Page 18

–Aspen–

ALTHOUGH brODERICK’S MOTHER assured me all would be well when she walked me back to my old chamber, I still tossed and turned, restless though I must have drifted off at some point because the next thing I knew, I was running past red autumn leaves toward a golden light. Running until I was scooped up and found myself astride a horse in the arms of a man who looked so much like Broderick, I knew it had been him in another life.

More than that, I knew he was stealing me away when he had no right.

Stealing me when I was promised to another.

Yet my heart swelled as I held on because I wanted to be nowhere else but in his arms. Nowhere else, even if it broke all the rules, despite knowing I’d been trying to save him and the MacLeods from a war with the Sutherlands when I went to the Sutherland chieftain in the first place.

Trying, despite how much leaving my MacLeod laird had broken my heart.

“Dinnae leave me,”

he whispered, his words echoing in my mind until the dream morphed, and I went from being in his lap astride his horse to lying beneath him somewhere I couldn’t see, but it didn’t matter.

Nothing mattered but the moment when his lips closed over mine, and I spread my thighs, welcoming him inside me despite knowing how wrong it was. It was our first time making love, and I had never felt such pleasure, but then he had me so aroused I was desperate with need. Desperate to finally feel how it could be between us.

I groaned so loudly in pleasure I stirred awake when that was the last thing I wanted to do, but with good reason, when I sensed Broderick close before spying him standing in the darkened corner of my chamber watching me.

No, not me, but something else.

“’Tis all right, lass,”

he said softly when my eyes rounded at a grey wolf pup on the bed near my feet.

“He’s a friend.”

I swallowed hard.

“Could have fooled me.”

After all, he wasn’t just any wolf, given how flames curled over him. His hackles were up, and his fangs bared as he growled at Broderick.

“’Tis just me, friend.”

He no doubt kept his voice soft to calm the pup but also so we wouldn’t be heard as he emerged from the darkened corner of my chamber into the dim light of the dwindling fire on the hearth.

“I am here to check on my fated mate.”

Recognizing Broderick by catching his scent, the flames dwindled, the pup's hackles went down, and he stopped growling.

“It seems you have a mighty protector.”

Broderick sat on the side of the bed and smiled, scratching behind the pup’s ear, who seemed to like it based on how he leaned into his touch.

“This is one of the Wolves of Ossary’s newest pack members. One of Storm’s pack members.”

A soft smile curled his mouth.

“I dinnae doubt she sent him our way with purpose.”

“And that would be?”

I wondered, eyeing the pup warily until he took it upon himself to lick my face.

“Most certainly to protect you,”

Broderick confirmed when he spied a note where the pup had been and read it aloud.

Broderick and Aspen,

I can’t tell you how sorry I am that I couldn’t be more forthright with either of you. Broderick, I only learned of the spell that had been cast on you after you left. That's when I realized the lengths my inner wolf had gone to ensure everything happened as it should for my Wolves of Ossary.

I can only hope as you and your fated mate navigate what’s ahead, you will forgive me and know during those difficult days that I truly helped in every way I could to right the wrongs brought about by Fate.

Flame, as we’ve come to call the grey pup, was determined to join you and yours in the coming days in ways I suspect only you will understand, given his growing powers. Mentor him well, my friends, and if all goes as I pray it does, I will see you both again someday.

xo,

Storm

“Hey, Flame,”

I murmured, scratching behind the wolf’s ear like Broderick had, sensing him more by the moment.

“You feel like you have a little human and dragon in you.”

“Something like that,”

Broderick confirmed, looking at him affectionately.

“So why do you think he’s here?”

I wondered, frowning.

“No offense, but I’m not sure how he can help our situation.”

Although Broderick had been vague about his recent adventure in medieval Ireland, we had finally spoken at length about his years with Storm. How they met by chance as children and became good friends, visiting each other as time wore on. There for each other, despite the centuries between them. So I wasn't surprised she was still helping us, though it remained to be seen how a wolf shifter pup played into it all.

“The pup will travel with you to the Sutherlands and protect you from any unwanted advances.”

Broderick cleared his throat, blinking away his dragon eyes when they momentarily flared.

“Advances, I suspect, might happen more frequently than I originally anticipated.”

When I narrowed my eyes in confusion, he explained, and it wasn’t good.

“It seems your inner beast has gone into heat,”

he managed.

