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Man, he did not want his soon-to-be in-laws to know about the disaster he’d had. They would have to help him retrieve his boat once he and the mysterious wolf made it to shore. “Hopefully, we’ll make it in before that happens. Are you okay?” he asked.

“Aye. I wasn’t out for long, was I?”

Hell, so the boat had hit her and knocked her out. “Only for a few seconds. I had to bring you to the surface.”

“Uh, thanks. I didn’t know I’d nearly drowned. Let’s swim hard. You might not make it otherwise.”

***

After the dinner date Maisie MacTavish had had last night with a guest at her and her sister’s inn, a man named GusAnderson, she felt he took the number one spot for the weirdest date ever. While taking the marine wildlife photos for her magazine assignment, she’d kept mulling over the circumstances and wondered if Gus had been having another date after that. She could have taken a look at their security video footage last night, though it didn’t really matter. He was just a guest who happened to be from her hometown of Glasgow, not anyone she figured she would ever see again. Besides, if he were meeting another woman after Maisie’s dinner at the pie shop with him, it didn’t mean the woman would have seen him at his guest room, so the security video wouldn’t have told her anything.

Then a fishing wolf had caught her on his fishhook, and now she was swimming to safety with him. The gale-force winds, lightning, and torrential downpour were slowing them down.

She could get to the beach, no problem. But the wolf who had caught her was falling way too far behind. She knew he had to be suffering from the early stages of hypothermia. She swam back to him and pulled out her regulator. “What’s your name?” She felt bad that he had been trying to help her when that huge wave had overturned the boat.

“Robert Campbell,” he said, his words slurring.

“Maisie MacTavish.”

Then another rogue wave headed their way. “Watch out.” She placed her regulator in her mouth and quickly grabbed his arm, not wanting to lose him. They were tossed about under the wave and then finally resurfaced.

He came up coughing.

She pulled her regulator out, though she hated to because the seas were so rough and she kept getting mouthfuls of water. “I need you to hold on to my belt, and I’ll pull you along.” She had already dumped her weights.

Once he was holding on to her, she put the regulator in her mouth again. They just weren’t making enough progress against the currents and waves, the rain pouring down in sheets, the lightning still striking everywhere around them, and she had to swim hard to reach their destination.

She was trying to avoid the rocks below the cliffs, where waves were leaving millions of bubbles in their wake, when she finally got a glimpse of the beach. She was certain that, unless Robert was a beta wolf, this had been grandly humiliating to him.

Every time she looked at him, he was shivering, and now his lips were beginning to turn blue. She swam as fast as she could, though pulling him along was like dragging an anchor. Then she managed to get to the shallower area and they were on their knees. The storm had moved off, and the sun began to peek out between clouds. A rainbow appeared across the water, a light rain still coming down.

Maisie pulled her fins off, stood, and removed her regulator, the water tugging her and Robert back out to the ocean as the surf withdrew and then the waves pummeled them again. She helped him to his feet, and they stumbled up onto the beach beyond the water. They collapsed on the wet sand just as the rain quit, and they soaked up the sun for a moment. That was good for him. But she was getting hot now. She stripped off her mask and BCD. She was going topull off her wet suit because she was wearing a vest, sports bra, and long swim shorts underneath, but she couldn’t because of the darn fishhook.

She couldn’t fault him for that too much. Seeing the rugged wolf filled with regret and wanting to take care of her so badly, it’d been easy to remind herself he hadn’t done it on purpose. She had caught herself once while fishing, hooked the back of her shoulder, silly mistake on her part, so she knew how fishing accidents could happen.

She glanced in the direction of the castle and saw what seemed like a million stairs going up to it from the beach. Then she howled, though as a human, hoping someone up at the castle would hear her. In the meantime, she laid down on top of Robert to try to warm him.

“Do you know the MacQuarries?” She did because she’d bought an Irish wolfhound pup from them, but she also wanted to keep him awake and talking.

“Sister mated to Lachlan.” He was still stuttering from being so chilled.

“Okay, good. If no one comes at the sound of my howl, I’ll shift into my wolf and race up the stairs to get help.” She could go up them so much faster as a wolf. Then she remembered about the darn fishhook again. She howled again instead. It was a distress call, and this time a wolf howled back. She was grateful to hear the beautiful call of the wolf.

A wolf and three men appeared at the edge of the cliff and peered down at them, then they disappeared. Good, they had seen them. They would get help.

The next thing she knew, the wolf was running down thesteep, ancient stone stairs with speed and grace, hurrying to Maisie and Robert. She didn’t recognize the wolf, but she figured he knew Robert. Then she saw a dozen men running down the stairs. “Thank God. They’re all coming for you, Robert.”

The wolf woofed in agreement.

When the men finally reached the beach, they headed straight for them. “His color is returning. He was mildly hypothermic,” she said to Lachlan and his brothers: Enrick, the middle triplet, and Grant, the eldest of them and their pack leader.

They began taking care of Robert right away.

Lachlan got on his phone. “Edeen, Robert’s on the beach below our castle. He has taken a dip in the ocean. He’s reviving, but he’s really cold. We’re carrying him up the stairs to the castle now. See you soon.”

The guys quickly began hauling Robert up the arduous stairs.

“What happened exactly, Maisie?” Grant asked.