Page 20 of Wolf Heir (Highland Wolves of Old #3)

“You ken the lasses are no’ allowed in the barracks, aye?” Aodhan asked.

Coinneach smiled. “After she protected a wounded soldier by killing two Vikings threatening my family’s croft?”

Most of the men headed out of the barracks, shaking their heads. “He has all the luck.” “You try to best Aodhan again.” “I’ve tried. Three times!” “We all thought he was unbeatable.”

“I am,” Aodhan said. “Just try me.”

“I am Fletcher. We are glad to have you in our ranks, Coinneach.” The blond-haired and bearded Fletcher told Aodhan, “I’m sure that after he bested you, Coinneach will have special privileges.”

“We heard that Aisling took down two of the Vikings herself.” The man had flaming red hair and a beard to match. His sharp blue eyes connected with Coinneach’s. Aodhan had told him Ruadh was trustworthy and a good fighter. “We could use her as one of our archers.”

Coinneach wanted her safe from harm, not shooting arrows at their enemy from the wall walk or joining them in battle beyond the castle walls.

“You are mating her, aye?” Fletcher asked.

“Aye.” Coinneach got up and dressed. “She was mine from the moment I saw her in the meadow with her mother.”

“Watch out for Rupert. He has been plaguing Aisling for months now,” Fletcher said.

“Rupert?” Why hadn’t Aisling told Coinneach she’d been having trouble with him? Coinneach would put him in his place.

“Aye, but you know he’s the chief’s son, so be careful how you approach him,” Fletcher said.

Aodhan pulled on his boots. “He would go whining to his mother, and she would tell Hamish how you intimidated her son.”

“I didna see him in the practice battles.” Coinneach wondered if he even knew how to fight.

“He has private lessons. Morag insisted on it.”

So that no one could see how poorly he did against other men? It was essential to fight against others, to hone their skills, and to learn different techniques.

“Who has taught Rupert to fight?” Coinneach was curious if it was Aodhan.

“Drustan. But he says Rupert is lazy and doesna put any effort into it.” Aodhan belted his plaid.

“Because his da is the chief.” Coinneach couldn’t believe Rupert wouldn’t want to emulate his father.

“Because of his mother,” Aodhan said. “If she didna have her hooks in him, he might have turned out to be of stronger character. As it is, he wants for nothing and helps nobody either.”

“If anything happens to Hamish, goddess forbid, his son willna be able to fill his boots,” Coinneach said.

If a chief’s son were of the right age, as Rupert was, he would have stood a good chance of leading the pack if Hamish died. But only if Rupert had the pack behind him. Just because he was the chief’s son, there was no guarantee the clan would allow him to take over. Even if Morag wanted it.

Though he wasn’t even the chief’s son.

Coinneach's wound was still sore when he and the other men walked to the great hall to break their fast. Even then, he knew he could work on the wall walk today. No one would dissuade him.

He couldn’t believe Aisling had joined him in bed last night, but he hadn’t wanted to let her go once she was with him. No matter that it wasn’t allowed. He wanted everyone to know she was his, though he would have reluctantly let her leave if she had wanted to.

Now he looked forward to seeing her while she served the meal at his table.

When she came out with their bread, he smiled at her, letting her know he felt all right.

“I know you and you’re going to pull guard duty today.” She handed Aodhan two slices of bread. “If you weary, you let Aodhan know so you can lie down…in the barracks.”

“Aye, I will.”

“I dinna believe it.” She handed Coinneach a slice of bread. “Aodhan, promise me if Coinneach becomes too fatigued, you’ll send him to the barracks.”

“Aye, lass.”

Then she hurried off to serve the rest of the table and smiled at Coinneach as she passed him on her way to the kitchen.

“Are you feeling well enough to serve on guard duty today?” Aodhan asked Coinneach.

“I am.” If he had been in the barracks asleep, he might not have heard Tamhas’s wolf’s cry of distress. Though with his wolf hearing, he might have.

Once they had finished their meal, the chief and his family left the high table, and as everyone was leaving the great hall, Coinneach told Aodhan that he would join him soon.

Drustan caught up with Coinneach. “Are you feeling well enough to work on the wall today?”

“Aye, I am.”

“If you feel bad, let Aodhan know, and you’ll retire to the barracks. I dinna want Blair to get after me for allowing you to work when you are injured.”

“Thank you, Drustan.”

“You, Aodhan, and Aisling did a good job.”

Coinneach didn’t want them to know he had been wounded just in practice fighting.

