Chapter 99: Twenty-one.

"Colt, what's wrong? Why are you using Felix's phone?" Isla, her Mom asked in concern, suddenly standing up and pacing the lounge room where she was at home. She could sense something wasn't right straight away, either that or she was just being a typical neurotic mother, whose child was too far away for her own comfort, but she was never usually wrong about these things.

Colt rolled her eyes at the unconscious lion, and the fact that her Mom had his number stored in her cell. She really did have a thing for covertly adopting people.

"Mom, why do you have Felix's number?" She asked casually, "And he is visiting me, has been here in Scotland with me, for about a month now." Colt stated, hoping by slipping it into conversation naturally, she wouldn't earn as much shock and wrath from her mother. Like it was totally normal, and not at all a big deal. She was wrong, very wrong.

"You don't need to know why I have... Wait! In Scotland! Colt Briagh Merrier, you better be bloody kidding me!" Isla barked back, "Why aren't you in France? Wait a minute, a month! KALVIN!" Isla screeched, "How long, exactly have you been in Scotland, if Felix has been there for a month? Kalvin, get your backside in here now!" Isla demanded, barking orders and questions in all directions at once.

"Only since, I left the States." Colt answered, as if it were no big deal, while desperately trying not to grovel at her Mom's metaphorical feet.

"SINCE YOU LEFT THE STATES!" Came Isla's horrified, and very loud response.

Colt could see her Mom in her mind's eye, stomping around whatever room she was in, in their house, one hand waving expressive symbols in the air, as the other turned white knuckled, holding onto the phone.

She then heard her father panting as he entered the room in an obvious panic, "Isla, what's going on? What's happened, Beautiful?" He asked confused at the ruckus.

"Here!" Isla stated, thrusting her cell at her husband, "You deal with her!"

"What?" Kalvin responded confused, and unsure of who he was about to be speaking to. "Hello?" He asked down the phone.

"Hi, Daddy." Colt answered as innocently as possible, pulling out all the little girl stops she could. Till she heard her Mom's sharp intake of breath and shouted response from the other side of the room her parents were in.

"Don't you dare, Daddy him, Colt! You are so....Urgh!" Isla exclaimed, tears of rage pricking at her eyes.

"Princess, why have you upset your Mom?" Kalvin asked diplomatically. Memories of Colt's teenage years hitting him like a freight train. He learned to become a hostage level negotiator at that time in his daughter's life, just to calm the quarrels between his wife and their only female child. He loved Colt more than words could say, but he could openly admit, he was relieved to only have one daughter at times like this.

Colt sighed apologetically, "I didn't mean to, I...."

But an enraged Isla interrupted her, "Didn't mean to?" She asked in complete disbelief, "Lying to us, about where you are for eight bloody months, is a pretty damn conscious decision, Colt!" She snapped, her hurt feelings stopping her from allowing her child to speak.

"Wait, you're not in France?" Kalvin asked, perplexed and trying to join up the dots.

"No she isn't! And the brass neck of her, trying to pretend its completely normal, that she is in Scotland! Of all the places! Like it's no big deal." Isla said bitterly.

"Scotland? Colt?" Kalvin asked concerned, knowing his mate didn't have the best relationship with her parents.

"Yeah. I have a lovely little croft on the west coast." Colt answered. "You would love it, right on the beach, and easy access into a small woodland before it stretches up into the hills."

"Seriously, Colt! Pack it in! Attempting to butter up your father, with a real estate pitch. It wont help you right now!" Isla called out. "Felix is with her, so apparently, he must have been honoured enough to know the truth." Isla spat, jealous of the lion her daughter chose to confide in.

Kalvin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Felix is in Scotland?" He asked confused, just as Lewis entered the room, to find out what was going on.

"Colt's pet lion is in Scotland? Cool, can I visit him?" He asked, wanting his share of the commotion.

"No." Isla hissed at her youngest, it didn't help his case that he and Colt were very similar in appearance.

"Lewis, he isn't my 'pet'. He is a friend" Colt commented, knowing with his advanced hearing he would hear her.

"Wait! I have wanted to go to Scotland for years, and Colt's there! What the fuck, man?" He complained, before grunting as his Mom, hit him over the head.

