Page 24

–Aspen–

LEAVE IT TO me to be thrust into a Fairytale Gone Wrong with the grand finale just shy of being sacrificed to a dragon. No, in my little tale, I was tossed off the top of a battlement with no choice but to pray I would become a dragon and save myself. Fun, huh? Not so much.

At least not at first.

The truth was, however terrifying, I wasn’t alone in my fear because Broderick stayed with me the whole time, lending me support the best way he could. As the world rushed by me at a dizzying speed, thanks to Elspet shoving me off the battlement to see if I was her witchy wonder girl, having Broderick’s dragon in my mind lent me the courage that usually came so naturally.

More than that, it called my inner beast to him, making it scream to the surface and shift me effortlessly. After that, it felt like I had shifted hundreds of times before. I soared over the treetops and out over the water, getting the feel of my amazing wings and the power of my body.

If all that wasn’t exhilarating enough and by far the best adventure of my life, it only got better when I locked eyes on Broderick’s massive and truly magnificent black dragon in the distance. He was gorgeous and ferocious all at once, and I was drawn to him so intensely there could be no question he was my fated mate. There was no red gem over my heart telling me what I already knew.

I was not Dugal’s.

Yet as I sailed toward Broderick, desperate to be close to him, an equally massive dragon came out of nowhere, and I knew Dugal had me.

Even worse? He had no intention of honoring the king’s wishes or the pact.

When Broderick and several of his dragons swooped in our direction, cornering us, Dugal had no choice but to land back on the battlement where his wicked mother stood scowling at us both. More likely at Dugal because he acted on lust rather than good sense and because I didn’t bear the gem, so I couldn’t possibly descend from the Sutherland’s sorcerer.

“Dinnae shift,”

Elspet warned Dugal’s warriors as Broderick swooped in.

“Fight the other MacLeods as men lest this castle crash under the wrath of too many dragons.”

There was no doubt Elspet possessed powerful magic because when she chanted, it created a magical barrier that shifted all of the MacLeods except Broderick, leaving just the three of us in dragon form. As horrifying as it was to be in Dugal’s lecherous grasp when Broderick landed and reared up against the beast holding me, I felt as protective of him as I had when faced with an illusion I’d thought was a real dragon attacking MacLeod Castle days before.

Desperate to protect Broderick, I yanked away, spun, and lunged at Dugal, only for his spiked tail to whip around and catch me in my midsection moments before Elspet’s magic kicked in, and we were all human again.

Unfortunately, I had nothing to fight with as fighting erupted around me, but it didn’t matter because when I took a step forward to search for a weapon, my legs buckled, and I fell to my knees. I heard the clash of blades and smelled the metallic scent of blood in the chilly air as men battled around me, but I couldn’t seem to take action.

“Aspen,”

Broderick cried out with fear, but his urgency was lost to the pain I felt where Dugal had struck my dragon. Grasping my midsection, I looked down to see blood on my hands and realized I was badly injured.

Dugal and Broderick crossed blades somewhere above me, but I couldn’t see them. For that matter, I couldn’t see anything as my vision blurred, and I slumped to the ground.

“Enough,”

Elspet roared, followed by a distant rumble of thunder.

“She’s not the one, so let them go. If there is to be peace betwixt our clans, we need to find the right witch to fulfill the pact.”

I heard her and Broderick’s mother discussing something from what seemed a great distance away before the battling around me ceased, and all grew silent except for the sound of waves crashing and another rumble of thunder.

Then, there was only Broderick’s blurry face as he cupped the back of my head and pleaded with me not to leave him.

“Dinnae go, lass. Stay with me.”

He shook his head, and his fear became mine. His heartache, my heartache.

“Grow old with me this time, Aspen. Dinnae go…please dinnae go…”

“I won’t,”

I tried to say, but nothing came out. When the aspen tree flashed in my vision behind him, I realized what was happening because the same thing had happened in my previous life.

I was dying.

Leaving him before we had a chance to live.

“Nay,”

he broke off when he felt my life’s blood fading, and he grew further and further away.

“Dinnae go, lass. Please…”

“Her mark is fading,”

I heard his mother say before I felt the wolf pup licking my cheek.

“Let me close…let us try…”

Let who try? What were they talking about?

I attempted to ask, but my pain only increased before it vanished, and I felt like I lifted up out of my body and soared away, yet somehow Broderick was still right there.

Still holding me in his arms.

Still urging me to stay close.

Then, all faded away, and dreams came and went. Sometimes, I ran toward an aspen illuminated by golden light, and other times, I was in Broderick’s arms when he scooped me up.

“Come back to me,”

he whispered on the wind.

“I’m here, my mate. I’ll always be here.”

Desperate to be back with him, I found myself running once more until I was at the aspen again. I had no idea where in time, only that I had to get back to him, so I crouched before my spiral and traced my fingers around and around until I hit the center, and all faded away once more.

That is until I snapped awake, only to find myself home.

Not in Salem, Massachusetts, or New Hampshire, but right where I belonged, cuddled beneath furs in Broderick's bed at MacLeod Castle in medieval Scotland. I blinked back tears at first, hoping this was real, only to smile when I spied Flame curled against my side, sound asleep. It was nighttime and raining. Thunder rumbled, and lightning flashed, illuminating the ocean beyond, and nothing suited me better.

Seconds later, as if he felt me stir awake, Broderick was there, sitting on the bed, cupping my cheek and looking down at me with such adoration there could be no doubt he loved me every bit as much as I loved him.

“Hey there,”

I murmured, trying to get my bearings.

“Was it all a dream then? Some kind of vision?”

Yet I knew as I asked, it hadn’t been.

Everything had been very real.

“Nay, ‘twas no vision,”

he confirmed.

“’Twas all wonderfully yet terrifyingly real until the verra end.”

He traced my jawline, his voice thickening with emotion.

“Until my mother and wee Flame brought ye back from certain death.”

While I thought when it all came rushing back in vivid detail, I would be horrified, I wasn't. Instead, so long as I was with Broderick, I felt at peace.

“Flame, huh?”

I petted the wolf affectionately, who stirred awake at my touch.

“And your mother? Really? I didn’t realize they were so powerful.”

“Neither did they, but it seems your mark and curse, or pact as it were, fading away helped the process,”

he divulged, urging me to drink from a cup of water he held to my lips.

“Then the combined magic of a unicorn and dragonly wolf pup saved the day.”

The corner of his mouth curled up.

“Or night, as it were…still is.”

I drank my water and shook my head when he tried to get me to drink more.

“No, I’m good,”

I assured, sitting up against the headboard, my gaze lingering affectionately on the spiral he had carved into his dragon bed.

“In fact, I feel really good, all things considered.”

His eyebrows rose. “Aye?”

“Yes.”

I smiled before frowning, wondering what all this meant.

“But it sounds like my sisters might be in trouble, so I need to get back to the twenty-first century.”

“All is well,”

he said.

“My mother has things in hand and wishes us to speak as a family in the morn after you’ve had a good night’s rest—”

he hesitated before going on.

“and you and I have had time to talk about what came of this eve.”

The strangest sensation washed over me at the flash of sadness in his eyes and the tentativeness in his voice.

“What do you mean by that?”

I asked softly, swallowing hard because I realized how distressed he was about what he needed to tell me.

“What happened, Broderick?”

When he continued to hesitate, struggling with what he had to say, I urged him to go on, and he did, telling me the last thing I expected. Something more heartbreaking than I could have possibly imagined.