When he actually saw her naked by the loch, getting ready to enter the water, his heart skipped a beat. No other lass had ever made him feel so drawn to her.

  Her freed blond hair was whipping about her shoulders and breasts in the warm breeze. Creamy white skin, rosy nipples, curly blond hair between her thighs covering her more intimate parts were all revealed as she waded into the loch. Aye, he had it bad for her.

  But he wasn’t planning on guarding her from the shore. He stepped out of the rowan shrubs to show her he was there, not intending to sneak up on her. She had already entered the water and was swimming.

  He called out to her, “Did you want me to join you, or do you want me to guard you?”

  She whipped around and gave him the most beautiful smile. “If you’re not afraid of me, you can join me in the loch.”

  “I can protect you in the water.”

  She laughed.

  Then he stripped off his clothes, and he swore that whenever he did it to bathe or swim or shift, it was just second nature, but with her watching him so studiously, he felt like he was getting ready to mate her. And his body was reacting in a way that said he was way too interested in her.

  She was smiling like she was amused she had aroused him so. Then he walked into the loch, dove in, and swam out to see her.

  “I was hoping you would join me out here. I hadna thought you would be here already,” he said.

  “I planned to swim before you got here so I could guard you properly. But then here you are. Joining me instead.”

  He pulled her into his arms and kissed her. “I am going to have to mate you.”

  “Is that so?” Isobel asked, holding him close.

  “Aye, it’s the only way I can truly protect you—”

  “And I can protect you?” She raised her brows.

  “Aye, exactly.” He kissed her deeply and she kissed him back with the same kind of passion. “I have spoken to Mege and her family. You will have no more trouble from her. It doesna change the way I feel about you.”

  “You dinna think it is too soon? For us to mate each other? Dinna you think we should wait until your people are more accepting of us?”

  “Nay. I have waited for you all my life. I have dreamed of you.”

  “Nay.” She sounded like she couldn’t believe him.

  “Aye. We were meant to be together. When you had first arrived, I hadna known if you had come with a force of Vikings to invade our land. But I knew I wanted you from that first moment I saw you. How do you feel about it?”

  “I was much impressed with you also. Ja, you are mine.”

  He smiled and loved her. “You will be my mate and rule my pack jointly with me.”

  “I love you. I would never have thought saving my family would come to this, finding a wolf mate, who happened to be a pack leader in Scotia, finding a home for them that would be safe for them.”

  “Making my dreams come true. I love you.”

  They kissed again, but he was trying to figure out where to take her so that they could consummate their love for one another in a mating. He didn’t want to take her all the way back to the keep. Not this minute.

  She smiled at him. “The bracken will do.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Aye. What were you thinking? We canna do it in the crofter’s hut. Not with everyone in there. And walking to the keep will take too long.”

  “That’s what I was thinking. Then in the bracken it is.”

  They swam to the shore and he grabbed up their brats and carried them through the bracken. Once they found the perfect spot, they laid the brats down on the ground, spreading them out, creating a makeshift bed surrounded by green ferns that stretched toward the sky, the full moon illuminating the dark sky, loch, and the tops of the bracken.

  It seemed the perfect place to mate his wild Viking wolf. He laid her down on the brats and began kissing her soft mouth meant for just kissing him. She ran her hand through his wet hair, and he loved the intimacy between them. No woman had ever done that to him before. She kissed his mouth back, her kisses just as rampant, desirous, filling him with an unquenchable need.

  Her heart was beating the same rhythm as his, hard and fast as he moved his head down her body, trailing kisses from her mouth to her breast. He licked and suckled on the rigid nipple and then began to work on the other, giving it its due.

  She moaned, her eyes shut as she took deep breaths every time he licked a nipple, and then he kissed the one and suckled and released.

  “Join me,” she whispered, as if she couldn’t wait to be mated to him. Maybe she was afraid someone would come looking for him and she didn’t want to be caught in the middle of the act. He didn’t believe she’d think he’d change his mind if he didn’t hurry.

