Mending the Rift

by Shea Balik

  Of course, he had no clue what they would do when they got her there, but all he could do was concentrate on one thing at a time. Right now, the act of driving was taking all his attention as he tried not to freak out about what trouble they’d find Kyleigh in when they got there.

  “Hey,” Logan’s soft voice helped to soothe something inside of Brandr. But it was when he reached over the center console and placed his hand on Brandr’s thigh that a warmth swept through him easing the tension from his body.

  It was weird considering everything happening, but Brandr found his lips curving upward into a smile. Nothing too big, but just the fact that Logan was there with him, offering him comfort made him happier than he could have ever imagined.

  “You going to be okay?” Logan asked. “Never mind.” Logan scowled as if not liking what he’d said. “Dumb question. I guess what I was trying to say is, I’m here with you, no matter what.”

  Brandr placed his own hand over Logan’s and lifted it to his lips. He placed a kiss along his knuckles and said, “Thank you.”

  The smile he got in return was worth all the hell Brandr had been through in his too long life. “You’re welcome.”

  Then they saw the welcome sign for the park and that pit of dread Logan had managed to banish with his touch started to form again. There was no doubt that Brandr prayed they found Kyleigh, but he wasn’t sure he was ready for the possibility of seeing her mangled body if she’d already jumped as Logan feared she would.

  After paying admission into the park, Logan read the map they’d been given. “There are a couple of options she could use,” Logan told him. “I think it’s this last one, but I’m not sure.”

  Brandr was willing to go with Logan’s gut as they made their way to the back of the park. He tried not to speed much, for they didn’t have time to be pulled over by park rangers, but he also was willing to push the boundaries of the speed limit a bit to get there.

  “Stop,” Logan called out as he rolled down his window. Before Brandr could pull of the road, Logan was sticking his head out of the car and turning it to look up at high rock formation that started a few feet from the where they were.

  “There.” Logan pointed up, but Brandr couldn’t see anything.

  Thankfully, Brandr had just managed to bring the SUV to a stop, because Logan opened the door, not seeming to care if the vehicle was moving or not.

  Not wasting any time, Brandr climbed out of the car, raced around to the back and pulled out his med kit, as well as a backpack with some basic climbing gear, both of which he always had loaded in the car, just in case. Good thing too, for when he looked at where Logan had pointed, he could see a figure hugging the side of the rocky surface at least three or four stories up the side.

  Without saying a word, Logan raced around the large mountainous area with Brandr close on his heels. He wasn’t sure how Logan knew where to go, but he trusted him to lead the way.

  A path emerged along the craggy rocks. It wasn’t exactly a true path, but it did allow them to walk instead of having to try and rock climb up the side. The further up they went, the more sure Logan’s steps were as he made his way to where the figure they saw was still hanging on to the side and looking down.

  Just as he heard shouts from below them, Logan and Brandr reached the end of the ‘path’ and had to work their way another twenty feet to where Kyleigh had obviously tried to continue, before finding herself unable to keep going. It was precarious, to say the least.

  One misstep and any of them could go tumbling down to the road below, most likely breaking every bone in their bodies as they crashed against the side of the sharp rocky surface that rose up from the ground. Sweat broke out over Brandr’s entire body as he watched Logan continue to move too fast on such an unsteady surface.

  It would be bad enough if Kyleigh fell, or possibly jumped, but Brandr didn’t think he’d survive if he lost the man he’d fallen in love with in such a short time. Logan had shown Brandr a side of himself that he was sure Logan didn’t allow many to see.

  He was funny, sweet, loving, and had a sense of duty that not many twenty-one-year-olds could claim to have. He felt responsible for everyone in that little group of druids he’d found after his family died. Every single day, Logan made a point of checking on each person to ensure they were doing all right.

  It would have been impossible not to fall in love with Logan, and Brandr would be damned if he was going to lose him because of one little misstep.

  “Logan, wait,” he called out, but in true Logan fashion, he didn’t listen.

