Finding the portal to Lucia hadn’t been easy, but MacKinnon had managed it. It had used up several of the charges in the token Abigail had given him, a small wooden skull-shaped disc that was firmly tucked in the pocket of his jeans. He checked it again, not wanting to be stuck in this mystical realm because he had lost the damned thing.
Although, it was a beautiful place.
Green. Ethereal.
White buildings rose like great sharpened bones from the dense forest of pines that were each as tall as a redwood, spearing a turquoise sky that sparkled with faint stars. The glade around him was vibrant, the grass threaded with violet and golden flowers that shifted in the breeze, releasing a sweet fragrance. Mossy boulders dotted the clearing, strange colourful birds landing on them to peck for insects or chirp at him before flying away into the trees. Water as clear as diamonds ran in a sweeping shallow stream to his right, rippling over crystalline boulders.
It didn’t seem real.
Even the light wasn’t right. It was warm—magical—and the air sparkled as if someone had tossed handfuls of gold glitter into it.
This whole place was like a dream.
Kin had never felt so out of place or so far from home. He kept his senses sharpened as he quietly moved along the riverbank, every step he took crushing blooms to make them release more scent into the thick air. He glanced off to his left, his gaze lifting beyond the treetops to the arch-shaped towers that rose beyond them, and the sensible part of him said to head that way, towards civilisation.
The cautious part of him warned to keep his distance.
He was a stranger in a land of fae, and he doubted they would welcome the intrusion. The few fae he had questioned in Geneva about Lucia and how to get there had all warned him to forget his mission. When he had told them that he couldn’t, that this was a matter of life and death, they had said it would be his death but had reluctantly told him what they knew.
One of them had left him with grim words about staying out of the shadows.
Whatever that meant.
Kin didn’t understand the warning, but he still found himself instinctively staying in the light, charting a course that followed the river. He had been walking for what felt like hours, avoiding areas where he sensed there were people. The urge to approach some of them was growing stronger as the minutes ticked by and he still hadn’t found Hella. Maybe they would be nice enough to point him in the direction of the nymphs.
Maybe they would gut him where he stood.
Or worse.
He barely bit back the growl that rumbled up his throat as fur swept over his forearms and his claws lengthened in response to the imagined threat to his freedom. Never again. No one in this world or the mortal one would shackle him. He would be no one’s prisoner.
No one’s entertainment.
So approaching the fae and asking them if they knew where the nymphs were or had seen Hella was out of the question. He couldn’t reveal himself. It was too dangerous.
But he was getting nowhere.
And it was getting dark.
He thought.
Kin looked at the sky, at the stars that were no brighter now than when he had arrived. Faint aurora chased around them, coming and going in waves. Did time not move in this place? Was there no day and night?
He rounded a bend in the river and wove through a thick copse of saplings, some of which reached over the water, desperately seeking more light. Afraid of the shadows? He mulled over what the fae could have meant by that warning as the trees thinned and the moss gave way to glittering stones. The river deepened, the sound of water rushing filling the still air, and he was tempted to bend and drink some, but his instincts whispered that thirst was better than potentially poisoning himself. He wasn’t sure if the water in this realm was the same as it was in his own world.
Nothing felt the same here.
He tilted his head back as he reached a broad clearing where the grass and flowers had grown tall enough to reach his knees and his step faltered.
A castle.
The ivory fortress towered atop a cliff, stones shimmering in the warm light. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, with towers that speared the high walls at intervals, their conical roofs made of dark blue tiles. In the centre, trees surrounded a cathedral-like structure that had curving arches supporting sections of it, and a gold and blue domed roof. On the other side of the wide river, atop another cliff, a smaller palace stood. A bridge connected the two, spanning the deep canyon the river cut through. From this angle, it looked as if the smaller side had only a low wall around it and a single domed building. He squinted, sure he could spy people near the balustrade and crossing the covered bridge, appearing and disappearing between the columns supporting the blue roof.
Kin found himself drifting towards it, wanting to get a better look. Would there be other buildings in the woods that hugged it? A whole town he couldn’t see from this distance? It was different to the other buildings he had seen. He looked back over his shoulder in their direction, taking in the great white towers that curved to a point like an arch, looking more like the tips of swords now he was at a distance.
He turned back towards the castle, the rush of the river becoming a thundering roar as it cut through the gap between the two pale cliffs. He studied the building again as he approached it, and there were people on the other side of the river, moving around the open space there and crossing the bridge. They were blond. Nymphs? He couldn’t be sure from this distance.
He focused his senses and pulled down a deep breath, attempting to catch Hella’s scent. The smell of water and flowers was too strong, drowning out everything else. He huffed and kept walking, gaze scanning the building now, seeking a way to it that wouldn’t draw attention to himself.
A figure suddenly plummeted into view, falling from one of the ivory towers.
His stomach plummeted with her when he noticed the colour of her hair.
Blue.
Hella.
His heart thundered, hammering a painful, hard beat against his ribs as he stood immobile, shocked by the sight of her and struggling to process what he was seeing. She flipped and fought her short black dress.
