Link (Keepers Of The Lake Book 5)

by Emilia Hartley

  The witch.

  This whole scenario stank of magic. But he didn’t understand why. Was this beast cursed? Or was it enchanted? Was this what it wanted or was it a thing of pure revenge?

  The way the creature howled at Link, thinking he was Alistair, made Link reconsider his opinion. His father had something to do with this. One way or another. Was it right to come here and try to slay the monster? The creature was clearly a threat. The clan feared it. Link had the power to help them, but his conscience was trying to tell him something.

  He didn’t have time to listen to his inner thoughts. The monster reappeared. Not just one, but many. They were barely visible in the murky water, but he could see the outline of them as they all slashed at him at once. Link wanted to cry out. The water seared where it cut through his scales. But that was all it was.

  Water.

  The lake took the shape of the monster at its will. Link clawed through half of them before his attack found a solid surface. He tried to grab it again and found purchase. The dragon thrashed in his grip, but he held firm. It wouldn’t escape him this time.

  The creature kicked with its back feet. Claws broke through scales again. More blood filled the water.

  Above, Link heard a splash. A white form appeared, reminding Link of Asher’s white hair. The form sped toward them. Link wasted no time and clenched his hands. There was a satisfying snap that echoed up his bones. The monster drifted out of his grip and sank to the bottom of the lake.

  The form above reared back. It practically recoiled. Link surged toward the surface, but before he could break free, the white dragon attacked. It bit into Link’s neck and shook its head back and forth. A horrible tearing rendered Link’s neck to shreds. The pain was dull, like shock was starting to set in.

  Link jerked away and watched his own blood rise from the corners of the white dragon’s mouth. The creature wore a reproachful look, one filled with grief. Its eyes flicked back to the bottom of the lake. All was silent. No current tried to grab at them.

  It was over.

  Link had thought the clan would be happy. Yet, the white dragon opened its mouth and let out a roar that shook the water.

  This wasn’t right. This wasn’t what he wanted.

  He shifted before climbing ashore. His body was heavy and drained. Already, he could feel the press of eyes on his shoulders. He didn’t dare look up for fear of the same expression in them. One shifter cried out in horror and flung herself forward.

  The pink-haired girl. Charlotte? She sobbed into her hands. Link didn’t understand what was so wrong. He’d vanquished a monster. One that had been tormenting them. Weren’t they happy?

  Link didn’t stick around. Everyone glared at him like he had killed their puppy. He didn’t bother fighting his snarl as he slunk away. The walk back to his car was long, but so was the night. The darkness wrapped around him and protected him from the anger and despair he left in his wake.

  Maybe he would never be any better than his father. Even though Link hadn’t tried to hurt them, he’d still managed to wreck something they held dear. He would never be the good man he wanted to be. Just the monster his father raised him to be.

  The horrible truth that there had only been one monster in that lake punched him in the gut. The monster would always be him.

  10

  Kiera wasn’t going to let him leave. Before she could get anywhere, Charlie stopped her. Tears rolled down Charlie’s puffy cheeks, something Kiera had never seen before. She’d seen Charlie angry and frustrated and spiteful, but crying wasn’t something her friend did often or at all. Kiera was torn between the two.

  The longer she stayed with Charlie, the further Link got away. But there was something that rooted Kiera to the ground, a compassion she never had before. She spared a moment to draw Charlie into her arms. Charlie, who seemed strong and capable, collapsed in Kiera’s embrace.

  “We were trying to save him,” Charlie mumbled into Kiera’s shirt. “He was dealt a bad hand and we were all doing our best to figure out how to make it right. This wasn’t what we wanted…”

  Charlie’s words trailed off into unintelligible crying. Kiera didn’t know what to do. All she could muster was a solid surface for Charlie to cry on. The others were still crouched by the edge of the lake. They watched it like they were waiting for something.

  Blood darkened the water. Kiera wasn’t sure who it belonged to. Link had staggered when he left the lake. His eyes had been glazed. Once the water slid off him, the cuts and wounds began to well with fresh blood. He hadn’t even paused to get help, simply going for his dropped clothing. That was when the fight started.

  Half the clan pounced. The other half seemed stunned. Only Jude was able to put an end to it. Cole leapt back from his mate like he was afraid to touch her. That was when Kiera noticed the way Cole’s eyes dropped to his mate’s stomach.

  Well, that explained a lot.

  And still there was so much more to be understood. Kiera didn’t know who Charlie was talking about. Little by little, through Charlie’s sob-strained speech, Kiera gleaned more about what was going on. The monster that controlled the lake was a friend. At least, he had been. Especially to Charlie. The creature had been one of them, part of the clan before he was cursed.

  And Link might have killed him.

  Kiera struggled, trying to make sense of it all. Link hadn’t known that the monster was to be saved. The dragon in the lake wasn’t being all that nice. He had threatened their quiet night. What else was Link supposed to think?

  Finally, Charlie’s mate pried her from Kiera’s arms. He picked Charlie up and carried her away while whispering in her ear. The others slowly left. Jude and Cole were having a quick argument, their voices hushed so that Kiera couldn’t understand what was going on. Asher’s face was smeared with blood. He walked back to the castle like a zombie. Behind him, Zara trailed looking more than a little out of place.

