by A. C. James
-Maelíosa!-
Now he couldn’t sense his sister at all. His gut told him something had happened that was keeping her from answering his call. He tried one more time to reach out to her. -Maelíosa, damn you, answer if you can hear me.- Again, silence.
He’d never been so afraid of losing her. She was his twin. They’d tormented one another even while their mother carried them. It was a wonder their mother hadn’t died with them, but with their younger sister Darcy. Carrying twins was rare and risky, not unlike a mare breeding two foals in the human world. His connection to Maelíosa was almost as strong as the mate bond. The sense of nothingness when he tried to touch her with his mind made him fear the worst had already happened.
He’d tried to reach out to Felicity. She was his true mate and he could sense her, but they’d not yet been linked through the sacred ceremony, and even if they had, he’d only be able to communicate to her and sense her emotions, location, or scent at best. It wasn’t as if she’d develop telepathic abilities. Although, little was known about the true mate bond, which transcended ordinary mating. Only a few mates throughout their history had been destined for one another. He’d scarcely believed the phenomenon was even real until he’d experienced it with Felicity.
When he reached Dún Eochla, the ring fort was deserted. The cool wind carried the faint smell of blood, and a chill ran down his stallion’s spine. His heart hammered in his chest as his stallion tried to scent whose blood it was. If anyone had hurt Felicity or his sister, there would be hell to pay.
He followed the trail across the hard limestone ground to a stone smeared with Felicity’s blood. Niall swallowed the lump in his throat and picked up the rock. At least his sister was a púca and she’d have a fighting chance at surviving an attack. Felicity was fragile, human, and he needed to find her. But Maelíosa’s blood had been spilled, too. There was a darkened patch on the ground fifteen paces from where he’d picked up the rock.
Footsteps closed in behind him. Niall turned to find Tomas, who’d finally caught up with him.
Tomas eyed the stone in Niall’s hand. “Is that your sister’s blood?”
“No, it’s Felicity’s,” he said, tossing the rock to his best mate.
He caught it, and Niall watched as Tomas inhaled the scent of Felicity’s blood so his stallion could remember it.
“Shall I look for her?” Tomas asked.
“No, I need you to return to the Realm immediately. Send for Finn and Kieran. We could really use their help. I think something’s happened to Maelíosa. She won’t answer when I reach out to her.”
Finn and Kieran were the clan’s strongest warriors. He’d grown up with the lads, and he’d been tossed to the ground in stick-fighting battles by both of them more times than he could count. He trusted them like he did Tomas, and if he had to go into a fight with someone at his back, he’d stake his life on their strength. Niall wasn’t sure where Felicity or his sister had been taken, but he knew he’d need backup, given the clear indications of a struggle in the fort. The fresh scent of blood meant they couldn’t have been gone for very long. He had to follow the trail while Tomas went for help.
Tomas nodded. “Aye, and what do you intend to do?”
“Find Felicity and whoever hurt her, then break every bone in the bastard’s body—whoever did this is going to answer to me.”
His stallion whinnied and tossed his head in agreement.
Tomas eyed the rock and then shot him a knowing look. “You shouldn’t go alone.”
“That’s why I’m sending you for reinforcements.”
“And you should wait for them, too. Ye know yer father will be having me neck if something happens to you. In his eyes it’ll be all my fault, and then my wife, Mara, will be without a mate.”
“My mate is in trouble. You go fetch Finn and Kieran. I have no time to waste.”
Tomas looked like he was struggling with whether to obey Niall’s command. His best mate’s sentiment was appreciated, but Niall didn’t have time for disobedience. And if he was to take his father’s place as chieftain someday, he’d better be able to command the clan, even if it meant disagreeing with a lifelong friend.
“Aye, can I count on you, or will you disobey my direct order?”
Tomas straightened when Niall pulled rank. Niall was still the chieftain’s son, friendship or not. “No, you have my word. I’ll find Finn and Kieran, and one way or another we’ll finish this, mate.”
