Page 20 of A Highland Gargoyle’s Lucky Star (Tales from the Tarot)

Chapter twenty

Elryk

Do not test how far a gargoyle will go to protect the ones they love—especially a fated mate. When pushed to the edge, a Guardian has the ability to enter a berserker mode and vanquish even the most difficult of enemies. However, there is a price to be paid for this almost god-like but temporary power. Little is known about this state or its aftereffects, as there have been few documented cases in recent history. What information has been recorded remains closely guarded by the gargoyle clans and not accessible to outsiders of any kind.

—Guardians of the Line: A Hidden History , by Dr. Targan Wildethorne

W hen the Sluagh horde regroup in the sky and fly toward Noah, my worst nightmare comes alive.

My fellow Guardians who’ve been fighting below take to the skies and manage to intercept quite a few of the enemy before they are able to land again, instead forcing the battle to our preferred ground.

What few people realize, and what gargoyles tend to keep quiet from outsiders, is that our kind are deadliest in the air. Our wings are designed for intricate aerial maneuvers and rough fighting.

In contrast, as I and many of my kin have quickly discovered tonight, the leathery wings of our foe are nowhere near as durable or as aerodynamic as ours.

But even with the clan’s quick maneuvers, there are still too many of the Sluagh aiming for our small trio.

Nearly two dozen of them land on the battlement at the same time, and Braewyn and I get separated in the chaos.

My heart nearly stops when I see Noah evade a direct attack that would have killed him.

Using every ounce of strength and speed I have, I rush to his side.

My blood is boiling and with a mighty roar, I slice in half the hideous creature that dared attack my mate.

Then I’m surrounded, the foul stench of these monsters making me gag.

My sword cuts a bloody path through the creatures, with relentless precision.

The Sluagh aren’t intelligent or experienced warriors. They appear to operate on an almost mindless instinct. It makes them easy to slay, but their sheer numbers are overwhelming even Braewyn and me.

When I manage to check on Noah again, it’s just in time to witness one of the creatures lunging for him.

This time, Noah doesn’t fully manage to evade our enemy, and he’s sent flying.

I watch in abject horror as he crashes into the battlement’s stone wall.

Braewyn makes a break for him, cutting down others in his path.

“Noah!” I roar, fury building inside unlike anything I’ve ever known. A strange rushing noise fills my ears.

How dare they.

A feminine voice I don’t recognize, fills my mind. “Kill them all and protect your mate. Vengeance shall be yours, my loyal Guardian.”

An influx of power—different from that of the ley line—flows into me and I swing my sword with renewed vigor, easily slicing through every gruesome creature in my path.

Enemies fall at my feet and I grin with satisfaction. I am coming for them all, and death is what awaits them.

Just as I break free and begin to make my way forward, I watch Braewyn help a staggering Noah to his feet and hurry him over to the door that leads back into the castle, and to safety.

And that’s when I see blood covering one side of his face.

My mate is bleeding.

I barely hear Braewyn shout to Noah, “Get out of here! We’ve got this.”

Something snaps inside me and I let out roar that could rival a fully transformed dragon. The battlement shakes and even the Sluagh in the sky hesitate.

Nothing will appease me but their blood. Every single one of them must die. The boiling rage inside me demands no less.

I flow across the battlement with an unnatural grace and speed as I lay waste to my remaining foes until I’m the only one left standing.

Having seen Noah to safety, Braewyn returns to my side.

I spread my wings and rocket into the air with a battle cry that resounds across the night sky. “Guardians unite!”

As one, the DarkWing clan attacks the remaining Sluagh with renewed purpose.

Most target their wings, sending them crashing to the ground, while I go right for their heads.

I’m not nearly satisfied yet. My sword hasn’t tasted enough blood this night.

These vile, contemptible creatures tried to attack my mate. They hurt Noah.

And for that, they’ll pay.

Fire burns in my veins and a haze of red descends over my vision.

At the same time, a strange fog fills my mind, and all I know is death and destruction as I obliterate every Sluagh that gets in my way.

My skin hardens into its battle shell and my muscles swell beyond their normal size. I zip through the air, faster and more agile than ever before. As I slash and stab, bathing in the blood of my enemy, I make the rumbling warrior cry of our people.

Keep Noah safe, echoes in my mind, and I fight on.

