Chapter 24
ELENA PIERSON
Icarefully ease on the gas once we make it out of the parking lot, and the car jerks forward, the tires spinning slightly before catching asphalt on the narrow coastal road.
My knuckles are white as I grip the wheel, and my gaze is wide as I stare down at the pavement trying to not freak out.
Holy shit this feels so wrong.
Every primitive instinct in my brain is screaming that I’m driving head first into oncoming traffic even though the road is completely empty, and I’ve never been so nervous in my life.
Beads of sweat pool at the nape of my neck from the hot and cold flashes that have been rolling through me, unaccustomed to the weird levels of adrenaline coursing through my body.
“You’re doing brilliant, love,” Lachlan says softly, though I can hear the tight, rigid tension in his own voice. He’s trying to be sweet, supportive, but his gaze is still hyper focused on the mirrors tracking the road behind us and he’s gripping the handle above his head like it’s a lifeline.
My stomach is in my throat as I try to breathe through the ever constant waves of panic I’m experiencing. I don’t want to ask if he’s tracking for any human man affected by my invisible selkie aura, or if he’s worried I’m going to crash and commit vehicular homicide.
“Thanks,” I squeak, struggling to find second gear with my left hand and accidentally turning on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. The blade swipes dryly against the glass with a loud screech. “Oops, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine,” he reassures me, his grip tightening just a fraction on my knee. “Just keep us moving north and we’ll be right as rain.”
We cruise down the winding road for less than two minutes before a massive painted sign appears before us.
My heart instantly drops into my stomach and panic overcomes my senses.
Roundabout ahead.
My fingers tighten on the steering wheel, and I feel my butthole pucker in apprehension.
“Oh no,” I whisper, my throat going completely dry.
Up ahead, a massive traffic circle looms. Cars are already whizzing through it, spinning clockwise in a dizzying blur.
Roundabouts are already stressful, but a Scottish roundabout that has to be approached from the left side of the road while trying to shift gears with the wrong hand, feels like a death trap.
“Lachlan,” I gasp, my foot hovering frantically over the brake as we rapidly approach the yield line. “How do I do this? Who has the right of way? I don’t know where to look! What do I do?!”
“Just give way to the right,” Lachlan says, and points, as if he didn’t just spend three hundred years locked in a moat. His large body tenses as we barrel toward the traffic circle. “Look right, Elena. Just look right and go. You’ve got this lass.”
I stomp on the brake, the little coupe screeching to a halt an inch from the line. A sleek silver sedan whips past our front bumper from the right, and the male driver slows down just a fraction to stare through our windshield with a sudden fixation, his gaze on me.
“He’s looking at me! He’s slowing down!” I panic. My left hand violently grinding the gear shift into what I pray is first gear, I start forward into traffic. “Okay, I’m going! I’m going!”
I squeeze my eyes shut and send up a prayer as I press the gas and dump the clutch down with my foot, flooring it.
“There!” Lachlan shouts.
Opening my gaze, I spot the ‘Loch Ness’ sign and with a desperate yank of the wheel, I narrowly cut across the lane, swerve past the concrete divider and drive out of the roundabout circle from hell.
“I did it! We’re through!” I yell, letting out a manic laugh as the road straightens out ahead of us, my heart hammering harder than a hummingbird in my chest.
My hands are shaking, but I’ve never felt more alive.
“You did so good, my flower. I knew you could do it!” Lachlan praises me, but his grip is still tight on the overhead handle bar of the car.
After a bit of driving, the road becomes two lanes, and there are no other cars here. It’s just us, the towering pine trees, and a thick blanket of Scottish fog rolling off the hills.
A little further up ahead the scenery turns hauntingly beautiful. Giant ancient ferns carpet the forest floor, and the dense canopy of pines weave together overhead, working as a filter for the afternoon sun and turning it into fractured beams of emerald light.
Purple heather clings to the rocky banks alongside the road as the wind pushes its pretty scent through the dashboard vents. Outside smells intensely of damp earth, sweet pine, needle juice and wood smoke, and the calming effect is wonderful.
I finally began to breathe again, easing the car into third gear, and allow myself to relax a bit in the seat for the first time since getting into the vehicle.
Lachlan shifts his massive frame as much as the tiny passenger seat allows, leaning his head closer into my space.
The rigid territorial guard dog lines completely melt from his face, and he reaches out, his huge warm hand gently cupping the back of my neck.
His thumb traces a slow, soothing circle right at the base of my skull, sending a delicious wave of goosebumps cascading down my spine.
“The traffic is much easier here, aye? The closer we get the loch, the less people I reckon,” he murmurs, his voice dropping into that private rich purr that seems to belong only to me.
He leans in and presses a soft, lingering kiss right against my temple, his breath warm against my skin.
“The hard part is over, my flower. How about we have a bit of music to celebrate? Help you relax the rest of the way?”
“Oh, music sounds perfect,” I breathe, my heart finally slowing to a normal rhythm under his touch.
That’s when I remember my phone. It’s tucked safely away inside my luggage in the back. But I also recall that I definitely need to message Natalie. I need to let her know that I’m okay, if a little bit more informed about the world and the creatures in it now.
