Page 22 of Hold my Reins (Monster Match season two)

twenty-two

R ox was terrified. It wasn’t the kind of fear that made him freeze but the kind that twisted in his gut, woke him up during the night, and stopped him from going back to sleep. And it had happened every night this week. That he’d spent every night with Lynck probably wasn’t helping.

Was he making the most of what they had?

Or clinging too tight because he was afraid of losing him?

What if he walked away only for nothing to happen, and in ten years’ time, thoughts of what might have been became a bitter regret?

The more time they spent together, the less he wanted to leave. He was sliding down a gravel slope, hoping he wasn’t going to be a bleeding mess when he hit the bottom.

If there was a bottom.

That was the problem. He was tearing himself up with no promise of a happy ending or when any ending would arrive. It was the last year with his mother all over again. The weight of knowing Bothvar might turn up and ruin everything was too much.

If a friend told him about this problem, he’d be telling them to leave because it was going to end in disaster no matter what happened. Instead, he’d been talking to Thursten, behind Lynck’s back, about frost giants.

His thoughts churned and circled back on themselves.

He couldn’t sleep in Lynck’s bed and pretend that everything was fine until it fell apart. Waking up at two in the morning, worrying about what might happen when the frost giant came for his lover wasn’t living. But he couldn’t abandon Lynck to a sociopathic prick with an over-inflated ego.

He lay still, eyes closed, body tense, trying to go back to sleep. Maybe he was cold, or he just needed to feel Lynck against him. He rolled over, expecting to feel the heat of Lynck’s body, but the kelpie wasn’t in bed.

Rox sat up, running his hand over the sheets.

Lynck’s side of the bed was warm.

Had he gone to the bathroom?

Except the house was silent, and when Lynck moved around, his hooves tapped on the floor, even when he tried to be quiet. The sound had become strangely reassuring.

Rox slid out of bed and pulled on track pants and a hoodie.

Lynck’s clothes remained piled on the floor where they’d ended up last night. The wardrobe was closed, and no drawers hung open. He’d have heard if Lynck was dressing.

Shit.

Rox padded through the house.

In the kitchen was a large dark shadow holding an ax.

His heart stopped, and he froze like a rabbit, even though he stood in a patch of moonlight.

“I heard a door open,” Thursten said. “There’s no intruder.”

Rox released a shaky breath. “Lynck’s not in bed.”

Lynck had walked out the door and left.

Left him without saying a word. Or getting dressed…

No, he hadn’t left. He’d been summoned.

“Bothvar is here,” Rox whispered as if saying his name could summon the frost giant.

Thursten grunted. “He won’t come through the main portal guarded by the military. He’ll use the one in the forest, and that’s where Lynck will be going.”

“I need to stop him.” He needed shoes.

“And how are you going to stop a kelpie under the command of a frost giant?”

“I don’t know, but I need to do something. Where is the portal in the forest?”

Thursten shouldered his ax. “Let me get dressed.”

“I’ll start the car.” And if Thursten wasn’t back in two minutes, he’d start driving and hopefully run into Lynck. And then what? Run him over to stop him?

And if Lynck had already reached the portal? Did he follow him through?

“Do not leave without me,” Thursten growled.

Rox wasn’t about to admit he’d been considering it, but waiting for a large monster who knew something about portals and frost giants seemed like a good idea. That didn’t stop him from being anxious as he shoved on his runners as he walked out the door. He started the car and watched the seconds tick by.

Thursten climbed into the truck. The passenger seat was already pushed back as far as it would go to make room for Lynck’s long legs, but Thursten’s head almost touched the roof. He rested his ax on the floor between his feet. “Drive to the lake.”

“Not the forest?”

“When you reach the road by the lake, head toward the forest.”

Rox put the truck into gear and rolled along the street, searching for Lynck. “What will we do if we see him on the way?”

“Nothing. We will follow him.”

Rox glanced at the troll. “That isn’t a plan.”

“Nor is trying to stop him. He may not even be in the form you are familiar with.”

