A Howl for a Highlander

“Aye, Silverman’s called on some wolves, and we’re going into battle.” Cearnach nodded agreeably, always ready for a fight.



“Nay. The girl is the one who’s going to give us real trouble.”



Cearnach smiled, enjoying this a little too much.



“Hell, Cearnach, the situation is too serious to be amusing. How can you always see humor in every situation?”



“Sorry, Ian.” Cearnach didn’t look in the least bit apologetic. He spread his hands in an appeasing way, a humorous light still gleaming in his eyes. “What is it you want me to do? I can’t force the lass on the plane if she won’t agree. If you tell Duncan to return with her, leaving the money behind while I try instead to take care of the situation, you know he won’t do it. He’s honor bound to both protect her and get the clan’s money back. He’ll want her on the plane and out of danger. He’ll want to remain on the island. We can’t force her to leave. Not unless we had our own pilot and plane. Which we don’t.”



For the first time since he’d ruled the pack, Ian wasn’t certain what to do. He usually had no trouble making decisions. This time, his youngest brother’s happiness and life were at stake. “I’d send my mate to try and talk some sense into her, but I’m afraid Julia would then be at risk.”



“I agree. As a romance writer, Julia doesn’t belong in the middle of a fight like this. What if this is Carlotta Silverman’s doing? What if she paid the men to go after Duncan, or maybe not even him but the lass? It might not have anything to do with Sal.”



“That’s entirely possible. All right. If Duncan and you can’t convince her to leave, you’ll stay with them. Maybe between you and Duncan, we’ll turn this nightmare around.”



Ian was rethinking the situation once again, wondering if he shouldn’t send a larger contingency. The problem was that keeping their wolf identities secret on a small island would be difficult enough. If all four brothers and some of their male cousins arrived, hell, no telling what kind of catastrophe that could be. Yet, he was still considering it.



***



Duncan watched over Shelley’s shoulder as she searched the Internet for email addresses for Sal and Carlotta Silverman, wondering what her Plan B entailed. He had already decided that he wouldn’t agree to it. Mostly because he had the sneaking suspicion that she was thinking about being used as bait.



Instead of asking her about her plan, he asked her about the call she’d gotten from Wendy. Whatever her friend had told her had undoubtedly upset her, judging from the distressed look Shelley had had when she was speaking with her. “What news did Wendy have to tell you?”



He said it conversationally, but as soon as the words left his mouth, her fingers paused above the keyboard and her whole body stiffened.



His hands went to her shoulders. He began to massage the tension out of them. “What, Shelley?”



“My mom learned that the college lost a lot of money to Silverman, including the grant money they should have paid me for this trip, which meant that I couldn’t afford to be here alone. When Mom grew worried about it, Wendy let it slip that I was rooming with a Highland wolf—male type.”



“And?”



She let her breath out in an exasperated sigh. “My Uncle Ethan is on his way here.”



Hell. Her uncle was bound to get in the way. “The one who called, then. Did you return his call?”



She gave a little snort of laughter. “No. Are you kidding? He’d give me the third degree and come here and kill you anyway.”



Duncan smiled. “He’ll have to get in line.”



“I’m not going to Scotland with your brother, Duncan,” she said, looking back at him. “If nothing else, if I stay here, I might be able to stop my uncle from wanting to kill you.”



“We’ll talk about it later.” He meant to get her on the damned plane no matter what. No sense arguing with her about it right now. “What is your Plan B?”



“Well, it was to email Sal or Carlotta, or both, and let them know that I’m in the picture, but I can’t find an email address for either of them.” She pulled out her cell phone and Sal’s business card. “I guess I’ll just have to call him and see what’s up, even though I really don’t want to talk to him on the phone any longer.”



Duncan frowned at her. “What are you going to say?”



“Not sure until I hear his voice.” She smiled not so innocently.



He wanted to take away her phone privileges and return her to bed instead. Duncan pulled her from the dining room chair before Shelley could make her phone call. He took her to the couch, where he sat down and settled her between his legs, then wrapped his arms around her waist. “Go ahead.”



“Just be nice and quiet while I try to figure out what to say, all right?”



He grunted, which meant he wasn’t buying it. She frowned at him, then punched in the number for Sal’s phone. At first, there was no answer. The answering machine came on. She hesitated, not sure what to say. She wanted to hear what Sal had to say first, and then she’d wing it.