  But he wasn’t about to rush through the first mating between them. He slid his hand down her smooth belly and found her blond curly hairs. He nudged his fingers through them until he located her woman’s bud, swollen, aroused. His staff was as stiff as a pike already, and he truly wanted to mate her as quickly as possible, yet he had to show her how important it was to him to pleasure her also.

  “I’m ready,” she said softly, before he began to stroke her nubbin.

  Yeah, she was, but not like he suspected she thought. When he began stroking her, she moaned. “Oh, goddess, what—are—” She bit her lip, unable to speak further and he kissed her mouth while he continued to run his finger over her nub.

  She was wet for him, ready for his staff, and moving her hips to get even more pleasure from his touch. Her heart was beating even more wildly now, and he tongued her mouth while she sucked on his tongue with desperation, trying to reach the climax, but he suspected no one had ever pleasured her in this way.

  She nipped at his lip, and he smiled, but then her face tensed, and she gritted her teeth, growling, embracing the wolf and woman as she cried out with joy.

  He immediately hoped no one would hear her and think she was in peril and come to the rescue. He kissed her mouth then, licking her lips, nipping on her lower one. “Are you ready?”

  “For you to be mine and only mine,” she said softly. “Ja, aye, I am.”

  He wanted to ask if she’d ever been with a man like this, not wanting to hurt her for the first time, but he couldn’t ask without it sounding like he wouldn’t like it if she had been. So he treated her as though she was a virgin, slowly pushing into her, as much as he wanted to begin thrusting, he was so ready.

  He went cautiously until he felt a barrier. She was so tight, he was certain she’d never been with anyone before like this.

  She held her breath and then released and breathed through the pain. And then he pushed all the way in and began to thrust. Not hard, but enough to keep the momentum going.

  Her inner core was still gripping him in waves of climax and then he released in a burst and growled out, “Isobel, gods you are mine.”

  She smiled at him as he kissed her again. “Hmm, and you are mine.”

  As wolves, she could have made love all the way with a human, and not been mated. With wolves, it would have been a mating and they couldn’t be with another wolf, unless they lost their mate. Oftentimes, a wolf who lost his mate wouldn’t take another. But she hadn’t been with another man, and he was glad he was her first.

  “Was it good—” he started to say, and she pushed him off her and straddled him, then kissed him deeply.

  “Oh, aye. I never knew a man could pleasure a woman like that.”

  “Aww, lass, you deserve to be pleasured like that every time and more.” He ran his hand over her thighs.

  And then she snuggled up against him, her head on his chest. “As much as I don’t want to ever leave our little fortress of ferns, someone’s going to be missing you.”

  “And you. But aye, we need to get dressed.” Not only because he worried his brothers would check up on him again—just to make sure he was safe, but also because he wanted to take her to the keep with him, to tell the rest of the pack that they were now mated wolves. That she was also now their pack leader.

  9

  Isobel loved being with Alasdair like this, hidden in the bracken, glad that they had mated, but she wondered what to do about her kin and the crofters as far as sleeping arrangements went. She didn’t want to take the young ones to live with her in the castle when the crofters wanted a family so bad, and her nephews and niece seemed to adore Agnes and Dawy. Isobel had to admit they treated them like their own bairns, only not as distantly or harshly as their own da had done, which all had to do with the hard life they had been faced with after their mother had died. Conall was such a help to the crofters too and he seemed eager to learn shepherding and growing crops also.

  “What do we do about the living arrangements?” she asked Alasdair, running her hand over his bare chest, her cheek resting against it.

  “I’ve considered the situation and I believe we should let it be up to your nephews and niece. Agnes and Dawy will abide by any decision they make. Of course they would like to keep the rest of your family at the croft, but it’s ultimately your kin’s decision. You know I will want you at the castle from now on.”

  “Guarding it.”

