Dare, Lydia - Tall, Dark and Wolfish

She pressed a hand to her chest. So close to solving the mystery of her parentage. "Oh? What was her name?" she asked, still skeptical about all the developments.

"When I knew her it was Rosewyth Campbell. Her friends called her Rosie. To me, she was Rose." His eyes narrowed. "How is she?"

"Dead," Elspeth said softly. She watched his face for a reaction, but he gave none. Aside from the look of sheer misery he'd worn since he walked in the door.

"How did she die?" he asked as he crossed to the sideboard and poured himself a drink. His hand visibly shook as he raised the glass to his mouth.

"She took a fever. Nearly the whole town was sick. I became very ill. Mother

nursed

me back ta health, then she died." There was no need to go into too much detail until she found her sire. "So do ye think ye can help me find my father?" she asked.

He nodded. "Aye, lass, I believe I can."

Relief washed over Elspeth. "How did ye ken her?" she asked. Thousands of questions ran through her mind, and she couldn't pick which to ask first.

"I went to her to be healed."

"Ye look hearty and hale. What was yer ailment?"

"I had lost a part of myself. And needed to find it again. Your mother helped me." She could tell, even as he spoke, that he had memories running through his mind. Fond ones, if she had to judge.

"I feel like we're speakin' in riddles here. So pardon me for speakin' bluntly. But what do ye ken of my father?"

His eyes narrowed as though he concentrated hard to find the right thing to say. Then the words tumbled from his mouth like water from a spout. "I went to Scotland to find your mother, because I knew of her powers. The

Còig

is an ancient entity, and I'd been raised on the stories of their legend when I was a boy in Glasgow. I knew their healer was the only one who could help me find myself."

Elspeth swallowed anxiously as she listened to him. The

Còig

was an ancient entity, and she'd left her sister witches for a man who didn't love her.

The major leaned forward. "Would it surprise you if I told you I'm a Lycan?" he asked, one eyebrow arched.

Not particularly, since they were sitting in Canis House. Elspeth shook her head. "Would it surprise ye if I told ye that I'm half Lycan?" she asked as she removed her glove to show him the mark of the beast on her wrist.

"No." His dark eyes captured hers. "It wouldn't surprise me at all." The major smiled a gentle smile.

"Was she able ta help ye?" Elspeth asked.

"Oh, she did more than help me. She made me fall in love with her. Then she broke my heart and made me leave her in Scotland to return to my troops."

Elspeth's heart jumped in her chest. Did he mean

he

was the one? She jumped to her feet. "Ye!" she gasped.

He leapt up as quickly as she did and was around the desk in a flash. "I believe so." He pointed to the pewter wolves that held her hair back. "The combs you wear, they were hers?"

"Aye, they were." Elspeth nodded as her eyes met his again. She wasn't quite sure what to say. She had imagined that she would get a name and directions to her father and would have time to figure out what to say. But here she was, staring right at him.

"I gave them to her," he said quietly. "I wanted her to remember me when I was gone."

"She wore them every day."

"That brings me some comfort." He smiled softly. "As does knowing about you."

He made it sound as though she were a new discovery. Surely her mother had told him, hadn't she? And he'd chosen to ignore all the letters and the spells she'd used to call to him. And now he would pretend to be happy about having a daughter?

"Why did ye never come for us?" She couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"I tried." She opened her mouth to protest, but he held up a hand. "I came back through Scotland a few years later and went straight to the Campbell cottage. Your grandfather wouldn't even let me in. But I'm of stubborn stock and planted myself on his porch. It didn't matter. I could have waited a lifetime, since Rose didn't live there anymore."

Elspeth frowned. Her mother had lived in the cottage every day of her life.

He continued quietly, "Then Fiona Macleod came out of the woods. She told me I was making a fool of myself. That your mother had gone on with her life, married a nice man from the other side of town, and had a daughter. That seeing her wouldn't do me a bit of good." He shrugged.

Why would Cait's mother do such a thing? Why would she keep her mother from happiness? But she knew the answer, or thought she did. After all, Cait had tried to keep Ben from Elspeth. "She hated ye," Elspeth said, shaking her head.

"Aye, she didn't like that a beast had tried to steal her healer away." The major rubbed his brow, as though the memories caused him pain. "I was so stunned by her words, I didn't even have the presence of mind to tell her that Rose's new marriage wasn't valid, since she was still my wife."

"Yer wife?" she gasped, stepping backward. "My mother was

never

married ta anyone. I was born out of wedlock." She still bore the scars of that.

The major leaned forward and touched her cheek. "Oh, no, my dear. I loved her too much to ruin her. We were married in Ormiston. When we came back the next day, Rose didn't want to tell her coven or your grandfather just yet. I needed to prove myself to them, your mother said. To be worthy."

"So the courtship would come

after

the marriage?"

"That's what it felt like. Only Bonnie Ferguson ever warmed up to me. And your grandfather wouldn't accept me, no matter what. When I asked for her hand, which was already

mine

"—he bit the last out in a growl—"he said no. Then I was called back to my regiment. I told Rose to pack her things. That she'd be coming with me."

None of that made sense, and Elspeth shook her head. "And she refused?"

"Aye, it was all foretold. A beast would come for Rose and try to take her from the coven, but she would resist him. Fiona's prophesy was correct. In the end, your mother loved the

Còig more

than she loved me."

Elspeth didn't believe that for a moment, and she stepped away from the major. "She never stopped lovin' ye. My grandfather said ye killed her. Ye broke her heart and it just took her fifteen years ta die of it. When she got sick, she didn't have the strength ta fight the fever. She even summoned ye, and ye didn't come."

"Summoned me?" The major frowned. "My dear, I never received word from Rose. Not one letter. If she had told me about you, I'd have never let her stay in Edinburgh, no matter what Fiona Macleod saw."

Elspeth's mind was awhirl. Nothing seemed to make sense. Then the room began to spin, right before her world went black.

Forty-two

Ben stalked through the house, barking at all the servants, which made the maids skitter into corners and the footmen wince as he walked by. It wasn't like him to act so boorish. Even Polack, the unflappable butler, simply raised his nose and regarded him with surprise.

"Elspeth!" he called again. Where the devil was she? He'd been looking for her for hours. The sun was falling in the sky, and he couldn't find her anywhere. He'd entered every room in the house at least three times.

Finally Ben retreated into the study and sat down behind his desk. There he found a folded note on the center of the desk and picked it up. The feminine scrawl immediately caught his attention.

He unfolded the foolscap and couldn't hold back a gasp as he read the contents.

My Dearest Ben,

I have left specific instructions with the cook as

to your diet in the days leading up to the moonful.