I reach blindly over my shoulder toward the back seat, trying to remember which pocket of my bag I zipped it into, hoping to get it plugged into the car’s Bluetooth system once I grab it.
A loud, sudden electronic beep echoes through the car’s dash, cutting off my thoughts.
The dashboard unit has automatically connected to my device somehow even through the fabric of my zip suitcase.
Suddenly, the car speakers explode with sound, and it’s not a mix of my favorite music at all.
Instead, a deep, incredibly smooth, overly dramatic British baritone voice pours over the speakers at maximum volume, picking up exactly where my audio book left off the last time I listened to it.
“Oh, my god, no,” I breathe, afire licking up at the back of my neck as embarrassment sweeps across my body.
“…The beast uncoiled his massive shadow, his scaled tail pinning her gently against the forest floor,” the narrator purrs, his voice dripping with intensity.
“He towered over her, his luminous eyes glowing in the dark as his claws lightly traced her jaw.
‘You think you can run from a predator, little human?’ he growled, the sound a vibration that shook her down to her bones. ‘You are mine to claim now…”
My jaw drops and my soul leaves my body on a whoosh. Mortification slams into me, hotter than any panic. “Turn it off, turn it off!”
“What is that?” Lachlan blinks, his green gaze widening as the narrator lets out a low and husky growl over the stereo system. “Is that…is that someone talking about a scaled tail claiming you?”
“… he parted his jaws, a low rumble echoing from his chest as his dark wings caged her in,” the voice continues, vibrating the speakers of the tiny coupe. ‘You belong in my lair forever…”
“It’s my book. It’s my monster romance book!” I scream, completely losing my mind.
I take my left hand off the steering wheel to smack frantically at the dashboard buttons, trying to find a volume knob or a power button to cut off the wireless connection.
My right hand jerks the wheel by accident, distracted by the spicy monster audio and completely disoriented at being on the wrong side of the road, I don’t notice how sharp the next bend is.
I withhold a quick gasp as the blood rushes from my face and slam on the brakes, but it’s too late. The small coupe skids straight off the dark winding road and plunges into a ditch, clipping a low stone wall running along the edge of the woods.
Crunch.
The entire car jolts forward, throwing us hard against our seat belts as the engine lets out a pathetic hiss of sound before dying completely. A thin wisp of white steam begins to curl out from under the dented hood, while my heart thunders in my chest.
Silence fills the car save for the speakers, which are still cheerfully blasting away.
“… And as she wrapped her small hands around his thick scales, the ancient cryptid claimed everything and possessed her with his impressive…”
I slap at the power button, finally killing the Bluetooth, and the level of silence that follows is deafening.
The adrenaline completely crashes out of my system. The stress of the train, the hot cramped bus, the invisible selkie magic, and the terror of the roundabout only to now ruin our only escape vehicle on the side of a deserted road hits me all at once.
My vision blurs, a hot and heavy tear spills over my cheek, followed by another. I bury my face in my hands against the steering wheel and start sobbing, unable to keep my emotions to myself as I crumble.
“I’m sorry,” I sob, my shoulders shaking. “I ruined it. I crashed the car and now we’re stranded, and everyone is going to try to flirt with me again and I can’t even drive on the right side of the road.” I lose it.
“Elena, my flower. Look at me.”
A big warm hand gently takes my wrists pulling my hands away from my face. I look through my tears at Lachlan. He’s still absurdly large and crumpled in the passenger seat, but the panic is entirely gone from his face.
His expression is incredibly soft, his green eyes melting with pure, unadulterated tenderness.
Before I can spiral further, the heavy snap of the seatbelt echoes in the tiny cabin as Lachlan exits the vehicle and makes his way over to me, throwing my driver’s side door open to the misty elements, and unbuckling my seatbelt in one swift movement.
With effortless strength he lifts me entirely out of the driver’s seat and pulls me straight out of the car, hauling me onto the soft damp grass of the roadside bank.
He sits back against the low stone wall and gathers me securely in his arms, wrapping his big body around me like a living shield against the cold Scottish air.
He buries his face in my hair, inhaling deeply, completely unbothered by the smoking engine or ruined bumper.
“You see it’s fine, Elena,” he murmurs, his deep voice a soothing rich purr against my ear as he rocks me.
He gently wipes a tear from my cheek with his broad thumb holding me so close I can feel the steady powerful hum of his heartbeat.
“Look over my shoulder. See there? See past the road and look down the hill.” He says, rubbing one big hand down my back, his body feeling very much like a security blanket.
I sniffle, resting my chin on his broad shoulder as I look past the steaming hood of the car.
The long road brought us right to the crest of a large hill, and there stretched out as far as the eye can see under a thick blanket of mystical Scottish mist, is a massive and breathtakingly dark expanse of water. The Loch Ness.
“We’ve reached the loch,” Lachlan whispers, a beautiful and proud smile lighting up his face as he tightens his hold on me. “We’re home, my bonnie wee flower. You got us home, lass.”