Chapter 6
TORIN
The fuck was she doing here? he thought as he hauled his daughter away from the cottage.
“What the fuck is she doing here?” he growled at Bryn, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder at Sophie Norwood.
His mate. She was here, in his territory.
As irritated as he was at the whole situation, his wolf was overjoyed to have her so close by.
Bryn glared at him. “What do you think she’d doing here? She’s rented great-gran’s cottage for the next two weeks.”
“You need to get rid of her. She needs to go.”
A pair of young male shifters passing by froze at their alpha’s growl, most likely hoping he didn’t see them this close to the castle when they were supposed to be up in the west hills on patrol. A quick glance in their direction, and they scampered off like their tails were on fire.
Bryn’s wellies crunched over the castle’s circular gravel drive, her annoyance obvious with every step. “Well, that’s not going to happen,” she scoffed.
He caught her upper arm and pulled her to a stop by the fountain at the center of the drive. A statue of a snarling wolf stood rampant as an arc of water spouted from its mouth into the wide basin at its feet. Aquatic plants cascaded over the wide lip, the surrounding ring of grass green and lush.
“She needs to go, Bryn. I don’t want an unknown human on the grounds or anywhere else around here during the Games.”
“And what does it matter if she’s here, Dad? You already pretty much told her you were a shifter when you introduced yourself as our Alpha.”
“I didn’t say that,” he grumbled. Did he? He’d meant to say he was the laird, to solidify his position as boss so when he told her to leave, she would. Dammit. Just being in that woman’s vicinity messed with his head.
“You are losing it because you absolutely did.” She rolled her eyes, the go-to indicator for teenagers everywhere of the absolute cluelessness of grownups, especially those of the parental persuasion.
“Besides, she wants nothing to do with the pack or anyone up here at the castle. She’s here ‘cause she needed a place to lay low. Told me she plans on reading, napping, and taking long walks far away from men.”
Why did she need to lay low? Was she in trouble?
His hackles rose at the thought of his mate in danger.
First things first, he thought with a shake of his head.
He focused on his daughter, now sporting a mullish, stubborn look.
When she got her back up, she looked so much like her mother.
His heart clenched. Cath didn’t know what she was missing, and she never would.
His daughter, gorgeous, headstrong, and far too smart for her own good.
Which brought him back to why she’d rented out the old cottage in the first place.
“Bryn, you know if you need funds, you only have to ask,” he said, giving her upper arm a gentle squeeze. He tucked his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Why do you need money, anyway?”
She heaved a very put-upon sigh. “You’d’ve said no. You always do.”
Was he really that bad? She had what he considered to be a rather generous allowance.
How much did she need anyway? A couple of quid when she went out with friends, enough to buy trinkets and other things girls needed.
It’s not like they lived in a big, expensive city.
She could walk into any shop in Wolfcraig and charge whatever she wanted to his account.
He tried, but what did he know about the needs of teenage girls? “You don’t know that.”
“I do, Dad.” She looped her arm through his, steering him around the fountain, away from the castle, putting some distance between them and the sharp ears of nosy pack members.
“You watch me like I’m about to pack a bag and disappear forever like Mom.
And you’ve gotten worse the older I get.
So, if I came to you and said I wanted to go to London with friends for a weekend, you would have said no. ”
When he opened his mouth to protest, she held up a hand.
“Look, Dad. I love you, but you’ve got to get over this distrust of humans. Not everyone is like Mom.”
Out of the mouths of babes — or teenagers, in this case. He huffed and shook his head, though she had a point. But he wasn’t ready to acknowledge it.
“See? You’re totally biased against humans.”
He huffed louder. “I come by it honestly.”
“Whatever.” She rolled her eyes again. “But Sophie’s alright. And she barely blinked an eye when you mentioned being the Alpha, so I’m thinking she knows something about shifters and the supernatural. Plus, she’d enjoy the highland games. They’re a good time.”
He grunted, not having a strong counterargument here.
She’d backed him into an indefensible corner because she was right.
He did have a bias against humans he didn’t know.
He didn’t trust them as far as he could throw them.
Was he being unfair in wanting Sophie gone?
Maybe. Probably. But the truth of the matter was that his clever daughter was using this ‘biased against humans’ argument as a distraction.
He leveled a look at her, pinning her in place.
“You planned on using the money you got from renting out the cottage to sneak off to London with your friends.”
Her throat bobbed, but she straightened her shoulders. “I was.”
“Were you planning on coming back?” He hadn’t meant to ask that. It just slipped out.
“What?” She reared back, a snarl on her lips. “Did you really ask me that? Of course I’m coming back. I am not her, Dad. You need to get that through your thick skull.” Spinning on her heel, she stormed off, disappearing around the corner of the castle.
Well, shit. Handled that like a champ, I did, he thought, rubbing the back of his neck. Raising a teenager wasn’t for the faint of heart. They were fantastic at putting one on the back foot.
However, Bryn wasn’t wrong. As a stubborn old wolf, change was hard. But Sophie was here, in his territory. Her being human shouldn’t matter. She was his mate, for fuck’s sake.
Cath, on the other hand, was not his mate and had never been. She was merely a human his younger self fell hard for and who’d shattered his heart. The only good thing to come of their relationship was Bryn, even though she gave him heart palpitations these days.
He scrubbed a hand through his hair, leaving the dark strands standing on end.
Was it too late to fit Bryn with a chastity belt and chain her in the castle’s dungeon?
The idea of keeping her safe and under his watchful eye until she turned forty sounded appealing.
No doubt, she’d have something to say about that.
His little girl wasn’t shy about sharing her opinions.
What to do about Sophie? If he kicked her out of the cottage, Bryn would never let him hear the end of it, but he didn’t want a human — our mate, his inner wolf reminded him with a low growl that rattled his brain — skulking around his territory.
Blowing out a heavy sigh, he stared up at the gray-tinged clouds overhead.
What had he done in his past life to deserve this?