  “Guarding me.” He kissed her. “As I will guard you. The crofters have never had any trouble before. If they ever believe they will, they will turn into their wolves and escape to the castle. I have watched Conall fighting with the others in practice combat when he is not building the wall. He is a formidable opponent, despite his youth. Even young Drummond is quite handy with the sword. Both of them will help Dawy if he ever has difficulties with encroaching neighbors.”

  “Aye. We teach all bairn how to fight. Even Libby will be fighting like I did.”

  Alasdair nodded. She was glad he didn’t see anything wrong in the women fighting. She would teach his women to fight also, if he wished it.

  “And this eve?” she asked.

  “’Tis late. I need to be getting back to the keep before my brothers send a rescue force. I wish to take you with me though.”

  She wanted to go with Alasdair in the worst way tonight, but she felt she had to discuss this matter with Conall and the bairns before she just abandoned them. And she didn’t want to wake the wee ones or disturb the crofters’ sleep this eve as late as it was.

  “I will stay the night at the croft and discuss this in the morn with my kin and Dawy and Agnes and see what everyone wants to do. But on the morrow, I’ll stay with you no matter what my kin agrees to do as far as living arrangements go.”

  “All right. I understand.” He kissed her again and then he said, “Wait here. I’ll gather our clothes.”

  She waited for a few minutes, listening to Alasdair as he moved through the bracken, but then she heard a startled gasp and a thud. She shifted into her wolf and ran through the bracken, hoping she would find nothing the matter, but afraid she would locate her mate sprawled out on the ground. Which was just what she discovered. Three men were headed for the croft, their backs to her, and Alasdair was lying on the beach where she and he had left the rest of their clothes.

  She was so angry, she could have killed every last one of the men. But she had to warn her family and the crofters of danger and then see to Alasdair. She dashed back into the bracken and howled to wake Dawy and Agnes and her family. And she howled to warn Alasdair’s pack that they were in danger.

  To her surprise, the men who were headed toward the house stopped, and all three of them turned to peer at the bracken before she came out to help Alasdair and protect him. One of the men called out, “Inge?”

  She peered out of the bracken, recognizing the deep voice, though it was much deeper than what she had remembered. That’s when she recognized a scent drifting on the breeze too—it was her twin brother’s scent, but he’d been lost at sea. Only her family and Elene knew her name was Inge from Iceland.

  “It is me, Leif,” he called out.

  She left the bracken but heard wolves howl in the distance.

  “What are you doing here?” Leif asked. “I thought you were a slave of these people.”

  She couldn’t believe she was seeing her twin brother. During a violent storm while she and her parents and brother were sailing, he had been washed overboard and they’d never found him. He…he was alive. She stared at the man he had become, blond, tall, muscular, the other men darker haired, just as tall and muscular, Scotsmen, she thought.

  “Who is she?” one of the men asked.

  “My sister.”

  The door to the croft was thrown open and Dawy and Conall charged forth with swords in hand ready to kill their foe.

  She shifted and threw on her chemise. “He is my brother, your uncle, Conall.” Then she saw to Alasdair. His forehead was bloodied, but he was coming to. “Alasdair is my mate.”

  They heard horses off in the distance and she knew her brother and these men would be killed for harming Alasdair. “What are you doing here?” Isobel asked, glad to see her brother, but she needed to know what their intent was.

  “We smelled lots of wolves in the area and thought it was a pack and we might join them. But then I smelled your scent here and thought these people had taken you hostage,” Leif said. “I came to free you.”

  She wasn’t sure they’d let them join the pack now. “Help me with Alasdair.”

  Leif came over to help Alasdair sit up, and then her mate looked at her, his eyes not focusing at first. Then he saw Leif and reached for his sword.

  “He is my brother, come to rescue me,” she quickly said.

  “The one lost at sea?” Alasdair asked, frowning.

