The Wolfe (108 page)

When the horse and rider drew closer
and they could see it was Jemma, Kieran and William bailed from their destriers.
Jemma showed absolutely no signs of stopping and they positioned themselves so
they could reach up and physically stop the charging animal.

She ran between them like some
strange gauntlet. William snatched the animals’ reins while Kieran unseated his
wife, losing his balance and tumbling backward in the process. Jemma fell atop him
heavily and instantly there were hands reaching down to pull her up.

Paris had her as the knights pulled
Kieran to his feet. She was far gone with hysteria and panic as Kieran ripped
off his helmet and grabbed her face.

“Jemma?” he demanded with tender harshness.
“Sweetheart,
look
at me.”

William was there, his face ashen
with terror. Kieran shook Jemma a bit, trying to make her focus on him.

“Jemma, sweet, ‘tis me.” he said. “You
are safe now. I am here and you are safe. Where is Jordan?”

Jemma slowed her gasping and
screaming, gazing at her husband for the first time. Her mouth opened into a
silent “O” and she dissolved into tears. William nearly went mad and Deinwald
grabbed onto him to lend support.

“Jemma, sweet,” Kieran kissed her
forehead. “Calm down. You are safe with us. Tell me where Jordan is.”

She was honestly trying to calm
herself down but wasn’t doing a very good job. “Jordan…,” she trailed off,
sobbing. “Oh, Kieran, they got her. Her and Uncle Thomas.”

William nearly collapsed but for Deinwald’s
iron grip. He closed his eyes tightly, fighting off the nausea and panic that
threatened him.

“
Who
has her, Jemma?” William’s
throat was so tight he could hardly squeeze out the words.

Jemma didn’t hear him. She was still
looking at Kieran. “We ran away, Jordan and me. We went home because ye wunna
take us there. Uncle Thomas got mad at us and insisted on bringing us home
himself.” She paused, gasping for breath. “We were near the border when dozens
of soldiers chased us and I got away. They were McKenna soldiers; I saw the
plaid. But I outran them.”

Everything they needed to know. Jemma
took a couple more gasping breaths and fainted dead away and Kieran swept her
up into his arms. William pulled unsteadily away from Deinwald, already moving
back toward his destrier. The knights disbanded, moving for their own mounts
even as they tried to grasp the shocking news.

“We ride for McKenna Keep.” William
was pale and drawn as he mounted his destrier.

“What about Jemma?” Kieran demanded.

“Give her back to Byron’s wagon,”
William’s movements were harsh, abrupt. “We can spare no one to take her back
to Northwood.”

She would be safe enough with Byron,
although Kieran certainly was not fond of the idea of taking his wife to a
battle. Yet there was no choice, and he was desperately worried for her health.
Byron would take good care of her.

William’s hands were shaking as he
gathered up his reins, and he took a couple of deep breaths to steady himself.
He had to draw the line here and now and separate the soldier from the husband.
He would do his wife no good with his wild emotions and he forced himself to
split from them.

Slowly, laboriously, the soldier in
him, The Wolf, took control until his hands ceased to shake and he could think
a bit more clearly. He resigned himself to the fact that the worst had happened
and now he must remedy it. The sooner he dealt with it, the better for them
all.

He had a nearly a thousand seasoned
soldiers and knights depending on him. He was The Wolf, and only The Wolf could
save Lady Jordan. William the quivering husband must be put out of his misery,
for the moment.
Steady yourself, man, or you are all dead.

“Paris!” he suddenly boomed. “Send
out the scouts. I want a path to McKenna Keep and a status report on the
surrounding areas.”

“Aye, my lord,” Paris replied, turning
to bark out the orders.

“Ranulf and Deinwald,” William
ordered. “I want the men with swords in hand as soon as we cross the border. I
shall not make it easy for a surprise attack.” When his knights saluted and
moved back along the column to deliver the orders, William slapped down his
faceplate and turned to Michael. “Bring the archers forward so that they flank
the knights.”

