A Wolf's Treasure (The Kincaid Werewolves Book 5), page 6
Cedric frowned, his eerie eyes sharp as they studied Duncan’s face. But he was confident his alpha would find nothing to make him think Duncan hadn’t been telling the truth. Nor would he scent a lie. For he’d told him everything as it had happened. Perhaps not the whole truth, but the truth, nonetheless.
“Ye dinna recognize these wolves? What did they look like? Did ye hear them speak? Hear an accent o’ any kind?”
“There were three o’ them. All big males, though no’ as big as ye.” He grinned as Cedric waved away his comment. But the truth was, his alpha was one the most respected pack leaders on three continents. Maybe more. And his size was only one part of it.
He continued his description. “Short locks on all three, dark as mine but a wee bit lighter than yers. Two were clean shaven and the other had fluff on his jaw, though nothin’ tae write home aboot.” Duncan gestured toward the fridge. Cedric nodded his permission and he walked over to grab something to drink. He opted for one of the waters. Though his alpha was known for drinking his Guinness, and alcohol burned off quickly in a shifter’s system, Duncan preferred to keep a straight head this early in the day.
“Ye didn’t hear them speak? Hear them say anything that would give us a clue as tae who they were?”
“Och. No. I dinna. They said no’ a word. Just came in and started working th’ place, splittin’ up and searchin’ th’ crowd.”
“But they dinna find who they were lookin’ for?”
“No, they dinna.” Because he may have rushed her out of there and barely escaped with their lives.
But, again, he didn’t know this for sure. So, there was no point in bringing it up. Besides, once those wolves realized their prey—whoever that had been—had escaped, there’d be no need for them to stick around.
Cedric turned his head and gazed out the window. His expression was serene, but Duncan wasn’t fooled. He could practically hear the sharp mind of his alpha whirring like a blender inside his skull. Wandering over to the couch, he made himself comfortable, and waited.
It wasn’t long before Cedric turned around. “We need tae discover who these wolves are, and why they’re here in my territory. With all we have goin’ on with th’ Fae, and with everything ye just told me, I dinna trust tha’ they’re just passin’ through. I dinna ken who they are without more information, but they can no’ just come here without permission and they ken that. Which means they’re up tae no good. Or they’re tryin’ tae cause trouble with this pack, and I dinna ken any wolf who is that gallus tae think they can just waltz on in here without me knowin’.” He paused. “Ye said they saw ye, is tha’ right?”
“Aye, they saw me.” Saw me hauling my arse down the highway.
In spite of his promise to Ryanne, he was beginning to re-examine his reasons for not telling Cedric the whole story. What if they’d followed him back here? And something happened and the pack wasn’t prepared because he’d neglected to mention the bonnie lass he’d rescued?
He sat forward, gripping his water in both hands, one knee bouncing up and down. “Cedric…”
A knock at the door interrupted his confession.
Cedric held up his finger for him to hold that thought and went to answer the door.
Duncan waited where he was, grateful for the interruption. It would give him time to think of a way to bring Ryanne into the picture without it sounding like he’d been purposely omitting her being there. Och. Maybe he should just admit to it. There was no harm done since he was telling him now.
“Prince Nada,” Cedric said from the doorway. “What can I do fer ye?” The forced patience in his voice was almost comical.
“May I come in?”
Duncan smiled at his alpha’s heavy sigh.
“Aye.” He sounded less than thrilled.
The Fae prince strolled in, looking like he belonged in one of those fancy magazines. Impeccably groomed. Long, white hair. Black suit, silver cane, silver-toed boots.
Duncan vaguely wondered if he had an entire closetful of those suits, or just kept this one looking so clean and pressed with his Faerie woo-woo magic.
“Ah, Duncan. Good. Just the wolf I wanted to see.”
A shiver of unease tingled down his spine. “Me?”
The prince smiled. “Yes. You. I heard you had a little excitement last night.”
