Page 7

–Callum–

WHEN brODERICK RESTED his hand on Storm’s shoulder, I saw nothing but fiery flames and everything meant to keep me from her when leathery wings arose in my vision, and Broderick stole her away.

Worse yet, he would not let me save her.

And when that happened, when I saw nothing but what kept me from getting to her under that fiery water and what dared to touch her now, I pulled my Viking blade and attacked. More furious than I’d ever been, undoubtedly possessive and not in my right mind, I had wanted him gone. Cut away from my memories until I could be the one to save her.

Cut away until she was mine at last.

After that, I only saw through the prism of my desperate inner beast until Storm bravely yet foolishly stepped between us, taking the brunt of Broderick’s sword thrust, and stumbled back into my arms. Terrified for her and furious at Broderick when I felt pain splinter up her arms, I’d tossed my sword to Gráinne and scooped her up just as she passed out.

Or so it might seem to the naked eye, but I felt her spirit sinking back into the fiery ocean of her past. Back to the day she had lost her parents and nearly died.

“What did you do to her, Scotsman?”

I ground out, flaring my wolven eyes at him. “Did you not see her leap betwixt us? Did you not—”

“His blade was already en route,”

Gráinne interrupted with a frown, gesturing that we follow her. “Come. We need to get you deeper into my dens now. ‘Twill be a wonder if Tadc did not sense what just happened here.”

Broderick and I glared at each other and followed without saying anything else lest our words carry. Yet I sensed his anger and unease matched mine in a way I had not felt before. In a way I should not, given he was half dragon and I, half wolf. We were different beasts. Hell, he was my predator in certain circles, and truth told, at the moment, that only made me dislike him more.

“I am no fonder of you,”

Broderick muttered under his breath, catching my thoughts yet again in a way he should not be able to as we traveled deeper into the rock cliffs. “Nor have I been for years and with good reason, given your foolish actions this day.”

“Actions I suspect made sense to you the moment you laid your hand on my mate’s shoulder,”

I muttered back, trying to ignore how it felt having Storm in my arms. “My mate, Scotsman, not yours.”

Where I was usually calm and clear-minded, known to make wise decisions, I was admittedly out of sorts. I had been since the moment I defected from my pack, but there was no way around it because I would do it again and again if it meant being close to Storm and protecting her.

“I very well know she’s your mate,”

Broderick bit back. “Hence, trying to get her to you despite how foolish I think my actions are now given your primitive wolven behavior.”

“Primitive wolven behavior?”

I said darkly, disliking him more by the moment. “If I had to choose betwixt rushing a Scotsman who dared touch my mate not once but twice against a dragon who nearly cut down an innocent woman, I would be inclined to call the dragon far more primitive than the wolf.”

“Enough,”

Gráinne snapped, ushering us into a smaller, more protected cave where she chanted a fire into a small pit surrounded by wooden chairs. “You two bickering will solve nothing, and you know it.”

She chanted food and drink by our sides and scowled at us both. Meanwhile, Storm’s uncle crouched in front of me when I sat with her on my lap and brushed a lock of escaped hair away from her cheek before narrowing his eyes at me. “What the fuck just happened back there? What’s going on with Storm?”

His eyes narrowed even further. “And you better tell me something worth hearing.”

“If I understood the Viking blade better, I could tell you because ‘twas somehow at the heart of it.”

I shook my head slowly when I knew he meant to take her from me. The last thing I wanted to do was battle her uncle, but I would if it meant keeping her close. “I mean no harm, but ‘tis best she stay here for now. Safe right where she is.”

“Sit, Conner,”

Gráinne said, sensing the growing tension between me and anyone who meant to take Storm from me, now I had her. “There is nothing more dangerous than a wolf protecting his fated mate, so trust me when I say sit, drink, and let us talk this out until my nephew’s inner beast simmers down.”

Silence fell as Conner eyed me for a long, troubled moment before he said a few simple words I knew he would see through. “Hurt her, and I’ll kill you.”

“I could not agree more.”

Broderick’s eyes were just as narrowed from where he sat across the fire from me. “She is my closest friend and worth everything.”

We didn’t need to be the same species for me to see the truth in his eyes. Broderick might claim mere friendship, but he had wanted more. Far more.

“I did,”

he readily admitted, surprising me again when he caught my thoughts. His gaze dropped to her lovely face. “But she has made clear her heart does not lie with me, nor can it ever.”

Even though I still distrusted and disliked him because my inner wolf was uncharacteristically possessive, I felt bad for him if his statement was true. It was hard to imagine what it would feel like to fall in love with her and never have her. To have felt her in his mind and been close to her, but know he could never have more.

“How are we catching each other’s thoughts?”

I finally said, both discomforted and curious. “How when you are a dragon, and I a wolf?”

Where we could communicate telepathically, we should not be able to know what the other person was thinking.

“Could it be from raising the little Viking girl, Freya?”

Gráinne perked an eyebrow at me. “Were you not close with her? Mayhap it somehow affected how your wolf interacts with dragons.”

Her gaze dropped to Storm, who murmured in her sleep, undoubtedly distressed. “Or mayhap it has more to do with your mate as I sense there is dragon in her as well.”