All around me, my clan continues to battle, but I am focused on only one purpose—to destroy the Horde that dared enter our lands and hurt my mate.

I barely register the occasional slice of sharp talons against my skin. I feel no pain. My arms and chest are slick with blood, more of it belonging to my enemy than me, which pleases me greatly.

I am relentless.

Part of me wants to howl with laughter.

Vengeance is mine!

Time becomes strangely muted until I don’t know how long I’ve been fighting. It could be a minute, an hour, a week until my arms and legs are suddenly grabbed.

I struggle, a feral cry escaping from my gnashing teeth when my sword drops from my hand to clatter onto the battlement below.

Muffled words that I can’t quite make out filter through my mental fog.

A gasp is forced from me as my back slams against stone and my wings shudder from the impact.

No!

I cannot let the Sluagh kill me here. I must protect Noah and my clan till my dying breath. I renew my struggles, bucking my body and letting out another angry roar.

Then a familiar touch of a small, trembling hand lands on my cheek.

I freeze.

“Please, Elryk,” an equally familiar voice says, slicing through the haze.

The bloodlust calms slightly.

“Come back to me, my love,” the voice whispers. I blink furiously in an attempt to clear the red mist from my eyes.

Then warm energy enters my body, and I still.

This is the magic of the ley line. And the power of my mate.

“Noah?” I croak out.

“Yes, Elryk, it’s me. Everything’s okay now. I’m fine and everyone else is safe. It’s over. Please, please, don’t hurt yourself anymore.”

Another blink and the last of the misty red fades away, and I find myself staring up into Noah’s crying face. Tears stream down his cheeks, and wrenching sobs rack his small body.

“Are you hurt?” I ask, my voice a raspy whisper.

Noah rubs at his face with one hand and gives me a watery smile. “I’m fine, you big, stupid idiot. You’re the one who’s hurt!”

The blood from earlier is gone, which makes something inside me calm.

“Dinnae cry, mo ghràidh.” My heart clenches in my chest, and I reach a shaky hand up to cup his face.

“Of course, I’m going to cry, you jerk! You nearly got yourself killed. Who said you needed to go and defeat the Sluagh horde all by yourself? That was a dumbass move, mister, and you better never do it again,” he demands angrily between sobs.

I finally notice Braewyn kneeling next to my mate, a look of profound relief and exhaustion washing over his face.

“I was worried you might not come back to us, Elryk.”

“What are you talking about?”

His expression turns more serious than I think I’ve ever seen it be in my life. “You went into berserker mode.”

My lungs seize and I stop breathing.

We’ve all heard the legends among our kind, but never witnessed it.

Until now.

I make a move to sit up, but Braewyn and Noah urge me to stay where I am.

“We have healers on the way,” Braewyn explains softly, “so don’t move. You might make some of your injuries worse.”

“Injuries?” I rasp. “But I dinnae hurt.”

Noah lays his head down on my chest and lets loose with a fresh round of sobs that break my heart.

What have I done?

Braewyn’s eyes are full of concern and empathy. “You probably can’t feel any pain right now because of the excess adrenaline and magic coursing through your body, my friend. As it fades, you’ll feel everything.”

I bite my lip as this part of the legend comes back to me. “How bad is it?”

He swallows hard, but he’s honest. “You’ll live, but I expect you’ll have to spend a lot longer in the medical wing of the castle than you’ll probably want to.”

“Fucking hell,” I whisper, and then cough.

Noah pulls back and wipes at his puffy eyes and snotty nose.

I flash him a faint smile. “You’re right, you are a bit of a fugly crier, my love.” My chuckle makes me cough again.

He scowls at me. “I know I am. If you remember correctly, that’s why I told you not to ever make me cry.”

“I’m sorry, my love.”

“What happened out there? Why did you go apeshit like that?”

I turn to Braewyn, begging him with my eyes to explain. All of a sudden, I’m too tired to do it myself.

My best friend quickly fills Noah in on the rare ability we have to receive divine power from the Goddess to protect our fated mates. When he finishes, Noah turns his attention back on me.

“Why?”

“They hurt you, my love. It triggered something dark and dangerous inside me. You’re my mate, and I told you I’d protect you till my dying breath. There was no way I’d fail you a second time.”

