Scottish Wolves

Chapter Twenty-one

Connor sat in his office working through a mountain of paperwork when he heard what seemed like a howl, he didn't recognise who it was from but his wolf told him to check it out. He raced through the woods ready to shift in a blink of an eye if he had to, the closer he got to the source the angrier he was getting as he noticed it was hell of a close to his sanctuary.

He stopped and crouched down behind some bushes, in front of him lay a pure white wolf sprawled out on the smooth stones that lined the loch, it was smaller than him but was definitely a female, but seemed larger than any of his packs female wolves, he took a step towards her, but her ears pricked up and she immediately stood up and just stared at him.

It took him by surprise as he took in the scent that was filling his nose, it sunk in, the wolf in front of him was his Adelaide "Adelaide is that you?" he said with a huge grin on his face, she was a gorgeous wolf, she outshone any other wolf he had ever seen, and by the way his wolf was yelping I guess he agrees as well.

He took another step closer but she stepped back and whined "Hey it's OK, I won't hurt you, but you have to change back" he said softly but she just whined again "Oh, this is your first shift?" he felt angry with himself for not being with her for her first time, he knew how much it hurt, he was going to have to talk her through the changing process.

"OK, you have to calm down, and just think about yourself in your human form" Connor spoke calmly and waited as he watched his mate close her wolf eyes and start to shudder, but then she stopped and opened her eyes, she growled at Connor who stood there in shock 'how dare she growl at me, all I am doing us trying to...oh!' it came to him, he walked over to his hidden chest and pulled out one of his T-Shirts and placed it down in front of her before turning his back to her with a smile.

It took about fifteen minutes of whining and growling before she managed to shift back, finally he heard a small voice behind him "OK I'm fine now" he turned to see that his t-shirt just about covered her thighs 'oh great, this is going to be fun!' he thought sarcastically as she walked up to him blushing as she kept pulling at the hem, obviously uncomfortable with this whole scenario. Connor smiled at her "I have more appropriate clothes at home, come on" he said as he walked off towards the house, she stayed behind him not saying a word.

She stopped outside the house and gasped "Wow this place is amazing!" Adelaide was in awe at the sight of the huge house that didn't really bother Connor, but he hadn't ever lived anywhere else so it was just a house to him. He led her up the winding staircase to his bedroom and although she hesitated to enter, he walked over to his set of drawers and pulled out a pair of tracksuit trousers and a matching top "I know they are too big, but it's all I have" he said apologetically before heading back downstairs.

Connor walked into the kitchen and switched the kettle on although he would have preferred something stronger, he was confused as to why she was here but he couldn't complain, this was a step closer. The thought of his mate in his bedroom was getting unbearable and lucky for her; she walked into the kitchen before he had a chance to think about doing something he would regret. She just stood there awkwardly until Connor finished making a coffee. She gratefully took the mug off Connor before sitting down at the table, she sighed and looked at Connor with weary eyes "So I guess you are wondering why I am here?" she smiled weakly before taking a gulp of her coffee. Connor just shrugged and sat down opposite her and reached for her hand, he was just happy to have her close to him again.

"With your help, I would like to see if I can track down my dad?" she asked with a hint of apprehension in her voice. "You know that you might not like what you find?" he said rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand "I understand, but we have to do this for us!" she smiled, this was too much for him, she was accepting him completely as her mate and the surge of happiness flooded his entire body. He stood up and walked round to where she sat and knelt down beside her taking both her hands in his, "Before we go anywhere, I have to teach you how to protect yourself" he said with a serious look on his face that made her ruffle his hair playfully causing Connor to moan "Whoops" she smiled and planted a kiss in his forehead. Connor pulled both her arms round him and tilted his head to reach her lips and they both melted into each other and everything else just seemed unimportant as they both floated in a blissful cloud just happy to be close to each other.

It was late afternoon before they were ready to plan anything, Adelaide had already told him that she had arranged time off work till Monday, it was only Sunday afternoon so they had over a week, but that was nowhere near enough time to track down anyone, it was barely enough time to train Adelaide how to fight. He wasn't sure how many wolves they might come up against but at least he knew where the McLeod's pack used to be, so that was a start.

Once he had finished his coffee he thought the first thing he should do was get her to join his pack, only if it was just for the useful mind connection, but that meant his pack would know instantly that his mate was here. That would also put the added pressure on him to complete the mating ritual. Things where going to get complicated!

Suddenly the front door opened and in walked Colin whistling away until his eyes landed on Adelaide "Well hello there" he smiled and walked towards her, Connor growled defensively "She's mine!" he reacted as his jealous side was getting the better of him, in an instant Colin backed off raising both his hands in the air submissively and lowered his eyes to the floor. Adelaide sat their just looking confused at the sudden change in Connor.

"Don't worry about it, it's an Alpha thing..." he whispered nervously glancing at Connor up to check his state of mind "So I guess you are the infamous mate?" he grinned "I'm Colin, Connors long suffering cousin" he said rolling his eyes at Connor who was still scowling at him for just speaking to her.

Colin knew this jealousy would get worse until they had fully mated and by the look on her face, this was the first time he had let this side out. **Connor when you have a minute I have some serious news!** he said with a worried face before heading up to the office to wait for him.

It was literally a minute before he heard Connor running up the stairs to his office "So what's up?" he asked in his business tone. Colin sighed "We have heard news of a new attack, but this time from hunters" he paused "They sent a scout and a dog to the far side of the highlands, luckily there was a patrol that night and the pack fighters managed to kill both of them,...but they will be back!" Colin warned.

There had been no hunters in the highlands for over a decade but the last two years they have seen an increase on the number of attacks. They don't seem to attack in large in numbers, mainly one or two of them with those damn dogs. They seem to be just scouting and killing anyone who gets in their way.

Connor hadn't heard of any pack that had been seriously damaged by the hunters but they were definitely up to something. "I wonder why they are attacking now!" Connor said, more to himself than Colin, the last vicious attack had claimed a pile of his pack fighters and wiped out the McLeod pack.