Chapter Twelve - Thomas
Icling to Ketill and the egg, chest heaving as a tall woman with shimmering white scales tracing across her high cheekbones steps out. Her eyes burn amber-red, and all of it is directed at the shifter trying to push himself away.
“I’ve been looking for you, Ketill.” Her voice is softer than I expected, like someone who doesn’t raise it often.
“And I’ve been looking for you, too, Saskia,” Ketill replies, pulling us towards the mouth of the alleyway. “Good timing, by the way. Very dramatic.”
She snorts out a curl of flame. “And this is the scum who stole my egg?”
The shifter scrambles back on his hands, but Saskia takes two steps—the last bringing her foot down right onto his groin.
I flinch, wincing along with the groaning shifter.
“Let me go!” he demands.
Ketill laughs darkly. “Something tells me that isn’t going to work. You got it from here, right, Saskia?” The dragon woman nods once, and I suck in a sharp breath when her thin lips peel back to reveal rows and rows of fangs the colour of diamonds.
“I’ve got it,” Saskia snarls, voice hardened with rage, as orange sparks fill the back of her throat. The shifter under her struggles, desperate to escape and promising everything and anything. Not that she listens as her mouth stretches wider.
My pulse quickens, and I cling to Ketill with my erratic heart lodged in my throat.
“C’mon, treasure,” Ketill says as he turns and leads us away from what’s about to happen and the bodies littering the ground. “You don’t need to see this.”
“Is she really going to—” But before I can finish, my question is answered by a wave of heat at my back that singes the hairs on my neck, and a scream of agony.
I plaster myself to Ketill’s side; his hold on me is almost painful.
“You’re okay, right?” Ketill asks, laying careful kisses on my temple
I nod, breathing him in. “I’m okay.”
I feel Ketill physically relax.
“But this is maybe the worst holiday I’ve ever been on.”
Ketill chuckles, brushing a kiss onto my cheek. “It hasn’t been that bad, right? Think of the story it’ll make!”
I scoff as I turn to face my very strange vampire, his smile digging into his cheeks. His single dimple on full display. “I think if I told my brother, he’d want to commit me. Or at the very least kill you.”
“This brother of yours is very protective.” He wraps his arms around me, then tucks my head into the crook of his neck.
I let loose a long sigh, my body slumping and moulding into his. Suddenly, so very tired. “Is this…over now? Are the shifters all…gone?”
“All gone,” Ketill confirms. “But we have one last thing to do, treasure.” Ketill nods, his hand gently stroking my hair back. “Then it’s over.”
“What more is there left to do?” I try not to sound like I’m complaining, but I think I deserve it after everything we’ve been through.
“We gotta finish the job.” Ketill releases me and turns to Saskia, the dragon mother.
She’s standing at the mouth of the alleyway, her long black hair swaying around her. The scales are gone, as are the diamond fangs. But there is something powerful about this woman, something that makes me glad Ketill moves in front of me.
“I want what belongs to me,” Saskia says, her voice soft and her amber gaze locked on the egg in my arms.
“My customers always leave happy,” Ketill replies. He takes the bag from my shoulder and holds it out to her.
“W-wait!”
They both turn to stare at me, and I swallow before clearing my throat.
“I…just wanted to say goodbye.”
After a beat of silence where Ketill’s grin grows way too large and the back of my neck heats, I hear Saskia chuckle. Her shoes tap against the cobbled street as she approaches us. “You’ve found yourself an interesting mate, Ketill.”
“Oh, I’m aware.”
I ignore them both and gently lay my hands on the pretty egg, my thumb stroking the warm shell. “Thank you for everything. Remember to stay safe, okay?”
I don’t expect anything to happen, and maybe it’s my imagination, but I swear the egg grows the slightest bit warmer.
Ketill lays another kiss on my cheek, then hands the egg to its rightful owner.
Saskia pulls it close to her chest and sighs like something painful has finally been removed. “What’s your name?”
“Er…Thomas.”
“Thomas,” she replies, nodding once. “Your soulmate doesn’t deserve you.”
I’m about to say something when Ketill speaks up, “Oh, I know,” and I realise she’d been talking to him. I shift my feet and scratch the back of my neck.
“Shut up,” I mumble, gently punching Ketill’s arm. “Yes, you do,” I whisper.
And the look he sends me is more blinding than Saskia’s flames.
“Goodbye, Ketill and Thomas.” Saskia spins on her heel and heads towards the road. “I’m excited to hear about this daring adventure in your next newsletter.”
I turn to my grinning vampire, eyebrow cocked. “Do you really have a newsletter?”
Ketill tosses his head back as he laughs, loud and bold. He slings his arm around me, and as I shake my head, he pulls me in the direction of Saskia. “Don’t you want to see Saskia and her egg off?”
I perk up. “Is she going to fly away?”
Ketill only smirks and points me in the direction of Saskia strapping the egg into a car seat in the back of a white Ford Focus.
“Oh…”
“Yeah. Disappointing, right?” Ketill says, sounding not disappointed at all as we watch her drive off in a cloud of exhaust fumes. “So…”
“So…”
“I believe you wanted to see an old ass village.”
“My dream of visiting Skara Brae seems almost trivial now,” I admit.
“Nah. How about I steal us a car and I drive you there.”
I roll my eyes. “Or, crazy idea, we could just rent one.”
At my side, I see Ketill smile softly, like it’s his first time watching the sun rise without a cloud in sight. Like, there is nowhere else he’d rather be.
“Now, my treasure, where is the fun in that?”
I nudge him with my shoulder, shaking my head as he pulls me into a hug. I pretend to protest. But really, there’s nowhere else I’d rather be, either.
“So…” he begins again, resting his forehead on mine.
“So…” I tease back.
“Are you in love with me yet?”
I stare into his pale grey eyes. At the single dimple in his cheek. His devilish, yet boyishly charming smile. In only a handful of hours, this crazy man has taken my life and flipped it upside down, and I don’t think I’d want it any other way.
“C’mon, let’s go see if we can find our way to Skara Brae.” I take his arm and pull him back towards the heart of the village.
“Fine. But I’m still waiting for you to admit you’re madly in love with me!” Ketill laughs.
I cast a look over my shoulder at my soulmate, who crashed through my window on a moving train, and my heart skips a beat. “You haven’t won me over just yet.”