Cedric, having shut the door and now standing beside him, frowned. “How in th’ hell would ye ken such a thing? Duncan was only just telling me.”
The prince gave him an innocent look. “How is this my fault?”
“I dinna say it was yer fault. I said…Och. Never mind.” Cedric huffed out a frustrated breath and took a seat in his new chair, nearly identical to the last one only it was tan, not blue. With a wave of his hand, he indicated the prince should carry on with what he was saying.
“As I was saying,” Prince Nada continued. “I believe I know who these strange wolves were.”
Duncan sat up, as did Cedric. “Ye do?”
“Yes.” The prince looked around, eyeing the furniture before choosing to take a seat on the other end of the couch from Duncan. Laying his cane aside, he took a deep breath, settling back into the soft cushions.
Duncan focused on his breathing, keeping his heart beating at a normal rhythm so Cedric wouldn’t notice anything amiss.
The prince glanced over to the fireplace, cold and barren of wood, and gave a wistful sigh. “A fire would be very nice on a day like today. It’s going to rain.”
“It always rains here,” Cedric told him.
Duncan watched as the prince stared at him for such a long time his fearless alpha began to squirm.
“Och, fine,” he finally said, getting out of his chair. “I’ll start a fire.”
“No need to go through any trouble on my account,” Prince Nada told him pleasantly. “It’s really not that cold. But, thank you.”
“Are ye going tae tell us?” Duncan asked to spare his alpha, who looked to be on the verge of having an apoplexy.
“Tell you what?” Prince Nada replied.
“Who th’ wolves were I saw last night,” he said.
“What wolves?”
“Och! The gods take me now!” Cedric exploded at the ceiling.
“Th’ wolves,” Duncan said at the same time. “Ye said ye ken who th’ wolves are I saw last night at the club.”
Prince Nada studied him closely. “I didn’t know you were one to frequent those types of places.”
“Aye. I like tae dance. Two Steppin’ is my favorite.”
“That’s where ye go on yer nights off? Dancin’?” Cedric’s mouth hung open.
But Duncan refused to feel any shame for something he enjoyed very much. Pushing his shoulders back, he gave them both a nod. “Aye. I go tae a place in Seattle and I like tae dance. It’s a wonderful way tae meet th’ ladies,” he said with a wink.
“Tis like I dinna even know ye,” Cedric muttered, still staring at Duncan as though he were seeing a ghost.
“Och, Cedric. I dinna ken why yer so surprised. I’m a good dancer!”
“Aye, I’m sure ye are. I just dinna ken ye ever took it up.” He settled back into his chair again, sprawling out comfortably. “Ye usually tell me things such as this.”
“I dinna tell ye—or anyone—because I was expecting just this type o’ reaction.”
“Wha’?” Cedric told him. “I told ye, I’m just surprised.”
The prince, who’d been watching this interaction with interest, held his hand up to halt what Duncan had been about to say. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but can we get back to the matter at hand? Namely, the rogue wolves running around your territory. I know who they are, if either of you are interested in hearing.”
Duncan exchanged a look with his alpha, beginning to feel his alpha’s frustration with this royal pain in the ass. The male was right daft. A screwball. Off his head. And for sure should not be in charge of an entire tribe of Faeries. He would get them all killed when the portal holding the soul suckers broke free and another war broke out.
Sobered by the thought, he remembered that was exactly why they put up with the daft prince. They would need to work together to send the soul suckers back to the dimension they belonged in. And, hopefully, figure out how to keep them there this time.
“Aye, I would like tae ken who these wolves are. If ye feel so inclined tae tell us,” Cedric told him.
How he kept such a level tone, Duncan didn’t know.
The prince leaned forward, looking at each of them in turn like he was about to impart the secrets of life and death. “The wolves who followed you last night, Duncan, were from Thomas’s pack back in the ‘old country’. The same pack Lucian and Brock used to belong to.”
Duncan felt his skin shift with unease on the back of his neck as Cedric speared him with those laser-sharp eyes of his. “They followed ye? Ye told me had no interest in ye.”
