by Terry Spear
“There’s something else.” Duncan hated to bring up Shelley’s family’s request more than he hated the discussion about protecting that bastard Sal. “It has to do with Shelley’s three uncles and her mother. The one in charge of her pack, her Uncle Ethan Campbell, wants to move the family in with us. Or else he doesn’t want her to leave the States and I’m to move in with her near where her family resides. The family has close ties. They want to get to know our children, their grandnieces and grandnephews, when they’re born.” Duncan knew his brother wouldn’t like being dictated to, not by anyone.
“How do you feel about this?” Ian asked.
Duncan stared out at the ocean, not even truly seeing it. His brother had never asked him how he felt about anything—or anyone else that Duncan could remember, for that matter. Maybe being mated to Julia Wildthorn, romance author, had changed Ian.
“I will kill every one of them to have the right to keep my mate,” Duncan vowed fiercely.
“Aye. How would you feel about living in the States and not here, if it means staying with her to keep peace with her family?”
Duncan ground his teeth. Taking Shelley for his mate shouldn’t mean he’d have to forsake his own family, his clan, his pack. “With the deepest regret, Ian,” he said, nearly choking on the words, “aye. I would stay with Shelley in Texas.”
Ian didn’t say anything for what seemed the longest time, then spoke up again. “How does Shelley feel about it?”
“Shook up, no doubt, Ian. This has all come as a shock to her as well.”
“Let me talk to her.”
“Shelley?”
Ian chuckled darkly. “Aye. I promise I will not upset her.”
Duncan frowned and opened the door to see Shelley showing pictures of all the varieties of plants at the reserve on her camera to her uncle, excited as if nothing had come between any of them. She was like a young girl showing off a treasure to a parent. For an instant, he saw that she was indeed close to her uncle, and he was with her. Campbell wasn’t looking at the pictures as if it was a duty but smiling like he truly enjoyed seeing her work.
Duncan cleared his throat, not wanting to interrupt them since her uncle seemed pleased to observe her findings. He didn’t want to set the older man off again. “Shelley, my brother wishes to speak with you.”
“I will speak to his lairdship as well,” Ethan said with a disgruntled tone, casting Duncan a dangerous look.
Duncan handed the phone to Shelley and gave her a heartfelt embrace, then whispered into her ear, “All will be well.”
She nodded, but from the guarded look she gave him, he didn’t think she believed him. He wasn’t sure he did, either. Families could be good for a mating, but they could also be destructive. This one seemed to be off on the wrong path already.
He shut the door to let Shelley have some privacy with his brother and said to her uncle as he motioned to the camera he was now holding, “She’s dedicated to her work.”
But Ethan only gave him another glower and said, “What will she be doing in Scotland, pray tell, if you take her back there?”
***
Shelley swallowed hard as she took Duncan’s phone and took a deep breath, hating that her mouth had become a dried-up desert before she spoke to Ian.
“Hello?” She tried to sound like someone who was worthy of being mated to a laird’s brother, but all of a sudden, with her family’s interference in her life, she felt like a two-year-old with no say in anything.
Not that she would allow her uncle or her family to have any real say over what she did. On the other hand, she truly had believed they’d be as happy for her as she was for herself. Never had she expected something like this to happen.
“Hello, Shelley? First…” Ian said to her over the phone. He put her at ease at once with the way he sounded so much like Duncan when he was in a heroic, endearing mood. “I want to welcome you into our family. I understand your uncle’s concern about parting with you, and I would feel the same way if one of my own was leaving to live someplace else so far away.”
The tension remained in her spine. She appreciated that he could feel the same way as her uncle did and understood some of what was feeding her uncle’s animosity, but Ian wasn’t resolving the issue, either.
“I would welcome your family to visit you here at any time,” Ian continued.
Which was just the problem. She’d expected Ian to be generous in welcoming her family on visits, but the matter went beyond visits. She cleared her throat. “He doesn’t want to just visit.”
