Hold my Reins (Monster Match season two)

Chapter 23

twenty-three

I t had started as a whisper in a dream. The urge to wake up and walk into the forest. Then, it had intruded on the dream of running in the shallows of the lake on four feet with Rox on his back. In his dream, he ran forever and never tired, and Rox never let go.

Usually, in the dream, he’d shift back and fall to the sand in a pile of tangled limbs and lust. Today, the urge was to leave Rox and run in the other direction and head towards the woods.

Lynck woke up, and for several heartbeats, he wasn’t sure where he was. Moonlight streamed through the window, illuminating the bedroom. Rox slept, curled on his side with his back to him. They had shared a bed every night this week.

The need to get up, shift,and walk into the forest persisted.

It was only as the chain around his neck warmed against his skin that he understood what was happening.

Bothvar had arrived.

He reached out to shake Rox awake but drew his hand back just as fast. It was better to let him sleep. He’d realize Lynck was gone in the morning, and by then, the danger would be over. If he woke Rox, Rox would want to help.

Instead, he stared at him a little longer, wanting to commit every line of muscle to memory to enjoy later. When the heat became too much, Lynck eased out of bed. The need to run on four feet almost made him drop to the ground, ready to shift.

He shouldn’t shift in the house. The chain became hotter. With one fingernail, he lifted it off his chest, but it still burned the back of his neck as he crept through the house. The need to obey and stop the pain from consuming his thoughts.

As soon as he stepped out into the cool night air, he crouched and let the shift take over. The burning stopped, and he sighed with relief at being on four feet again. He hadn’t thought it possible in this world. It was an itch he hadn’t realized needed scratching. He shook from nose to tail and took a moment to re-orientate himself to the changes in his body. For a few moments, he enjoyed being shifted…but he couldn’t shift back.

Now, he was stuck in his other form, and the need to head into the woods consumed him. If he lingered much longer, the bridle would burn again.

He hesitated, his gaze on the house where Rox slept. They hadn’t finished the song. They hadn’t done so many things.

His heart ached with the death of so many dreams at once. His mistake had been daring to dream. To think that someone like him would have the chance to play the song in his heart for his mate and have it returned if only for a fleeting moment. He wanted to take Rox for a ride and swim with him in the lake…

He wanted a life with him.

The dying dream was bitter on his tongue, and his heart was silent.

With a heavy sigh, he turned away and ambled along the road, not wanting to rush as a part of him hoped for a miracle. Leaving Rox to sleep was the right thing to do. He was safe in bed. Which is where he wanted to be.

As he obeyed, the call to return to Bothvar’s side strengthened. He sunk into the spell that bound him because it was easier to drown than resist. To let the magic consume him until there was nothing left. The next time he surfaced, he’d be in the monster realm, far from any portals.

It would be better if he never surfaced at all, then he’d never have to think and remember. His heart weighed him down, slowing each step. But he couldn’t stop.

And he couldn’t turn around, no matter how much he wanted to run back to the house.

There was only the next step and the one after, all leading to the man who had stolen him once and now again. Only this time, he wasn’t fighting because he didn’t want to kill the man he loved.

Rox.

The song would remain unfinished, and they would only run together in his dreams. But Rox would live, and that had to be enough.

He imagined he was on his way to meet Rox. Maybe if he pretended Rox was just past the next tree, instead of each step taking him further away, he’d be able to bear the rest of his life.

Through the trees, he sensed the portal, but before he reached it, he saw Bothvar. He wanted to stop and back up, but his feet kept moving, driven by the magic in the cursed bridle.

“You thought you’d escaped, kelpie,” Bothvar said, his voice sharp and cold. His lip curled with a sneer as he assessed Lynck. “Hiding in the human world… Clever, I’ll give you that. You will, of course, be punished for finding a way to avoid me.”

Lynck kept his gaze on Bothvar and let the words break over him, but he imagined he was walking through the moonlight with Rox. Rox had never seen a horse… Would he be scared or want to ride him?

“Lynck! I thought I’d lost you,” Rox’s voice pierced his imagining.

Bothvar looked past him.

That was when Lynck realized Rox was there in the woods, not safe in bed.

“Who are you?” Bothvar barked.

“Gideon Roxburgh the fourth. And this is my kelpie,” Rox said. “Who are you?”

Bothvar laughed. “And why does a human need a kelpie?”

“I have a hoof kink. Much like a foot fetish but with hooves. He likes his hooves licked…but I’m sure you know that. That’s why you’re trying to rustle my horse shifter.”

Lynck’s ears twitched. Rox had never licked his hooves—and he didn’t like having his hooves licked! What was he talking about? And why was he in the woods when he should have been at home? Lynck wanted to turn around to look at him or shift and ask, but he couldn’t as he was bound by order to attend to Bothvar, and until he was given a new order, he needed to wait.

“What are you talking about, human?”

“Kink. Sex. You know, naked stuff. People pay good money for kelpie smut. Not only do I have fun, but I make a tidy profit too.”

It sounded like Rox’s voice, but Lynck had never heard such words from his mouth. He did not want to be part of any kelpie kink thing. Why was he giving Bothvar ideas?

“I want my kelpie back,” Rox said.

“You stupid human, he is mine. He wears my bridle, the bridle that you tried to remove.”

“Uh…you know about that.” The bravado faded from Rox’s voice.

“Arn told me everything. For his loyalty, I allowed him to die at home instead of remaining in banishment.”

Bothvar had been so happy to receive word about his missing kelpie that he’d killed the bearer of good news. Lynck was not surprised that Rox’s boss was dead. Nothing made Bothvar happier than blood on the floor of his great hall.

“I’m sure he was glad about that…he hated the human world.” Rox paused for a heartbeat. “You may not be aware, but here we have the law of finders keepers. Meaning, I found him, so the kelpie is mine.”

Yes, he wanted to belong to Rox. His heart belonged to the human with messy hair and painted nails.

If Rox held his bridle, he’d never be forced to kill again.

His ear twitched, needing to hear Rox’s voice.

Bothvar laughed, and the two frost giants with him joined in. “I don’t care about your stupid laws, human. The kelpie obeys me and me alone. I have magic.”

“I don’t know anything about magic. How does it work?” Rox quipped.

Why was Rox trying to talk to Bothvar? Something wasn’t right, and Lynck wasn’t sure what. He wanted to tell Rox to run, that Bothvar’s patience was little more than a frayed rope ready to snap at the best of times.

“I give an order, and the kelpie obeys. Watch and learn, Roxburgh. Kill the human, kelpie.”

Lynck flinched.

Rox swore.

Bothvar glared at Lynck. “Did you hear me, kelpie? Kill the human who claims ownership but lacks a bridle. Show me you are still useful.”

He wanted to be useful, and he needed to kill. The bridle burned the bridge of his nose. But he couldn’t kill Rox. Anyone but him.

As a horse, he didn’t have the words to beg for his mate’s life. His feet moved, and he slowly turned to face Rox. He stood in the moonlight dressed in black as if he were a shadow or a dream made momentarily real.

His hair burned as he resisted the order, and the acrid scent filled his lungs.

Rox took a step back and hummed the song that had bloomed in Lynck’s heart the first time they’d met. A reminder that there was something Bothvar couldn’t take from him no matter how much he tried. Rox would always be in his heart.

Lynck took another step forward, and Rox stepped back.

“Come and get me.” Rox turned and ran.