Page 16 of Master Wolf

Drew had replied he wasn’t part of anyone’s pack, but he hadn’t argued the point further when Francis contradicted him. Nor had he admitted how worried he was about seeing Lindsay. Lindsay, who he hadn’t set eyes on since the day he’d sailed out of Leith four years earlier.

Francis probably knew anyway. No doubt he could scent Drew’s anxiety whenever Lindsay was mentioned. He’d certainly assured Drew—several times—that Lindsay would not seek to exert his power over Drew.

“He knows your feelings and he will respect your views.”

But the truth was, it was not the thought of Lindsay’s behaviour that made him most anxious. It was the unpredictability of his own wolf—his wayward, headstrong wolf—that worried him.

All those arguments they’d had about whether Drew had to come to France. All Drew’s sleepless nights of worry. What a time for Francis to have second thoughts—ten miles from Paris.

Why would Francis only question the wisdom of their course of action now?

Frowning, Drew sat forward, opening up all his senses. After a moment, he caught a faint sharpening of Francis’s scent that made the pit of Drew’s stomach writhe unpleasantly.

Dread, Drew concluded.Anxiety. And something else too. A thread of…longing?

Drew had recently discovered that he shared Francis’s uncanny ability to read others’ feelings through the changes in their scents. When Francis had first realised, only a matter of months ago, he’d begun helping Drew to recognise and interpret his reactions to scents. Already Drew was becoming quite skilled—at least where there were clear and strongly identifiable emotions in play. It had been a relief to learn there was an explanation for the sudden physical and emotional reactions he had begun experiencing without warning.

Meeting Drew’s steady gaze, Francis scowled, well aware that Drew was reading him.

“What’s wrong?” Drew said quietly. “Really, I mean.”

Sighing, Francis turned back to the window.

“Francis?”

“We are being followed,” he said at last, his tone weary. “By Duncan MacCormaic. In his wolf form.”

Christ.

Drew shouldn’t be surprised. Duncan had been hovering around the margins of his life for the last four years. Duncan was obsessed with Francis—his maker—and couldn’t seem to stay away from him for too long.

For the most part, he maintained enough distance from Francis to ensure Francis could not compel him to do anything against his will, but he was often close by. And every now and again he would circle a little too near, as though flirting with fate. During the last few years, he had come a bit too close on two occasions. Ultimately, he had backed off and vanished soon after, but Drew had realised that a confrontation was inevitable at some stage.

Francis’s way of dealing with Duncan was to ignore him so far as possible, only engaging with him when he was forced to do so—and he had not been during his time with Drew so far.

Drew wondered if this would be one of those occasions, and if he was finally about to meet the notorious Duncan MacCormaic. Francis’s made wolf. Lindsay’s maker. The monster who had tortured Lindsay for forty long years.

“He is closer than usual,” Francis murmured, as though he’d read Drew’s thoughts. “He has been getting nearer and nearer over the last two days.”

“You’ve known about this for two days?” Drew exclaimed.

Francis shrugged. “I thought he would retreat eventually. It is unusual for him to take the risk of being brought under my power—but sometimes he gets careless and then he can’t tear himself away. It’s worst after a lengthy separation. And it’s been a long while since we… interacted.”

“What should we do?” Drew asked. “We can’t let him get too close to Lindsay.”

Francis sighed again, a heavy, careworn sound. “I’ve been thinking about that. I don’t see that I have much choice but to stop and confront him. Not with Lindsay in Paris and us on our way there.”

“So we—what? Stop and wait?”

“Yes,” Francis said, “He’s gradually closing in now—soon he’ll be near enough for me to compel him. I’ll be able to secure him in place while you go to Paris and explain to Lindsay that he and Wynne need to go ahead to Ghent now.”

Drew bit his lip. He wanted to protest, to say,I can’t do that alone—I can’t see Lindsay for the first time without you there!But instead he nodded. He had always known he would have to face Lindsay again one day. It seemed that day had now arrived. And there was no use in trying to put it off any longer.

He could only hope he could control his wolf when the moment came.

* * *

They stoppedat a farmhouse a mile or two along the road.