Lydia Dare - Wolf Next Door

Blaine sighed. "Against my own best interest then, I'll pray for the dowager's safe recovery."

"Will wasn't angry Father hit him, was he?" Darius asked.

"Honestly, Dari, that seems a lifetime ago," Prisca answered. "He has other things on his mind." And she had a million on hers. Alice's health. Powerful Scottish witches. Crescent-moon-shaped birthmarks. Lycans.

"Well," Emory began, "we had wanted to ask you both to Christmas dinner tomorrow."

How normal that sounded. How un-Westfield. Prisca shook her head. "I do appreciate the offer, but I promised Will I would stay near his mother."

Garrick nodded understandingly. "She always treated you like a daughter."

"Is there anything we can do?" Pierce asked.

Prisca shook her head. "I believe Will is doing all there is to be done. But thank you."

***

Will knew that if he didn't stop soon, he'd fall from his horse. But he was halfway to Scotland, having just left Yorkshire. If he could just stay on his horse for a bit longer, he'd find Sorcha and then hire a coach to take him back to Hampshire, or at least part of the way until he was rested.

The frosty wind blew, and despite his warm nature, he shivered. It was madness to travel to Scotland on horseback in the dead of winter. But it was faster than going by carriage, and if his mother needed him to travel to the moon, he'd find a way.

The grey sky seemed to meld with the leafless trees, and Will closed his eyes just for a moment to get his bearings. He jerked when he nearly fell from the saddle. He immediately straightened, but his eyes began to close again. Then he heard a female voice calling loudly.

"Lord William!" It came again.

He turned in his saddle to look. He must be so exhausted that his eyes were deceiving him. He squinted and looked again. If he wasn't so tired, he'd swear he saw Caitrin Macleod, another of Elspeth's coven sisters. She was poking her head out of a carriage, her flaxen curls blowing in the wind.

"Go catch his lordship. He's about ta fall from atop the horse," she directed her coachman.

The man ran forward and helped to ease Will down as he did just that. He still thought he was dreaming. "Leave it to you, Miss Macleod, to see me falling from the saddle in exhaustion," he grunted.

She stepped from the coach and approached him. "I'm a seer, Lord William. Why do ye think I'm here?"

"You have the plants Elspeth needs?" he asked, praying with all his might that she did.

"Aye, I have everything." She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and stared at him sternly.

"You're not going to give them to me, are you?" Will asked, knowing by her stance he was right. "I need them, Miss Macleod. My mother—"

"Am I ta believe ye now have the ability ta see the future, Lord William?"

"Ben always said you were trouble," he grumbled. "And now I know why he didn't like you."

A small smile curved her lips. "He'll get past that in a few years." She waved her hand negligently as her coachman secured Will's mount to the back of the carriage. "And, no, I'll no' be givin' ye Sorcha's

Epipactis youngiana

. I'll be goin' with ye, instead." Then she shrugged. "Or ye'll be goin' with me," she added, motioning toward her own carriage.

"Will my mother be all right?" Caitrin Macleod's visions had never been wrong. An assurance from her would lighten his heart tenfold.

"Ye ken I canna tell ye." She avoided his gaze.

"Certainly you wouldn't have come all this way for nothing," Will pressed.

"No' for nothing," she assured him before she and her maid ducked inside the coach.

He followed and flopped heavily onto the seat, and then laid his head back against the squabs and closed his eyes.

"The future's no' always certain," she said quietly. "Sometimes it needs a bit of help." But he barely heard her as the rocking of the coach and the warm brick at his feet lulled him instantly to sleep.

***

Will woke with a start and found Caitrin Macleod regarding him from across the coach with an amused look. "Did ye ken that ye talk in yer sleep, my lord?"

He raked a hand through his hair and grunted. "No one's ever mentioned it."

Her smile broadened. "Who, may I ask, is Prissy?"

Will frowned at her. Just because she'd come to his rescue didn't mean he had to take her teasing. After all, she was the one witch out of the bunch who didn't even

like

Ben. "My wife," he answered, hoping to wipe the grin from her face. What the devil had he said in his sleep?

Her icy eyes twinkled with mirth. "I am glad to hear it. Sorcha will be heartbroken, of course, but we don't need any more Lycans in our midst. Benjamin is more than enough."

Simon and Miss Macleod were of a mind. Though Will didn't have any use for this conversation. "What did you see in regard to my mother?" he asked.

The sparkle in Miss Macleod's eyes vanished instantly. "I saw that she needs the plants. I saw that if yer brother wasna so doggedly stubborn, she would already be well."

Will gulped. "You may not want to mention that to him. He's been tortured enough by the decision."

She shrugged and glanced at the sleeping maid at her side. "El's no' as frail as he thinks. She was healing people long before Benjamin entered our realm."

"You didn't see her when she healed him," Will said, the memory of Elspeth's lifeless body fresh in his mind. "I was there. It was quite terrifying. I don't think I could let my wife put herself in danger."

"Prissy?" Miss Macleod asked, her knowing grin returned.

"All right, blast it!" he growled. "What

did

I say?"

"Ye wanted her ta scratch ye between yer ears and rub yer belly," she giggled. "I wonder, are those the thoughts of most dogs?"

Will couldn't ever remember blushing before, but warmth did creep up his neck and cheeks. Dear God, had he actually said those things? Hopefully, Prisca never heard him utter such words. "You truly are a witch, Miss Macleod."

She sat higher in her seat. "Flatterer."

"If you give me the plants, I'll take it from here. I can travel faster on horseback."

Miss Macleod simply shook her head. "I already told ye I was accompanying ye, my lord. Besides ye slept two straight days. We're nearly there anyway."

He'd slept two straight days? "You didn't stop at an inn along the way?"

She looked at him as though he were mad. "Well, of course we did, ta trade out horses. Ye slept through it all. But I wasna about ta stay the night. Public places such as that run havoc on my senses. Besides, I do have a reputation I'd like ta keep intact, one that would be in shreds if it was known ye were my traveling companion. This way, no one even knew ye were with us. It was the best plan."

Relief washed over him. They were almost to The Hall. "Can you see her? Is my mother still all right?"

Miss Macleod's eyes clouded over. "Ye have other concerns, my lord."

"But my mother—"

"There's a golden wolf in your midst, a lone wolf. I canna see him clearly, which is strange. But I can feel that he means ye harm."

Brimsworth. Will scowled. "I know the wolf you mean."

A soft smile settled on her lips. "Do be careful then. He's a formidable foe."

"He's a pup." Will shrugged. But then his eyes rose to meet Miss Macleod's. "I've no need to worry, do I?"

"It isna possible ta determine who will claim yer Prissy," the seer said.

"She's

my

wife," Will growled.

"By Biblical standards, aye. But we both ken that means little when ye speak of the Lycan relationship with one's mate."

"What would you know of that?" Will mumbled to himself, wishing he'd claimed his wife in the Biblical sense.

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. Then she opened them and the ferocity of her gaze nearly scared him. "I doona ken the particulars of yer mating, but I ken that a beast will claim her. I canna see the face of the Lycan who will do so, however."