What if Baird had already escaped?
Logan hid next to the tower that he was fairly certain Baird would hurry past if he managed to escape Calla’s room. Seeing no movement in the woods, Logan stripped out of his clothes, then shifted. His heart thundering, he stayed out of sight on the other side of the corner tower. His ears pricked in the direction of running footfalls headed out the back gate. He saw Baird bolt for the woods, but he waited. Once Baird disappeared into the trees, Logan took off after him. Baird continued racing through the woods so Logan followed, making sure Baird didn’t catch sight of him. Baird didn’t look like he was armed, but knowing him, some of his kin would be nearby, and they could be well armed or in their wolf coats.
Logan had stopped, hidden in the fir trees and watching, when he heard other men hurry to join Baird—one older brother, one younger, and one cousin. The cousin, Robert, said, “If we don’t get Calla back, we’re all dead men.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” Baird said. “What the hell do you think I’ve been doing?”
His brother Vardon said, “We should have grabbed her when we were at her home. You had the perfect opportunity.”
Baird gave him a dirty look and stalked off, the men following.
“Trying to grab her when she had nearly reached Argent Castle was too late,” Robert said. “Hell, we nearly had a damned wolf fight over it.”
Logan heard the slightest movement behind him and jerked his head around. Guthrie, in his wolf coat. He’d nearly given Logan a heart attack.
Guthrie narrowed his eyes at Logan, telling him he shouldn’t be out here like this. But there were four men, and if they attacked Guthrie, he would need Logan to even up the sides.
Guthrie turned his head to listen to the conversation. He wanted Logan to return to the keep at once, but he didn’t want to alert the McKinleys that he and Logan were listening as the men stalked through the woods, heading for the road where they must have left their vehicle. They were moving fast, undoubtedly afraid the MacNeills would give chase, but they wouldn’t. They still had the fair visitors to watch out for, and they had to ensure that no more of Baird’s men had slipped inside the castle walls.
“Hell, he’s still sweet on her,” Vardon said. “Still trying to smooth things over with her. When are you going to figure out that’s not going to work?”
“I want her to be my mate, damn it! Someone who would love me like she did until the bunch of you screwed things up when you went after Cearnach,” Baird said.
“You gave us the go-ahead. No way in hell would we have gone against your orders. You were in agreement all along until Calla learned of what we’d done and dumped your arse,” Vardon said.
Guthrie didn’t hear either the other brother or the cousin agree. Seemed like Vardon was the only one who could say what he did to the pack leader and get away with it.
Guthrie wondered what they meant that they had been at her place. She wasn’t supposed to have been alone at any time. He thought she had dropped her parents off at the airport and gone straight to Argent Castle. She hadn’t said a thing about what had happened between Baird and her before Guthrie and his kin rescued her from the McKinleys in the blizzard.
And the business of them worrying that if they didn’t get Calla back they were dead men? What the hell was that all about? It explained why Baird was so eager to drag her back to the pack, beyond personal obsession, but why? Guthrie was afraid that the more desperate the men became, the worse it would be for Calla.
The men didn’t say anything more on the way back to their vehicle. When the car drove off, Guthrie and Logan loped back to the castle.
***
After shifting and dressing, Guthrie returned to Calla’s guest room.
Ian was standing guard over Calla, who was covered in a couple blankets and looking sleepy.
“Aunt Agatha came up to see to Calla, and the doctor will be here any minute,” Ian said and added, “Are you all right, lass?”
“Aye. He just knocked me out and escaped before I could turn into the wolf. He didn’t want me biting him, which under the circumstances, I would have done if I’d been able to shift.”
Ian’s cell rang, and he excused himself and stepped into the hallway.
“What did he say to you?” Guthrie asked, still puzzling over the conversation the men had in the woods. Though they’d heard some of the shouting going on in the room before this, some of it was so absurd that he wanted to hear her take on it. He stroked her soft hair, still furious with the way Baird had injured her.
“The usual. He wants me back. But it has me worried. This is how a desperate man would act. I swear he was actually pleading for me to go with him. I’ve never seen him act like he was truly afraid of what would happen if I didn’t agree.”
Guthrie shook his head.
She closed her eyes.
“Nay, stay awake, Calla. The doctor will check you over, but we have to be sure you’re all right.”
“I’m fine. I have a roaring headache, but I’m fine otherwise.”
“Why would he want you so desperately that he would risk his life coming here to convince you to go with him? It was madness for him to do this,” Guthrie said. “I overheard Robert McKinley saying that they were dead men if they didn’t get you back.”
Her eyes widened. “You went after him? Alone?”
“Logan was with me. I saw Logan racing to reach the woods and figured he was chasing after Baird on his own. I had to go after him so he didn’t get himself killed. Baird met up with his men, three of them, and we listened in on them. They were all anxious and headed through the woods to their car. They didn’t know Logan and I were following them.”
“He said his life wasn’t worth living if I didn’t go back to him. But it sounds like more than just Baird’s life is at stake,” Calla said.
“Baird’s brother Vardon was really chewing him out. Sounds to me like their pack is rethinking having chosen Baird to be their leader. That could make a man desperate enough to pull something as stupid as this,” Guthrie agreed.