His men moving to do his bidding, it
was apparent to everyone that The Wolf was with them and they knew that half of
the battle was already won. Their adrenalin and their confidence surged. With The
Wolf leading them, the fearsome Wolf of the border, defeat was not an option.
And God help the bastards who held his wife.

***

The army came across Thomas Scott
just inside the border. At first, William could scarce believe what he was
seeing. Laird Scott was sitting by the road. Simply sitting. William dismounted
and walked hesitantly toward the man, taking off his helm. Thomas still did not
look up.

He stood next to Thomas for several
long moments before crouching down on his haunches. Only when he put his hand
on the laird’s shoulder did Thomas finally look at him with glassy eyes.

“My lord?” William said softly.

Thomas blinked. Then he blinked
again and his eyes slowly focused. “Wolf,” he croaked. “Ye have come.”

William gave him a wry smile. “We
were already on our way here,” he said with faded mirth. “Jemma found us. She
said the McKenna took my wife.”

Thomas nodded unsteadily. His
movements were slow and dreamlike. “Aye, they did. Abner McKenna threw her over
his saddle like a sack of oats and took her back to the keep,” he replied
weakly. Suddenly, his eyes welled. “Oh, lord, they took my Jordi. They will
kill her.”

William stood up so fast that he had
to step back to catch his balance. “Nay, they will not.” he bellowed. “Get up.
You are coming with us.”

“She is dead, I tell ye,” he cried. “They
are going to kill her and there is nothing ye can do, Wolf.”

William was losing his hard-fought
control again. “Do not ever say that again,” he demanded harshly. “I will not
hear it.”

Thomas wisely kept his mouth shut,
wiping at his eyes as William struggled to compose himself.

“Why did they leave you here?” he
asked after a moment.

Thomas actually showed some emotion
other than sadness. He looked genuinely puzzled. “’Twas strange, lad,” he said.
“After Abner left wi’ Jordan, the soldiers mumbled something about not wanting
to bloody their hands with me and left me as ye see. True McKenna soldiers
would have killed me.”

“
True
McKenna? Talk sense,
man,” William snapped.

His father-in-law sighed heavily. “What
I mean, William, is that the soldiers with Abner were still of different clans.
This means two things; that the clans are still banded, but that they are
having second thoughts about the alliance. Soldiers only repeat what they’ve
heard or been told, and I am led to think that their lairds are questioning the
wisdom of what they have already done.”

William looked perplexed for a
moment, digesting the words. “Then, if it is how you say, Jordan might still
have a chance,” he said quietly. “Come now; get up. We ride.”

Thomas didn’t move until William
reached down and hauled him to his feet. Pulling the laird by the arm, he handed
him over to a soldier with the instructions to take him to Byron’s wagon.
Thomas did not utter so much as a protest.

Mounting firmly, William slapped on
his helmet with one hand and gathered his reins with the other as his destrier
did an excited dance beneath him. With a wide wave of his arm, the column was
moving again to the northwest.

William was beyond angry. What he
was feeling was the most explosive fury he had ever encountered. He would not
be satisfied at simply retrieving his wife. He would burn McKenna Keep to the
ground and kill everyone occupying it, and any other Scot unfortunate to get in
his way. They were dead, all of them, and he would delight in taking the credit
for the massacre. This was bloodlust.

CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR

Jordan stood in the filthy, stinking
grand hall of McKenna Keep. She was shaking from the chill, from the shock and
the fear that she felt as well as from pure fatigue. She was still dressed in
the breeches, tunic and boots, wondering what in the world was going to happen
to her now. Abner had left her in the company of a dozen horribly smelly, dirty
soldiers who leered and smirked at her while he went to find his father.