“Are you going to join Aodhan?” Drustan raised his brows.

Coinneach glanced at the kitchen.

“Aye, you have another mission first. Dinna make it a habit to sleep with Aisling in the barracks. The other men will want to bring other lasses into there,” Drustan said.

“She was only seeing if I was all right.”

“And stayed for the night.”

Coinneach smiled.

Drustan slapped him on the back. “Join Aodhan soon.”

“I will.” Coinneach hurried to the kitchen to give Aisling a kiss. When he arrived there, Cook and her assistants were eating their meal.

Smiling, Aisling rose from the bench and kissed him. “Remember what I said.”

“I will, lass.” He kissed her back, then looked around for Gormelia and saw her glowering at them. He gave her his fiercest battle look that told her to take care.

Gormelia quickly looked away, and then Coinneach said, “I will see you, sweeting, when I can.”

“At the next meal, if Cook will allow me to bring it to you.”

“Aye, then.” They kissed again, and then he left the kitchen, but gave Gormelia one last look that told her she would pay if she troubled Aisling further.

“You were so brave when you went to Coinneach’s and Aodhan’s aid,” Nelly said, sitting next to Aisling. “I wouldna have been able to do what you did.”

Nelly and Aisling could have passed for sisters: Aisling taller by a hand, with a sweep of copper that caught every trick of the sunlight, and Nelly the more pocket-sized, her hair a light-red blond that bleached nearly white in summer, always messy, always half pulled back.

They even swapped shawls so often they forgot whose shawl was whose. Even today, Aisling thought Nelly was wearing one of her shawls, but she couldn’t quite remember.

They had known each other since they were barely walking, the kind of friendship that grew out of pack bonds, being the same age, living at the castle, and hungry curiosity, so that by the time they were fully employed in the kitchen, nobody could untangle the knots between their shared memories and their separate identities.

Aisling never said it out loud, but sometimes she watched the two of them reflected in the loch outside the castle walls—Aisling’s long limbs draped over a monolithic stone, Nelly curled into the seat of it like a cat—and felt sure they’d been born from the same mold, only the kiln had set them differently.

Nelly, always the one with a joke half-cocked, had a voice that could cut through a crowd, a laugh that started as a hiccup and grew louder as it rolled. Aisling’s voice was softer, deliberate; she spoke with the kind of carefulness that made people lean in to listen.

“If you love a man enough, you will do anything for him,” another woman said, breaking into Aisling's thoughts.

Gormelia scoffed. “Too bad he had to have you fight his battles.”

“I’ve seen you practicing with your Viking bow. Can you teach me how to shoot?” Nelly ate the rest of her bread.

“Aye, when we’re free I can.” Though Aisling wanted to see Coinneach further. She suspected loitering on the wall walk wasn’t acceptable. Like sleeping with him in the barracks wasn’t either.

She was so glad Coinneach was better this morning and hoped he would continue to be all right. And she loved that he gave her a good morning kiss after they broke their fast. After they finished eating, she and the other assistant cooks began cleaning the pots for the next meal.

“You left the chamber last night,” Gormelia said, splashing water on Aisling as she cleaned a pot.

Aisling wouldn’t engage her. Instead, she finished her pot and moved off to clean up their table. Nelly came to assist her. She whispered, “Gormelia watches you all the time. She told everyone that you hadna slept on your pallet last eve.”

“Doesna she have anything else to worry about?”

“Nay. She’s angry that you are serving Aodhan’s table.” Nelly sighed. “So where were you? You couldna have slipped away to see Coinneach. He was in the…barracks.” Her green eyes widened. “You were in the barracks with all the men?”

Aisling smiled. “Only with Coinneach, making sure he wasna feverish.”

“Oh.”

“If he had been, I would have run back to the keep to get my mother to check on him.”

“Oh.” Then Nelly smiled. “So what did the other men think when they saw you?”

“They were asleep. And thankfully no one said I couldna do it.”

“He appeared to be just fine,” Nelly said.

“Aye, I’m hoping he doesna engage in any more fighting before he is fully healed.”

Gormelia left the kitchen with her friends, and Aisling was glad for it.

“Can you show me some archery skills now?” Nelly asked.

Cook shook her head. “If you and Aisling become expert archers, they’ll want you to work for Drustan instead of me.”

Aisling knew Cook was jesting. Drustan would never have the women fighting with the men.

“Nay, I will never be able to do what Aisling did, but I just want to learn,” Nelly said.

“You’re free to go,” Cook said.