"Lewis, you may be seventeen, but do not think for one minute, I will not put you across my knee and tan your hide so hard, you wont be able to sit down for a week, if you ever speak to us like that again!" Isla scolded her youngest on his tone, "Oh, and watch your language. Got it?" She added as an afterthought.

Lewis laughed. "You'd have to catch me first, Mom," he responded, winding her up further by ruffling up her hair, before he ran out of the room like his tail was on fire.

"Argh!" Isla screamed, before snatching the phone back off of her startled mate, "Why Colt? Why would you lie to us, but tell Felix, of all people?"

"Mom, I didn't tell him," Colt sighed, beginning to really hate herself for her Mom's reaction. "I didn't tell anyone," she whispered, "Maeve somehow worked it out and told him I needed help. She even booked his flight. I promise the first people I wanted to tell was you and Dad."

Isla paused, "Colt, Sweetie, what did you need help with?" Isla asked, instantly switching from annoyed parent to concerned mother, at the slightest possibility one of her offspring were in need. "Wait, do you still need help? Are you okay? Is that why you are coming clean now? What's going on? What did my mother do?" She asked a barrage of questions, as soon as each popped into her brain.

"Mom, I, I'm so sorry I lied. I was scared." Colt began, apologising sincerely, "I thought if I told you, then Elijah would somehow find out."

Kalvin discreetly left the room, as Isla settled down for a long chat with their daughter, knowing full well she would fill him in later, and feeling relieved that for now at least the storm seemed to have passed.

"Oh, Baby Girl." Isla sighed, "Just start at the beginning."

"You mean where Granny and Grandad, but specifically, your mother tried to sell me as a bride?" Colt began.

"SHE DID WHAT?!" Isla spat, "But, you're mated!"

"Yeah, I'm surprised there wasn't an add in the local paper, Colt Merrier, Unmarried Campbell granddaughter: Used but in Great Condition" Colt joked. "Then I publicly rejected the eligi-not, Angus Bruce, my apparent fiancé

While also disowning my connection to the Campbells, and ignorantly putting myself on the market for a whole menu of other prospective wildcat husbands?"

"Oh Fuck!" Isla swore, uncharacteristically.

"Mom!" Colt exclaimed in shock, other than the frequent use of the word 'bloody' her Mom never swore, or tolerated it from the family.

Isla just ignored her daughter's shock and continued her line of questioning, "What did they do? Colt are you alright? Stay away from the Bruces. What the hell was my Mother thinking? When did this all begin?" She started up with more questions.

"Mom, calm down." Colt consoled her, sensing she was becoming frantic, "Don't worry, they were all very respectful. Apart from trespassing on my land, brawling in the fields in animal form, and the frequent sending of unwanted gifts, some quite inappropriate gifts actually." Colt smirked at the memory of her and Iona's impromptu bonfires. "They kept their overall distance, and I now have a wonderful new malt collection for you to try." Colt half laughed at the overall absurdity of it all, "As well as a fantastic washer and drier combo set."

"Wait a minute, are you telling me, you have turned the eligible male population of Scottish Wildcats, who pride themselves on their feral, untamed nature, into a bunch of simpering housecats, dropping off gifts onto your doorstep?" Isla shrieked joyously, laughing at the expense of the men she was discussing.

Colt snorted at her Mom's reaction, "Well, I wouldn't have said that. But, now you mention it.... Anyway, when Felix arrived, not much changed except he stopped me from murdering Angus, on more than one occasion. Never thought I'd say it about a fellow shifter, but that man's only use is his pelt!"

"Hmmm," Isla stated thoughtfully, "The Bruce's wont give up, Sweetie," she stated concerned. "Not till there is a ring on your finger, or you are out of the country, trust me. You must be very careful around them. Especially Arthur."

"I'll be careful, Mom, I promise," Colt vowed genuinely. "But, Mom," she sighed, "Erm, things got wierd a week ago. Everyone disappeared, all of them. Not one cat was on my croft, not one gift arrived. The peace has been bliss," Colt gulped, "Until tonight that is."

Isla sat back into her seat, a mix of anticipationand dread pooling in her gut, "That doesn't make sense, Colt, they will only stop once you are officially, off the market." she scratched her head, unsure of what to say next.

"Well, I'm sure not complaining." Colt smirked, "But Mom," She paused, still unsure of how to even say what she was about to.

"Yes?" Isla asked patiently, her earlier ire completely gone, while her daughter opened up to her properly and let her back in.

