by Shea Balik
Everything was so much brighter. No. Not brighter, but more… vibrant, he guessed would be the right word. The grass, while green like the human world, was so much more vivid that he could swear he could distinguish each shade within a blade of grass.
And the sky… it was so… blue. Not the sky blue he was used to seeing, but an electric blue that he would swear was pulsing with energy.
Needing to feel safe in a world that had him on edge, Wylie stepped back against Fritjof, letting the man’s warmth settle his nerves. So engrossed in this strange new land, Wylie hadn’t noticed the others came across with him and Fritjof.
A whistle startled him. “Damn,” Arne said. “You weren’t kidding about this place being strange.”
Fen glared at Arne. “I believe I said it was unlike anything you’ve ever experienced, not strange.”
Arne waved him off as he glanced around. “Close enough.”
“Come on,” Fritjof said with his hand on Wylie’s back. “I can feel Tess.”
“What direction?” Fen asked.
Fritjof, Eirik, Bjorn, and Arne, all pointed to the left of where they were. Fen’s eyes flared wide for a moment but he nodded and headed the way they pointed.
“What has you spooked, Fen?” Wylie might have ignored the Fae’s response any other time, but it was better to be prepared, especially since none of them knew the first thing about the Fae realm.
But Fen shook his head. “Nothing. I just know a lot of Seelie that live this way.”
Wylie wasn’t buying it, but he also sensed he wasn’t going to get more information from Fen about it. Instead, he switched tactics. “What do we need to know about the Fae realm that’s different than our own?”
“And he isn’t talking about the weird colors,” Kegan piped in. “Although, they are stunning.”
“Don’t look at them too much,” Fen warned.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Arne demanded. “What happens if we do?”
For several long minutes Fen didn’t answer. Wylie wasn’t sure if he was deciding if he should, or if he was trying to figure out how to explain things. He assumed it was the later since Fen eventually spoke.
“Everything about the Fae realm is meant to entice, to please. Not just for the pleasure of the Fae, but for anyone bold enough to try and enter our world.” A chill went down Wylie’s spine at Fen’s words, only stopping when it reached the spot where Fritjof still had his hand. “Just as a Fae can enthrall a human, our world can do the same, not giving anyone who enters a way out, for they will never want to leave.”
“And you didn’t think this was something we should know before stepping through that Veil?” Eirik asked with a growl in his voice.
“Would it have mattered?” Fen asked. He had a point.
There was nothing that was going to stop Wylie from coming here to save Tess.
There was a long drawn out sigh from Fen before he said, “I get that we’ve had our share of trust issues, but I’m telling you, you’re going to need to trust me if you hope to make it out without becoming ensnared in our world.”
Then he spun and faced them all. “You are all bound to each other. A gift, given to you not only by Aed, but by Odin himself. The Fae, as much as they pretend to be, aren’t gods. Not even close. Trust in the love you have for each other and you will make it out of here.” His gaze fell on Wylie and Fritjof. “If you don’t, I make no guarantees.”
Great. They were well and truly fucked.
CHAPTER 19
Fear gripped Fritjof as they made their way through the streets of the Fae realm. Fritjof’s words rang through his head with every step they took. He never should have claimed Wylie. What had he been thinking to bring him into this world?
On alert, he took in everything as they walked. In a way, it reminded him of the village where he’d grown up. All the houses were simple, yet grand at the same time. It was like that everywhere he looked. So much seemed just like the human world, yet completely opposite at the same time.
Even though the homes were only one story, they practically glowed under the rays of the sun. Flowers were more vibrant as their enticing scent drifted along the breeze, doing their best to draw them in.
None of them took a step closer, but he could tell by the way everyone’s posture was stiff as they forced themselves to stay on track that they wanted to go smell their fragrance. Hell, Fritjof was tempted to roll around in them so he could drown in their sweetness.