“I was aboot tae tell ye when th’ prince arrived,” he tried to explain.
“Tell me what?”
“Don’t you want to know why Thomas’s wolves are here?” the prince asked.
But Cedric held up his hand. “Aye. But first I need tae ken why one o’ my best wolves is tellin’ me lies.”
The weight of his disapproval descended on Duncan like one of those new weighted blankets times one hundred, and he found himself hunching over beneath his alpha’s will. “Ye dinna need tae put th’ pressure on, Cedric. I was aboot tae tell ye.”
“Aye, ye are. And yer gonna do it right now. How far did they follow ye?”
“Dinna worry. I led them away from our home, into the mountains, then doubled back when I was sure they would no’ follow.”
“Ye said they ignored ye at th’ club,” he repeated.
“They did.”
“So, wha’? They did no’ ken who ye were until ye left? That does no’ make sense. If ye scented them right off, they would’ve done th’ same with ye.”
“They saw me. One o’ them looked right at me.”
“Then why did they feel th’ need tae follow ye when ye left? And did no’ say anything tae ye when they had th’ safety o’ a crowd o’ humans around them?”
“It wasn’t me they were following. It was th’ lass I helped escape.”
Cedric stilled. “Wha’ lass?”
“I told ye on the phone I helped someone get out. What I did no’ tell ye was that she was a Fae lass.”
The prince leaned back against the couch cushions, raising one hand to his chest as though offended. “Faeries do not dance to country music.”
“Aye, they do no’. And neither did this one,” Duncan told him.
“Then what was she doing there?”
He tried to lie. He really did. She had asked him not to tell anyone about her, and when Duncan had sworn with everything in him that he would not say a word, he’d intended to keep that promise. But though he could’ve lied to the prince, it was impossible to do so against the will of his alpha. Duncan was a dominant wolf, but even he was no match for Cedric. “Watching me,” he admitted. “She’s been doin’ it for some time now.”
“What does this lass want with ye?” Cedric asked.
“I dinna ken. I think maybe she finds me…interesting?” He tried a smile. It didn’t go over very well.
Cedric studied him carefully. “Ye dare tae criticize me, when ye yerself are off seducing a Faerie lass?”
He hurried to correct him. “Och, no, Cedric. Ye have it all wrong.”
Cedric raised an eyebrow. “Yer tryin’ tae tell me ye weren’t flirtin’ with this lass?”
“No. I was no’.” For the gods sakes, he could barely form a coherent sentence when Ryanne was around. He couldn’t flirt with her if he tried.
The thought gave him pause. What if something was wrong with him? The females always found him charming, and made it easy for him to be so. Why didn’t this one?
“Then what exactly were you doing with her?” the prince asked. And though his expression gave nothing away, Duncan sensed more than the usual curiosity behind that question.
The pressure of both of their stares was heavy indeed, yet Duncan fought it as hard as he could. He’d already told them too much by admitting she was there at all.
“Duncan?”
Och. Cedric’s will pressed upon him, threatening to crush his very bones if he didn’t answer the question to his alpha’s satisfaction.
And nothing but the truth would satisfy Cedric.
“I first saw her months ago, when Lucian and I were watching Keelin’s house.”
“Th’ day ye saw Duana there?”
“Aye.” He flicked a glance at the prince, but his highness was oddly quiet.
“Wha’ was she doing there?”
“I dinna ken. When she saw I had spotted her, she ran off through th’ forest.”
“Ye did no’ follow her?”
“No, I did no’.”
“Why no’?”
He took a deep breath. He honestly didn’t know why he hadn’t tried to follow her. “I dinna ken.”
Cedric sat back, and Duncan felt a little of the weight lift from his back. Not all of it, but enough that he could breathe deep again. Those white-blue eyes caught his. “And ye saw her again last night at th’ club.”
“Aye,” he told him, hoping against hope he wouldn’t pry any further.