  No one saw the lake rise and shudder. It could have been a trick of the eye or a breeze across the water, but to Kiera, it felt like laughter. Her jaw clenched. A scream was trapped behind her sternum, but instead of letting it out she spun on her heel and let her beast take to the skies.

  From above, she scanned the roads. It was hard to see through the darkness, especially when she was looking for a dark figure. Link didn’t exactly stand out in the night like her beast did. She flew high so that she would look like a shooting star to the passing human.

  There would probably be reports of unidentified flying objects on the news in the morning. It happened every time she flew. Norman had banned her from taking to the skies when too many people caught her on camera. It wasn’t her fault she was this bright.

  It did help when she spotted a form down below with its head raised to the sky. She circled lower to find Link watching her. Delight flickering through her, she touched the ground and skidded over the road because she descended too fast. She half expected a laugh from Link, but he was painfully silent.

  She wasted no time shifting back, landing in Link’s arms completely naked. He let out an oof but didn’t drop her. He barely even staggered.

  “You should go back,” he told her before setting her on her feet.

  She was strangely taken aback that he barely noticed her bare skin. Here she was, naked before him, and he was already walking away. She ran to catch up to him, unbothered by the small stones under her bare feet. All that mattered was that she didn’t lose him.

  He was the only thing she’d ever wanted to hold onto. Her dragon sang in agreement for the first time ever. She couldn’t afford to lose Link. If she did, everything else would fall apart. She would become nothing. Couldn’t he see how much she needed him?

  “I mean it, Kiera. Head back to the clan. Let them take care of you.”

  Her growl ripped through the night. Everything silenced. Every creature, great and small, went quiet. Link paused and threw a glance back at her. She tried to hide her desperation behind determination, but
she didn’t know how to do this. She didn’t know how to be strong and stand up for what she wanted.

  “I’m a fucking monster!” Link roared. “I don’t understand why you want to be near me so damn badly. You should be running from me. If you stick around, I’ll just hurt you like the other me in your life. I don’t want that.”

  She took a tentative step toward him, hand raised. Maybe if she could just touch him then she could get through to him. She wasn’t afraid. She didn’t think he would hurt her. Pain and betrayal were things she was intimately familiar with. The signs were always obvious to her, and she didn’t see any of them around Link.

  He could scream all he wanted, but he wasn’t what he thought he was. She tried to tell him. She really did, but her voice escaped her. She couldn’t speak loud enough; she couldn’t muster the right words. Nothing about her was enough to show him the truth.

  Link turned away from her. He jammed his hands into his pockets, hung his head, and walked away. Determined and terrified to lose him, she followed. Every so often, Link would stop and look back at her, but she would say nothing, only greet him with a hard glare.

  Kiera wrapped her arms around her small breasts to protect them from the chill air and walked along behind him. Eventually, Link snarled. He whipped around at the last second, right before she ran into him. This close, he towered over her. His face was wrought with despair and frustration.

  “You’re weak and breakable,” he growled into her face. “I’m a big, bumbling monster that only knows how to destroy things. It’s what I was bred to do. My father passed on his cursed blood and made sure I would always be the horror he wanted me to be.”

  He leaned in closer. His chest pressed against hers. He threaded his fingers into her hair and held her tight. When his lips curled away from his teeth, Kiera’s heart skipped a beat. It was the tears that ran down his cheeks that kept her steady. Link was in so much pain, but he couldn’t share it with anyone.

  She could take it, though. Everyone thought she would snap under an ounce of pressure, but Kiera had endured. She was still alive. A night like this wouldn’t destroy her. Link wasn’t going to hurt her. Even with his hand in her hair, she knew he wasn’t going to use his advantage against her.

  The first thing she did was wipe away his tears. Then she kissed the wet spots on his hot cheeks. Link was too stunned to move, which was alright. It gave her the time to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his chest.

  “Kiera,” he whispered, voice ragged.

  “You can’t frighten me away,” she whispered.

  His response was a growl, a tightening of the fist in her hair. He bent her back, baring his teeth over her throat. Still, she knew he wouldn’t touch her skin let alone break it. Link would be terrifying to anyone else. He practically dwarfed her. To her, his size was comforting.

  Perhaps something in her had broken. Maybe Norman had ravaged her brain every time he put his hand around her throat. Link very well could be a monster and she just couldn’t see it. She was too used to them. Her life had always been filled with monsters, but she couldn’t find the monstrosity in Link.

  The way he bared her neck only made her pulse race. She waited for his lips to find the flutter beneath her skin. His hand was hot on her back, fingers splayed so wide that they grazed the curve of her ass.

  Had she been home, among Norman’s clan, they would have gone for the kill already. She would be bleeding or on the floor or both. Here, Link’s arms were a safety net around her. His tears were a sign that he resented the label pressed onto him.

  “I’ll go wherever you want to go,” she told him. “If you want to leave tonight, I’ll get in the car with you and we can drive until morning light. Any direction. It doesn’t matter. I don’t have anything to keep me back. I don’t have a home or a family. No one will miss me.”