Just to get their tantalizing aroma from further invading his body, Fritjof leaned closer to Wylie, inhaling his own alluring scent. One second he’d been seriously thinking about falling into the seducing effect of the flowers and in the next their fragrance paled in comparison to Wylie’s fresh, clean one.
He’d nearly had to hold his nose against the obnoxious fumes the floral bouquets were giving off. Several of the others were wrinkling their noses as they realized the same thing. Wylie, who had tilted his head back when Fritjof had leaned in, started to gag.
“Does anyone else smell rotting garbage?” Wylie moaned as he turned his face to breathe in closer to Fritjof’s body, instantly settling.
“As I told you,” Fen said smugly. “So long as you have each other and trust in the love you have, nothing can come between you. Not even the Fae.”
Wylie stopped in his tracks, causing Fritjof to grunt as he bumped into him. “Wait,” Wylie called out to the others. “I need to talk to Fritjof for a moment.” Then he took Fritjof’s hand and led him a few feet away from the others.
“I’m sorry I acted like that when you claimed me,” Wylie blurted out in a rush as if he were trying to make sure Fritjof wouldn’t interrupt. “I was just hurt that you had tricked me and instead of dealing with it and asking you why you hadn’t told me the truth, I lashed out and said…” a sob broke from Wylie, stopping his rushed speech.
“It’s fine,” Fritjof said even though that was the furthest thing from the truth.
“No,” Wylie cried out. “It’s not. I was an ass and I’m so damn sorry, Fritjof. I swear to you, I’ve wanted you to claim me for a while now, but I just was too fucking scared to admit my feelings.”
Doubts plagued Fritjof as he stared into the beautiful blue eyes filled with so much guilt and regret it had Fritjof wanting to do whatever it took to make it go away. But he wasn’t sure if any of it was real.
He understood the ramifications of what Fen told them. They needed to love each other if they had any hope of the Fae not fucking with them. Otherwise, they might just get stuck in this world. What he didn’t know, was whether Wylie’s sudden confession was because of his fear of being stuck here, or if it was real.
“I know I can never make up for…” Wylie swallowed audibly. His body shook as he reached up a hand to cup Fritjof’s cheek. “I’ve never been good with honest feelings. It was always so much easier to live behind a façade. That anger I was holding kept me from having to admit I’d fallen in love with you.”
Fritjof closed his eyes, unable to look at the man he loved more than anything, lying to him. “Don’t,” Fritjof told him as he captured Wylie’s hand and pulled it from his face, unable to handle his touch at the moment. “Please, don’t lie to me. I can’t take it right now.”
“I swear I’m not lying to you, Fritjof.” A soft sob reached Fritjof’s ears, causing him to open his eyes to stare into watery blue ones. “If it takes me forever, I will prove that to you. I may not be able to make up for what I let happen when you claimed me, but I will find a way to show you how much I love you.”
“They sense us,” Fen warned. “We need to go before someone finds us.”
But Wylie pressed a hand against Fritjof’s chest, stopping him from walking away. “I do love you, Fritjof. Whether you believe it or not.”
Then Wylie took his hand and pulled him after the others. After several minutes, Fritjof had expected Wylie to release him, but not only didn’t he do that, but he’d linked their fingers together
.
That stupid hope Fritjof had extinguished when he’d agreed to claim Wylie even though he damn well knew it hadn’t been what Wylie wanted, ignited once more. The flame was weak, but it was there just the same. Silently cursing his weakness, Fritjof prayed he would find a way to put it out once more.
Hope was pointless.
But before he could give it up completely, he needed to find and save Tess.
Rushing through the streets, he led the way to a section of homes unlike the ones they’d just passed. These were bigger. Not only two or three stories, but they dwarfed the others with their sheer size.
He’d never really understood what caused him and his friends to be able to sense a druid if they were close. Oh, he got that it was another of Aed’s spells, but he hadn’t been able to pinpoint what actually led him to where they were located, no matter how well hidden they might have been.
“Please, don’t let it be,” Fen mumbled behind him, making Fritjof believe Fen knew who Tess’s father was. By the way his voice sounded, it wouldn’t be a good thing.