And hit the water feet first.
MacKinnon kicked his boots off and dove into the water, swam hard with the current and fought to keep his head above the surface as he was swept along. The water was colder than he had expected, sapping his heat, but the adrenaline that spiked his blood as he saw she hadn’t emerged yet was enough to keep him going, had him kicking harder, desperately propelling himself towards where she had struck the surface.
He dove the moment he reached it, legs pumping furiously as he scoured the water for her. He grimaced as the current slammed him into a rock, knocking vital air from his lungs, and gripped it and shoved off. The river had to be at least thirty feet deep. Where was she?
There.
She tumbled head over heels, legs flailing, and he wanted to growl when he saw her hands were still bound. What the hell had the nymph been thinking? Why take her and push her off a tower?
His heart lurched as she was smashed against a boulder and spun away from it, her actions growing weak and sluggish. He kicked harder and reached for her, stretched his arms as far as he could and tried to grab her. He missed. Godsdammit. He growled, releasing precious air, grabbed the nearest rock and pressed his feet to it. He kicked off, shooting towards her, and snared her.
The moment he wrapped his arms around her, his strength tried to leave him, relief that she was safe in them stealing it from him. She wasn’t safe yet. He clung to the remaining shreds of his strength and kicked upwards, propelling them both towards the surface. He gasped for air as they breached it, his head fogging as his body greedily devoured the oxygen.
Hella spluttered and coughed, shaking in his arms as she tightly gripped his forearm.
Kin turned her to face him.
Could only stare as he got a good look at her, struck dumb by the sight of her.
She was beautiful.
He told himself it was just the spell. It was all a lie.
But gods, she was beautiful.
She looked as if she fitted into this realm, as if she belonged in it, with her wide luminous emerald eyes, flawless pale skin and her rosy cheeks. She could be fae. He tucked her to his chest with one arm and brushed the tangled threads of her azure hair behind her ear with his other hand, revealing her very human ears.
She stared at him as they were swept downstream, not resisting him as he carefully navigated the river with her, pushing off boulders that were in their path and keeping her safely tucked against him.
As they entered calmer waters and their pace slowed, she finally spoke, and the sound of her voice altered something fundamental inside him, stirring his soul and warming his blood.
“You’re not fae,” she murmured throatily, a soft but flinty quality to her voice that plunged his thoughts firmly into the gutter. His lass had a voice for the bedroom. “You’re not a nymph either. If I had to guess—” She looked him over, heating his blood now, making him burn for her as she took him in. “Some kind of shifter maybe?”
“Wolf,” he grunted, unable to manage more than that. Something about this female had his tongue tied, his heart thundering, and him trembling like a lad as her soft curves pressed against him.
“What’s a wolf doing in Lucia?” she whispered and then undid him by clutching the front of his Henley, twisting it into her little fist as if she didn’t want to let him go. “Although, I’m not going to complain about the rescue or anything. It’s quite appreciated.”
She didn’t seem inclined to get away from him. Kin wasn’t sure he had ever felt quite as pleased by something as he was by that or how she nestled closer to him. His wolf calmed as she pressed against him, clinging to him, her gaze on his face. His female was in his arms. Safe. Close. He gathered her closer still, unable to stop himself, and wrapped both arms around her, pinning her to him.
Her green eyes sparkled, bewitching him.
Beckoning him.
The cliffs gave way to gentle sloping banks lined with pines and she glanced at them as the river slowed to a crawl. He wanted to deny her even when he knew he couldn’t. They could safely leave the water now. There was no reason for her to remain in his arms. He reluctantly swam towards the bank, stood when the water was shallow enough and carried her onto dry land.
Kin set her down on the soft moss and stepped back, trying not to notice how her wet dress clung to her body, revealing it to his hungry gaze, or how her little nipples beaded before his eyes, as if they ached for his touch. He shifted his right leg forward a little, attempting to alleviate the ache in his cock, as hard as stone for her.
She had to see what she was doing to him.
There was no hiding it in his wet jeans.
She backed off a step and fidgeted, wringing some of the water from her dress. The silver shackles around her wrists glinted in the light, drawing his gaze to them, and he growled at the red marks on her skin where they had rubbed it raw.
She froze and lifted her head a little, enough that she could meet his gaze.
And flash cleavage at him.
He would have growled at that too if it hadn’t been for the wary edge her eyes gained or how cautious she sounded as she asked, “What’s a wolf doing in Lucia?”
“I came for you.”
She stiffened and straightened, her chest rising and falling more rapidly as she stared at him. “Came for me?”
Kin reached for her cuffs and she darted back and tucked her hands against her chest as her eyes widened and she swallowed hard.
“You’re the one who howled.” She blinked at him and the sight of her afraid of him tore at his soul, had him aching with a need to comfort and calm her, and show her that he wasn’t a danger to her. Not like she was thinking. “What do you want with me?”
He lined up some bullshit about seeing her in trouble and playing the white knight, it being just something he was prone to do.
And then blurted, “You’re my fated female.”