“My understanding completely.”
Duncan had told him, and Ian wasn’t perturbed?
“What I want to know is how this will affect you. Do you want to stay with us here? Live in the States? Visit back and forth?”
Now she knew why Ian was the laird of the clan, the leader of their pack. He definitely had leadership skills that weren’t dictatorial.
Ian said, “Duncan has already stated that he will do anything that makes you happy.”
Shelley glanced back at the house, an overwhelming feeling of love and pride in Duncan filling her. She knew he couldn’t have said he’d do so without feeling regret that he’d have to leave his own family and pack behind. “He did?”
“Aye. You must know that giving up his family wouldn’t be easy.”
“Oh, no, I never wanted that.” She truly didn’t. Even though she had a loose-knit pack of sorts, Wendy had a close-knit family and pack, so Shelley knew something about the dynamics in her friend’s family and how they wouldn’t want to lose her like that, either.
“But he’s willing to do so if that’s what you want.”
“But I don’t,” she insisted, feeling horrible about her uncle’s stand.
“All right then, if your family comes to live with us, I have rules that they must abide by. Everyone works, just like in the old days. They might not have the same jobs as eons ago, but we all support the clan, the pack. For that, they have our protection and our loyalty,” Ian said sternly.
“Which is what they’re disgruntled about—the past, about getting kicked off the land after being loyal to their laird.”
“Aye. But it’s different now. I’ll do anything I can to make this work. Your family will have to understand that I make the decisions ultimately as to the pack’s concerns, though.”
“I understand.” She knew that it would be hard for her Uncle Ethan to give up ruling their own small pack, yet he would have to if her family wished to join Ian’s.
“Then if this is agreeable to you, let me talk with your uncle.”
She didn’t want her uncle to screw things up with her and her new family and Duncan. If he did, she would be true to her word and never speak to him or the others again. Even if that would be difficult to do as well. Still, she had to live her own life. They might not understand how she felt, not any of her uncles at least, since none had been mated.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure, lass. It’s about time someone gave Duncan something to think about other than bashing heads.”
She laughed, the tension instantly dissolving. “Thanks,” she said, feeling much more lighthearted about meeting Duncan’s older brother in person when she had the chance. “I’ll let you speak with my Uncle Ethan now.”
When Shelley entered the villa, she waved the phone and said, “The laird wants to speak with you, Uncle Ethan.” She hoped to God everything would be all right.
He grunted, shoved the camera in Duncan’s hands, rose from the couch, and took the phone, then stalked outside and shut the door.
Shelley pulled Duncan into her arms, breast to chest, and began kissing him. He jumped right in, not one to let a chance get away.
He smiled against her lips. “Ian must have said something that made you happy.”
“Oh, yes, Duncan. He told me what a wonderful, caring, loving individual you are.”
Duncan looked down at her frowning. “Ian did?
Then
she laughed. “Oh, yes, and I already know I’m going to love him and the rest of your family.” If only she could get her own family to toe the line.
***
After speaking with Ethan Campbell, Ian called his little American werewolf mate into his office and pulled her into his lap. He nuzzled her soft neck and said, “Julia, you don’t happen to have any relatives named Ethan and Shelley Campbell, do you?”
“Not that I know of,” Julia said. “We have a connection to the Duke, but there are so many branches of Campbells that I wouldn’t know if we had any other ties. Why?”
“Duncan has mated with a Shelley Campbell.”
Julia smiled. “Here he was so grouchy about going to an island paradise. Sounds like it was just the place he needed to be.” Then she frowned. “You seem worried, Ian.”
“Her uncles and mother plan to live here.”
“Oh.”
“Aye. They were crofters forced to move away in the old days and still resent it.”
Julia’s eyes grew big. “Oh.”
Ian ran his hands over her belly. “Aye. Her Uncle Ethan is quite outspoken about it.”
“What happens when your mother and aunt learn of it?”
Ian sighed. “I want to see Duncan happy.”