Then Fritjof and the others stopped before a three story home that stood behind gleaming, golden gates.
“I should have known you’d help these worthless humans, brother,” the Fae who had taken Tess said, when he suddenly appeared on the other side of the gates.
“Omri.” There was dread in Fen’s voice as he stared at the man who was his brother. The same man who’d enthralled Aed’s daughter, Ceit, and gotten her pregnant.
“Please tell that’s not…” he started but didn’t bother finishing when Wylie stormed over to the gate and tried to grab the Fae through the bars.
“You son of bitch,” Wylie screamed. “Because of you Mairi died. I’ll be damned if I’ll let you keep Tess.”
Fuck. How had Omri managed to get through the Veil six years ago without anyone, especially Fen, knowing?
But that question and about a million others would have to wait, as Omni wrapped his hand around Wylie’s throat and lifted him into the air like he was nothing. An evil grin spread across his face as he stared up at Wylie. “Then I guess, you’ll be damned.” Glee practically cackled from his voice as he closed his fingers tighter around Wylie’s throat.
Not about to let the man he loved be hurt by anyone, but especially not a fucking Fae, Fritjof pulled out his sword and jammed in through the bars of the gates. But he had learned his lesson from the previous fight. For, along with the sword, he held a knife in his other hand, striking out at the Fae as he easily deflected the blade of the sword.
Not seeing the knife until it had slid across his throat, Omri stumbled back in shock, dropping Wylie in the process. Fritjof easily caught his slight weight as he prepared for Omri’s next move. For his slit throat might have stunned him, it was already healed without a drop of blood to show off Fritjof’s efforts.
A spark of electricity fired along Omri’s fingertips, giving Fritjof only a second to shield Wylie as the energy shot out and hit him in the side. Immortal or not, that shit hurt.
But another flash followed the first, this one stronger. He had to cover his eyes at the blinding force of it. When he looked back it was to find a scorch mark along Omri’s side, the sidewalk below him black.
Fritjof glanced over at a very smug Kegan. “Bitch, keep it up and I’ll be happy to continue frying your ass.”
There was surprise in Omri’s eyes as he stared back at Kegan, clearly debating if he should put him in his place for daring to attack a Fae.
“Omri, stop,” Fen barked out. “Give them back the girl,” he demanded but that only made Omri laugh.
“Oh brother, you kill me,” Omri said laughing harder. “You think I don’t know about Ceit? About the child you stole from me to give to your pathetic lover?”
Fen bowed his head. “You know the child couldn’t stay here, Omri.” Sadly, Fen looked back at his brother. “Just as you know, Tess can’t stay here. You were wrong to get another human pregnant.”
Omri glared at Fen. “Don’t you begin to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do,” Omri warned him. “Just for bringing these humans,” he spat out as if that were a dirty word, “here, you’ll be executed for treason.”
Fen nodded. “Maybe. But it was the right thing to do. You have to give Tess back. It’s the only way.”
“No,” Omri spat out. “I don’t.”
“Please don’t make me fight you,” Fen said. “For once in your life, Omri, do the right thing,” Fen pleaded.
But Omri wasn’t listening. Instead he opened up the gate and attacked his own brother.
Wylie turned to Fritjof and whispered, “Find her. We’ll do our best to protect Fen and keep Omri busy. But you have to save Tess.”
Fritjof nodded and signaled his brethren. Racing in through the open gates they approached the house. But they didn’t have to go all that far, for there on the front steps by the door, was Tess, just standing there as if she had been waiting for him all this time.
“We have to go,” she whispered. “The others are coming.”
Fearing that they wouldn’t be able to keep her safe if more Fae showed up, he scooped her up and raced back toward the gates. He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it for himself, but there was Omri, encased in ice, with electricity coursing through a small hole that led right to his body, while he was floated about thirty feet off the ground.
“Tess said more are coming,” Fritjof told Wylie. “We have to get out of here.”