  Brandr had been shocked when Logan said that he was tired of Brandr always telling him what to do. More surprising was Logan thinking he did whatever it was Brandr said. Nothing could be further from the truth.

  When he was exhausted, that tended to be the case, but otherwise, Logan was one of the most stubborn and pigheaded men Brandr had ever met. Now was an excellent example. Risking his life for someone he didn’t even know and nearly causing Brandr a heart attack in the process, was something only Logan would dare to do.

  In hopes of being able to stop the unthinkable from happening, Brandr stayed right on Logan’s heels. If the man refused to turn back, then Brandr would be there to catch him if he slipped. Now that he had found his fated one, Brandr would be damned if he lost him.

  CHAPTER 12

  It wasn’t until he was standing there, next to Kyleigh, that Logan even considered the precarious position they were all in. It would take hardly any movement at all on his part to go flying down the side of this… well, mountain seemed a bit extreme. On the other hand, from this vantage point, it felt like he was standing on the top of Everest.

  Shaking off the sudden vertigo he was experiencing while looking down, Logan faced the woman who had him on this mountain of death in the first place. “Kyleigh.” He did his best to keep his voice as soft and non-threatening as possible, since her wide, fear-filled eyes were showing signs of serious panic.

  Although, he had to admit, it was the slight glassy-eyed sheen across them that had him the most worried. Brandr had told him all he knew about what happened when a person was under a prolonged enthrallment and it wasn’t good.

  Even when no longer under the Fae’s spell, the person would become obsessed with the Fae responsible. Eventually, if someone like Kyleigh couldn’t get to the Fae, or Omri in this case, she would end up killing herself in despair.

  Hence why they were hanging on the edge of a fucking rocky wall, while the people who were pointing at them from down below looked more like tiny ants. Was that an exaggeration? Not in Logan’s book. Sure, they weren’t that small, but they might as well have been, since he couldn’t make out anyone’s face.

  Although that might have been in part because every time Logan did glance downward, the world spun around, making it impossible to focus on anything. Did he mention he hated heights? Of course, he really hadn’t known until he’d gotten up there, but still, he despised this feeling of being at the mercy of a slippery rock. Even a stiff wind could cause him to lose his balance and fall to his, what looked like would be a very painful, death.

  “Kyleigh,” he said again, this time a little louder but still doing his best not to startle her.

  He was close enough to put a hand on her, even grab her if he needed to, but he decided it was better not to touch her at the moment. Her eyes darted to him for just an instant before looking back down at the ground.

  “Why don’t you come with me and Brandr? We can take you home.” He knew it for the mistake it was the moment it was out of his mouth.

  Her head whipped back to glare at him. “Home?” she shouted. “What home?” Then her gaze went to Brandr. It was a good thing looks couldn’t kill, for Brandr would definitely be dead. “They never wanted me there,” she threw out like a weapon. “Never cared that they were sending me to…”

  A sob broke from deep within her, causing her to bend at the waist with the force of it. Her body swayed as her weig
ht shifted forward. An instant before his own hands wrapped around her body, Logan felt Brandr grab him. Brandr’s strength was the only thing holding both Logan and Kyleigh from tumbling off the rocky cliff.

  Too distraught to fight him off, Kyleigh continued to cry her heart out as Brandr pulled them both back onto more stable ground. Once he had his footing, the two of them slowly moved her to the more solid path they had used to climb up there.

  But her sobbing compliance didn’t extend beyond that point. It was like Kyleigh suddenly realized what he and Brandr were doing; more importantly, what they were stopping her from doing.

  “No,” she screamed. “Let me go. No one wants me and you know it. Just let me do this so I don’t have to suffer any longer.”

  Thank God Brandr was there because Logan had been too surprised by her vehemence to have stopped her from getting free as she scratched and kicked them both. But Brandr, born and bred to be the Viking he was, tossed her over his shoulder and strode back down that barely there path, not caring a bit that she was punching and kicking him as she tried to break out of his hold.