But it was not to be. Cedric’s gaze narrowed in on him, the oppression returning even heavier than before. “Tha’ is no’ th’ only other time, is it?”
Duncan ground his teeth together so hard they began to ache. “No, Cedric.”
“Dammit, Duncan!” Cedric exploded off the chair. “Do I have tae beat it out o’ ye?”
Duncan jumped up also, and a low growl reverberated through the room. The response was automatic, and not one he’d ever had before toward his alpha.
Cedric stepped toward him, flashing his canines as his own growl rumbled from his chest. “Are ye challenging me, Duncan?”
He stared at his alpha. They were near the same size. Perhaps he could take him…
Duncan gave himself an internal shake. What in the holy hell was he doing? Over a lass he barely knew? He lowered his gaze and assumed a submissive stance. “No, Cedric. I apologize. I dinna ken what came over me.”
As wolves ran hot, and so did their tempers, Cedric was quick to forgive him. However, Duncan knew he would not forget this. He had never come this close to challenging his alpha before. Not in all their years together.
Hands on his hips, Cedric sighed deep and long. “Duncan, ye need tae tell me what’s going on. If Thomas’s wolves are here and they’re after that lass, and she has some need tae be near ye, she could verra well be endangering our pack. As could ye, by no’ telling me th’ truth.”
Running a hand through his hair, Duncan nodded. Then he told him of the other times he’d seen her. Always miles from here or when he went into the city. No, he’d never seen her near their home. But that’s not to say she didn’t know where they lived.
“What did this ‘lass’ look like?” the prince asked, having finally decided to join the conversation.
“She has dark hair and eyes. Fair skin. Aboot this tall. Maybe a wee bit taller.” He held his hand level just below his own shoulder.
“Did she tell you her name?”
Duncan glanced at Cedric. Something was telling him this was one thing he needed to hold firm about. Not to Cedric, but he did not want the prince to know any more than he already did.
He could not even tell himself the why of it.
With a look at his alpha he hoped he would understand, he answered the prince. “No. She did no’.”
Ryanne. Her name came to him anyway. Sweet as the flowers she smelled like. At the thought of her, his entire body came to life, muscles hardening and his skin so sensitive he could feel the slightest change in the air around him. Emotions rolled through him as he repeated her name…
Ryanne.
But he was right not to tell the prince. It was nothing he could put his finger on, just a sense of truth that flowed through him sure as a river. Aye. Her name was one thing they would keep to themselves until they knew more about who she was and why she was there, and why Thomas’s wolves had traveled so far to hunt her.
The prince tilted his head, eyes boring through Duncan’s skull as though he could glean the truth from his brain that way. But everyone knew the Fae couldn’t read minds.
Prince Nada’s face suddenly went ashen. “Ryanne is ALIVE?”
Duncan had never seen the prince truly surprised about anything, until this very moment.
As a matter of fact, he looked nearly as surprised as Duncan himself was.
Chapter 7
“I did no’ say her name,” Duncan told him. Or had he? He glanced a Cedric in question.
Cedric gave a small shake of his head, confirming what Duncan already knew. The little hairs rose all over his body. A growl rose up in his chest, right behind Cedric’s.
Fookin’ Faeries and their fookin’ magic. He could feel it permeating the room, thickening the air, and he stepped back, crossing himself and asking protection from the old gods. Or any god who was listening, really.
“I did no’ say a name,” he repeated to the prince. His blood burned hot, heating the back of his neck. He did not just break his promise to her.
Prince Nada stared at him hard.
Duncan felt worms crawling inside his brain, and he slammed his hands to either side of his head, trying to make it stop. The shift rolled beneath his skin. His wolf was angry. With a flash of his canines, he returned the prince’s stare, daring him to dig out his thoughts if he could.
A flash of color lit the prince’s eyes.
Wha’ the fook was that?
“What are ye doin’?” Cedric stepped toward them. “I order ye tae stop it. Now! Do ye hear me?” His voice was little more than a growl, and Duncan knew his own wolf was fighting to break free.