Niall clasped his hand. “Aye, we’ll find them. And then we’ll return to the Realm.”
“And to life as it should be,” Tomas said, his voice hard.
Their eyes met in solemn agreement. Niall knew exactly what he meant. The human world had always fascinated Tomas, but there was safety in numbers. They were supposed to be with their clan. The fast pace of this world, and their earthly troubles, were so different from his community. His sister and true mate were in danger, and he wanted desperately to whisk Felicity away to a place where they could grow old together.
-Let me know the minute you cross the veil to bring back Finn and Kieran,- Niall thought to his friend, then added aloud, “Tabhair aire.”
“Aye, and you as well,” Tomas said with a nod, and then left Niall to his task.
His stallion urged him to follow the scent before the trail grew cold. He prayed he’d find Felicity and his sister before it was too late.
Chapter 3
How the bloody hell was she supposed to get out of this damn duct tape? It would have been ideal if she’d have been awake while they were taping her up. She wasn’t a Houdini or anything, and she’d never been tied up like this in her life. In her fantasies, with silk scarves, yes—in real life, being kidnapped? Not so much. Certainly William had never been so adventurous in bed. No blindfolds, sexy neck ties binding her wrists, or anything like that.
Despite the situation, she wondered how enterprising Niall was in the bedroom. He was better than good, she’d give him that. She’d experienced his skilled seduction on two occasions, and he hadn’t disappointed. It was a crazy thing to think of at a time like this, but random wistful thoughts were bound to pop up, given her circumstances and the reality that they might never see each other again.
Perhaps if she’d been in a relationship that allowed her to express or explore her fantasies about being trussed up, she’d have a bit of experience to help her with her current predicament.
No such luck.
Maelíosa really wouldn’t be much help. Felicity’s whispers went unheard as Maelíosa snored softly on the floor across from her. Their captors drugging her with horse tranquilizer had apparently done the trick.
If she could’ve held her hands and ankles slightly apart, it would have given her a bit of wiggle room. As it was, she had to depend on how much she could manoeuvre in her current position.
Felicity peered through the doorway. The door was still ajar, and she could see into the kitchen, where Dillon had been drinking since Caitlyn had left. He got up once or twice to take a piss, but he returned just as she’d managed to wriggle some working space in the tape binding her wrists. Her skin felt raw from moving the tape back and forth, but she had a gut instinct that the soreness edging her wrists would be nothing compared to what would happen when Caitlyn returned or Archer got there. She sighed. Now that she thought back, she remembered they’d said they were going to kill her. That’s definitely worse than duct tape chafing. All the more motivation to get them out of this mess.
She’d been watching Dillon down whiskey for the past hour, and her heart started pounding when he pillowed his head in his arms on the table. She waited until his breathing was heavy and even before trying anything potentially stupid. Felicity never imagined he’d drink so much that he’d fall asleep on his watch. She was rarely that lucky. She wouldn’t question her good fortune and lose the opportunity that lay before her, though. The only thing that would make this easier was if Maelíosa would wake the fuck up.
“Maelíosa,” s
he hissed.
Her soft, steady snore was the only response. If Felicity had been close enough to kick her, she would have. Regardless of the fact that this woman might very well be her sister–in-law someday—if they ever made it out of this alive—she’d kick her as hard as she could and risk offending her if it’d wake her. Unfortunately, Maelíosa was too far away for Felicity to reach. She tried to get closer by scooting across the floor on her ass, but the tape at her ankles made a loud scraping sound against the tile. Dillon stirred in the other room.
Crap. No. No. No. Crap.
Please don’t wake up. Felicity stopped wriggling, and decided that her movements would be stealthier if she could get out of the tape. She waited for the deep, heavy sound of Dillon’s sleep breathing to return before starting to work her way through it again.
The duct tape was a pain, but she managed to worm her way into the front pocket of her jeans, where she’d tucked her room key. Thank God Pier House hadn’t replaced their old-fashioned keys with those chintzy plastic cards you swipe instead. One of those really wouldn’t do her a lick of good right now.