“He said he can’t shift in this world.”

Thursten nodded. “And maybe he can’t until commanded. The magic of the bridle superseding everything else.”

“Shit.” If Lynck was a horse, how would they stop him? Horses were big, or was Lynck pony-sized?

Not that it made any difference, as Rox knew nothing about horses or ponies.

The streets were empty, given the early hour. Sensible people were at home asleep.

Sensible people didn’t worry that their boyfriend might be compelled to kill them by a frost giant fuck-stick.

“So what happens when we follow him to where he’s going?”

“I’m not sure about that either. Since you couldn’t cut through the bridle, I assume the only way to break the magic is to kill Bothvar.”

“Bothvar will order Lynck to protect him.”

“Then you will need to distract him,” Thursten said as if that were obvious.

“Lynck said Bothvar ordered him to kill anyone he got close to.” Which meant him.

“Bothvar doesn’t know you are lovers. All he will see is a troll and a human. You should pretend to be military.”

Rox glanced at his aqua nails. He didn’t need to look in the rearview mirror to know that his hair was a mess and far too long to be military. “I don’t look like a soldier.”

Thursten considered him for several seconds. “You are more like one of those undercover special agent people.”

Rox lifted his eyebrows. He was not a special anything. He opened his mouth, but the retort died on his tongue at the sight of a white and gray dappled horse at the intersection. A horse with green in its mane and tail. Silver glinted around the horse’s muzzle. The bridle.

“Keep pace with him,” Thursten ordered as if that wasn’t what Rox had already planned on doing.

Lynck’s ears didn’t even twitch at the noise of the car. He acted oblivious to everything except for where he was going. Rox stayed a couple of yards back, driving well below the speed limit. If a cop appeared, he had no idea how to explain the fact that he was following a horse who was actually his monster boyfriend, who was acting under compulsion due to frost giant magic.

For a couple of seconds, Rox wondered if he’d had a car accident and was in a coma because his life had become so weird. Like, weirder than he could’ve imagined when deciding to take a job in Elder Ridge.

He’d figured that working in a monster town would be a little strange. But magic and frost giants and shape-shifting boyfriends had not been something he’d planned on.

Rox followed the horse along the lake road for a bit before Lynck left the road and headed into the forest. Rox mounted the curb and parked on the grass, hoping that no one noticed and gave him a ticket.

The two of them piled out of the truck, Thursten with his ax slung over his shoulder, like stalking a horse through the woods in the early hours of morning was a normal thing to do. Perhaps it was in the monster world. He glanced at Thursten, who had a weapon to defend himself. Why didn’t he have a weapon? For a second, Rox considered grabbing a tire iron or a spanner, but if Bothvar was also armed with an ax, it wouldn’t do him any good. Besides, he was the distraction.

Lynck, in his horse form, strode through the woods, looking like liquid moonlight. He never turned his head or changed direction, never doubting where he was going.

Rox’s pulse thumped in his ears, and even though the night air was cool, he was sweating. His skin was clammy, his stomach tight. He’d never gotten into fights at school, mostly because he was the odd quiet kid everyone ignored. Hell, he was sure even some of his teachers didn’t know he existed until they had to write his report card.

Yet, there he was, about to confront the frost giant who was trying to steal his boyfriend. That was a more familiar situation, although, to be fair, the last time a boyfriend—and they’d barely been that—had left him for someone else, all he’d done was shout and make a scene.

Not his finest moment.

“What if we die?” he whispered.

“Then we will be dead.”

Rox glared at the troll. “Not helpful.”

“Your question was terrible.” Thursten glanced at him. “What are you worried about?”

“Everything.” The wolves that lived in the forest, the guard that protected the portal on this side, frost giants, magic, and the portal itself.

Thursten grabbed his arm and pulled him behind a tree. Through the trees, Rox saw three tall men with blue skin and white, glittery hair. Frost giants. And Lynck was strolling toward them.

Thursten whispered in his ear. “Here’s the plan…”