"No. I believe she's still actively evading us," Lord Eldred's gaze scanned the woods-Kirstin looked at him from behind her tree. He hadn't seen her then. But he sensed something. "I think she knows we're on her trail."
"Mayhaps Salt and Sedgewick have found her," Geoffrey said with a shrug. "They may already know where the den is."
"It could very well be, but they haven't sent my hawk." Lord Eldred's brow lowered as he looked between his young captains. "You did remind them to send my hawk, if they found the bitch or the den, didn't you?"
"We told them," both Geoffrey and William exclaimed at once, like lads reassuring their father their chores were already done.
Kirstin didn't remember Lord Eldred bringing more than his two captains to the MacFalon castle. He had more men working for him, then, she mused. This Salt and Sedgewick. In secret. Behind Donal's back, working all along for King Henry, who did want the wulvers dead, it turned out. Just like Alistair had claimed.
She remembered Lorien bringing word back that the king was upholding the wolf pact. He had been lied to, she realized. They'd all been lied to.
"They're amazing creatures, if entirely unholy," Lord Eldred's gaze still scanned the tree line, making Kirstin sink even further back into the darkness. "Both more than men and more than wolves."
"But the women!" William gave a little grunt, shifting in front of the fire. "Hotter than the blazes."
"I'd still like to get my cock in that one's mouth." Geoffrey sighed, tossing the last bone into the fire and taking out a flask.
Lord Eldred laughed. "She'd snap it off and eat it as a treat."
That was true enough. Kirstin would have been happy to oblige. It took all her energy to resist it, even now.
"Get some sleep, lads." Lord Eldred tossed his stick into the fire. "Tomorrow we meet with Moraga."
"Again?" William frowned.
"I'd like to get my cock in that one's mouth, too." Geoffrey took a long swig from his flask.
"She's a witch." William shuddered. "I'd be afraid she'd turn it to stone."
"Could do worse." Geoffrey chuckled. "At least you'd always be hard and ready to please, eh?"
"She wouldn't touch either of you with a Maypole," Lord Eldred scoffed, shaking his head.
"Do we have to meet up with her?" William asked, hurrying on to explain when Lord Eldred gave him a speculative look. "I mean, can't you go alone? We're supposed to meet up with Sedgewick and Salt the day after tomorrow at the old well."
"Scared, young William?" Lord Eldred's eyes flashed, the corners of his mouth curving into a sly smile. "You know, lads, we wouldn't even have to be out here tonight if you hadn't lost the wulver party when they left with that book."
He knows about the book? Kirstin's heart raced in her chest, faster than when she was chasing rabbits. How? But of course, he'd been spying. She'd been so busy falling in love with Donal, she hadn't paid any attention to her instincts about Lord Eldred Lothienne. She'd done nothing except avoid Lord Eldred, when she should have acted on her feelings. She realized, now far too late, that she should have insisted Donal be wary of the man. At the very least, have him watched.
"I have to get my hands on it," Eldred muttered, glowering into the fire.
"What's in it?" Goeffrey asked. "More witches magic?"
"I don't know. That's why I need to get my hands on it, you dolt," Lord Eldred snapped. "But mayhaps Moraga knows of it. At the very least, I can warn her they have it. Mayhaps she can counter whatever they learn from it, if it hinders our plans."
"Your plans, you mean."
"My plans are your plans, Captain." Lord Eldred gave Geoffrey a cool smile, standing and stretching. "Sleep well, lads. We'll see if we can find the she-bitch's trail in the morning. Then we'll meet up with Moraga."
"G'nite, m'lord," called Geoffrey and Lord Eldred slipped into his tent.
Kirstin watched the two captains until the fire burned low. They talked late into the night, about nothing important. She wanted to know more of how they planned to destroy the wulvers, needed to know as much as possible to relay it to Raife when she went back to the wulver den.
It was a dangerous gamble, but she decided she would have to follow them. At least until they met up with the other two men. She needed to know if the wulver den had been discovered. Once she knew that, she would return home and tell her pack they were in danger.
