Curse Me Wicked #5
Each night, we made love and fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms. Each night, I dreamt.
Pax pursued me in his human form, always in a heavy mist, always through a dense wood.
The white fog slipped through the trees and brush like long reaching fingers, and I ran hard, stumbling and not in control of my new speed and strength.
Pax, for some reason, was. His white spiked hair appeared behind every tree, every rock, as though he toyed with me.
And every time, he’d catch me, back me against the base of a tree.
This is your fault, newbie. I’m here, trapped as an abomination, all because of you.
I don’t know whether to thank you or rip your throat out.
I’d awaken, shaking violently, breathless, just before Pax shifted into his wolf form and lunged at me, teeth bared.
I kept the dreams from Lucian. I thought I could handle them, or that they’d just go away. I was so very wrong.
It was weird, mine and Lucian’s relationship.
I felt completely at ease with him, as though we’d known each other forever.
He’d had nearly three weeks to come to terms with the fact that I was his marked mate; I’d had about twenty-four hours.
Still, I accepted it readily and willingly.
It felt … natural, as though my life was to turn out no other way other than here, in the Highlands of Scotland, with an ancient Pict warrior-wolf.
It felt even more natural to become one.
I can’t explain it without sounding like a lunatic, but there you go.
Lucian and I left the bothy the last day of my transition and travelled north and west to the MacLeod stronghold. Situated on a sea loch, the massive grey stone fortress, complete with four imposing towers, dominated the seascape. It literally robbed my breath.
“You live here?” I asked incredulously. I glanced at him.
Lucian laughed, and reached over and grasped my hand. “Nay. We live here.”
My heart swelled at his words. We’d not exchanged the L-word yet; somehow, it just didn’t seem right.
But we’d both claimed one another, and the word mine sounded nearly as powerful, if not more so, than the word love.
There would be an adjustment period, for both of us.
But of one thing I was absolutely positive: we were meant to be together.
Lucian pulled onto a single-track gravel lane that led to the massive front doors of the castle, and before we had the Rover in park, five big guys emptied the entrance and made their way towards us.
All dark-haired, with bodies that looked like they swung axes and swords and kicked ass for a living. They made their way towards us.
Lucian glanced at me and laughed. “They won’t bite.”
I looked at him and raised a brow. “Doubt that.”
I climbed out of the Rover, slammed the door, and faced the MacLeods.
“Gin, my brothers. Arron, Raife, Christopher, Jacob, and Tristan.”
Arron walked up and embraced me; the others followed. “Welcome,” Arron said, his eyes flashing quicksilver.
“About time we had a lass around the place,” Jacob said, and the other laughed.
The MacLeods welcomed me, and as it was with Lucian, the same held true with his brothers. It felt like I’d known them my entire life.
The MacLeod fortress entailed no less than 200 acres and the shoreline, and inside the castle, a modernized habitat befitting of an ancient wolf clan of Pict warriors.
Primeval mixed perfectly with contemporary.
It was mind-numbing to think how long ago Lucian and his brothers were born; how long they’d lived.
They prepared me for my transition that night; in all honesty, there wasn’t much they could do except stand by and wait; help out if needed.
Lucian warned me the first time was painful, and he apologised more times than I could count.
He held me in his arms, kissed me, smoothed my hair from my face, and promised to not leave my side until it was over.
By nightfall, as the moon began to rise, Lucian and his brothers walked me to the shore line, encircled me, and waited.
I immediately knew it had begun when my skin began to itch.
I felt as though I wanted to crawl right out of it, and I clawed and scratched at my arms, my neck, my abdomen.
My temperature rose, higher and higher until I thought I would self-combust. My skin was on fire, and I began to pull at my clothes.
No matter that it was October in the Highlands; I was hot.
I didn’t have time to yank them off, either.
I felt my skeleton give way, the popping and rubbing sounds reverberating inside my head.
I cried out in pain, and in my peripheral sight I saw movement and knew it was Lucian.
He stopped abruptly, and didn’t advance further.
My heels and long bones shifted, elongated, contorted, and just when I thought I couldn’t take the pain and heat a second longer, I fell to the ground, let out a low, long, bay, and it was over.
I leapt up, shook my body, and met the silver gazes of six other wolves, their shaggy dark coats glistening in the moonlight.
We ran that night, my new brothers, my mate and I.
We ran from the west coast of Scotland clear to the east, along the shores of the North Sea, and it was invigorating, mind-freeing.
My new body rocked with sensations and I wanted to keep running.
I saw everything through my new eyes, and it was as though I saw the world for the very first time.
Lucian ran beside me, his silvery blue gaze watching me closely.
We spoke to each other in our minds. He never left my side.
At some point, exhaustion overtook me, we made it home, and I fell hard asleep.
When next I woke, I was in my human form, tucked closely against Lucian’s body. The sun had not yet risen and I felt invigorated. I wanted to explore the shore, so I slipped from our bed, quickly dressed, and headed outside. No one else stirred. I was the only one awake.
The brisk Highland air greeted me, along with a healthy dose of mist. I found it strange not to be cold, but my core stayed at over 100 degrees, so there was no need for a jacket.
I breathed in the air, sweet with clover and something else I couldn’t name, and I took in my surroundings.
On the left side of the gravel lane, a meadow and at its edge, a dense copse of wood filled with towering pines and oaks.
Then, I saw it. Through the slender ribbons of mist I saw something white move into view.
I stared, my newly sharpened vision trained on the spot.
Before my brain registered what my eyes saw, I knew it.
Pax. He waited for me. Without a thought, I took off towards him at a jog and by the time I reached the wood line, I was at a full run. Pax had disappeared.