by Donna Grant
“To go bugger himself.” She laughed as soon as she said it.
V smiled. “Tell him.”
“I think I will.”
“What else?”
She didn’t have to think long to come up with an answer. “That if you’re seeing someone, it’s common damn courtesy to reply to their texts. Even if it’s just to say that you can’t answer because you’re busy.”
“Then do it,” V urged.
Feeling more courageous and inspired, Claire did just that. Then she hit send before she could change her mind. She was smiling until she realized that a crucial part of the message hadn’t been added. “Also, I don’t think we should see each other anymore,” she said as she typed.
Once that message was gone, she set her phone down and sighed.
“Feel better?” V asked.
“Much. Thank you for that.”
“I didna do anything, lass.”
She grinned as heat rushed over her. As a Scot herself, Claire had always hated when others called her lass. Or she had until V said it. Now, she wanted him to say it to her again and again and again.
Because in his deep and sexy voice, it was an endearment.
“You did,” she insisted with a swallow.
V glanced to the side. “Darius said there were boxes that needed to be moved.”
“There are?” she asked with a frown. “I thought they were all taken care of.”
She turned and made her way to the back, all the while aware that he was behind her. She wondered if he was looking at her ass. Then she pondered how it looked. Sophie didn’t require her to don scrubs, so Claire took full advantage of wearing jeans to work.
If only she’d worn the pair that everyone told her made her butt look really good. Then her thoughts shifted to the exercises she’d stopped doing to tone said derriere. Now, she wished she’d kept at them.
She inwardly sighed with relief when they finally reached the back, because she could focus her thoughts and not fall down a rabbit hole of stupidity about a man who probably didn’t look twice at her.
“Oh,” she said as she came to a stop in front of some boxes. “Where did these come from?”
V walked around her, inspecting the packages. “I doona know. I’m just here to move them.”
“They don’t look heavy. Normally, I move things like that.”
“I doona mind doing it. Go back to your music. I’ll take care of this.”
She hesitated. “I don’t even know what’s in the boxes or where they should go.”
“I do,” V told her. “Darius left me detailed instructions. Apparently, I’m to rearrange this entire storeroom.”
“Okay.” She backed up a step. Claire wanted to stay with him, but she couldn’t think of a reason to linger. But she didn’t want to go. She wanted to remain right there with V, listening to him talk and enjoying how he made her feel. Though everything she felt was probably nothing more than a response to what Calvin had done to her. Or was it?
She’d never reacted to V like this before.
You’ve never been alone with him before a few days ago.
That was true. Normally, there were others around, and she and V had said very little to each other. But still … she had noticed him. Hell, she noticed every man from Dreagan. It was hard not to when they all looked good enough to lick.
But V stood out from the rest. She thought it was because of his eyes, but she was beginning to realize that it was more than that. It was the whole bloody package.
And it was a damn fine one. Great hair, a jawline she wanted to touch, muscles for days, and a voice that could melt the Arctic.
“I promise I willna screw anything up,” V told her with a grin.
Claire could have kicked herself. She’d been caught staring again. She quickly smiled. “I apologize. I was lost in thought.” About you.
“You can turn up your music as loud as you want.”
“Is there a certain kind you don’t like so I don’t play it?”
He shrugged one shoulder. “I’ll listen to anything.”
She turned to leave when she recalled what he’d said earlier. The fact that it just now registered told her how wrapped up in him she was. “You’re rearranging this room?”
“Aye. Sophie ordered more shelves that’ll be delivered later today. I’m making room for those.”
“Um … okay.” She was thoroughly confused. Sophie never did any of the ordering. Claire did. And Sophie had said nothing about new shelves.
V leaned an arm atop a stack of boxes. “If it will ease your mind, call Sophie.”
“No need,” she hurried to say. “I’ve been out of it for the last couple of days. Maybe she took pity on me and ordered them herself.” Claire lifted her hands and backed up. “I’ll just be in the other room filing that mountain of paper if you need anything.”
She rolled her eyes at herself once she had her back to him. Stupid things seemed to just fall from her mouth whenever she wanted to say something witty. It was like her brain and mouth were wired wrong.
And all she could do was inwardly cringe at the outcome.
CHAPTER FIVE
Dreagan
“You sure it was a good idea?” Keltan asked as he walked into the room.
Ulrik kept his gaze directed out the window in the direction of the village. “How many times have we heard Sophie and Darius tell us how lonely Claire is? And we’ve both seen V lately.”
“Aye, but.… I’m no’ sure about this.”
Ulrik looked over his shoulder at Keltan. “You were all for setting them up last night.”
“Then I started thinking about how I’d feel if someone did that to me.”
“You would mind?” Ulrik faced him.
Keltan narrowed his amber eyes. “Damn right, I would. I can get my own women.”
“And so can V. I’ve seen that for myself. But there is a difference between having a woman in your bed and having one in your heart.”
Keltan shook his head. “I doona understand all of you falling in love like you were bitten by some bug.”