Speaking into an answering machine made her tongue tie in knots. “It’s Shelley. I… guess you’re not in. I’ll… call back later.”



She’d just managed to snap her phone shut and open her mouth to tell Duncan she’d try back later, when the phone rang in her hand. She dropped it in her lap. Heart thudding, she looked at the caller ID and saw it was Sal’s phone number. No name listed.



“Hello?” she said very sweetly, like she hadn’t a clue who was calling her. In truth, until she heard his voice, she wasn’t sure it would be him calling her back.



“Shelley,” Sal said, his voice silky smooth. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”



As soon as she heard Sal’s voice, she stiffened with apprehension.



She didn’t care how much he tried to sound like some Casanova. She didn’t find him sexy in the least. Put on? Definitely. “Duncan and I had a visitor in the middle of the night. Was he a friend of yours?”



A long silence passed between them.



Listening in on the conversation, Duncan began massaging Shelley’s shoulders again. She was grateful, trying her damnedest not to moan in ecstasy as he helped ease her tension.



“Only one visitor?” Sal asked warily.



Either he knew there were two wolves, which meant he had to have sent them, or he assumed they had come as a pair. So which was it? She took another tack. “Duncan was pissed. He said you tried to buy him off to see me, so why did you send a friend to… persuade him to go away?”



“I didn’t know the man who visited you. Is that what Duncan told you the man said?”



She hesitated for less than a second before she responded. “He wouldn’t tell me what the man said. He told me it was best if I didn’t know.” That wasn’t exactly the truth, but since Sal was one of the biggest liars around, she didn’t feel obligated to tell him anything that he didn’t need to know.



“Is Duncan around? Let me talk with him.”



She raised her brows at Duncan. He nodded and held out his hand for the phone. “Yeah, Sal?” He didn’t sound friendly in the least, rather like he was ready to take Sal as he had the other guy. Just one false word or move on Sal’s part and he’d be a goner.



Sal didn’t respond at first, but Shelley figured he’d assumed Duncan had to be nearby when she’d called, particularly after what had happened in the middle of the night. Unless Sal had thought she’d called him privately to see what he knew about the whole ugly affair. Sal’s hesitation to respond to Duncan’s answering the phone surprised her. Maybe Sal was losing some of his bravado around Duncan, now that he knew what the Highland wolf was capable of.



“How many men were there?” Sal asked Duncan.



“Don’t you already know?” Duncan’s voice was dark and growly, threateningly menacing.



Sal had to realize that Duncan was seriously angered.



“I didn’t send the men,” Sal quickly said.



“But you knew there were more than one.”



Shelley was holding her breath until Duncan leaned over and ran his hand over her belly.



“I assumed no one would send only one wolf after you. That whoever had done it would have sent at least two.” Sal was talking faster than he normally did, not cool and collected this time. “So, what happened to the other one?”



“If he’s smart, he’s swimming home,” Duncan said, his voice low and hard.



Shelley smiled up at Duncan. He kissed the tip of her nose and winked.



“Why the hell did you leave the other one’s body in my pool? My…” Sal abruptly stopped speaking.



“Your girlfriend might have seen him?” Duncan prompted with dark humor.



“I sent her away last night on a flight back to Miami. I didn’t send the bastard to your place, all right?”



So, he sent his girlfriend home because he still thought he had a chance with Shelley? But now Sal sounded as though he was running scared. Maybe thinking if Duncan could kill a wolf like that and thought Sal had sent him, Sal could be next. So why wasn’t he packing his bags and leaving? Maybe this was the safest—or had been the safest—place for him to hole up, away from the various agencies that wanted him in prison. Maybe Sal was afraid to make a move for the time being.



Shelley wanted to tell Duncan to ask for the money again, but she didn’t want to be part of the bargain, even if it was a ruse. On the other hand, she was afraid that if they did tell him that he had stolen money from Duncan’s wolf pack, Sal would make a run for it, no matter how afraid he was of the Feds. They wouldn’t kill him. Not like the wolves would. He would have to know that.



“So if you didn’t send the bastard to see me, who did?” Duncan asked.



Again, Shelley held her breath, waiting for Sal to tell them that his mate had sent the men. Then he’d have to let them know that he had a mate. Sal had to be thinking that if they learned he was the one who had stolen so much money, that he was the Sal Silverman of Miami, they’d realize the danger he would be to the werewolf kind.