“Which, as you can imagine, will make you even more appealing to male dragons.”

“Wonderful,”

I muttered dryly, trying to hide my fear of not just that revelation but my situation with the Sutherlands in general.

“And again, Flame is going to help with that how?”

I shook my head.

“He’s just a pup. Clearly a wolf shifter with some gifts but still just a pup.”

“You might be surprised by what he’s capable of,”

he enlightened, pointing out the single flame that curled over him when Broderick's dragon eyes flared again.

“Even now, he warns my inner beast to tread carefully lest I am unable to control myself around you.”

“What if I don’t want you to control yourself?”

I said softly, fighting a fresh surge of arousal. My vision flickered red, and I knew my inner beast responded to his. Wanted his. Him. More than anything, it, I, wanted one last time together in case we never got another chance.

“And ye could verra well become pregnant, Aspen,”

he clarified, catching my thoughts.

“If that happened, I would have no choice but to disregard the needs of my clan and refuse to hand you over, facing the wrath of king and country.”

The corners of his mouth tugged down.

“As I am verra close to doing, especially now I know you’re so fertile.”

I was caught off guard by how his words struck me. It felt like my heart had been ripped out, and tears welled without me understanding why. All I knew was deep emotions were attached to what suddenly fluctuated between us. A strong sense of loss that made no sense. A sensation of being torn away from him...all of this.

For a split second, the room looked different, made of wood rather than stone, and I got the overwhelming sensation that I was home. The room returned to normal a blink later, but the feeling lingered.

“This castle was my home,”

I whispered.

“It looked far different, but I remember being here before, Broderick.”

I met his eyes and, for a second, saw the eyes of the man who had scooped me up and stolen me away in a dream.

“I remember you...but not you. Us in what had to have been another life. I think we were them...and I was her. The reason you broke all the rules. The reason behind the pact.”

A shiver went through me.

“And I think something bad happened after that.”

“I think you’re right,”

he said so softly, I barely caught it, but I saw his troubled expression and how he tensed ever so slightly as if feeling the same thing.

“Something that caused me to renew a pact I disliked, despite how beneficial it would have been to my clan.”

“I would say so.”

I wrapped my fingers with his and squeezed, trying to lend him strength because I knew this was as hard on him as it was on me, but I had to say what I felt, however heartbreaking.

“Not this time, though.”

I shook my head.

“I’m unsure why I’m so certain, but we can’t repeat the past. We can’t make that mistake again and let others suffer for it.”

I blinked away tears.

“Suffer because we wouldn’t give each other up.”

Even though he clenched his jaw and shook his head, distressed as he cupped my cheek, I knew he understood how serious this was. Our past lives trying to warn us so we’d make different choices this time. Too much was at stake.

“My mother doesnae want us to lose hope,”

he said, his voice hoarse with emotion now as he truly understood the only path forward meant potentially losing me.

“I know,”

I whispered, my voice just as choppy with emotion when I leaned into his touch.

“She seemed certain of that, and she’s clearly very powerful, so I’d say she’s worth listening to.”

Trying to lighten the moment, I managed a small, wobbly smile.

“She really has the blood of a unicorn? Does that mean you do too?”

“Nay, I didnae inherit it, but aye, she’s more gifted than most because of it, so well worth listening to.”

He traced his fingers along my jaw before his dragon eyes flared, and he pulled away, worried about going too far.

“I would stay and hold you until you fell asleep, but I cannae trust myself to keep my hands off you.”

His gaze stayed steady on mine, giving me strength.

“My mother will return in the morn to assist you, and I will be waiting below stairs to see...”

“It’s okay,”

I said gently when he trailed off, understanding how difficult it was to say.

“I’m okay.”

I mustered all the strength I could for him and nodded once.

“I’ve got this. Just one more adventure I’ll face head-on, knowing somehow, someway, it will bring me back to you.”

“Aye, ‘twill without a doubt.”

He hesitated, as if struggling, before he cupped my cheek again, brushed his lips across mine one last time, then vanished into the darkness as swiftly as he had come.

Biting back useless tears, I curled onto my side, grateful for the wolf pup despite how new we were to each other. While it seemed impossible, given my fear and sadness, I must have fallen asleep again because another dream came to me, and this one was far more vivid.

So vivid and heartbreaking, I knew Broderick experienced it with me.

I also knew this time, our goodbye might be forever.