The Curse of Wolf Crag #4
The satyr nodded solemnly. “There’s a balance necessary between the mortal lands and the lands of the fae.
You are of the rock, we are of the mist. For those of the mist to dwell in the land of rock, there must be a strong presence of the people of rock to believe in the place where we dwell.
Once the balance shifts to more of us than Adam’s children in a place, the place begins to retreat into the world of fae.
” He put his mug down on the wall and gave her a disgusted look.
“Frankly, we like it right here in the mortal world.” Theo heaved a great sigh and walked away, shaking his shaggy grey, horned head.
Tara sat on the wall looking at the garden for a while. She was perfectly calm on the outside, seething on the inside. After a while she got up and began walking towards Tor Rock.
“We’ll see about this,” she murmured.
“Tara! Tara, where are you off to?”
She’d gone quite a distance across the sheep pastures when Alistair called to her, but his deep voiced was pitched to carry. She ignored him and kept going. She’d reached the base of the steep hill when the wolf loped up beside her.
“Put on some pants,” she told Alistair when the wolf transformed into a gloriously gorgeous naked man.
She walked on.
He must have had them tied around his neck, because when he caught up with her in a few seconds he was wearing black sweatpants.
He grabbed her arm, and pulled her to face him. “What’s wrong, love?”
“Love? Don’t you use that word to me, Fang Douglas!”
Her shout was so angry and adamant that he took a shocked step back. But in an instant his own temper flared to match hers. A faint red glow lit deep in his blue eyes. “How many times do I have to apologise to you?”
“Since you haven’t apologised even once yet, I don’t know!”
Shock returned. “What are you talking about? Of course I’ve—’’ His gaze went unfocused, his expression thoughtful. “Maybe I never said anything, but you have to know––”
“No, I don’t!”
Tara’s heart was breaking all over again, and she wasn’t going to stand here and let it happen in front of Alistair Douglas. She wasn’t going to let him know how bad it still was – she hadn’t known herself until just now. Now – her heart was being flayed to pieces by shards of broken glass.
She began climbing the crooked path up from the base of Tor Rock. If he followed she couldn’t hear over the rumble of landslides and roar of the wind. Besides, werewolves moved quietly, even in human form. Also, Tara was cursing loudly inside her own head.
When she stopped abruptly to avoid a boulder rolling across the path, Alistair bumped hard into her back. She was knocked forwards, but his hands came around her waist to keep her from falling. He didn’t let go, but turned her to face him.
“We need to talk, Tara.”
There was nothing but sadness and sincerity in his deep voice and blue eyes. She didn’t believe a bit of it, though her heart wanted to.
“Plus, we should get away from Tor Rock,” he added. “It’s not safe here.”
Safer than having his arms around her. “Please let go of me,” she said.
He didn’t. Instead, he pulled her back down the path and into a stand of trees surrounding a bubbling spring at the base of the hill.
A stream threaded away from the spring across Thomas land.
Locally, it was known as the Roman Spring, and there were complaints about filmmakers stealing the name for movie titles from older generations of the family.
He swung her up on the huge worn boulder which had always been used as a bench and moved in very close. He stood between her legs, with his hands on her shoulders. The warmth of his skin permeated her. His closeness tried to overwhelm her.
“We are now going to have the talk we should have had a decade ago,” he told her.
“A talk you seem to think we’d already had,” she snapped back. “It’s too late now.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve been sorry I hurt you every day for the last dozen years. I ran away from you, I did you wrong––”
“You slept with every woman you met off the island.”
He nodded. “Aye. I did. For a while. I didn’t try to hide it from you. I didn’t sneak around and pretend I wasn’t a complete bastard. I am so sorry about the time you walked in on my flat in Glasgow.”
“Two women!” she shouted. “You were in bed with two women! And you laughed when you saw me standing there. You didn’t try to explain. You didn’t come after me when I ran out.”
“I was in no condition to run after you!” he shouted back. “There was no reason to try to make excuses for what was obvious! I’m sorry if I laughed – I don’t remember laughing.”
“I’ve heard that laugh in my nightmares for years!”
He winced. “Damn it, Tara, I’m sorry!” He stroked her cheek. “I’ve missed you. Missed you and wanted you … but I did what I did and all I can do is ask you for a chance to start over. We’re fated to be together, love, don’t you remember that?”
She caught herself leaning into his cupped hand and jerked away. “Fated? Then why did you––?”
“Because we were fated to be together! I fought fate,” he told her.
“When I left the island all I wanted to do for a while was run away from everything – and everyone – Wolf Crag represented. I wanted my freedom. I wanted to find out who I was. I wanted to make my own choices and decisions and to hell with magic and fate and all the nonsense that I’d had fed to me from birth. ”
“Our love was nonsense?”
He gave a tight nod. “Yes, it was. For a while. I went looking for something better – because I was a young idiot. I never found anyone I cared for more than you. I stopped looking soon enough. By the time I knew you were the only love of my life the damage had been done. I accepted that the curse of a Douglas and Thomas had taken over my life.”
“Oh, I see. You didn’t believe in fate, but you believe in the curse?”
He stroked his hands down her arms. “What I believe now is that we can start again. When we met again in Glasgow, I knew that if we both went home, I’d have a chance to make everything up to you – here, where we belong.”