  Logan watched in stunned silence for several long moments before rushing to catch up. By the time they’d made it all the way down, Kyleigh’s voice was hoarse from screaming at the top of her lungs.

  The people who had been watching the whole thing unfold either clapped that Kyleigh had been saved, or backed away, not wanting to be a part of whatever was happening. Of course, there were also a couple of people catching everything on their phones, which Logan was sure would be posted the moment they left.

  But neither he, nor Brandr, paid any of them any mind as they went to the SUV. Brandr tossed him the keys. “You’re going to need to drive.”

  He’d half expected Brandr to just throw Kyleigh into the backseat, but apparently he’d already realized if he did that, it would give Kyleigh time to open the other door and make an escape. Not that they wouldn’t have caught her, but still, the sooner they got on the road, the better off they would all be.

  Especially Kyleigh.

  Instead, Brandr took her off his shoulder, held her hands in one of his and pushed her inside the back while sliding in right next to her. Logan was impressed with how smoothly Brandr had made that transition.

  Quickly, he got into the driver’s seat and took off. It wasn’t until they’d left the park, and any possible cameras still filming them behind, that Brandr reached down below the back seat and pulled out chains.

  “What the hell are those?” Logan asked, unsure what to think of Brandr having chains that, when he glanced over his shoulder, Logan could see they were bolted to the floor and had handcuffs and ankle cuffs attached to them. “How often do you handcuff people in here?”

  Brandr gave him a look that had Logan feeling a little bit ashamed for even asking the question. He knew Brandr wouldn’t chain people up but still, there were chains, bolted to the floor. What was he supposed to think?

  “There have been times when something like this has been necessary,” Brandr admitted. “It isn’t often, but after the first time someone tried to jump from a moving vehicle, Eirik insisted we all have this set up in every vehicle.”

  Yeah, like that was perfectly normal. Logan was beginning to wonder if the views other druids had about the Vikings were more accurate than he’d believed. Cursed didn’t necessary mean crazy, but he was starting to see why his people stayed as far away from Brandr and the others as possible.

  “Where is she?” The panic and relief in Cullen’s voice was evident as he raced into the house with Ulf right behind him.

  “Down here,” Brandr called from the basement where he had Kyleigh chained up.

  There was no way Cullen or Ulf was going to be okay with the fact that Brandr had been forced to keep Kyleigh in handcuffs to stop her from trying to kill herself. When he and Brandr had first arrived back at the house with her, it had been decided to leave the restraints off her.

  She had hardly gotten into the house before heading straight to the kitchen to grab a knife with the intention of cutting her wrists. Logan had been horrified when Brandr had pinned her to the wall as she fought him with far more force than someone of her size should have.

  It was as if she were possessed. In a way, as Logan was discovering, she was. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to end her life, even going so far as to beg Bryce, Tess and Gillie, who were six, five, and three, to help her.

  Bryce and Gillie had been in tears as they begged her to stop. Tess, on the other hand, had only stared sadly at her before walking away. But Tess wasn’t exactly human. She was also half Fae, giving her an almost eerie, adult-like quality to her demeanor at times.

  “Do you think Cullen can help her?” Nessa asked as she came into the kitchen where Logan had been sitting, praying for a solution.

  Nessa was Cullen’s twelve-year-old sister, as well as Kyleigh’s cousin. Next to her stood her nephew, Bryce, as well as Meghan, who was Ryley’s eighteen-year-old sister. Gillie, Dermot’s four-year-old nephew, Tyree, Leith, Maisie, and Tess were just behind them, completing the group of concerned kids.

  They all looked so damn solemn for being so young. It broke Logan’s heart to see them like this when they should be outside playing or watching cartoons. But too often, all of them had to deal with grown-up issues, like fighting the Fae. But this? Watching someone actively try to kill herself? Hell, no one should have to see that, much less when they were that age.