It took her a good ten minutes of writhing and squirming to get the key out of her jeans. Her next move was to get her shoes off. She wasn’t sure if she’d have enough time to get them back on, but she was sure it’d be a lot easier to get out of the tape binding her ankles if she was just wearing socks. Again, she was no expert in these things, but tearing the tape around her wrists with the key hadn’t been as easy as she thought it’d be.
Felicity would try anything that’d get them the hell out of here, and if they ever did, she was sure of one thing… she would be Niall’s mate. She’d fallen in love with him. Regardless of her past, he was her destiny. A thing like this had a way of putting life into perspective. Whether he was a human or a púca didn’t matter, as long as they could be together.
“Maelíosa, for fuck’s sake, would you wake up?!”
“ZzzZZZ…”
Felicity sighed. She supposed horse tranquilizer was stronger than whiskey. Her movements had stirred Dillon, yet Maelíosa hadn’t budged. It could bloody well be the apocalypse and she’d probably still be snoring away. She continued to work through the tape around her ankles with the key. It felt like it took longer than ten minutes this time, but she’d stopped watching the clock on the stove in the other room. Her eyes were fixed on Dillon hunched over the kitchen table instead. Stay asleep. When her feet were free, she began working her way out of the tape around her wrists. She couldn’t get the key at a good angle, so she started ripping at the tape with her teeth instead. It wasn’t easy, but she managed to free herself.
She could see Dillon’s back moving up and down with each hefty breath. Good, maybe now she could make her way over to where Maelíosa was still passed out.
Felicity slowly crawled across the floor, kneeling beside her. “Maelíosa,” she whispered as she shook her shoulder.
Maelíosa let out a soft moan.
Felicity covered her mouth. “Shhhh…”
She opened her eyes, and Felicity took her hand off her mouth and pointed at the open door. “We have to be quiet,” Felicity murmured. “Just hold on. We have to get out of here…”
Chapter 4
Tomas had shifted into his stallion form. The pain from shifting had been more severe without the moonlight shining down from above, but that meant nothing if Maelíosa and Niall’s mate were in trouble. He’d known Maelíosa since she was a wee lass. Once upon a time, he’d loved her and wanted her as his mate. It had always felt like disloyalty, because she was Niall’s twin, and she was just as stubborn and hard-headed as him. She’d never wanted a mate. And then he’d met Mara, his human mate, who’d been sacrificed to him at a time when humans were more connected to the earth. Finn and Kieran had little love for this world because humans had shunned the púca and forgotten the Old Ways, but he needed their help if they were going to get the lasses back. He still loved Maelíosa, but these days it was in the way a brother would love a sister. He bit back the pain jolting through every bone in his body as he picked up his pace—his focus was finding Finn and Kieran quickly.
He rode at a hard gallop until he reached the veil’s threshold. Tomas barrelled through, not even slowing when the guard at the watchtower called out to him. No time. He didn’t stop the breakneck speed until he reached Finn’s cottage. It was night-time in the Realm, and they’d both be sleeping. Tomas shifted back into his human form and pounded on the door.
“Finn, open up,” he bellowed as he banged on it again.
“Bloody hell, do ye know what time it is, mate?” Finn asked as he opened the door. His feet were bare, and he was in pyjama bottoms.
“Get dressed. We need to fetch Kieran.”
“Aye, you could use some clothes yourself,” Finn said with a grin. “What’s this about?”
“Maelíosa has been taken. Niall needs your help. We’re going after her and Niall’s mate.”
Finn’s eyes flashed silver, his stallion making an appearance. “Aye, just give me a minute.”
“You go on without me and wake Kieran. I’m going to grab some clothes from Mara. Meet me at the watchtower.”
Finn nodded. “Aye, I’ll catch up with you. Do what you need to do.”
Tomas left Finn to find Mara. He’d been away from her for far too long, and it occurred to him that if this went badly he might not return. When Tomas reached the cottage, he found her sleeping in their bed, her red hair fanned across the pillow. He didn’t want to wake her or worry her, so he stood above the bed watching her for a moment.