She gave Ian one of her self-assured smiles. “He will be. Your mother and aunt can take care of the uncles. How many are there? Most importantly, do they have mates?” She arched a brow, and her eyes sparkled with an intriguing thought.
“Nay, do not even think of any of them making a match. We will be lucky if we have any peace around here at all.”
***
Duncan couldn’t decide what to do about Ethan Campbell, who was staring off at the ocean, no longer speaking to Ian, the phone in his hand at his side. Duncan didn’t think that if Ian had said Shelley’s uncles and mother could move in with them at Argent Castle, Ethan would just hop on a plane and return home to Texas. Which meant Uncle Ethan most likely would cause trouble once he learned Shelley was in danger and would want to take her right home.
Shelley seemed to be thinking the same thing, and she said, “We have to tell Uncle Ethan what’s going on.”
“He’ll take you back to Texas.”
“No, he won’t. Not any more than you’re sending me to Scotland with your brother. But I doubt he’ll go home right away. Cearnach will arrive, and how will we explain all this? Uncle Ethan needs to know. He is family after all.”
Duncan didn’t want to explain any of this to Campbell. Particularly how they’d lost their money to a master thief. He could just imagine Campbell being smugly amused that after all these years of owning the land, Duncan’s people could lose it because of a swindler of vast proportions.
“We have to tell him,” Shelley said.
“Tell me what, Niece?” Ethan asked, walking in through the back door, then shutting it. “That you need protection?”
Shelley closed her gaping mouth. He knew. Ian must have told him.
“That a woman might have ordered a hit on you for attempting to steal her mate? That the MacNeill is close to financial ruin? Tch, now it is the Campbell who will save the MacNeill’s arse.”
At that, Ethan Campbell set the cell phone on the kitchen table, folded his arms, and gave Duncan a conceited smile.
Chapter 19
“So what is the plan?” Ethan asked as Shelley served up the rest of the baked chicken wings at the kitchen table. She was hoping her uncle wouldn’t get into a fight with both Cearnach and Duncan once Cearnach arrived because they needed to be a unified force against Silverman.
Duncan couldn’t help being amused at the way the man had taken it upon himself to join the battle against Sal Silverman, as if the money was Ethan’s own. Already, he was offering his loyalty to the pack and clan.
That’s when he knew Shelley’s uncle was a good man, a lot rough around the edges but willing to make some concessions. Most of all, he wasn’t insisting that Shelley go home to Texas and out of harm’s way. Not that he hadn’t brought it up at once, but Shelley had, in no uncertain terms, told him no.
“After we finish eating, I’m leaving for the airport to pick up my brother. We can all go, or you and Shelley can stay here and wait for us,” Duncan said, picking up another wing and taking a bite.
Shelley stirred her soy beans, miniature corn, water chestnuts, and snow peas, thinking over what would be best. Neither Duncan nor Ian had been able to tell Cearnach that her uncle was here. It might be best for Duncan to have a word in private with his brother. She wasn’t even sure he knew Duncan and she were mated yet.
Ethan motioned with his hand as if waving away what was happening next. “I don’t mean with your brother. What are we doing about Silverman?” He shook his head. “Who would have thought the most newsworthy financial crook would be a wolf?”
Shelley was glad to see that her uncle seemed more interested in taking down Silverman than in saying anything further about her mating Duncan. “If he knows any wolves, they might not realize he has a residence here.”
“Aye,” Duncan said. “I imagine that’s the truth of the matter. Guthrie, another of my brothers, learned of it. The house is not in Silverman’s name but under some alias he must be using.”
“Maybe we should all offer to be Silverman’s bodyguards,” Ethan said. “While I’m guarding your back, you can get the money out of the bastard.”
Shelley didn’t like the idea that they would have to be dishonest in what they had to do, pretending to protect Silverman when they knew they had to eliminate him.
