by Selena Kitt
“Darrow’ll come ‘round,” he said softly before he closed the door behind him.
She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. She suddenly understood the way his gaze followed her, what it meant. He looked at her, Sibyl suddenly realized, like she’d seen Darrow look at Laina.
Like a wulver looked at his mate.
Chapter Seven
The wulvers were the best family she’d ever had. Sibyl often thought this as she drifted off to sleep, going over the events of the day, which were always interesting. It had taken some getting used to seeing a wolf’s head on a man’s body, hearing a man speak through a wolf’s mouth, but she could enter the valley without a second thought now as the wolfen warriors trained. It took her a little longer to get used to seeing the flash of a wolf’s eyes in the darkness of a mountain tunnel, but she’d spent long enough with them to know none of them meant her harm.
She didn’t know when it had happened, but at some point, the wulvers’ mountain and valley had started to feel like home. And everywhere she went, every which way she looked, Raife was there, watching her. Watching over her. He seemed to think of himself as her personal protector, and that’s why, when Sibyl started going out into the forest with Darrow, Raife had completely lost it.
Darrow had come for her as he said he would, and while Sibyl knew what Raife’s response would be, she had gone anyway. She hadn’t asked him—and she’d known, in her heart, that the pack leader wouldn’t have allowed it if she had. So she had simply agreed, putting her arms around Darrow’s neck, letting him carry her into the woods where she had left her past behind.
She spent the ride with her face buried against his fur, not knowing what she was more afraid of, Alistair’s men finding them, the thought Darrow might be taking her into the woods to do away with her, or the knowledge she was going to have to return and face Raife’s wrath. Of course, so would Darrow, she knew. He must really love his wife, she thought, as the big gray wolf slowed and then stopped near a small stream. It was hardly a trickle compared to the rushing one she and Raife had crossed to escape their pursuers, but it was the place Laina said they’d found the other willow.
“That’s not huluppa,” Sibyl said, knowing it right away. She was already off the wolf’s back, inspecting the leaves. They were too wide and broad, a deeper green. Of course, she’d only seen huluppa in the apothecary’s books and was going from memory alone.
“Tis the stuff Laina took back wit’ us last time,” Darrow said, coming up behind her as Sibyl inspected the tall tree. She glanced back, seeing he’d changed—from wolf to man, and into his plaid, which had been secured around his neck as they rode through the woods. His face darkened at the thought. “The stuff that nearly killed ‘er.”
“It was the willow. I’m sure of it,” Sibyl agreed, frowning, fingering the leaves. “It will make anyone bleed more heavily, even though it takes away pain. It worries me.”
“Aye.” Darrow followed her as Sibyl made her way down the little stream. “And me.”
“But you still brought me out here to look for it?” She puzzled over this as she unslung her satchel, gathering agrimony. It wasn’t huluppa, but it was good for stopping a bleed and always good to have on hand. She’d already started teaching Kirstin and the old midwife, Beitris, about herbs.
“She’s me mate.” Darrow shrugged one bare shoulder. The marking there matched the one on Laina’s thigh and hip. It was intricate symbolism, a sign they were mates.
“You love her.” Sibyl couldn’t help the smile that came over her face as she gathered feverfew, putting that in her satchel too. It was good for indigestion.
“Aye.” The look in Darrow’s eyes said everything.
They walked up and down the stream, Sibyl inspecting the plants, warning Darrow against the touching the henbane. It was poisonous.
“Aye, wulvers have a keen nose.” Darrow made a face, stepping around the poisonous plant. “Tis why I thought we’d’ve found it by now.”
“It is curious.” Sibyl frowned, cocking her head—she thought she heard something—but Darrow was already near, reaching for the dirk tucked away in his plaid as he put a protective arm around her from behind.
“Alistair…?” she whispered, glad for his embrace because she felt dizzy. There were men moving through the woods. It was far off, distant, but she knew the sound.
“Ye’ve good ears, lass.” Darrow grinned, cocking his head as he looked down at her. “Those’re reavers.”
“Thieves?” She shivered, remembering Alistair and Donal constantly complaining about the reavers, the thieves who raided their cattle and poached game on their lands at the border.
“Ye’re safe wit’ me,” Darrow assured her, sheathing his dirk again. “They steal from the MacFalons. They hate the English. And the MacFalons are more English than Scots now.”
“You hate the English, too,” she replied softly as Darrow let her go again and they resumed their hunt for the elusive huluppa, heading downstream together. “And the MacFalons.”
“Aye,” Darrow agreed and she saw the hard look on his face. It made her sad and a little afraid. She was English, after all.
“Why?” she asked, kneeling down to pluck soapwort from the roots. It was perfect for washing clothes. “I thought there was some sort of a pact…?”
She’d heard tell of this pact, but didn’t know any real details. She just knew there seemed to be some sort of peace pact between the wulvers and the MacFalons.
“Aye, me father brokered the deal.” Darrow stopped, waiting for her. “Twas a mistake I’d sorely like t’undo.”
“But… wouldn’t that mean war between the wulvers and the MacFalons?” She shaded her eyes against the sun, looking up at him.
