The Wolf and the Highlander (Highland Wishes) Read Free

Larnian filth.
    Run, sweetheart. Run like the wind.
    He let his head fall back on the log and gazed past the treetops. By the moon, he was tired. And hungry. And bleeding. He needed breakfast. Best if he snuck away quietly and hunted on Marann’s side of the border.
    He started to get up to go when murmuring from the copse of trees caught his attention. “We could play with her,” one man said. “Give her a taste of what’s in store for her once we get back to Saroc. Huh, beautiful? How’d you like to come out and play?” The sound of a wooden cage being rattled.
    A growl. Then the sounds of an irritated animal thrashing.
    Ah, shite. They’d caught a she-wolf. Riggs had heard rumors about the Larnians that had turned his stomach. He’d hoped they were just rumors, but now he knew there was some truth to them. Despicable. And not something he would stand by and let happen. Looked like he might get to kill some Larnians this morning after all.
    “You got a muzzle in your pack?” one of the men said.
    “Yeah , here.” Silence while Riggs crept closer. Then, “Come on, beautiful, hold still.”
    He’d gotten close enough to see the men through the boughs of a pine. They were shirtless but wore faded blue war kilts. Soldiers, like most of the remaining Larnians. And like most remaining Larnians, they were older than Riggs, their beards streaked with gray. One had stuck a pole collar through the bars of the trap-cage. He got the loop around the neck of a snarling she-wolf and tightened the collar. “Got her. Go on. Open the cage.”
    The other man held a muzzle and lifted the door of the trap. “Not as pretty as the little females Bantus likes to flaunt, but she’ll do for a quick rut while the others are distracted with the boar.”
    King Bantus flaunting females? Did they mean she-wolv es? They must, because Riggs’s king, Magnus, had evacuated the remaining women from Larna in the last war. Since then, Larna’s King, Bantus, had been ruling a dying country of men with no hope of living on through their young. Some claimed that justified the Larnians’ interest in she-wolves. Riggs disagreed. No creature deserved to be rutted against their will.
    The man holding the pole struggled to keep the wolf still while the other extended his arm into the cage, muzzle first.
    “Feisty little female,” the one holding the pole said. “She’ll do. She’ll do just fine.”
    “The fuck she will,” Riggs said, stepping around the pine.
    The men jumped to their feet. Snarling, they turned to face him. They had to look up—way up—to meet his eyes. They were well muscled and had to be tough since they’d survived the war, but like most everyone, they were smaller than him.
    He showed his teeth in challenge.
    Their snarls died on their faces. He never got tired of seeing the fight go out of men when they realized they were outmatched.
    The she-wolf tore into the forest with the pole around her neck. Riggs noted which way she went.
    Unsurprisingly, the men turned tail and ran too. Cowards.
    He wanted to give chase. It had been a long time since he’d had just cause to kill Larnians. But if the she-wolf couldn’t free herself from the pole collar, it would hinder her ability to hunt. Probably wouldn’t be fatal, but he sure wouldn’t want to go through life with a pole collar stuck around his neck.
    He took off into the forest after the she-wolf.
    When he’d scented marbled boar yesterday, he’d anticipated a fine meal and week of tanning a beautiful hide. Guess he’d be limping around Larna after a pissed off she-wolf instead. So much for feeling lucky.

Chapter 2
     
    “What are you doing here?” Anya blurted.
    Aodhan’s ice-blue eyes widened. “Me? What are you doing here? You’re dead.” His face paled as he looked her up and down.
    She snorted. “I’m no ghost, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m alive as you are, though no’ for long I suspect since I recall your warning last time we met in