She was terrified. Half of her
wanted to fight and scream and kick her way from this place, but the other half
simply told her to resign herself to her fate. She prayed vehemently that
somehow, Jemma had gotten through and even now William was on his way to rescue
her. Yet when she thought of her father’s fate, tears of grief sprang to her
eyes. She wondered if the soldiers had been merciful with his execution.

“Greetings, Jordan,” came a familiar
voice.

Jordan knew the voice. She stiffened
and turned around, her face a mask of hatred and disgust.

Malcolm stood several feet away.
When their eyes met, he stepped forward. “So they found ye, I see.”

She could not think of one rational
thing to say to him. Her hatred was as great as any she had ever known.

“You bloody bastard,” she snarled. “I
hope ye rot in hell for what ye have done.”

He actually looked saddened by her
fury, unsure of himself. “I know ye hate me, as ye should. But what is done is
done.”

“Then ye are behind all of this,
aren’t ye?” Before, all of her theories had been purely speculation. Yet at
this moment he had all but admitted it.

“‘Twas not my grand plan, if that is
what ye mean,” he answered. “But I did ride agin’ my kin. I had to.”

“
Had
to?” she said in
disbelief. “Ye had to kill yer mother and father and brothers, and all of yer
cousins? Dammit, man, yer a Scott. How could ye betray those who loved ye?”

“Ye never loved me.” he spit with
sudden contempt. When she looked mildly taken aback, he nodded at her. “Am I right?
Ye never loved me, any of ye. Oh, they loved ye because ye were such a sweet,
beautiful girl, and they loved my sister and Caladora, too, and the other lads,
but I was different. A black sheep.”

Jordan shook her head. “What are ye
talking about? Ye turned away from us, Malcolm, not the other way around.”

“My father hated the sight of me.”
he insisted. “So I came here, where people dinna judge me because I was a
bastard.”

Jordan looked shocked. “Bastard?
What are ye saying?”

Malcolm was pale. He swallowed hard,
the pain evident in his eyes. “Lilith, my mother, was raped after Cord was
born,” he said dully. “I was borne from the union. Did ye ever wonder why I
dinna look much like a Scott? ‘Tis because I am not a Scott. I am a McKenna.”

Jordan’s eyes widened. “Dunbar
McKenna? He is yer da?”

Malcolm nodded. “Aye, he is.”

Jordan was astonished. But the closer
she gazed at her cousin’s light brown hair and wide features, the more she
realized that he did indeed look like Dunbar. “Raped her, did ye say?”

“Aye,” he replied. “Matthew never
told anyone about it, lest Lilith be shamed by it, which is why no vengeance
was ever taken. No one wanted the truth to come out. So Matthew tried to raise
me, tried to love me, but every time he looked at me he was reminded of the
disgrace done to his wife.”

Jordan reeled with the knowledge. “Is
that why ye came here always? Because ye knew it to be yer true home?”

“Nay,” he whispered. “I dinna know
the truth of it until a short time ago when Matthew told me. But Dunbar knew
it, which was why he kept me close to him and used me as his spy into the clan
Scott. He had some daft idea for me to become Laird Scott someday.”

Jordan shook her head back and forth
absently, horrified by the confession. Strange thing was, Malcolm did not seem
the least bit pleased at the prospect of becoming Laird Scott. In fact, he
looked very subdued by the entire situation.

“With all of the Scott males dead,
then it looks as if ye are indeed Laird Scott, Malcolm,” she said softly,
bitterly. “It would seem as if one of Dunbar’s schemes has succeeded.”

“But they are not dead, not all of
them,” he told her. “Matthew, Ian and Cord are locked away in the dungeons
below. Dunbar hasna decided what to do with them yet.”

Jordan sucked in her breath. Her
father had been right all along. “And Callie?” she ventured hopefully.

“Ye’ll be seeing her soon enough,”
he said. “She’s holed up in one of the chambers upstairs.”

Jordan closed her eyes in thanks.
She felt relieved but still extremely apprehensive at the same time. Her eyes
found Malcolm.

“What are they going to do with me?”
she asked.