Ian stepped back into the room and asked Calla, “Is there anything else you can remember?”
“Just…well, it seemed kind of odd. He said that he didn’t mind if I stayed here through the time I’d planned, if I’d just agree to be his mate.”
“Hell,” Guthrie said. “I can’t imagine him ever making such a concession for you.”
Ian agreed. “He’s desperate all right. From what both of you have said, it seems like a pack-driven concern. There must be more to it.”
Aunt Agatha quickly entered the room. “I hope you’re going to talk to Logan. He’s telling the other lads he tracked the men down until you arrived, Guthrie.”
“Great. If you’re all right…” Ian said to Calla.
“Aye, I’m fine. Go talk to the boys.”
“If the men don’t kill Baird, I will,” Aunt Agnes said, slapping a wet cloth in Guthrie’s hand. “Take care of her.” Then she winked at Calla and left the room.
They all watched Aunt Agnes make a hasty retreat, no one saying a word. Calla guided Guthrie’s hand to her temple where the injury still throbbed. “Cold compress on head injury,” she said.
“Aye,” Guthrie said and gently laid the compress on her head.
Ian said, “I’m going to check with our men, learn who was supposed to be at the back gate and how Baird got in, and talk to the lads. I don’t want them thinking they can just run off and do this kind of thing again.”
Calla looked relieved when Ian left. Guthrie squeezed her hand, but when she started to close her eyes, he reminded her, “Nay, lass. Keep your eyes open.”
She made a face at him and he smiled.
“Vardon said they should have grabbed you when you were at your home. You never mentioned that when we came to rescue you from them in the blizzard.”
“I was supposed to drop my parents off at the airport and come straight here. My dad had his times way off. I was
in a rush to get them to the airport and had no time to finish packing to come here straight from the airport. My dad is never rattled like that.”
“Baird is not forcing you to return to him,” Guthrie said, taking her hand and kissing her cheek.
She smiled a little at him. “Tell me something that I don’t know.”
***
Later that day after Calla had napped, she smiled to see Guthrie sitting in one of the chairs in her guest room, watching her.
“You haven’t been there all this time, have you?”
“Aye. As your soon-to-be mate, I’m protecting you.”
She smiled. Her head was still tender, but she felt much better, her lupus garou genetics kicking in to heal the mild injury more rapidly than a human’s could. “So what happened while I was sleeping?”
Guthrie came to sit on the bed next to her. “Logan was upset that he wasn’t able to stop Baird before he got to the keep and injured you, so he waited in his wolf form, watching the back gate and lingering there in case Baird managed to escape.”
“None of the humans saw him shift or wearing his wolf coat, did they?”
“Nay. Ian spoke with him and told him how dangerous that could have been, both if any of our visitors had seen him and if Baird had confronted him. Even though Logan insisted he had bigger teeth than Baird at the time, so he would have been fine.”
“Yeah, but there were more than one of them. He should have known that. They could have seen Logan. Killed him. He’s just lucky you followed him.”
“Aye. The kid’s a good tracker, though. He stayed out of sight and downwind of them. But Ian counseled him soundly—and the other boys also because they were eating Logan’s story up.”
She frowned at Guthrie. “What could Baird and the others with him have done that they need me back so badly?”
“We don’t know. His brother Vardon said they should never have listened to this scheme of Baird’s. We just have to figure out what scheme that is.”
Chapter 16
At dinnertime, Guthrie had asked if Calla wanted to eat in her room, but she declined. She wasn’t really even hungry, but she wanted everyone to know she was fine. She took her place beside Guthrie in the great hall, beginning to feel like that truly was her place, as many times as she’d sat there now. Many of the pack members came to wish her well and apologized for not taking better care to see that Baird was stopped, word having quickly spread throughout the pack. She was trying really hard not tear up at all the kindness they’d shown her.
Guthrie was talking to Duncan about one of the sword reenactments, simulating a movie scene, when her phone rang.
She glanced at the caller ID. Baird? She couldn’t believe it. Then again, if he was facing serious backlash from his pack because she had left him, she could understand it to some extent.
Her temple throbbed as if in sympathy. She ignored his call and turned the phone on vibrate. He called again. And again. She couldn’t quit thinking about what he’d said—that he couldn’t live without her. She had thought he meant he couldn’t live without her because he cherished her so much, but the conversation that Logan and Guthrie had heard seemed to imply that Baird and his kin really would be dead without her.
No matter what he’d done, she wasn’t going back to him, ever. He’d dug his own grave.
Still, curiosity overwhelmed her. She hated this. Hated that he wouldn’t let her go. When the phone rang again, she leaned over to Guthrie, who was still speaking to his brother, and said, “I’ve got to take this. Be right back.”
He looked up at her questioningly and saw the phone in her hand.
“I’ve got to take this call. Be a couple of minutes.” Then she hurried out of the great hall, noticing that a number of eyes were on her. She stalked through the kitchen to the door that led outside.
As soon as she stepped outside, she realized she should have grabbed a coat. “What do you want, Baird?” she asked, standing in the cold. Maybe if she just talked to him, she could get him to tell her the truth about what was going on with him and his pack. And how that involved her.