But Fen held out a hand to stop them as he slumped up against the edge of the column that held the gate. “You can’t go back, I had to close the opening so no one would get through.”
Then he began to chant. Words Fritjof had never heard before swirled around him. Up became down, and back became front, as a vortex of wind turned his world into chaos.
“Fritjof,” Wylie’s voice cried out.
He knew the man he loved had only been about two feet from him, but he no longer knew what direction to reach out for. The words grew in volume as his brain became scrambled as he tried to find Wylie.
“Trust in love,” Tess whispered in his ear as he held her tightly to his body.
Praying she was right, Fritjof closed his eyes and waited. He let the memories of Wylie’s smile and laughter break through the chaos all around him. But it was his words, spoken a short time ago that made the world stop. “I love you, Fritjof.”
He opened his eyes to find Wylie standing there before him. His hand held out for Fritjof to grab. But it was more than the words that had Fritjof believing them. It was the love that shone from those blue eyes and the smile, that for once, was genuine as he repeated the same words from before, “I love you, Fritjof.”
This time, strange as it was, he truly believed what Wylie said. He still might be proven wrong, but he took that hand Wylie offered and pulled him in against him. He held tightly to Wylie and Tess even as he heard cries for punishment and death.
A scream rang out that he swore belonged to Fen. But he couldn’t make out the words, if there had even been any. Suddenly, all the noise went silent, and they all stood on a sandy dune in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere.
“Um, anyone know where the hell we are?” Arne said as he held Dermot tight.
No one did, well, exactly. The only thing they were sure of, was they were back in the human world.
CHAPTER 20
“And I used to complain about living in the jungle,” Wylie muttered as he came back downstairs after his third shower in the past twelve hours. “I swear, I’m still pulling sand out of places I didn’t even know it could get to.”
It had taken them five damned days to get out of that desert and back home. That whole time, every inch of Wylie’s body itched and chafed from that fucking sand rubbing against him. Who would have thought something so small could be so damn irritating?
Even now, as he sat in the living room, with its new windows, Wylie could swear even though he’d changed clothes, yet
again, there was still sand rubbing along the crack of his ass. And he wasn’t even willing to think about why his balls itched. Of course, part of that could be because they were red and swollen from so much sand scraping them raw as they traveled home.
“Tell me about it,” Kegan grumbled as he settled on Bjorn’s lap. “I even took a bath, with a loofah to places I never wanted it touching, yet, I swear there’s still sand stuck to my dick.”
The only ones that weren’t complaining were Fritjof, Eirik, Bjorn, and Arne. “I don’t get it,” Wylie said to Fritjof, who still seemed to be keeping some distance between them. It wasn’t obvious, as he had his arm over the back of the couch where Wylie was, but the fact that his hand was on the furniture, instead of him, spoke volumes. “How are you not uncomfortable?”
Fritjof shrugged. “We grew up in a time when we bathed infrequently. Dirt and mud pretty much caked our bodies most of the time. It’s not that big a deal.”
Ryley, Dermot, and Kegan joined Wylie in scowling at their lovers for being able to ignore it.
“What about Fen?” Oluf asked as he placed several platters of food on the coffee table for them to pick at as they discussed their plans.
There was less than a week left until the next ritual date, Lughnasadh, which was on August first. They hadn’t had any more encounters with the Fae, and Wylie was betting on them being too preoccupied by their own problems to try and get through to the human world again any sooner.
“Who cares what happened to Fen?” Arne laughed.
Oluf spun around and pointed a finger at Arne. “In case you forgot, it’s Fen who has told us where to find the druids that need our help.” Then he pointed at Arne’s lover, Dermot. “Including him. Which, in case you’ve missed it, we’ve still two more to find.”
“Mingus and Logan,” Ryley said.
“It’s Mingus’ birthday on Lughnasadh,” Teagan said.
Cullen reached out to pick up a plate and filled it with fruit and cheese. “We tried to find him, but his family moved shortly after that last summer we all spent together.”
