jaguar and return it to the States. She doesn’t have time for distractions, and she definitely doesn’t have time for sexy shifters with more muscles than sense.

  One hot mission…

  Everyone and their brother has warned JAG agent David Patterson that Tammy is Ms. Hands-Off…which only makes him more determined to get very hands-on. But things heat up in the steamy jungles of Belize and their simple mission gets a whole lot more complicated. Now it’s going to take everything David’s got to protect the gorgeous she-cat who somehow managed to claw her way past his defenses…and into his heart.

  Praise for Jaguar Fever:

  “Readers will enjoy this thrilling tale as love and danger collide.”—Midwest Book Review