  He swallowed, head titled back. He was fighting back more tears, she presumed. It was alright to cry. Crying was good every once in a while. Monsters didn’t cry.

  He let her go. She was small and shivering now that he wasn’t pressed up against her. In her rush to find him, Kiera hadn’t grabbed any clothing. Link did his best to keep from stealing glances, but his dragon kept turning his eyes back to her slender form. She was impossibly thin and waif-like. He was surprised he hadn’t broken her with his display of ferocity.

  Peeling his shirt over his head, he passed it to her. She gratefully accepted and hugged it around herself after putting it on. Link probably should have asked for permission, but he swept her up from the ground. He couldn’t let her walk on the back roads with bare feet. Not all the way back to the cabins.

  There was too much broken glass on the side of the road. And, besides, it felt good to hold her so close to his heart because she was already carving a hole for herself in it. He would have been more than willing to hand over the whole heart if he thought he could give her any kind of happiness.

  Link feared that nights like this would forever play on repeat. It would always be Kiera trying to tell him that he wasn’t a monster. She would spend her evenings convincing him otherwise and the next day would bring the same pain all over again. That wasn’t any kind of way to live.

  She deserved better.

  Yet, she was languid in his arms. So peaceful that he wondered if she felt this way anywhere else. Kiera was so nervous everywhere else. He remembered her slight panic in the café when he stepped away. Was that her resting state? She wasn’t like that when he was around.

  The trees broke open to reveal the row of cabins ahead. His car wasn’t here. He’d forgotten that it was still at the park, left behind after their breakfast had been interrupted. Had that all happened in one day? He couldn’t believe how the hours had stretched to fit so much.

  Link set Kiera on her feet before the tiny cabin the clan had granted her and then turned to leave. He tried to call on his beast so he could fly over to his parked car, but the creature wouldn’t come out. No matter how hard Link pushed to shift, his beast would not budge.

  “You could…come inside for the night,” Kiera softly called out. “You don’t have to leave right away.”

  Link took in the cabins around them, the lights still on inside. Heath and Buffy were around. If he lingered too much longer, they would come out and find him. The clan undoubtedly told the others what Link had done. Buffy would know that her brother was a murderer.

  A monster.

  Just like they expected.

  Suddenly, Kiera was at his side. She wove her fingers with his and tugged him back toward her cabin. Her eyes were wide, flicking from cabin to cabin like she was sneaking a boy into her bedroom. Which wasn’t wrong.

  When they made it past her front door and no one came out to attack Link, she let out a hysterical laugh. Still, her hands had not left him. She kept him close, letting her fingers trail over his palms, the insides of his wrists, and further. Link should have sent her to bed. He should have wrapped a blanket around her and gone back out to sleep in one of the kitchen chairs.

  He let Kiera tug him toward the bedroom in the back. Even in the dark he could see the pink color overtaking her cheeks. She didn’t take her eyes off him, though. She invited him in with every bit of her open presence. He would only break her. Couldn’t she see that?

  Hadn’t every other man in her life touched her with anger? Why was she bringing him into her bedroom? He wanted to help her escape the cycle of hurt, but he couldn’t break away from her. She had him entranced. He could only see the way his shirt fluttered around her thighs. He could only smell their scents as they mingled on her skin.

  Link was done from the moment she yanked him into her body. He caught himself and wrapped her in his embrace so that she was pressed against the front of him. His beast purred with greedy intent. This was what it had wanted all along, the reason Link couldn’t leave.

  He truly was a monster.

  11

  Kiera couldn’t get enough of him. The way he felt against her body
, the heat that filled her body with a heady rush. Her toes curled in anticipation. The excitement was sweet, and she would make herself sick on it.

  Link watched her with awe and fear in his eyes. Still, his hands found their way under the shirt he’d given her. Warm and calloused, they drifted over her hips and up her waist. She started to apologize for her small breasts when a growl rumbled his throat. His head dipped, and his lips found her throat.

  Kiera let out a moan of her own and clutched his bare back.

  Link jumped away from her. She was suddenly bereft, her hands empty and reaching. Instinctively, she let out a cry.

  “Are you hurt? Did I hurt you?” Link was frantic, eyes wide and searching her body.

  Her cry turned to annoyance. She did her best to swallow it down, but the dragon in her was growing louder. When it came to Link, her beast voiced its wants loud and clear.

  “I was enjoying myself,” she told him slowly.

  The words hit a wall. Confusion made one brow higher than the other. Could he not comprehend her happiness? There was a clear separation between sounds of pain and sounds of pleasure. She’d heard plenty of both in her life.

  It wasn’t that. It was Link. He was still blaming himself for every horror in his life. Whatever happened in the lake had left him scarred. She would never know how because she hadn’t been there. All she had seen were the wounds, the blood. His body had healed, but the stains were still there, on his skin and his mind.

  “I don’t want to be like Norman,” he whispered.

  He wasn’t Norman. Couldn’t he see that? He was Link. His own man with his own way of touching her and loving her. Still, she couldn’t make him see what he didn’t want to see. When he looked at himself and saw a monster, she couldn’t say anything that would change the visage he saw.