Mairi slammed a gloved hand onto his, grabbed the reins, and pulled back. “I said stop the wagon.”
The horses immediately obliged. The wagon groaned to a stop. Ronan sat with his head bowed, his focus fixed on the long dark reins still fisted in his hands.
“We are not going any farther until you tell me whatever it is you’re hiding this time.” There. She’d said it. Let the games begin.
“I dinna ken—”
“Donotsit there and give me that crap about dinna kenning!” She scooted to the far side of the seat, ripped away the fur blanket, and swung herself down from the wagon. She held on tight to the iron railing until she’d steadied her footing, then stomped to the left side of the path and studied the woods. Glistening black trunks marched tall and silent beneath the heavy gray of the sky. A dusting of snow coated the bare limbs interlaced throughout the forest like a great frozen canopy. Nothing moved among the trees. Underbrush bowed low with winter’s kiss, sparkling in what weak bit of sunlight managed to filter down through the clouds.
She trudged to the edge of the wood, studying the pristine smoothness of the forest floor. Nothing had been through here. There were no signs of footprints. She turned and glared back at him, still sitting in the wagon staring down at his hands. “Well?”
“Well?”
Dammit to hell.If she had a gun, she would shoot him on the spot—right square in the ass so he would regret lying every time he took a seat. “What are you still hiding, Ronan? Why do you always get so . . . so . . . weird whenever there’s any mention of wolves?”Weirdwasn’t a suitable word to describe the way he acted, but it would do in a pinch. It was more like he was distracted or something. Kind of like the way Granny acted when she had too many plots going all at once and was having trouble keeping up with the details.
He swung down from the wagon, his face a frowning mask and his gaze glued to the ground. With his hands clasped to the small of his back, he jerked with a stiff shrug. “Perhaps it would be best if ye shared yer concerns so I might know how best to address them.”
“Don’t you dare go all passive aggressive on me. None of this bullshit is any of my doing and you know it.” She stomped a few paces closer. “You’ve been nothing but dishonest with me from the moment we met.”
“I have never lied to ye.”
“Omitting pertinent details that I should know about is still lying! What else have you not told me?” A covey of birds flushed free of the underbrush, their alarm squeaking like creaking doors as their wings flapped furiously to carry them away from an intruder. Mairi jerked sideways and searched the brush the birds had just vacated. A subtle movement inside the snow-covered brush caught her eye.
“Come forth,Máthair.” Ronan sounded like a defeated man. In two long strides, he was beside Mairi, pulling her firmly against his side. “Come forth and meet Mairi.”
Snow shook free of the bushes, falling silently to the ground as the great wolf gracefully stepped free of the shelter. Shaking the snow from her coat, the wolf raised her head, ears perked forward, piercing blue eyes fixed in an unblinking stare.
“Máthair?” Mairi understood very little Gaelic, but she recognized that word. She glanced up at Ronan’s tense expression. The rippling muscles of his clenched jaw paired with the angry red creeping up his throat gave her a pretty good indication of just how uncomfortable this truth telling was. Good. He should be uncomfortable if he was finally coming clean with all the information he should’ve shared from the beginning. “You’re telling me this wolf is your mother?”
“Aye.” Ronan jerked his chin down in a sharp nod. “She is trapped in that form until the curse is broken.”
“Now, wait a minute.” Mairi rehashed all the details Eliza had mentioned when she and Ronan had finally decided to tell her about the curse. “You told me your mother was the king’s leman and she and your best friend were cursed when the witch—your father’s wife—found out she was pregnant with you. Right?”
His mouth tightened as though he was fighting against the urge to flee rather than have the current conversation. “Aye.”
The wolf eased a few steps forward, a low-throated grumble rumbling from her silvery body. Mairi didn’t feel threatened. It was almost as though the wolf was trying to help Ronan tell his story. Mairi pointed at the wolf. “If the queen cursed her into a wolf before you were born . . .” She studied the wolf a few moments then looked back at Ronan. “How exactly were you born? Did she change back to a woman until she’d had you then return to being a wolf once you were born?”
He huffed a humorless laugh. Bitterness filled his voice as he said, “Nay. The wolf ye see before ye is the wolf she has been since the day the witch said the words. The vile queen claimed she would turn my precious mother into the scavenging bitch that she truly was.”
Apparently, the witch was more creatively cruel than she had thought.Mairi massaged her temples with her gloved fingertips. What Ronan said defied logic. “That doesn’t make any sense. How could a child survive being raised by a wolf?”
The wolf strode the remaining distance between them, glared at Ronan, and bounced with a sharp bark.
Ronan released a heavy sigh and took a step back. “This is how.” He closed his eyes and bowed his head, his hands loosely clasped in front of him.
Energy crackled through the clearing like unseen lightning, stinging Mairi’s skin. A soft wind whispered through the trees like a restless spirit, whirling the loose snow into sparkling white spirals. The energy around Ronan hummed louder, then exploded around him in a column of roaring blue flames. Mairi squinted and backed away, raising an arm against the blinding blue-white light.
Eerie piercing howls filled the air, washing across Mairi’s flesh with an icy touch. She scrubbed her hands up and down both arms. This couldn’t be good. Anything that created such a shift in energy couldn’t be good. A final strong whooshing gust tore through the clearing then all went silent.
She risked lowering her arm just enough to peek past the edge of her cloak. Her heart double thumped and the chill of recognition washed across her like an icy wave. There. Standing where Ronan had just stood, calm, ears perked forward as he stepped free of the discarded clothes piled around him, was the wolf. Her wolf.The dog she thought she had nearly killed back in Edinburgh. The dog who had broken her heart when he suddenly disappeared.
Her hand pressed against the base of her throat, she stumbled a step back. It was all painfully clear now. When the dog disappeared, Ronan had arrived, and now she understood why.
A maelstrom of emotions burned through her. Rage. Disappointment. Embarrassment. A sense of betrayal. How could she have been so stupid? She thought back to the farce of their searching through Princes Street Gardens. He had lied to her all along.
She turned away. With a trembling hand pressed to the side of her head, she walked slowly back to the wagon. How could she have been so blind?
“Mairi—please.”
