If she continued past the castle, she had no idea where she’d end up.
She pulled into the parking lot at the castle ruins to turn the car around, figuring that she’d have to drive to the nearest city she could find and get directions, when three vehicles rushed in behind her.
Heart nearly failing, she glanced over her shoulder to see them tactically blocking her in. They must have been following her. The road twisted and turned so much that as long as they kept back far enough, she wouldn’t spy them. Or maybe they had suspected where she was headed from the direction she had taken and had come straight here. As if she’d come here of her own accord.
Or had they planted a device in the car that would make her easy to follow? Sure, that’s why Rafferty had suggested she take the car and run. Oh, how could she have fallen so easily into his trap?
Her heart was pounding so wildly that she didn’t know what to do. They’d blocked her in and she had no way to move the car. As a woman, she had no defenses. As a wolf, sure, but if anyone had a tranquilizer dart, she wouldn’t stand a chance against her kin, either.
She could run. But they could shift and run after her. Males could catch up to her with their longer legs.
She didn’t have a choice.
She closed her eyes. She could only do one thing. Attempt to return to Argent Castle. God, how could this nightmare get any worse?
As much as she hated to, she had to solicit the MacNeills’ help to get away. Like Cearnach had intended to aid her so many years ago.
She shoved open the car door, yanked off her clothes, and heard the men shouting, “She’s shifting!”
Car doors were thrown open. She willed herself to be a wolf, and before anyone could strip or chase after her, she dashed off. She would never be Rafferty’s punching bag again.
She would have to find a way to defend herself in the future. Arm herself. Be prepared. Kill him if he ever found her again.
She raced toward the castle ruins, wishing she had an army of men who could rain arrows down on her own kin. Then she tore down the stairs until she reached the walkway and leaped to the beach. She would have to find her way home. No not home. To Argent Castle. Cearnach’s home. Not hers.
He’d be so angry with her. She didn’t want to face him. She’d ask Ian instead. He’d probably be just as angry with her. She’d mated with his brother when she should never have done so.
What a mess she’d made of things.
All because she’d returned to Scotland, wanting the treasure, just like her own family whose greed had made them pirates.
She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, knowing some of her kin would turn wolf and follow her. Had they picked up Rafferty, too? Probably. He was much older than her. He probably couldn’t keep up with her or the rest of them like some of the younger, stronger wolves.
If they got hold of her and could stop her from running, Rafferty would catch up to her, too.
Cearnach had been flooring the gas nearly the whole time and hadn’t seen any sign of her on the road ahead. Which way did you go? Which way, Elaine?
Duncan’s phone rang, and he lifted it off his lap. “Yeah, Guthrie?”
“She’s running as a wolf. Up near Senton Castle. Five wolves are trying to track her down. Three are McKinleys—Vardon, Baird, and another brother. And both the Kilpatrick brothers are in hot pursuit,” Guthrie said.
Cearnach was already turning his car around.
“How the hell did you know she went that way?” Duncan asked.
“You went one way, I went the opposite,” Guthrie said.
“Where’s the wolf who met her in the kennel?” Duncan asked.
“Up on the walk to the castle. He’s in wolf form still, but he’s older, and I figured he’s letting the younger wolves chase her down and bring her back to him. Or he’s planning on catching up to them if they can grab her and hold her for him.” A pause followed. “Hell, he’s run after them.”
“They’re dead wolves,” Cearnach growled. Then he frowned. “Why would Rafferty hold back?” Cearnach asked. “He’s alpha. I didn’t see that she’d been physically abused when she dashed out of the kennel. He’s a hitter. He had to know she’d been with another male. And now, up on the walkway. Why would he let the others go after her first? He should have been the first one after her. Why would the bastard have held back?”
“He’s older, in charge? Paying the money for her kin to bring her to him? Above chasing her down? In the kennels, he couldn’t afford to beat her. Injured, she wouldn’t have been able to escape him, or us,” Guthrie said. “She appears to be headed south toward our castle.”
“Bloody hell,” Cearnach said, thinking of how she knew the way on foot, smelling their scents, tracking better than she could find her way while driving a car. She would face the farmer’s wrath again, the dogs, and the falls.
He pulled off onto another road.
“This isn’t going to take you to the ruins. Where are you headed?” Duncan asked.
“To intercept her, fight the other wolves, and take her home.”
“She’s mated to another wolf,” Duncan warned.
“Aye.” He cast Duncan a dark look that told his brother just what he had in mind.
Duncan nodded. “Aye. Guthrie, you get all that?”
“I don’t understand,” Guthrie said.
“The wolf who was watching from the pathway is Kelly Rafferty, Elaine’s mate. He was thought dead since a year after her uncle’s hangings,” Cearnach said.
Duncan snorted. “If he’s waited that long to reclaim his mate, he doesn’t deserve her.”
“He beat her, killed her parents, and I suspect, murdered the men who became interested in mating her. He forced the mating. He’s a dead wolf,” Cearnach said. “She should have known she didn’t have to run.”
“I remember when she got away from us in St. Andrews, Cearnach,” Duncan said. “She was frightened then, had no family to call her own. This is the only thing she knows how to do. To her way of thinking, she’s dishonored our clan, the pack, you. She has no family to fall back on. She won’t return to Rafferty, so she intends to disappear again.”
“Aye, she’s a woman. She doesn’t think like a warrior,” Guthrie said.
“If you don’t kill him, I will, Cearnach. She should never have run. She’s one of us now,” Duncan said.
“I’ll kill him,” Cearnach promised.
“Where do I need to go to meet up with you?” Guthrie asked.
“A quarter mile south of Oglivie’s farm. She’ll be headed for the river, and we’ll need to stop her kin from pursuing her and keep her from crossing the river,” Cearnach said.
“Oglivie’s got two border collies,” Duncan warned.
“Aye.” How well Cearnach knew.
“Meet you there,” Guthrie said.
“Be careful,” Duncan told him.
“And you.”
“She won’t make it to the river.” Duncan set his phone back on his lap.
“Not without me to help her.” Cearnach headed down another road.
Duncan frowned. “You’re going to intercept her earlier? You’re not going to include Guthrie in the fight?”
“I have to do it this way.”
Duncan sighed and folded his arms. “That means facing five wolves.”
“I wanted Guthrie with us. But I can’t describe the location adequately so that he would find it. The best I can do is to have him meet us beyond the Oglivie’s farm and his dogs. We’ll rescue her, then take her to the car, then get in touch with Guthrie.”
“All right.” Duncan made another call. “Ian, she’s running as a wolf, headed back to Argent Castle from Senton Castle and pursued by some of the Kilpatricks and McKinleys. We’re going to intercept them.”
“Why did she run? She has to know we’d protect her,” Ian said over the sound of men shouting in the background at Argent Castle and the dogs barking wildly.