“I want you back. I’ve told you so and I’ll keep telling you so.”
“You have to be crazy! After you struck me?”
“I didn’t want to do that to you, Calla. You know I never would have if I hadn’t needed to protect myself.”
“You thought I’d—”
“Bite me? The thought crossed my mind when you were stripping out of your clothes and I assumed you had no intention of making love to me.” He paused dramatically. “I’ve been quiet up to now about this, and I didn’t want to mention it to you because it’s not your fault, but I’ve run into a bit of a financial problem and—”
“That’s why you wanted to marry me?” she asked, furious. So it truly did have nothing to do with wanting her for a mate.
“Nay. That’s not all, love,” Baird quickly said. “I still want you. But you see, I’ve got to call in a substantial loan and well, if you came back to me, I wouldn’t have to do it.”
“So you do need my money.” She couldn’t believe it! “Did you borrow your pack’s money without their knowledge? And someone has learned of it, and you’re in deep trouble?” A pack leader couldn’t just take the pack’s savings and do whatever he wanted with them.
“Nay. Hear me out,” he said, sounding irritated. “If I call in the loan, I’ll have plenty of money. But it’s not about that.” Again, he hesitated.
“If you don’t need my money, I don’t understand what this has to do with me.” Or his pack wanting him dead.
“Just this, love. If you don’t agree to be my mate, I can’t hold off on this any longer.” He waited for a heartbeat. Then when she didn’t respond, he said, “Just don’t expect much in the line of Christmas presents from your parents this year.” The phone clicked dead in her ear.
Her thoughts were swirling. What did Baird mean by that? Her parents had borrowed money from him? Her heart skipping beats, she immediately tried calling her father, but she punched the wrong button in her haste and had to try again.
“Calla?” her dad said.
“Dad, I got a call from Baird. He says he needs to call in a loan he lent to—”
“That bastard. He said he’d wait until we could get our finances together.”
Her skin chilling with anxiety, she felt her stomach twisting into knots. “Why did you borrow from him? I thought you were doing well.” She realized then that over the past year she’d been so busy getting her own business operational, with the move and all, that she hadn’t paid attention to how it was going for her parents. They’d always done well with their hotels, so she’d never given it any thought.
“With all the renovations we made to the two hotels, and the economy in such a downswing, we’ve lost a lot of money. The banks wouldn’t loan us any more funds and we have to finish the renovations. You were marrying Baird. I got to talking to him about our financial situation—he was pushing for a fancier wedding than we could afford—and… Well, Calla, I didn’t want to say, but Baird paid for the wedding and helped finance the rest of the loan we needed for the hotels. We figured we could pay him back within ten years, since you were marrying him and he would be family. Everything was fine until…”
She let out her frosty breath in the chilly breeze. She was getting too cold and had to go inside. “Until I walked out on him at the wedding.”
She felt horrible. She headed back inside the keep, glad to see no one about, and hurried up the stairs to her room, shutting the door behind her. She was so cold. She couldn’t shake the chill she felt from having stood out in the wintry weather and the chill she felt from the mess her parents were in. The hotel business was their life, having started with an inn and pub eons ago. They’d been so proud to own a more modern hotel and then expanded to two and had even planned to venture into a couple of bed-and-breakfasts. She felt terrible for them. She would do just about anything to keep them from losing it all—but she
wouldn’t mate Baird.
“It’s not your fault, Calla. Baird insisted on the best money could buy for your ceremony. It was a way to show off to the pack how wealthy his in-laws were. He was delighted he could help us out. I have to admit we were thrilled he did too. He said the money came from funds he’d saved separately from the pack’s money, so it was his own to do with as he wished. He assured us he knew we could pay it all back to him in time and offered a reasonable interest rate, better than the banks could offer, though we couldn’t get any more loans from the bank.
“But when the marriage didn’t go through, we were afraid he’d try to use the loan as leverage to get you to return to him. We’d rather lose everything we own than see you mated to him. We had to use our own investments to pay for what we have already done. The manor house is mortgaged to the hilt. Cost overruns and lost profits made the burden more than we could handle.”
“I think he must have used the pack’s money without permission.”
“What?” Her father sounded as shocked as she was that her parents had borrowed from Baird.
“Guthrie overheard Baird’s cousin saying he believes that the pack is going to kill them over something. What else could it be about? Baird said if I went back to him, he wouldn’t have to repay the loan because my business’s income would be added to their pack’s finances, and the money you owe and all your properties would all be under their jurisdiction. But without my mating Baird, the pack wouldn’t get my income and you could possibly default on the loan, meaning it’s not a good financial investment for them.”
“Bloody hell. He lied to us then.”
“Most likely.” She let out her breath. “I’m not going back to him, no matter the mess he’s gotten himself into. How much money did you borrow?”
“A half million.”
She about had a stroke.
“We thought business would pick up after the renovations, but we have to finish off what we started.”
A half million?
“All right. I’ve got some money saved, and I’ll see if I can take out a loan based on my earnings. I doubt I can take out that much, though. What if we sold the carriage house? I could move back in with you and Mum at the manor house.”