by Holly Evans
“Marrok,” he said quietly.
“Relax, cub, we are not in that setting,” the hound said.
I looked between them. I’d thought his name was Hawke, was Marrok his first name?
“Marrok is my rank,” the hound explained as he walked over to us. “Tell me, Ms. Kincaid, do you know what your hound needs?”
“No, but I’m sure he’ll tell me,” I said.
The Marrok smiled.
“He is young and was heavily abused in the infernal realms. He will need a lot of time, patience, and love from you. Are you capable of giving him that?”
“If that is what he needs, then yes,” I said as I lifted my chin.
I wasn’t going to be intimidated. I may not have chosen Gideon, but I was going to give him the best life I could. I saw Dante’s pride out the corner of my eye, and that only encouraged me. Marrok, Councilman, it didn’t matter. Gideon was my hound, and it was as simple as that.
“He is a war dog, Wren. He will never be a good little puppy that lies at your feet and fetches the newspaper,” the hound pushed.
“He’s a person with needs and desires, and I will treat him as such. Are we done here?” I snapped.
The hound grinned at me.
“I see why you like her, Dante,” he said.
Dante’s smile lit up his eyes and washed away the irritation that had been building.
“I do have impeccable taste,” Dante said.
The hound laughed. “Did you hear that Alasdair has his soulbond now?”
“No, what’re they like?” Dante said.
“He’s a quiet little made wolf. He brings out the best in Alasdair. They make a pretty couple,” the hound said.
Given they seemed to have devolved into gossip, I picked up the paperwork and set about filling all of that in. Kane and Gideon helped me as much as they could. By the time I was finished, Dante and the hound seemed to be relaxed and laughing about something. The hound hugged Dante before he turned back to me.
“Dante has my number, if you need anything,” he said.
Once we had the room to ourselves, I turned and cupped Gideon’s cheek.
“Are you ok?” I asked.
He gave me a weak smile.
“His presence just brought up bad memories,” he said quietly.
I gently pulled him to me and stroked the nape of his neck.
“I’ll listen when you’re ready,” I said softly.
He grazed his teeth over my neck. “Thank you, Wren.”
“Let’s go and get paid, then we can head to the airport,” Dante said as he put his hand on my lower back.
Kane put his arm around Gideon’s shoulders and offered him support as we walked back out into the hallway. I kept the paperwork with me, as we’d no doubt need that, and I wasn’t going to fill it all in again.
We stayed in a family room in Edinburgh for the first night back in Scotland. The flight had been delayed, and it was still a long drive up to Inverness. None of us had it in us. We ate room service and watched movies all squashed onto the main double bed. When the time came to go to sleep, Kane and Dante each kissed me on the cheek before they retired to one of the single beds. They had decided that Gideon needed the contact more and thus had been given the double bed with me.
Happiness radiated down the bond when I pulled him close to me and held him in my arms as I fell asleep.
FIFTY-SEVEN
Dante had described our new home near Inverness as being ‘a little getaway place.’ It was a castle. A legitimate, honest to the gods, castle. Tall, grey stone walls stretched up towards the sky at the end of a long white gravel drive with manicured lawns on either side. Thin flower beds circled around a fountain that sat in the middle of the circle in front of the goddamn castle.
It had turrets! There were four stories, each dotted with large windows so it would be bright and airy inside. The porch area that sprawled out in front of the door was almost as big as my apartment had been in Prague. I peered up at the roof, and it looked as though there was space up there to sit and watch the sunset, which was something I had dreamed of. I’d been dying to lie somewhere high and peaceful and stargaze since I’d left Inverness. There was no light pollution in the area; it would be perfect for it.
As I climbed out of the car, my jaw was on the ground.
“This is home?” I asked.
“This is home,” Dante said.
“It’s a castle.”
“It’s your castle,” Dante corrected.
Continue Wren’s adventures with her three guys in the Scottish Highlands now. Get Shattered Wards on Amazon.
If you’d like to continue exploring this world, try Blood of the Wolf (Forged in Blood), told from the point of view of a made wolf shifter.