Ulrik chuckled. “Keep saying things like that, and you’ll be next.”
“The hell I will. I quite like things the way they are. I answer only to myself. And Con, when he needs me.”
“You think love will pull you down?”
“Without a doubt.”
Ulrik considered that for a moment as his gaze swung back to the window. “I disagree, and one day when you do find love, you’ll see for yourself.”
“Bite your fucking tongue,” Keltan stated angrily. “Take it back. Right now.”
Ulrik threw up his hands and chuckled at Keltan’s tone. “I take it back.”
“Good. Now, let’s return the talk to V.”
“V needs something to focus on.”
Keltan crossed his arms over his chest and raised a blond brow. “Besides his sword, the Others, and whatever else might be coming our way? Do you no’ think he has enough already? Why throw a woman into the mix?”
“A hunch.”
“I can no’ believe I’m helping you play matchmaker.”
“Would you rather help Hal and Guy with the sheep?”
Keltan shot him a dry look. “I merely want to point out, that as someone who doesna want a woman, I’m betting this willna work.”
“Have some faith.”
“Oh, I do. That it willna work, and that this foray into matchmaking will be your one and only.”
Ulrik grinned, eager to take the bet. “And if my plan does work?”
Keltan dropped his arms to his sides. “Shite. I doona want to even consider it. No’ to mention, Con willna be happy. You know he doesna want any Kings to mate.”
“That’s no’ true. Con wants everyone to be happy. He also bears the weight of looking at every outcome and preparing for the worst.”
Keltan released a loud snort. “You were no’ here when the first of the Kings fell in love. Con wasna at all happy. In fac
t, I thought he might step in and try to break it up.”
“Con would never do that. I know him well enough to know that he might let what he really feels slip out sometimes, but he will always keep his focus on the wellbeing and happiness of the Kings.”
Keltan slowly ran a hand along his dark blond beard-covered jaw. “And V? Have you thought about what you’ll tell him if this works?”
“I doona plan to tell him anything whether it works or no’. I willna hide it from him, but I also willna hand him the information without first being asked. He’s been through enough.”
“Aye.” Keltan drew in a deep breath. “He’s changed so much from before the war to now. Hard to imagine that when he’s spent so much time sleeping.”
“You slept, but you’ve spent large chunks of time awake. You adapted to your surroundings, subtly changing like the landscape around you. V is the same man he was when he first went into his cave. He’s no’ the one who changed. We are.”
Keltan flattened his lips and nodded. “What do you need from me?”
“Nothing for now. V and Claire will spend the day together, which is what I wanted.”
“You believe that one day will be enough to jumpstart something between them?”
Ulrik bit back a grin. “When there’s something there, it doesna take long. And if there isna anything between Claire and V, then we’ve lost nothing but a wee bit of time.”
“That we have in spades,” Keltan grumbled as he walked from the room.
Ulrik’s head turned to the side when the hidden door opened, and Eilish walked in. He held out his hand for her. The moment their fingers touched, he pulled her against him.
“You’re taking a chance,” she said after she kissed him.
“I always take chances.”
She eyed him. “Oh, please. We both know that isn’t true. You plot, you manipulate, you maneuver. You rarely take chances.”
“I did with you.” He rubbed his nose against hers. “Look how well that turned out.”
“Hmm. That it did.”
“Because you couldna resist me.”
She pulled back and barked with laughter. “More like you couldn’t resist me.”
“You’re right,” he admitted as he tugged her against him again. “I couldna. I still can no’.”
Eilish lifted her face to his, their lips meeting. The desire inside Ulrik flared to life, as it always did when it came to her. Soon, they would be joined, their hearts and souls united for eternity.
He ended the kiss and wrapped his arms around her as she rested her cheek on his chest. They stood in silence for a long time, each of them lost in thought.
“You’re happy here, aren’t you?” Eilish asked.
Ulrik smiled. “Aye, love. I am. Are you?”
“I’m happy anywhere I’m with you.”
He kissed the top of her head. “But you’re worried about the Others.”
“As are you.”
“I have a feeling that we’ll discover something else they’ve made sure we’ll find. But how long until we come face-to-face with them?”
Eilish leaned back to look at him. “The Druids involved are long dead. There’s even a possibility that the Fae are, as well. This could be nothing. At least it was nothing until Dorian and Alexandra in New York.”
Ulrik’s lips twisted as he thought of the Queen of the Light Fae’s involvement in what had happened there. “Aye.”
Eilish sighed and shook her head. “I keep thinking about Iceland. That cave seemed so familiar.”
“You said you’ve never been to Iceland.”
“I haven’t. I can’t explain it. Then there were the huge stones with the writing on them. You didn’t see Rhi’s face. It drained of color when she looked at the one with the Fae writing.”
Ulrik nodded since they’d had this conversation before. “I asked Rhi about it. She said she’s still working out the meaning. She has no reason to keep anything from us. She’s a friend to the Dragon Kings.”
“But what if she is keeping something from us? What if she read something that impacts her or the Fae? She’s the only one of us who can read the Fae writing.”