"Erm, I met someone tonight," Colt hesitantly began.

"Right, you are going to have to give me more to go on than that, Colt. Spit it out, please," Isla stated candidly, knowing that her daughter sometimes needed a push, and that this was obviously one of those times.

Colt leaned her head onto Felix's leg further, and relaxed somewhat when she felt him squeeze her shoulder gently in support. He had woken up then, she thought. Thankful he was happy to just sit there with her. Deciding to start at the beginning, so she would only have to say it once to both Felix and her Mom, Colt said, "I was grabbing my things at work to go home tonight, and this smell hit me, just as the main door went. It was the scent of my mate. So, I fled leaving my belongings and running to escape Elijah."

"How did he find you?" Isla asked in shock, having jumped up out of her chair, and starting to pace back and forth around the room she was in, but after three steps, she all but flew out of the room and ran through the house to the home office.

"He didn't find me though, Mom. It wasn't him." Colt responded flatly. "It was someone else, I don't know who, I think he is a wildcat, but I don't even know his name. I found a hiding spot in the trees and he plucked me out of it. Mom, I felt the mate pull! How is this possible?" Colt asked her panic resurfacing.

"I don't know. But, I'm on my way." Isla stated, her mind made up, as she pressed confirm on the two seats for a flight to the U.K. It was time Kalvin and she went home.

"I transformed into my wolf and ran from him, Mom, he didn't follow me. But, I dont understand, how is it possible to have two mates, and what am I supposed to do? When being with him would harm Elijah?" Colt cried out.

Felix shimmied his butt to the floor, putting the jigsaw pieces together that his friend's earlier state, had nothing to do with the man from the door earlier, not physically anyway. He was becoming ever thankful that he was a lion, and not a hot headed wolf, who would act first and think later in defence of a loved one. "Colt?" He interrupted for the first time, "How did you get hurt?"

"You're hurt!" Isla shrieked.

Colt rolled her eyes at Felix, after throwing him a glare, while he mouthed a silent sorry in response.

"I'm fine, Mom. I just panicked and misjudged a fence I leapt over, before barreling through some old gates. It wasn't serious." Colt explained.

"Kitten, you just had to slice your body open to remove the wooden fragments, from shifting!" Felix countered.

Isla began to get frantic, "What does he mean, Colt?!" She demanded, all while simultaneously booking more flights and organising their luggage allowances.

Now Colt fully scowled at the lion who evidently, had his foot in his mouth so far he could no longer reply. "I erm, shifted with a projectile. It's already healing though, Mom. Don't worry!"

"Why didn't you go to the hospital?" Isla demanded to know, annoyed at Colt's utter lack of self care.

"Because, I still wouldn't be there if I had, and I wanted to be at home." Colt answered. "Where I feel safe, and not under the looming threat of two splintered mate bonds, because I honestly don't think I can survive a second one going wrong." Colt snapped back.

Isla sighed, "Fine."

The line was silent for a few minutes before she spoke again, she could sense her daughter's pain, and was trying to balance it with her parental frustration. It was only a year ago, that Colt was in hospital with recurrent heart failures. She couldn't help but panic herself, at the thought of her daughter in pain or getting hurt. They had nearly lost her, after all.

"Where are you exactly?" Isla asked, changing the subject, while finding out exactly where she and Kalvin would be driving the hire car, from Inverness airport, she had just booked.

"The Ardair Peninsula, I bought Bay Croft, it's a little rundown but, the house is finished now, and tomorrow I guess I'm going gate shopping." Colt subtly joked.

"That's Macgregor land." Isla responded, but it triggered something in Colt's memory.

"Wait, Macgregor. That's who Iona said was coming into the pub. Apparently he had been in Ireland looking for his mate. Calum, I think she called him." Colt, mused out loud.

"Sounds right, the guy came here first, kept calling your name out, as if I were hiding you from him." Felix laughed. "He claimed he first seen you there, in Ireland, but you jumped off a cliff into the sea, before he could find you." Felix shrugged, without thinking.

Colt instantly paled.

"You did WHAT?" Isla hissed out.

Author's Note: Oh Felix.... If you dont need a doctor for the beating Colt's going to give you, you will to remove that foot....🤣

So, Colt came clean, what do you think? Are you glad Isla is back on the scene?