* * *
Kirstin shouldn't have expected Moraga to be an old woman, given how the young captains had talked about her, but for some reason, the sight of the shapely blonde shocked her. Moraga welcomed Lord Eldred alone-he'd sent the captains out to wait for Salt and Sedgewick. They weren't due until the morrow, but Eldred had set camp quite a ways from Moraga's cave, near the old MacFalon well. It wasn't until Kirstin saw the woman that she realized why.
The witch wrapped her arms around Lord Eldred's neck and the two of them kissed deeply. The man's hands roamed her English gown. He shoved one of them roughly down the front of it, but the woman didn't protest. Instead, she gave a loud moan, her hips bumping up against his.
Kirstin considered going back to Lord Eldred's camp to wait for Sedgewick and Salt. She had to know if they'd discovered her pack's den. If she was going to be subjected to nothing but the sexual escapades of Lord Eldred and his concubine by staying here, she would rather listen to the bragging and bravado of the two captains while they waited for their comrades to return.
"I take it ye missed me?" Moraga gave a low, throaty laugh when they parted. Her brogue was thick-she was clearly a Scotswoman, and not English, in spite of her dress. Eldred's hand was still stuck down in her cleavage, massaging her breast. Her eyes narrowed as she leaned back slightly in his arms, giving him better access down the front of her dress. "Ye weren't beddin' any wulvers, were ye?"
"Do I look like I have fleas?" Lord Eldred bent his head to kiss the tops of her breasts.
"Good." She gasped when he yanked the front of her dress down, exposing her to him. His mouth fell to suckling her nipple and she moaned. "Ye know I do'na mind ye sleepin' wit' other wenches-as long as ye bring me the good ones so we can share."
Lord Eldred chuckled, moving his mouth to her other nipple, his fingers working the first one. Kirstin's lip curled in disgust. She didn't want to see this. Her gaze skipped around the encampment, looking anywhere but at the kissing, petting couple. There was a pack horse and a riding horse tied nearby. Kirstin had been careful to stay downwind of them both. The woman's camp was surprisingly sumptuous and comfortable. She had a tent up outside the cave, along with a fire pit in front with an iron tripod, a cooking cauldron and table.
"Did ye find the wulver den, then?" Moraga asked. "Are we celebratin'?"
"Not yet." Eldred made a face. "We lost the first party over the creek. And that damned she-wolf has given me the slip all three times I've found and followed her trail."
"I thought ye were a famed wulver hunter?" She gave a throaty laugh when he bit her nipple.
"Mayhaps Sedgewick and Salt have had more luck," he said morosely. "There are no men alive who can track a wulver better than they can-except mayhaps myself. Most men don't even know the wulvers exist, let alone know how to follow them. And if a wulver doesn't want to be tracked, likely the Lord of the Great Hunt himself couldn't track them."
"So ye say." Moraga pulled away from him, covering herself.
"I do have something that will please you, mayhaps, even if I didn't get my hands on that book." Lord Eldred reached into the pack over his shoulder, pulling out a handful of silvermoon. Kirsten could smell it, even from where she stood at the edge of the wood.
"Silvermoon!" Moraga's eyes lit up with delight and she took the bunch from him. "I've ne'er seen it grow anywhere! And what book?"
The witch missed nothing. Kirstin watched the woman expertly bundle the silvermoon for hanging and drying on the little table.
"There was a book." Lord Eldred sighed. "The she-wolf found it snooping down in the first den."
"What first den?" Moraga's blonde head lifted as she looked up from her work.
"There is an ancient wulver den under the MacFalon tombs," Eldred informed her.
"The grotto of Asher and Ardis?" Moraga frowned, her hands slowing in their work. "Ye found the grotto? Where the silvermoon grows?"
"That's where this came from." He nodded at the leaves and branches in her hands. To Kirstin, it looked like he'd pulled a whole plant up by the roots! "That's where she found the book. Some ancient wulver text?"