Chapter 26
Robert couldn’t believe that Jack would be barreling down on them with his motorboat—he wasn’t sure how fast it could go, but he was coming in hot. It looked like it would close in on them before they could outrun him. “We’re going to separate from you guys and turn,” Robert shouted to William.
“He’s going to go after Chelsea and William,” Maisie warned.
“Aye, and we’re going to make a turn and toss the extra towrope, anchor, fishing line, everything we’ve got to try to wrap around his propellers,” Robert said.
She picked up the flare gun. “What about this?”
“We’ll use that as a last resort. Can you switch places with me?”
“Aye.”
William pulled the same maneuver, making a sweep to the left instead. As soon as the motorboat followed him, Maisie had switched places and was driving her and Robert’s boat as close as she could get to Jack’s before it passed them by. Robert tossed the extra length of towrope, fishing net, and fishing lines at the motorboat. They were right near the propeller, but he was afraid they hadn’t caught. Then suddenly, they heard a grinding noise, and some of the items, if not all of them, were tangled around the prop.
Jack was cursing a blue streak as his boat went idle in the water.
Robert and Maisie couldn’t see William’s boat until they headed back toward the beach, getting out of reach of Jack’s wrath, in case Jack decided to shoot at them with a flare gun or rifle if he had one on him.
“What are you going to do?” Maisie asked Robert.
“Take him into custody.”
“How?”
“Get closer to his boat. I’ll use the transom to climb aboard. Then you head to the beach.”
“No, Robert. He could shoot you as soon as you get on his boat.”
But Robert had to stop him. He was afraid that the bastard would flee somehow and they would still have the issue of William and Chelsea’s safety.
Despite Maisie’s objection, she apparently trusted Robert enough to do this and he trusted her to get him close enough to Jack’s vessel. He leapt onto the transom, made it into the boat, and saw Jack with his hands on his head, watching Chelsea and William get away. He was so shook up that his prey had evaded him that he seemed to have forgotten that another boat was still out there with Robert and Maisie on it.
Robert stripped off his clothes and shifted into his wolf, not having the luxury of time or any other way to sneak up on Jack. Robert sprinted to take Jack down, and in that instant, Jack turned and saw him.
“What the hell?”
Yeah, always watch your back with wolves. Especially when the hunter with murder on his mind was now the prey.
***
Maisie wasn’t one to sit and wait for an outcome. She cut the engine and used the short towline to tie the boat to Jack’s vessel. Then she climbed onto the boat with the flare gun in hand, just in case she had to use it on Jack to save Robert’s life.
Jack had a large knife in his hand and was trying to stab at Robert, who dodged him as a wolf. God, Jack was wearing the clothes he’d worn on the night he was on the inn’s security video: the black boots, the charcoal-gray hoodie, the black pants with the torn pocket. Some people never learned. All that was missing was the wrist splint. He had more of a beard now than when she’d dated him.
“Throw down the knife or I’ll use this on you,” Maisie shouted. She was afraid Robert would look back at her, but he kept his focus trained on Jack. She hoped this would go down the way they needed it to and that both of them hadn’t made a mistake.
“Hell, what are you doing here?” Jack asked her.
“Taking down a murderer.”
Jack set the knife carefully down, but she didn’t trust that he was truly giving up. He had to know murdering Gus and trying to do the same with Chelsea and William gave him an immediate wolf’s death sentence, so there was no way out for him.
What she didn’t expect was for Jack to begin to yank off his clothes and shift. Nay! She was afraid that Robert would do the more honorable thing and allow Jack time to shift and then the two of them would fight. Damn it!
As soon as Jack had stripped off his clothes, he shifted, but Robert had already gone in for the kill. He wasn’t going to give Jack more time to prepare himself or go on the offensive.
Good . But Maisie couldn’t use the flare gun without chancing hitting Robert, so she stripped off her clothes and shifted into her wolf. Two wolves on one should decide Jack’s fate. She heard William’s boat’s engine returning and then two others. But they wouldn’t get here in time to decide the way this was going to go down.
Robert had bitten Jack’s face, and his cheek was bleeding. Robert had blood on his wolf coat too, but she didn’t know if it was from being bitten or if it was Jack’s blood. She raced across the boat deck and bit into Jack’s flank.
He immediately turned to tear into her, but Robert grabbed at his neck, getting Jack’s attention. A wolf’s bite could crush the spine. Jack quickly shook loose of Robert’s tentative grip. Both wolves’ canines were painted in blood. That meant Jack had wounded her mate too.
All three wolves were panting, chests heaving, Jack’s and Robert’s steely gazes on each other while she kept her attention on Jack. One false move and that could be a wolf’s demise. If Jack got ahold of Robert’s neck and could kill him, she wouldn’t stand a chance against the bigger male wolf.
She had to go for Jack’s tail so the distraction would give Robert a chance to take Jack down once and for all.
