Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Luch
Iwas too keyed up to sit still after I dropped Faelan off and returned home to my cottage. The rain had left, and a silvery light filtered through the trees around my cottage, catching the glimmering droplets clinging to the leaves.
“Fancy a run, lad?”
Oban trotted over from where he’d been finishing his dinner in the kitchen and tilted his head up at me.
“That kind of run?”
I shrugged. I knew I needed to work off some energy but wasn’t sure yet just how much I needed to burn through.
“Best not. I’m still on the mend and it’s probably smarter for me to take it easy.”
“That’s fair. I shouldn’t have asked you.” I winced. Oban typically loved to go for a run with me, but obviously the wee lad was still healing even though he seemed largely back to normal. Some wounds didn’t show on the surface, did they?
“Nae bother.” Oban trotted over to his bed by the fireplace. “I’ll just cozy in here for a bit.”
“I shouldn’t be too long.” I rolled my shoulders as I tied my running shoes. “I just need to work off some energy.”
“Don’t blame you. The cute healer has you all stirred up.”
“She doesn’t have me …” I glared at him, his little body shaking with his silent laughter. Oban loved nothing more than to get a rise out of me. “Wheesht. It’s not like that. I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“Like a beautiful woman who turned you down for a date?”
I stood, annoyed, and went to the door. “I’m leaving.”
“Have fun. Try not to creep Faelan out if you stalk her.”
“I’m not going to stalk her.” I whirled at the door. Right, so maybe I had planned to run through town, but it was often where I went for a run. It wasn’t my fault that her flat was on the main street, was it? “That would be weird.”
“Maybe pick a different direction for your run then.” Oban buried his nose in his paws, his eyes drifting closed, and I shot two fingers in the air at him before stepping outside.
“Bloody mutt.”
“Heard that. I’m full-breed, you know.”
Rolling my eyes, I turned the corner of the cottage and took off up a trail that wound through the woods and away from the street that lined the loch.
The last of the day’s light dimmed, but I was steady on my feet as I pounded up the hill, my breath leaving me in measured bursts. Confident on my feet, I enjoyed the strain in my muscles as I ascended the hill, and stopped as I always did, admiring how Loren Brae spread out below me.
A town to call my own.
Leaving Scalloway had been the right choice, I was sure of it in my very bones, and every time I looked down at Loren Brae, it only strengthened my determination to keep my life here.
Away from my family, away from the old ways, to start a life that wasn’t based on rules and obligations, but one that was based on my choices alone.
“You’re selfish.” Even now, I could hear my father’s words as I’d left home.
But I tended to believe there was a distinctive line between selfishness and establishing boundaries.
Others may not see it that way, but that was the problem with boundaries, wasn’t it?
The people who chafed against them were likely the ones you needed them for the most.
The castle sat, ever watchful, its windows lit with warm light, a sentinel over Loren Brae.
The town needed her, that much I knew, but I still hadn’t discovered the root of the magick that threaded its way through the earth here.
I could feel it, out on my runs, the soft thrum of energy that told me that something more surrounded me.
The screams of the Kelpies at night could have told me the same as well.
But they were different.
Different energy, that is.
Taking a deep breath, I continued my run down the hill and over the next, drawn closer to the castle, where car doors slammed, and laughter carried on the wind.
They must be having an event of sorts, or the restaurant was particularly busy tonight.
I took the path that ran the perimeter of the property, following a line of hedges, through a gathering of trees that ran parallel to a small burn, and past the construction site for the new Common Gin distillery.
A group of people laughed outside the castle, and for a moment, my heart twisted.
They all looked so … content … together.
Though there were times I craved that togetherness, I wasn’t quite sure I was ready for it.
The suffocating pressure of my family bore down on my shoulders, and I couldn’t help but attribute that same feeling to any potential groups of friends I’d make.
Frankly, I didn’t want the responsibility of answering to anyone but myself right now.
As I neared the castle, I followed the dirt path along the gardens that ran behind a tall line of hedges that hugged the drive to the castle car park. Movement through the branches caught my eye and I held my breath as a figure marched up the road, having a conversation with … a fox.