  “I don’t know,” Logan said, he just didn’t have it in him to lie. Plus, he’d learned during that past year, it didn’t help to sugar-coat anything. For no matter how many times he tried to reassure the kids all would be okay, it never was.

  A muted female scream said all Logan hadn’t been sure to convey. Kyleigh wasn’t doing well.

  “Does she need a hug?” Gillie asked, his voice sounding as if he were about to cry.

  “I’m not sure if that would help her right now, Gillie.” God, how he hated having to say that. “But I could.”

  The little boy ran as fast as his little legs would carry him across the kitchen and around the table to where Logan had pushed his chair out from the table and held his arms out for the sweet boy. Tiny arms were thrown around his neck as Gillie held onto him tightly.

  “Thank you, Gillie,” Logan whispered. “I really needed this,” he said as he hugged the boy back just as hard.

  He hadn’t even realized he’d shut his eyes until he opened them to find Tess’s eerie violet ones with their pink and blue specks staring at him from across the table. There was so much knowledge in their depths that it kind of freaked Logan out to look back at her, but turning away seemed impossible.

  It was as if he couldn’t move, which wasn’t helping the feeling of unease within him. Yet, when Gillie pulled from his embrace, Logan was able to let him go and even shift his gaze away from Tess.

  He had no idea why, but doing so had the nerves within him increasing. It was as if he had something to learn from her and if he wasn’t looking at her, he might miss it.

  Sure enough, when he turned back to Tess, she said, “Go to Ky. You’re the one she needs now.”

  That made no sense. Like, at all. So, why was he getting up from the table and heading for the basement? Logan wasn’t sure he would ever get used to being around Tess. She was five. No one that age should be so damn… creepy.

  The thing was, as unnerving as she could be, Logan also knew she was right. If only he knew why, maybe he wouldn’t feel as if every hair on his body were standing on end.

  CHAPTER 13

  Being there to witness Cullen plead with his cousin to find the strength to break the spell Omri had over her was both heartbreaking and rage inducing. Tears were freely flowing down his cheeks as Kyleigh continued to beg to be set free of the pain that was residing in her soul.

  That the Fae, Omri specifically, had done this, made Brandr want to tear the man from limb from limb. Hell, if he thought the Fae had a heart, he’d rip it from
his chest and feed it to him, just so he might understand the pain he caused others.

  “Please, Cullen,” Kyleigh whined pitifully. Her voice was more of a croak than anything else, as she had screamed for so long that her throat had be a raw mess. “Let me die, please.”

  Ulf’s arms were around the man he loved, offering as much support as possible during a time like this. “We can’t, Ky,” Ulf told her. “We love you too much to let you hurt yourself.”

  Kyleigh curled in on herself, her sobs shaking her frail, thin body. Those damn chains Brandr had been forced to put on her rattled with each movement. He’d used the ones generally meant to cuff the ankles on her so she wouldn’t have to stand, yet also not give her enough chain to hang herself.

  The fact that he’d had to think of those things disgusted Brandr. If only Omri were there for Brandr to take his anger out on. But who was he kidding? Omri could wipe the floor with all of them without even trying. He was part of the Seelie Court. Other than the King and Queen, no one was stronger.

  Steps sounding on the staircase had him glancing up. His heart skipped a beat upon seeing Logan. Damn, but it did his soul good to have Logan in his life. Without thought, he walked over to the bottom of the stairs and pulled him in for a hug.

  It wasn’t until Logan was pressed against his body that Brandr noticed something was off. Logan’s body was shaking and when he pulled back to look at him, Brandr could see just how pale Logan’s face was.

  Reaching up to cup that face he could stare at all day, Brandr asked, “What’s wrong, my fated one?”

  Those pretty azure eyes closed as Logan whispered, “Tess told me I could help Kyleigh.”

  Brandr found himself closing his eyes in despair. For there was only one way Logan would be able to help and Brandr wasn’t sure he was okay with that. “We still might be able to get through to her,” he whispered against Logan’s ear as he pulled him close once more.