“I’d rather fight a war,” he snarled. “We train e’eryday fer war but ne’er fight.”
“King Henry seems to want peace.” She stood, slinging her satchel over her shoulder and picking her way along the stream. “That’s why I was promised to Alistair MacFalon.”
“King Henry wants lands an’titles, like all the English.”
“What do Scots want?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder. Darrow was far more sure footed than she was.
“A good woman, a warm bed, and food in their bellies.” He grinned at her and she couldn’t help but laugh.
“And wulvers?”
“The same, I s’pose.” He shrugged, still smiling. He had a nice smile, like his brother’s, just a little more lopsided.
“Not lands and titles like the horrible English?” she teased.
“We’re not interested in titles.” Darrow scoffed at the idea. “We have our land.”
They had a whole kingdom inside a mountain. Sibyl was still in awe of their tunnels, their rich valley. And their family. The pack. They were closer than anyone she’d ever known. They were laid back and laughed out loud and long like the Scots she’d experienced when she was staying with the MacFalons, but there was a loyalty and close-knitted connection in the wulvers’ den she’d never seen anywhere else.
“I do’na think all the English are horrible, lass.” Darrow’s words stopped her.
“Just me then?” She wasn’t laughing and neither was he.
“Ye saved Laina’s life,” he said, reminding them both. “I’m grateful to ye.”
“So you’ve said.” She gave a little nod. “But still, you look at me like I was a chamber pot and you’d like to toss me out a window.”
He threw back his head and laughed. She couldn’t help laughing too. It seemed to break something up between them, something that had been in the way, like a mountain crumbling to the ground under a force of nature.
“Not so bad as that,” Darrow told her.
“No?” Sibyl was still smiling, but she doubted his veracity. She’d seen the way he looked at her.
“Ye bein’ wit’ us, lass, livin’ wit’ us, in our den?” He stopped, leaning his bare shoulder against the bark of a tree. Sibyl stopped too, turning back to
him. “Tis dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” She wrinkled her nose, thinking. “Why?”
“Alistair MacFalon’s a’ready violatin’ t’pact, if’n he’s trappin’ wulvers.”
“Yes.” She nodded slowly, remembering how proud he was of the fact he had a wolf trapped in a cage. A pregnant female he intended to kill and parade back to the castle as if it had been some great feat. “I believe he is.”
“He’s a cruel man, lass.” Darrow’s eyes narrowed, his head cocked. She knew he was listening to the reavers, although she could no longer hear them. They were too far off.
“I know,” Sibyl agreed. “Believe me, I know. I couldn’t stay with him, Darrow. I couldn’t marry that man, no matter what my family wanted me to do.”
“Raife said ye’re brave one.” Darrow gave a short nod. “Ye saved Laina, and I said I’m grateful to ye, and I am. But when I heard what he’d done… I wanted…”
“War,” she whispered, knowing it before he even said it. “Of course you did. She’s your wife. You love her.”
“Aye.” The look in his eyes was like steel. It was clear he would do anything for his mate, and that he’d had nothing but vengeance on his mind when Laina had returned, wounded, in labor, and then nearly died birthing their son.
Not that Sibyl could blame him. She felt murderous when she thought of Alistair, and the man had done nothing more than paw at her. She couldn’t imagine what Darrow had felt, seeing his mate that way and finding out it was Alistair MacFalon who was responsible.
“So why didn’t you go after him?” she asked. “The pact?”
“Aye.” That steel flashed in his eyes. “Me brother has other ideas, ‘bout keepin’ t’peace. Said she was’na kidnapped or killed, so we could’na retaliate.”
“So Raife stopped you.”
She didn’t fully understand this pact between the wulvers and the MacFalons, but she was beginning to see it more clearly. She remembered Raife saying he’d been sent to find Laina, but she wondered at that now. Mayhaps Raife had gone looking for her on his own—in hopes of finding her, yes, of course. But also in hopes of avoiding Darrow’s rage, his need for vengeance.
“Aye, he stopped me.” Darrow shook his head at her. “But he’s agreed t’keep ye wit’ us, let ye live in our den. Sibyl, if MacFalon knew we had ye…”
Just like Darrow had wanted vengeance, she knew how Alistair would react if he discovered her held “captive” by the wulvers.
“It would surely mean war,” she whispered. And that was why Darrow said it was dangerous for Sibyl to be living amongst them. She was putting everyone at risk. Darrow. His wife, Laina. Their new baby. And Raife. She was putting Raife in danger, just by being with him. And he was putting his entire pack at risk by letting her stay.
“Aye,” Darrow agreed softly.
“So why don’t you tell the MacFalons?” she asked. She had fleetingly thought, mayhaps, Darrow wanted to take her into the woods to be rid of her. But she’d risked it, because of the way he looked at Laina. Any man who loved his wife that much couldn’t be bad, not truly. But it hadn’t crossed her mind until then that mayhaps he had another solution on his mind. Mayhaps those men in the woods were Alistair’s men after all? “Why don’t you take me to him right now?”