“There is,”

I said softly, having long felt it coursing through her blood. “’Tis dormant, but there.”

“And ‘tis of the MacLeod bloodline,”

Broderick said proudly rather than possessively. “Which makes her strong, indeed.”

A heavy frown settled on his face as he filled his mug with ale. “’Tis no small thing blocking my sword thrust when my dragon is nearly surfaced, Callum. ‘Twould have been impossible for most and should have…”

When he cleared his throat in distress and downed half his ale, I understood the gravity of what he felt. That thrust should have killed her and would have had it been anyone else. While it infuriated my inner beast, I felt how upset he was and knew he would have never forgiven himself had it.

“You two will need to get along if we stand any hope of getting through this exile and defeating our enemy.”

Gráinne eyed us both before she looked at Storm, who had begun to stir on my lap. “If you do not, I fear Tadc will take away what you both hold dear and utilize her in whatever twisted ways he sees fit to defeat the Wolves of Ossary.”

“Storm is not exiled,”

I clarified through clenched teeth, praying that never happened. “Tréan would never allow it, nor would his queen.”

“Whether they would or would not is yet to be seen.”

Gráinne set aside her drink, leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees, and narrowed her eyes at Storm. “Whatever happens, wherever fate takes you three, I think ‘tis unwise to allow her to remain in this strange slumber for much longer.”

She cocked her head, always far wiser and intuitive than she let on. “Wherever she is right now, and I suspect you both know, she should not remain there as ‘tis a place influenced by Tadc, too, is it not?”

She looked from Broderick to me. “A place made of enemies and allies alike?”

I tensed at her insinuation because she was right, and Broderick knew it, too, based on his frown and lowering brow.

“Then what are you waiting for?”

Conner frowned between me and the Scotsman. “Get her back now because something tells me you two can.”

While tempted to say no and hold her until she eventually roused, I knew deep down she might not if we didn’t help her. We being Broderick and I, and he knew it as our eyes locked, and we were forced to remember a day that I sensed made little sense to us both despite my ever-encroaching jealousy.

“I agree with Conner. You two can get her back.”

Gráinne’s gaze flickered between Broderick and me with wisdom before landing on me. “And I recommend when you do, Callum, you’re willing to hand her over to Broderick lest we mistakenly draw Tadc’s attention this way in far more primal ways.”

When Broderick and I looked at her in confusion, Gráinne was blunt as only she could be. “Whether Callum realizes it yet or not, the only reason he has been able to fight his arousal after finally touching his fated mate is because he fears for her life. That means things could prove unfortunate once you pull her mind back to the here and now, and she’s fully aware of how close she is to him.”

“You mean she will grow aroused,”

I assumed, liking the idea of that a great deal.

“And again, you prove you are not thinking with a level head, nephew.”

Gráinne frowned at me. “When typically, you are the wisest of the lot.”

She sighed and gave me a pointed look, walking me through it. “Her arousal will come from your arousal if what I sense is true, so you must be ready to hand her over to Broderick until she is strong enough to stand on her own two feet.”

“Yet here I sit, controlling my arousal just fine,”

I countered, not liking the idea of handing her over to the Scotsman in the least.

“Because you continue fearing for her,”

Broderick said, not in anger but with a sense of enlightenment I lacked. “When we free Storm from where her mind has taken her, and we will free her, she’ll be thrust back into this moment and become fully aware of where she sits. That, in turn, will lead to more problems, and you know it.”

“And whilst she will likely be aroused anyway,”

Gráinne went on, “’twill not be as powerful as it would be if she remained on your lap, Callum. Once you begin your Fated Mate Cycle, which we can only hope will be sooner rather than later, ‘twill be harder for Tadc to catch her scent.”

I might already be in love with the woman in my arms because I had long recognized how I felt about Storm, but that didn’t mean I couldn't fight my baser needs when she woke. That I would become so primitive I wouldn’t put her safety above all else.

“You should hand her over to Broderick now,”

Gráinne counseled. “’Tis safer that way.”

“And he will,”

Broderick said, surprising me when he crouched before us instead of trying to take Storm from me. His steady gaze met mine, not necessarily in challenge but not in a way that gave her to me entirely, either. He behaved like I should have, would have, did up until a few short hours ago when I knew she was so close.

With reason and good sense.

“Let us pull her back from the fiery waters together this time because we both know ‘tis where the power of the Viking blade thrust her,”

Broderick said. “Once we do, if you find having her close could pull Tadc our way, hand her over because I promise you, I will not have the same reaction.”

“Are you so certain?”

I wondered, hardly believing it.

“Aye,”

Broderick said, understanding her better than me in a way I disliked but could only be grateful for. “And even if I did, she would not respond to it like she would if it were you.”

He lowered his head just enough to be cordial before meeting my eyes again. “So let us bring her back together, then go from there, aye?”

“Ta,”

I managed, saying yes in my language because, despite my wolf’s unease, Broderick was thinking clearly.

“You understand what ‘twill take?” he asked.