The boats coming for them were still too far off to be of any assistance. She leapt for Jack’s rump. Robert seemed to have anticipated her action and dove for Jack before Jack could attack her. She bit Jack’s tail hard, missing his rump because he skittered out of her way, but then Robert grabbed hold of Jack’s throat with the killing blow and wouldn’t let go until Jack was limp on the boat deck, his heart no longer beating.
She went over and licked Robert’s ear, but he wasn’t letting go of the wolf, as if he was afraid Jack might still get up to try and hurt her. She listened to the wolf’s heart again and then shifted. “He’s dead, Robert. There’s no heartbeat. He’s dead, and he can’t hurt anyone ever again.”
Finally, Robert released Jack and shifted, then took her into his arms and squeezed her to his chest tightly. She hugged him just as hard. “I’m okay. We’re okay. The other boats are coming. Let’s get dressed.”
They started to dress, but she was so shaky, he needed to help her. That was because of the adrenaline flooding their bloodstream after the fight. Once they were dressed, they watched as the boats arrived, filled with Highland wolf warriors ready to take down the murderer. But they were too late.
Robert climbed into their boat first, then helped Maisie into it next. He untied the rope.
“I can’t believe our extra towline stopped his boat.” She settled down on the seat while they motored away from the boat and Grant waved to them from another boat, William also. There was no sign of Chelsea. Maisie was so relieved that they would have no more trouble with Jack.
“Chelsea’s at the castle,” William called out.
They gave him a thumbs-up.
“He’s dead,” Robert said to Grant, sounding just as relieved.
“Good. We’ll take care of the boat, him, all of it.”
Maisie was glad they had a wolf pack to deal with matters like this. “Do you even feel like having a fish feast after all this?”
“In celebration of catching the bad guy and taking him down? You bet. We’ll just need to get cleaned up a bit, and we’ll have everyone come to the house. How do you feel?” Robert asked.
“I’m ready for it. Are you okay? Are you injured badly?”
“I’m okay. I have a few bite marks that will need some antiseptic and bandaging, but that’s all.”
“I’ll take care of you when we get home.” Maisie thought Robert might say something about objecting to her coming to his rescue.
He finally smiled at her. “You’re a great wolf fighter.”
“So are you. I didn’t want you to be so honorable—though that’s your nature and I love you for it—but under the circumstances, I didn’t want you to let him shift first.”
He nodded. “But you noticed that I didn’t wait for him to charge me first.”
“Aye, I was glad you hadn’t.”
“I wouldn’t have. Especially when you were at risk of being injured if he had gotten the best of me. I knew just what you were going to do when you bit his tail. I love you, honey.”
“I love you so much too. And I’m glad you figured out I was going for his rump and took advantage of his distraction.”
They ended up on the beach, where a bunch of the pack members had gathered to see them, cheering them for taking down the murderous wolf. Howls rent the air. Even Chelsea was there and gave them a hug.
Grant returned to the shore on one of the boats and joined them. “You were lucky his towline got caught in his propeller.”
“ His towline?” Robert asked.
“Yeah, his boat was bouncing on the waves, and it must have flipped out and tangled around the propeller,” Grant said.
“Well, damn, that’s good,” Robert said.
Maisie shook her head. “Here we had thought we’d stopped him.”
“It’s all good. The threat has been eliminated, and that’s all that matters.” Grant smiled. “Looks like someone’s going to be up for a fish fry.”
“Aye,” Robert said.
“It’s well deserved.”
“We’re going to our house to have the fish fry,” Robert told William. “Iverson, you’ll have to join us since you were so involved in trying to catch this guy too. We’ll just need to have Edward bring Anne and we’ll be all set.”
“I’m calling Anne now,” Maisie said.
“Thanks, Grant, and to everyone who has helped in dealing with Jack,” Robert said.
“Aye, it’s what we do for each other,” Grant said.
***
Maisie drove Robert home, and they brought in all the fish, but before they could take care of Robert’s injuries or begin preparing the fish, they had to greet all of Edeen and Lachlan’s animals and Mittens too.
Afterward, Maisie had Robert strip off his clothes so she could clean up his bite marks.
“Come on. Let’s take a quick shower before everyone gets here.” Robert grabbed up his clothes and put them in the laundry sink and poured water on them while she removed her clothes.
Then the two of them hurried to the bathroom to clean up. After carefully drying Robert and herself, Maisie applied antiseptic to his bite marks, bandaged him, and they both dressed.
“I’m so glad that your bite marks don’t look too bad. If you have a fever or see red streaks around the wounds, let the doctor know at once,” Maisie said.
He laughed. “I love you.”
“Aye, just like I love you.”
Not long after they began cleaning the fish, Chelsea, William, and Iverson arrived. That gave Maisie a chance to rinse the blood out of Robert’s clothes. William and Iverson began helping clean the fish.