  “Aye, but he has found me.” She looked at the other men. “I dinna know the other men, but they are wolves also.” She and her brother helped Alasdair into his tunic, and then she went to get their brats so they could finish dressing before Alasdair’s forces arrived.

  “I grew up with them,” Leif said about the men with him, staying with Alasdair to assist him while she returned with their brats.

  “The three of you are on your own?” Isobel asked.

  “Aye,” Leif said. “The brothers lost their parents to a sickness after they had taken me in and so the three of us have been working where we can and living off the land. They took me in because I’m a wolf also, taught me the language, clothed me and fed me until their parents died and then we were on our own.”

  The horses were growing closer, and Isobel howled as a human to tell the ones coming to rescue them that everything was all right so that the pack members wouldn’t try and kill her brother and the other men.

  “Did I hear right? That you mated the pack leader?” Conall asked.

  “Aye. I just didna think my long-lost brother would show up and nearly kill him.”

  “I am sorry,” Leif said to both her and to Alasdair. “He is the pack leader?” He carefully helped Alasdair to stand.

  “Aye, I am. And so is Isobel now too,” Alasdair said, unsteady on his feet.

  “Do you want to go inside the croft?” Conall asked.

  “Aye,” Dawy said. “Bring him inside.”

  “You will join my pack,” Alasdair said to Leif, showing no ill will toward him and his friends. “We have need of able-bodied men such as yourself. You can help build the wall, live in the barracks, and eat with us.”

  She was proud of Alasdair and glad she had mated him. He could have handled this situation so much differently. She knew her former chieftain would have. For striking him? His warriors would have killed Leif.

  The horses were nearly upon them. Hans and Rory were leading ten men to the croft and soon surrounded them before Leif and Conall could assist Alasdair to the croft.

  “What has happened here?” Hans asked, dismounting, and helping Alasdair as Isobel was gathering up Alasdair’s and her weapons.

  “Everything is secure,” Alasdair said, though his forehead was bloodied, and he was still wavering a bit where he stood.

  “Aye and who hit you?” Hans asked, none of the other men dismounting.

  “I did. I thought my sister had been taken as a slave. The last thing I knew about her whereabouts was she was in Iceland. Now she’s here? What was I to think when I smelled Inge’s scent here?”

  “That I had made a home here like you have done. This is Alasdair’s brother Hans, and the other is Rory. This is my brother Leif,” Isobel said. “And I go by Isobel now, Leif.”

  “And we are mated,” Alasdair said as Leif and Hans took him inside the croft. He sat down on a chair at the table and Agnes quickly washed the blood off his head and bandaged it with a spare cloth.

  Libby and Drummond were looking on, wide-eyed, though Drummond was holding his small sword, in preparation for a fight.

  Isobel explained to Leif who Conall was.

  “Boldof?” Leif said in surprise. “You were a wee bairn when I saw you last.” And then he met the younger siblings. They hadn’t been born before Leif was lost at sea. “My niece and nephews.” He gave everyone bear hugs, sounding delighted to have found some of his family again, but when she told him all their parents had died, he was saddened to hear it.

  “What do you want us to do with them?” Hans asked Alasdair.

  “I’m going with Alasdair to the keep,” Isobel said, deciding the matter for them. “My brother will stay with his niece and nephews to provide security and to get to know them.” She knew the crofters would be pleased the bairns were staying with them. “If that is all right with you and Agnes,” she said to them. “And if it is all right with you, Conall, Drummond, Libby.”

  “Aye,” Conall said, and everyone agreed with him.

  “In the morn, we can break our fast together,” Isobel said. “And Leif’s friends can come with us and stay in the barracks.”

  Alasdair smiled at her. “We do as the lass says. She is now your pack leader also.”

  For wolf pack leaders, it was different than if Alasdair had just been a clan leader in which the wife might not have a lot of say in the leadership of the clan. Isobel would help rule the pack just like her husband. And he seemed to appreciate how she’d handled the situation when he appeared a little out of it for now.