18. Locke
Locke
I don’t like any of this. I thought as I stood at my mate’s side, watching the intruder we had bound across from us. Something about this being doesn’t seem natural. But I just can’t place my paw on it.
“It’s so strange. If he really is a ghost, you shouldn’t have been able to touch him,” Fare mused aloud as she leaned against my legs.
“Very strange indeed then. But perhaps that’s why I found something to be off about him,” I agreed as I risked a quick glance down at my mate.
I was about to say more when I heard our prisoner stirring.
We both trained our eyes on the male as he groaned and rolled his head several times in what I would guess was an attempt to ease a crick in his neck.
“Wha—what happened? I feel like I was hit by a truck.” The ghost moaned as he dropped his head and tried to raise his hands to cup it. “I had forgotten what a real headache felt like. I’m not sure if I should thank you for that or curse you.”
Fare and I shared a look, asking each other what was going on. When she shrugged at me, we both turned back to the spirit and watched as he struggled against his bindings.
“Now, um, what are the odds that you’d be so kind as to remove these pesky chains? There’s really no need for such drastic measures amongst a new friend, is there?” he asked with a jovial smile.
“And who exactly decided that we were friends?” I asked.
“Why, I did of course!” The prat’s grin grew. “After all, you two are the first ones to be able to see me in over four hundred years! So what kind of ghost would I be if I just let an opportunity like this pass me by?! Call me Roan, the last soul of the doomed Roanoke Colony.”
I cocked my head at the odd creature. Just who does this creature think he is to lay such claims upon my mate and I? I had expected my anger to rise at the audacity of the ghost. However, my bear only stirred long enough to purr with contentment.
Confusion filled me as I tried to understand what was going on. Between the strange response of my bear and the overly friendly ghost, I was at a complete loss for what to do.
At my side, I felt my mate stiffen with an emotion that gave me the sensation of excitement or joy.
“Really? You were a part of the Roanoke Colony? That’s amazing!” She cooed as she leaned towards the ghost.
“I was and I am. Every other spirit has moved on one way or another by now. So I am the very last. It is such a lonely existence, only being able to see the world change around my colony but never being able to be acknowledged by anyone.” His voice took on a pouty tone as though he was trying to garner sympathy from us.
I had no idea what his problem with solitude was. I was alone for most of my life and had rather enjoyed it. Finding my mate was just a pleasant surprise that I could have never expected.
I must have tuned out the pair because my focus only returned when I felt Fare get up from her place on the ground and start around the fire. When I reached out to stop her, my hand merely grazed the back of her jacket.
I tried to stumble after her and only caught up just as she reached the ghost and laid her hand on the chains binding him. She muttered a few words before the wind holding the spirit in place released.
The moment that they did, he flung himself at her and tackled her to the ground.
I lunged after them, and as the three of us rolled across the ground, laughter hit my ears. When we eventually came to a stop, I looked down at the pair I had pinned beneath me. The two of them stopped long enough to catch their breaths before locking gazes for several heartbeats before breaking back into peels of laughter.
“He seems like a grumpy bear, but deep down, he is rather protective and cuddly,” she whispered to the ghost. I grumbled as I rolled into a seated position without releasing my grasp on my mate.
Unfortunately, the stalker spirit came with us and when I tried to tighten my grip on her, he remained like a physical barrier. She gasped as I unintentionally crushed the ghost into her.
“What’s this?” he asked as he tried to look up at me. “More happy magic?”
His voice took on a wistful quality and I was torn between wanting to squash it and desiring to encourage it. When I opened my arms, he fell out of my lap and I could trap my Fare right where I wanted her. Safe from his clutches.
She giggled once it was just her that I was holding on to. Before us, the specter scrambled up and twisted around so he was seated with bouncy crossed legs. I swear, if that pest had a tail, it would have kicked up a stiff breeze from wagging.
“Locke, it’s okay. I swear. I don’t think that he’ll hurt either of us.” She soothed me as she patted my forearm.
I didn’t want her to know that it was working when I was still worried about what the being before us was up to. Everything about him came across as just wrong.