Chelsea was making them wine coolers when Anne and Edward joined them.
Hugs were shared all around. “I can’t believe you and Robert took Jack down as wolves,” Anne said to Maisie.
“I couldn’t let Robert take care of him on his own if there was the slightest chance Jack could have gotten the best of him,” Maisie said.
After cooking the fish and chips—served with vinegar and salt and ketchup for those from Glasgow and brown sauce for those from Edinburgh—they sat down to eat them.
“These are delicious,” Chelsea said.
“I’m so glad you caught these,” Anne said. “I just wish Edeen and Lachlan could have been here to enjoy them too, so you could prove you could fish.”
“I took lots of pictures of our catch,” Maisie said.
“Me too.” Chelsea drank some of her soda. “I have never had so much fun, until the murderer showed up, but now I’m ready to return home, and I have a job for the rest of the week. My sister will cover for me when I come to your wedding.”
“That’s great.” Maisie raised her glass of water to her.
“We’ll miss you.” Iverson grabbed a chip.
“I guess this is the end for us,” William said to Chelsea, still playing along. “I’ll be deleting my fake Facebook account now.”
“Aye. I’m going back to dating guys in Glasgow, but hopefully no one who is like Jack again.” Chelsea shook her head.
“I know what you mean.” Maisie leaned over and kissed Robert.
Iverson sat back in his chair. “I contacted Ike before coming over here to tell him that Robert and Maisie took Jack down. He wanted to thank you both, but also to thank Chelsea and the rest of us for trying to catch him too. He also wanted to say he never felt it was Chelsea’s fault that his brother died. That was all on Jack.”
Tears filled Chelsea’s eyes. “I still feel it was my fault for seeing him, but I’m glad Ike doesn’t feel that way about me.”
Then Robert got a call, and he smiled. “It’s Lachlan.” He put it on speakerphone. “Hey, we’re all here having a fish fry. You’re supposed to be relaxing—and other stuff—in Bali.”
“Grant told me. You didn’t think we wouldn’t find out about you taking down Jack with Maisie’s help, did you?”
“You’re on your honeymoon!” Robert was really surprised Grant would call them and tell them about it. Then again, Grant was the pack leader, so it made sense he would call his packmates to tell them everyone was okay.
“Grant would never have heard the end of it if he hadn’t told us what had happened,” Edeen said. “We’re so glad both of you are fine and that Jack is dead.”
“I can’t believe you took him down when you were fishing,” Lachlan said.
“It was all in the planning,” Robert said.
Everyone laughed.
“Okay, when you go fishing with me, we’ll just catch fish, right?” Lachlan asked.
Robert smiled. “Truly, I can’t make any promises.”
“You know Robert hasn’t been out there alone when he has been fishing,” Maisie reminded them.
“Exactly,” Edeen said. “It’s the special combination of the two of you that make wild adventures happen.”
Robert leaned over and kissed Maisie. “That is so true. I don’t believe it will ever be the same without her.”
“Oh, aye,” Maisie said. “I don’t believe I’ll let him go without me. It seems when the going gets rough, we need to be a team.”
Truly, that was just the way they looked at their mating. They were there for each other through the great times and the harrowing times. He couldn’t be more fortunate than to have Maisie at his side.
“We’ll let you get back to enjoying your well-deserved fish fry,” Lachlan said. “Just know that when we return and you have time, we’re doing this again, minus taking down a killer.”
“We’re all for it,” Maisie said.
Everyone hoped their honeymoon in Bali was going great, which they said it was, and then the fish fry party concluded with deep-fried Mars bars for dessert.
After hugs all around at the conclusion of dessert, William drove Anne back to the inn and would stay there for one last night. Iverson, Chelsea, and Edward returned to the castle, and Chelsea would leave in the morning for Glasgow. Maisie and Robert would continue last-minute plans for their own wedding that would happen in less than a week now.
“First, we take the fox terriers and Ruby out for their potty time, and then…” Robert said.
“We run as wolves. I want to run as far and free as we can. I just feel that I still have so much adrenaline pumping through my blood after the fight, even though I’m sure it’s mostly dissipated, but I just want to run it off,” Maisie said. “As long as you’re feeling okay. We’ll have to rebandage your wounds after we return.”
He smiled. “Aye. Though making love can relieve that extra adrenaline too.”
She started to gingerly remove his shirt. “I want to run with you.”
“But this time, no nipping at each other.”
“You got it,” she said.
Not long after that, they were running as wolves, tearing across their acreage and the MacQuarries’, barking and howling with delight. Other wolves joined them in a chorus of howls. The pack was united. The bad guy was eliminated. Everyone was safe and sound.
Maisie and Robert had found the perfect mate in each other. The world was right again.
But who knew what adventures they would find themselves in as their mated journey continued?