“I do,”

I replied gruffly, nodding when he hesitated, permitting him to slip his hand into hers. More so, I allowed him to save her all over again, whether my inner beast liked it or not, and I can’t say it was easy. Not at all.

Especially when I was thrust into our worst nightmare yet again and tried to get to her only to be blocked by leathery dragon wings. No matter how much I struggled to get past those wings and closer to her, she vanished, lost to me for years until she made her way back to me in dreams.

Now here she was, prone and helpless in my arms as Broderick once again saved her, this time by bringing her back from the fiery confines of her mind, and she finally, at last, stirred awake. When she did, and her thickly lashed emerald green eyes met mine in combination with the feel of lush curves so close combined with my fading fear, two things became abundantly clear.

I had never desired a female more than I did her, and my cock stirred to attention when that was the last thing I wanted, given she was so vulnerable. Second and far more alarming, something I sensed Broderick already knew based on how quickly he took her from my arms to keep my wolf from roaring to the surface.

Storm was a virgin.

While immensely relieved when I had no right to be, given I had taken Ceara as a mate, I still was. Had Storm saved herself for me? Was such a thing possible? Or was it my wishful, arrogant imagination at work because hoping for such would be the epitome of arrogance, and that wasn’t me. Yet still, as she sat on Broderick’s lap and slowly gained her strength, it took strategic positioning of my fur cloak to hide an erection that refused to wane.

Although initially confused and weak, Storm slowly regained strength as we tried to piece together what had happened.

“Right,”

Storm said slowly, referring to how close Broderick had come to shifting when he and I battled. She frowned at him. “Why was that? What happened when you first made contact with the Viking blade? Something happened because I felt it, and it seriously instigated your dragon.”

“It did more than that,”

Broderick replied, surprising us with his response. He met my eyes. “The more time passes, the more I feel what else it did. We have begun catching each other’s thoughts because of the blade.”

He looked from me to Storm. “’Tis bonding us because of your inner beast and the magic that is yours. Bonding us more than we already were so you stand a better chance against Tadc.”

“And I take it your inner dragon wasn’t too crazy about that at first?”

Storm assumed, finally strong enough to sit beside Broderick instead of on his lap, and yet again, I felt relief because I hadn’t wanted her there in the first place.

“No, my inner dragon wasn't pleased,”

Broderick acknowledged. “’Twould be one thing bonding more with you, Storm, as you’re a MacLeod and carry dragon blood. ‘Tis another altogether to bond with an Irish wolf of no relation.”

Though he didn’t say it, I sensed the fact I stood between them ever being together didn’t help.

“So how exactly does this help us against Tadc?”

Storm wondered. “I would think, given he was there that fateful day, it could just as easily pull him closer to us, too.”

I noticed she tended to look more at Broderick than me, but I sensed more and more how aware she was of me. Truth be told, even if I hadn’t sensed it, the constant blush she wore after our eyes connected and she stuttered in embarrassment at our proximity made it clear how much I affected her.

“No, the sword did not pull Tadc closer.”

Broderick shook his head. “’Twas the blade making contact with us three such as it did that works in our favor, not his.”

“So what happens when Storm and Callum begin this Fated Mate Cycle I keep hearing about?”

Conner frowned between Broderick and me. “I’d think this new bond you three have would make things awkward.”

“No,”

I said softly, unsure why I said it other than the blade had indeed affected me somehow. Was affecting me still. “Once that begins, our inner beasts will drive Storm and me, and they will take the privacy they need to come together.”

“Aye,”

Broderick agreed, clearly sensing the same.

“And how do we know when our Fated Mate Cycle begins?”

Storm said, her voice a little off when she finally looked my way.

“We will know,”

I assured her, my voice a little off, too, because looking into her eyes affected me greatly. I could easily get lost in them, lost in her, and I sensed she knew because her cheeks pinkened again. “And our beasts will make things easier…”

Though I trailed off and let my meaning linger, I knew she understood. Once her inner beast began accepting mine, her wolf would allow her to be more comfortable around me and less nervous about what was to come.

I didn’t want to be crude and come right out and say it, and luckily, I didn’t have to when my lack of words sunk in, and she caught precisely what that meant, namely that she was a virgin, so this would be her first time. Her pupils flared, and she coughed nervously, thanking her uncle when he handed her a cup of ale. She took a few sips, flinching at the bitter taste, before taking a few more.

As a rule, I knew she wasn’t a big drinker, but clearly, the moment called for it, and I agreed, taking a swig from my mug because the idea of being her first drove me to distraction. While tempted to let my mind wander and imagine what it would feel like to touch her and press deep inside her at last, I promptly pushed those thoughts aside. Otherwise, my arousal would return, and there might be no ridding myself of it until I finally made her mine in all ways possible.

“So what now?”

Storm wondered, looking at Gráinne. “We just keep moving from cave to cave until we’re strong enough to go up against Tadc?”

“Whatever it takes to keep you away from him until we figure out what comes next,”

Gráinne replied, eyeing me in a way that said I should be what came next for Storm, and I agreed.

Little did I know that would take a turn I didn’t expect but should have.

One that made me regret going into exile.