Not just any person, though. It was Faelan, and she was definitely deep in conversation with a fox.
I pulled farther back into the bushes. Already I could hear Oban berating me for stalking the poor woman, but how was I to know she was going to be at the castle?
Now I just had to stay as still as I could, wait until she passed, and then hightail it out of there.
The fox lifted its nose and turned, staring directly through the bushes, and I stayed still, praying it didn’t draw any attention to me.
When they continued on past me, I let out my breath in a soft sigh of relief and crept down the path away from the castle and back toward my cottage. My intention certainly hadn’t been to spy on Faelan, and now I had even more questions about her than before.
Like why was she talking to a fox? Hadn’t she told me she didn’t have any pets?
An image of her, flushed and flustered, a bruise welling on her forehead, came to my mind. I’d wanted to kiss her.
Even though the very idea of me dating a healer would send my father over the edge.
Yes, she was a healer. But so was I, wasn’t I? Even if I relied strictly on science to do so.
“They don’t judge me.”
Faelan’s words came back to me as I pounded the pavement, pushing myself hard, needing to work through why I was so attracted to this woman. There was a sweetness to Faelan, a vulnerability that I could see in my own eyes when I looked in the mirror.
The reality was outsiders recognized outsiders.
Did two outsiders make a group? Was it possible that Faelan could be my first real friend here?
Even though I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t attracted to her.
It would be hard to be just her friend, not when her very scent made me think of long sweaty nights and my name on her lips.
Groaning, I pushed harder, working to ignore the lust that ran through my body.
I was used to ignoring my needs, had done so for a couple years now since I’d discovered the last girl I’d dated had actually been a plant from my father.
I should have known. She’d had a perfect pedigree, and he’d be able to boast to everyone that he’d finally made an unequaled match for his wayward son.
Instead, I’d packed up and started my life over, needing to put space between us.
As though on command, my phone rang, and I grimaced, suspecting it was my father calling.
Instead, my mum’s name lit up on the screen and I slowed to a walk just down the road from my cottage and swiped the screen.
“Mum, how are you?”
“There’s my sweet boy. You sound out of breath?”
The question hung, and a corner of my mouth turned up in a wry smile.
“You caught me at the end of my run. Everything good?” I could never quite calm down in a conversation with my mother until I knew she was well.
I always wanted her to be safe.
“Of course, everything’s just fine. Your father’s away in surgery, and your brothers are all doing well enough.”
“But?” I could hear the hesitation in her voice.
“Och, it’s just that I miss you, my wee boy.”
“Mum, I—”
“No, don’t you start. You need to do this. Ignore your father. He’s stuck in the old ways, Luch. You know that.”
“I wish he could see that there are … other options.”
“He will. Eventually. He did with me, didn’t he?”
I unhooked my gate and then made sure to carefully lock it behind me.
“But …” I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“Och, not you, too. What happened to me is not because your father broke the rules, Luch. Honestly. How can I be surrounded by highly educated doctors of all things and yet you all still cling to this superstition?” Annoyance laced my mother’s tone, and I winced, not wanting to upset her.
“You’re right. I know you are. Say, Mum, let me tell you about what Oban did the other day.
” I launched into a story about how Oban had shredded a brand-new toy I’d bought for him, leaving so much stuffing around the house it looked like it had snowed inside, and by the time I ended the call, she was back to her ever-cheerful self.
Her laughter was enough to ease any lingering tension I had, and her faith in me for making the choice to leave home was the sole candle in the darkness of my family’s judgment.
And despite what Oban said earlier, I had not been stalking the lovely vet tonight.
But I also hadn’t been willing to turn down an opportunity to satisfy my desire to know more about one Dr. Faelan Fletcher.
The problem, though, was now I felt like I’d only just scratched the surface.
There were deeper forces at play here, and while I usually didn’t mind letting people keep their secrets close, I realized that wasn’t going to be the case with Faelan.
Her shy smile, flushed cheeks, and whip-smart mind intrigued me, and even if it made more sense to stay away … I already knew it would be impossible to do so.