That bit still frustrated Ulrik. A Dragon King’s magic allowed them to read and write any language, but the Others had used their combined magic to make it so the Kings couldn’t decipher anything on the stones in Iceland. As if the Others only wanted a Druid and a Fae to find and read what was there.
“I wish you had been able to read more of the Druid stone,” Ulrik said.
Eilish returned her head to his chest. “Me, too. I know there was something important there.”
Isle of Skye
Rhi stared out over the dark water. She didn’t care that the rain soaked her. She felt none of it.
Ever since helping the Dragon Kings on Iceland, she’d been acting as if everything were fine. Actually, she’d been doing that for far longer. All because she’d read the Fae writing on the wall. Literally.
She still wasn’t sure how she had been able to decipher it. The languages were from the ancient times of the first thirty Fae families. The only record left that she knew of was in the hands of the Reapers.
The fact that the writing had moved from Light to Dark and back again was confounding enough, but Rhi hadn’t even had to pause to understand it. It was like the words were already in her head.
And that terrified her.
It was one of the reasons she’d stayed away from Dreagan. She feared that one of the Kings would bring up the writing and ask her once more how much she’d read.
Worse, she suspected that Eilish knew that she was hiding something. And if the Druid knew, then that meant Ulrik did, as well. No doubt Con would soon, too.
Rhi lifted her face to the rain and closed her eyes. She was supposed to be continuing her search of the Druid archives on Skye to look for anything out of the ordinary that might point to the Others.
Instead, she was lost in her thoughts.
Perhaps it was a good thing. With Rhi’s stomach in knots at what she’d read in the cave, it cleared her mind of her plot for revenge against Usaeil.
The Queen of the Light’s days were numbered. Rhi had promised Con that she would wait so the two of them could attack together, but she was growing impatient. Usaeil had banished her from the Light.
And that was only a fraction of what the queen had done to her. For weeks, Rhi had allowed Con to talk her into waiting. A lot had to do with Ulrik and defeating Mikkel, but now that Mikkel was out of the way, there was no reason to delay.
An image of the giant stone wall flashed in Rhi’s mind.
She squeezed her eyes closed. She didn’t want to think about Iceland. She didn’t want to think about the writing. And she didn’t want to think about the knowledge that she now held in her head. It was better if she forgot all about the stone. Besides, there was something more important at the moment—defeating Usaeil.
With just a thought, Rhi teleported to her private island where the sun shone so brightly that it blinded her. She didn’t get into her bikini and lay on the white sand.
Instead, she walked into the open-walled hut and sat at the small table. She spread her hands from the center out, using her magic to craft a map of upper Ireland where the Light Castle sat.
She marked each place where she knew Fae guards patrolled in case any mortals or Dark Fae tried to approach. Rhi knew that Usaeil would leave those patrols but also add new ones to try and thwart her. The queen’s mistake was underestimating Rhi because no one knew the territory like she did.
Rhi marked additional Xs for the new patrols at the most optimal places. She could teleport to the castle, but no doubt Usaeil had put spells in place that would alert her of such an action. That meant Rhi would have to go about gaining entrance and assassinating the queen another way.
While Usaeil enjoyed the limelight of pretending to be a famous American actress, she would put that on hold and wait at the castle for Rhi to attack.
Usaeil had pushed her too far. The queen wanted the attack, it’s what she planned for.
But she wasn’t going to be prepared for this Rhi.
CHAPTER SIX
She was adorable.
V had a hard time focusing on moving everything in the storage room around since he couldn’t stop trying to catch a glimpse of Claire.
He’d hated the pain he saw in her eyes when he first arrived. The knowledge that some man had been stupid enough not to hold onto her boggled V’s mind. He also didn’t understand why she was still single. Claire was … perfect.
She was beautiful of spirit and face. She was compassionate, generous with her time and advice, and always had a kind word for everyone. And she had a body that drew his gaze again and again as he imagined what she would feel like in his arms.
V would be lying if he said he wasn’t happy about it being just the two of them at the clinic. He could be done with the storage room quickly, but he didn’t want to leave. So, he took his time shifting boxes, emptying shelving, and moving everything to the center of the room.
The hours passed far too quickly for once. V enjoyed the songs she played. They were a truly eclectic mix from every era of music. And with each song, he learned a little about her. His favorites just might be the blues songs.
The soulful, poignant melodies struck a chord within him. Probably because they were very deep and personal, something that everyone could relate to on some level. Even a Dragon King.
Or maybe especially a Dragon King.
V was so attuned to Claire, he knew the moment she stuck her head around the corner of the doorway. His gaze snapped to her. No longer were her eyes red and full of sadness. While she still looked a little tired, her smile came easier and filled her entire face.
He couldn’t take credit for that, but he wanted to think that he’d had a hand in it. He’d never been in such a situation before, but he liked it. Really, it came down to the fact that he enjoyed Claire. Everything about her was fascinating.
But the best part was the little thread of excitement that had been there from the moment he realized that she was in the clinic.