Noah uses his shirt to wipe furiously at his face before narrowing his red eyes at me. “Let’s get a few things clear here, Elryk DarkWing. You didn’t fail me. And I don’t want you to do any dying on my behalf. In fact, I’m gonna learn how to take care of myself and use my powers, not only to enhance all of yours, but to also defend our people and our castle whenever a new threat appears. I’m gonna be so badass, just you wait.”

Braewyn pats him on the back. “Now that’s what I like to hear. You’re a good egg, Noah, that you are.”

A medical team bursts through the door leading to the battlement and quickly surrounds me, forcing Noah and Braewyn back so they can begin to work on me.

“Honestly, I feel fine,” I say in a faint whisper.

“He’s taken in a lot of the Sluagh’s venom,” I hear one of them say. “We’ve got to start purging it from his system.”

“Berserker mode pushed his body too far. There’s quite a bit of muscular damage to repair, as well,” another chimes in.

I start to drift off as they begin to work their magic to stabilize me before moving me to the medical wing.

I’ll just take a wee nap here.

And my eyes close. Noah calls my name, but his voice fades to nothing as I sink into darkness.

When I open my eyes again, I’m lying in a pristine hospital bed, a white sheet and gray blanket pulled up over me. Several machines seem to be hooked up to my body, and I have an IV in one arm.

I take a moment to catalog my various lingering aches and pains. While I do hurt quite a bit, I’m relieved that I can feel all my fingers and toes, as well as my tail and wings. All appendages and vital organs appear to be accounted for, too.

I’ll take that as a win.

Slowly, I turn my head to the side and find a sleeping Noah curled up in a chair pressed against the side of my bed, his hand holding mine even in slumber.

He has bruising on his forehead and a small laceration that’s been neatly stitched together over his right eyebrow. No doubt that was the cause of all the blood dripping down his face that sparked my berserker mode.

The rational part of me knows that head wounds tend to bleed more profusely than others and are often not as bad as they look. But just seeing Noah spill blood when the Sluagh attacked him was enough to tip me over the edge.

My recollection of events after that is hazy, but I have no regrets. I defeated the Sluagh and they’ll never hurt Noah again. That’s all that matters.

I squeeze my mate’s hand softly and he startles awake. There are dark circles under his eyes and he looks awfully pale and tired, but otherwise, he appears to be just fine.

I breathe a sigh of relief.

“You’re awake!” He reaches over and pushes a button on the wall.

Leaning in closer, he begins to study every inch of my face intently. “How do you feel?”

“I’m fine,” I manage to say. “A bit sore, like my body’s been put through the ringer, but I’ll survive.” I smack my dry lips. “Could I get a bit of water, my love?”

He jumps to his feet and hurries across the room to pour me a glass of water, then returns to my side with it. I greedily suck down the cold, clear fluid. It tastes about as good as the nectar of the gods at this moment, and I sigh a bit as I settle back down.

The door to my room opens and our clan’s head doctor walks in. She’s an older gargoyle, about my mother’s age, and she has her hair pulled back in a sensible bun and horn-rimmed glasses perched on the end of her nose.

She arches a graying eyebrow at me. “I see our patient is awake.”

“Hiya, doc. It’s been a long time since I last saw you.”

She crosses her arms. “Aye, well, you’ve more than made up for it with this visit.”

Noah wrings his hands. “Doctor Martha, can you check on him? Is he all right?”

She favors my mate with a soft, kind smile. “Of course, Noah.”

Pulling out her stethoscope, she does a quick examination. Much to my displeasure, she also uses her device with a light on the end of it to damn near blind me. I’m still seeing spots when she steps back.

“You’re a lucky man, Elryk DarkWing,” she says, shaking her head. “I’ll admit, it was quite fascinating to work on a foolish patient who’d managed to survive berserker mode without losing their mind or several body parts along the way. But you did a real number on yourself, young man.”

I wince. “Give it to me straight. How bad is it?”

She goes through and catalogs some of my injuries, which don’t seem too bad. I had a number of rather deep gouges from Sluagh talons, but far more deadly was the venom from their claws that got into my bloodstream.

“You kept fighting long past the point of safety,” Dr. Martha explains. “It took several gargoyles to bring you down, and it was only your mate here who was able to call you back to reality. You’re fortunate to have him. If he hadn’t been here, I don’t know what would have happened to you.”