Mara murmured in her sleep, and he wondered what she was dreaming. There were fine lines around her eyes, and traces of silver in her hair. The years had been kind to her because the mate bond that linked them made her immortal. She barely looked a day older than when he’d met her. Past her thirtieth birthday, and she’d still caught his eye when they’d met, but her parents had lost hope in her marrying. At her age, her dowry hadn’t been substantial enough to tempt a man. She’d been a bonny sacrifice, with flowers in her hair and a smile that could make a stallion want to settle down. He’d loved Mara from the day he first laid eyes on her. He bent and kissed her forehead, then dressed quickly and left her to meet up with Finn and Kieran.
They were waiting for him at the watchtower. Both of them looked geared up for a fight.
“You ready to knock some teeth in, mates?” Tomas asked.
Finn crackled his knuckles.
“Aye,” Kieran said gruffly.
“Good,” Tomas said.
“No one messes with our clan.” Finn’s eyes shone silver again.
Their strength and their loyalty to the clan were unmatched, which was why Niall had sent for them.
“Follow me,” Tomas said as he headed for the veil.
The gateway seemed thinner now than ever before. Sunlight shimmered through from the human world. They cut through the threadlike pinpoints of light until they reached the other side.
A small child eyed them curiously. Tomas figured three men materializing seemingly out of nowhere must have been a strange sight to him. Tomas smiled reassuringly at the child, and after a moment, he smiled back in earnest. The innocence of childhood made it so much easier to accept the impossible. He and Mara had never had children of their own. The humans of her time had considered her an old maid, and now she was beyond breeding age. It was just as well, because he’d be consumed by grief if he lost her. He watched as the child skipped up the dirt road. Sometimes he couldn’t help imagining what might have been, but he wouldn’t trade Mara for the world.
-Niall?- Tomas reached out with his mind. -I’ve brought backup.-
-Meet me at the ring fort. Everyone needs to scent their blood.-
Chapter 5
Felicity was trying to get the tape off Maelíosa’s wrists using her room key, but there were more layers than she had anticipated, and using her makeshift cutting tool was slow work.
“And what�
��s your plan to get us out of here exactly?” Maelíosa asked, her voice a slurred whisper.
Felicity sighed. Maelíosa was still out of it from the horse tranquilizer. Getting them out of this mess wouldn’t be easy. “I haven’t figured that out yet. Let’s get you out of this tape first, shall we?”
“Right before they knocked me out with the tranquilizer—while Caitlyn was taping me up in the kitchen—I saw a butcher block with knives and a pair of scissors. It shhhould be around the corner on this wall.”
Felicity could tell that Maelíosa had to pause, and yet it still didn’t keep her from slurring her words. Still, she was impressed that the captive woman had paid attention to their surroundings and could get that much out. Maybe once they were outside, the fresh air would help. Felicity hoped so. She didn’t think she could carry her far, even if she had to.
She debated whether it was worth the risk to sneak into the kitchen where Dillon was passed out to get those scissors. But whoever had taped Felicity’s wrists together hadn’t been as thorough as they had been with Maelíosa. They probably took extra precautions, like using medication to knock her unconscious, because she was a púca.
“We have to hurry,” Maelíosa whispered.
“Right, I know…give me a sec,” Felicity muttered.
She pushed up slowly from the floor and edged toward the door of the bedroom where they were being held captive, peering through the foot-wide opening. Felicity could see Dillon sprawled across the kitchen table, the bottle of whiskey half-empty. His snoring sounded like a wounded warthog. Felicity grinned. She needed those scissors. It’d expedite their escape, and Dillon didn’t look like he was going anywhere.
Except she couldn’t very well squeeze her curves through the partially open doorway and so she nudged it open further with her foot.
Squeeeeak.
Felicity closed her eyes as Dillon startled. He let out a snort-snore that now sounded like the warthog was trying get amorous with a congested grizzly bear.