The thought made her physically ill. She had to clutch at the tree beside her to keep from collapsing. But she realized it wasn’t so much the thought of having to face Alistair again that made her feel dizzy and sick.
It was the thought of never seeing Raife again.
Sibyl met Darrow’s eyes and saw how torn he felt. Maybe it wasn’t personal after all.
“Because I fear a war a’tween wulver brothers more’n I want one wit’ clan MacFalon,” Darrow replied finally, his gaze never leaving her.
Sibyl nodded, understanding. So she was safe with Darrow after all. Raife had been right. Darrow wouldn’t defy his brother. He wouldn’t kill her or take her to the MacFalons. He would respect Raife’s wishes. And mayhaps, she thought, as they started walking through the woods again, he now had another, more ulterior motive.
And then he came right out and said what she’d been thinking.
“And I hope ye really can find the tree me Laina’s been searchin’ fer.”
“I hope so, too.” Sibyl couldn’t help laughing.
They spent hours looking for the huluppa tree. Darrow changed several times, in order to carry her further, faster, than the two of them could travel on foot. But their search ended before Sibyl found what they were looking for. Darrow glanced at the sun, telling her they must head home, although she’d wanted to continue on.
When they returned, Sibyl and Darrow were both surprised to find that Raife had taken the place of the sentry, pacing back and forth at the entrance of the mountain, waiting for them both. Darrow faced his brother defiantly. Sibyl tried to slink by like a dog with its tail between its legs, but Raife caught her around the waist, pulling her to him and growling, “Wait fer me in yer room,” before sending her on her way.
She heard them snarling at each other as she hurried back to her room. Raife came to her a short time later, his back and side scratched and bleeding, face smeared dark red, and she was terrified to ask what had happened. She instantly wanted to apologize, to beg his forgiveness, but she did neither.
Instead, she went to the fire to heat water to treat his wounds. He let her, watching as she washed the blood away with a warm cloth, seeing the wonder in her eyes as the gouges in his flesh healed all by themselves in no time at all. More wulver magic, she learned. Their strength made them great warriors, but their healing capacity made them near unbeatable.
“Me brother says ye were out helpin’ him find huluppa?” Those were the first words he said.
“Yes,” Sibyl replied honestly, still stunned at the way his skin pulled itself together right in front of her eyes without even leaving a scar. “For Laina.”
Raife gave a slow, curt nod, those disarming blue eyes studying her face.
She stopped and looked up at him, puzzled.
“What did you think I was doing out there with him?” she finally asked and hid a smile when he scowled and wouldn’t answer her.
Sibyl had been ready to call Kirstin for bandages, a needle and thread, but there were now no wounds to stitch up. Raife’s skin was as clear and smooth as it had been before his altercation with Darrow. She knew it was some sort of magic and knew, too, she should have been afraid, but she wasn’t. She’d spent her life being trained by men and women who lived in fear of being hunted down and hung for practicing witchcraft. But the knowledge of herbs and other healing techniques weren’t devilry, she knew. And this—the way this man changed from animal to human and back, the way his skin healed, this wasn’t the devil either.
We are what we are. That’s what Raife said and it was true. They simply were. Animals were animals, humans were humans and wulvers were… wulvers. They were all God’s creatures.
Sibyl’s fingers moved over Raife’s skin where the wound had been, feeling the muscle tighten underneath. Her hand smoothed the hot, corded terrain of the man’s neck, brushing his hair aside to inspect the place where blood had been spilled. She had wiped it all away. He was completely healed.
“Sibyl…” He spoke her name and she lifted her eyes to meet his. They sat close on the bed, her bare leg grazing his, their plaids pulled to mid-thigh, his face swimming in her vision. “Do’na defy me, lass.”
“I didn’t ask your permission.” She felt her spine straighten as she glared at him.
“Aye, ye did’na.” He clasped her hands in his, bringing them down to his lap. “But ye’re me charge and if’n I’m t’keep ye safe…”
“Your brother kept me safe.” She stuck out her chin, defiant. “Were you worried he might turn me over to the MacFalons? Or mayhaps just kill me himself?”
“Were ye worried ‘bout it?” Raife chuckled. He lifted Sibyl’s hands, turning them both over and placing a kiss in each palm
. His mouth was so soft, lips warm, and the feel of his breath made her chest tighten. “Darrow would’na hurt a hair on ye head. He knows how I feel ‘bout ye.”
“How do you… feel?” Sibyl swallowed, her words broken. She’d asked, but did she really want to know?
“I’ve said too much.” He dropped her hands, moving to stand, but Sibyl couldn’t let him.
So she did the only thing she could think of to stop him.
She climbed into the man’s lap and pressed her lips to his.
Raife’s big arms encircled her, enfolded her, completely enveloped her. Sibyl disappeared against him and she liked it. Being with him always made her feel safe but this was different. Something stirred in her, something deep, dark, primal. Raife groaned like a man being tortured when she turned her head and gasped for breath, opening her mouth to his, and he took it, tongue probing, hands roaming through the thick, red mass of her hair.