Neither do I.

“But the Sluagh are all gone?” I prod. Extra confirmation doesn’t hurt.

Noah takes hold of my hand again and squeezes it. “You bet your ass, babe. You were like the motherfucking Terminator. You went out there and demolished them. They never stood a chance against you.”

I sigh with relief. “Thank the Goddess.”

“You’ll need a good week in the hospital here,” Dr. Martha says, and I groan.

“No complaints from you,” she warns.

“But I feel fine.”

She shakes her head. “Although your injuries aren’t that bad, you pushed your body too far and tore a number of your muscles. Our healers were able to repair the worst of that damage, but you need time for them to recover themselves fully. The bigger deal has been clearing the poison out of your system. While the worst of that has passed, it’ll still take time for you to be back to normal, and I want to keep you here where I can observe you. Sluagh venom is quite deadly, so we need to have you close at hand where we can treat you sooner rather than later if you suddenly take a turn for the worse.”

I try to complain again, but Noah places his hand over my mouth, muffling my attempts to speak.

“Of course, Doctor Martha. He’ll be a model patient.” Noah turns a determined gaze in my direction. “I’ll make sure of it.”

She smiles. “I like you, Noah Price. Welcome to the clan. You’ve got your work cut out for you with this one,” she adds, pointing at me. “Good luck.”

Noah grins at her. “Don’t worry about me, honey. I love a challenge.”

Dr. Martha laughs and waves goodbye to me before departing the room.

I try to sit up, but Noah pushes me back down. Instead, he helps raise the bed so I’m in more of a sitting position and stacks pillows behind me for greater comfort.

“Doctor’s orders. You’ve got to take it easy and get your rest.” He hands me a freshly filled glass of water. “They’ve had you on an IV, but drinking plenty of fluids will help you evacuate the last traces of the poison even faster.”

I yawn. “How long have I been out?”

“About two days,” he tells me, and now I understand the haggard look on his face and the bags under his eyes.

“I’m sorry to have worried you.”

He shakes his head. “It’s all right. You kept me and everyone safe. You’re a hero.”

I shift uncomfortably in the bed. “I don’t know about tha—”

He hushes me again. “Trust me, my sweet. You’re a hero and I won’t hear anything to the contrary.”

I sigh in resignation but nod.

He fills me in on everything that’s come to pass since the battle ended. Fortunately, although we had a number of injuries, a couple of them serious, there were no casualties on our side. The Sluagh horde was defeated, and everything has returned to normal.

“Nasser’s coming to visit soon,” Noah offers with a grin.

I wince. “No doubt he’s planning to take the piss out of me.”

Noah chuckles. “Maybe, but I think he was genuinely worried for you. We all were. I talked to him on the phone earlier today, and he’s planning to be here over the weekend. Now that the dangers passed, it should be safe for him to leave the loch behind for a few days’ visit.”

Noah shifts nervously in his seat.

“What is it?” I ask.

He clears his throat. “My parents are here too.”

My eyes widen. “At the castle?”

He nods. “They arrived yesterday, and I had to send Braewyn to go pick them up at the train station. To say they were surprised would be an understatement, but they’re adjusting. We’ve got them situated in a comfortable room, and they’re both passed out from jet lag right now.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “But you need to be forewarned. I’ve already told them about you being my mate, and they’re dying to meet you.”

“I look forward to meeting them too.”

Noah sighs in resignation. “Be prepared. Mom’s going to want to do your astrological chart and see if our stars are aligned properly.” He rolls his eyes fondly. “And Dad will undoubtedly want to talk your ear off about the history of this castle, its architectural design, and lord knows what else.”

It’s my turn to chuckle. “That all sounds lovely to me. If I’m gonna be trapped here in this bloody hospital bed for a week, I’ll need people to distract me from the boredom.”

Noah leans over in his seat and carefully rests his head on my chest. “Is this all right?”

I reach up and stroke his hair. “Aye, my sweet.”

He closes his eyes. “I like to hear your heart beating and know you’re alive and safe.”

My chest tightens at his words. I hate that I’ve made him worry about me.

We stay like that for a time, and I’m just drifting off when he whispers, “I love you something fierce, Elryk DarkWing, and you’re not allowed to die and leave me, now or ever.”

I like the sound of that.