“Nay,” Duncan said. “Silverman has no one else to watch his back, save the human Kenneth. I wouldn’t take on the job of providing a protection service for him. The only reason I haven’t taken him to task yet is that he had a force protecting him. When Carlotta sent her goons after Shelley, she became my priority. Now that my brother is coming, you are here, and Silverman’s hired thugs are all gone, it should be an easy matter. After I pick up Cearnach at the airport, we’ll all see Silverman and talk to him about the money.”
“Along with Shelley,” Ethan said. “She can’t stay here alone.”
“Aye.” Duncan reached over, took her hand, and squeezed. “We’ll go together, all as family.”
Shelley’s heart nearly burst with pride to hear Duncan include her Uncle Ethan in the declaration. She knew he did it in part to please her. Her uncle was making inroads, too, just by offering to work on Silverman himself to ensure the money was returned. It might have something to do with him now having a castle to live in, but if they didn’t get the money back, then what? Maybe the MacNeills would all have to live with her uncles in the States. Talk about turning around the scenario of the crofter pushed off the land in Scotland. Then she was certain Uncle Ethan would rule the pack. Or at least try to.
Duncan glanced at the clock. “Nearly 9 p.m. Time to get my brother. Will you come with me or stay?”
“We can wait for you, if you think it will work well that way. Then you can bring your brother here first, and we can feed him a bite to eat if he didn’t get enough of a meal on the plane. We can talk over the plans to see Silverman, then call on him,” Shelley said.
Clasping her hand still, Duncan looked as though he didn’t want her to stay alone at the villa with her uncle, that he might say things to her that would upset her. She suspected Duncan also was worried about her safety. Even so, she thought that his having time to speak alone with his brother was important.
Despite looking like it was killing him not to butt in and make a decision for them, Ethan held his tongue.
Shelley turned to him and asked, “Uncle Ethan, what do you think?”
His eyes sparkled with admiration because she’d included him in the decision-making. “I think it will kill your young man if you stay here alone with me.” Ethan smirked. “He doesn’t trust me to protect you. But I fought just as well in the old days, like his kind did when the time came.”
He hadn’t fought l
ike that in years, she suspected. Not like Duncan did in keeping up his swordsmanship skills to teach those in his clan. Duncan was a skilled warrior. Seeing how much it pleased her uncle, she was glad that she hadn’t left him out of the decision-making.
“All right. We go together,” she said.
They left the villa and climbed into the car with Duncan driving, Shelley seated beside him, and Ethan riding in the backseat. They’d barely pulled onto the road when a truck roared up behind them and, without warning, rammed them off the asphalt, barreling them past the villa and shoving them across the sand toward the ocean as if the truck was a tank in a battle zone and they were the enemy.
Anger heated Duncan’s blood instantly.
“You don’t happen to have a gun to blast them with, do you?” Uncle Ethan growled, glowering out the back window.
The vehicle was no match for the truck, and although Duncan tried, applying the brakes was of no use.
“I don’t know what they hope to do,” Shelley said. “They can’t shove us very far into the surf before the car floats off, and we’ll just get out of the vehicle.”
He knew what the bastards planned to do. Catch them in a more vulnerable position—unable to fight back as easily. “Can you see if anyone in the truck is wearing their wolf coats?” Duncan asked, his voice dark with fury.
“Can’t see any of them, just the driver, and he’s a steely-eyed bastard, itching for a showdown,” Ethan said. “Can you swerve out of their path and let them deal with the breakers?”
“Nay. I can’t drive in this sand at all. They’re propelling us straight through it.”
“Should we jump from the car first, Duncan?” Shelley asked. “Before we get into the surf?”
“Nay. We go together. If we leave the vehicle, they’ll release a truck full of wolves, and we’ll be at a decided disadvantage.” He meant Shelley, not himself or Ethan.
“But it will be harder to get out of the car when it’s in the water,” she said, jerking off her clothes.
“Shelley.” His tone indicated that he didn’t agree and was full of dire warning.
