Page 15 of Time to Stirrup Love (Harmony Glen #10)

Chapter

Nine

F inn was frantic. He was trying so hard to hold back that fear inside, but the last time Pearl had taken off like this during a particularly bad cycle, she’d gone out of town. Far out of town. She was a fast runner when she was in her unicorn form.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter and tried not to speed too much. The last thing he needed was a ticket.

He glanced over at Margaid, sitting next to him.

She looked just as worried as him. It was sweet of her to care so much.

He didn’t feel so alone in this moment. She met his gaze and gave him a brave smile, which made him feel better.

It sucked that their date was ruined, but he was glad she was right here by his side.

No one else, outside of the tight-knit community, would do this with him.

The fact that he could trust her with this meant so much.

“Do you know where to start looking? Does she go to the same place every time?” Margaid asked.

“She does. Sometimes she goes to the woods, but most often, she goes to the place where I’m heading.”

It was where they all went after the lightning strike and fire happened, the place where the first responders and recovery team had brought what remained of their father ashore.

It used to be a special place by the lake where their father would take them.

A little cove with a beach and a park. Just outside the limits of town.

Pearl used to love it there. The place fell into disrepair after it changed hands.

Almost as if it represented their feelings about it.

So, whenever Pearl got out and started to run, she went straight for that spot.

They left Harmony Glen and he turned down a small gravel road that went up the far side of the lake, and it wasn’t long before he got to the old gate, now boarded up. He parked his truck.

“Is this someone’s property?”

“It used to be, but then it was bought by the next town over, but they haven’t done anything with it. It used to be a park.” Finn climbed over the gate with ease.

Margaid hiked up her dress, exposing her supple, freckle-covered thighs, which made his blood heat with need. She froze at the top. “A little help? That’s big drop down, you’re much taller than me.”

He chuckled and then grabbed her waist, hefting her down to the ground. He loved touching her, he loved being close to her. He just wanted to be with her.

“I’m glad you’re helping. Unicorns tend to prefer females. I can usually calm her down, but they’re really drawn to women.”

“Anything I can do to help. I adore Pearl,” Margaid admitted, which made him happy.

“She likes you too.” They walked along the path and he didn’t call out for her, he let Margaid call her name, hoping it would be enough to have her come out from wherever she was hiding.

The farther they got down the trail was when the hairs all over his body stood on end. Something was not right.

His ears twitched. There was no sound, and then he heard a faint cry.

“Help!” Pearl called out. “Please.”

“That’s Pearl,” Margaid said.

“It’s this way,” Finn said pointing. “Through the trees.”

“Let’s go.”

Finn held tight to Margaid’s hand as they broke through the brush.

It didn’t take them long to find Pearl in a clearing, ensnared in a net.

Her white fur was glowing in the beam of moonlight that broke through the canopy of the trees.

Her horn was sticking through the netting, but she was pinned to the ground and she was thrashing as best as she could.

He could sense the netting was imbued with venom of a widow’s thorn, which was a known poison to unicorns or female glashtyns.

Not him though, and not humans.

“Oh my God,” Margaid said, stunned.

“Be careful,” Finn warned. “Might be more traps.”

The last thing he needed was for Margaid to get hurt. He scanned the area, but there wasn’t any.

“Is it okay?” Margaid asked.

“Yeah.” He pulled out a pocket knife. “I need you to calm her while I cut her free. I don’t want her to bolt and run away farther into the woods.”

“I can.” Margaid quickly knelt down at Pearl’s head. “Pearl, it’s me. Margaid.”

“Margaid, it hurts so much,” Pearl cried, tears streaming down from her big violet eyes. “Please just hold me.”

“She can in a moment,” Finn reassured as he worked on the bindings. “Do you want to follow Margaid home?”

“Yes,” Pearl whimpered.

Finn nodded, suspecting just as much. What infuriated him was that a trap was set specifically here. Which means whoever had set the trap had seen Pearl here before and had set it specifically for her.

He cut away the last of the netting, planning to take it as evidence to report the police. Not that he was sure the police in this district would do anything, but he was keeping it just the same.

Pearl didn’t stand up, but laid her head in Margaid’s lap and closed her eyes, softly sobbing as Margaid gently stroked her.

“What happened?” Margaid asked softly.

“Hunters,” Finn growled. “This net is imbued with poison that hurts her kind. Not me though. They knew she’d be here on a full moon. They were going to let her die a slow death and then harvest her for her magic.”

“Oh, that’s horrible. Who do we report it too?”

“The police in this area, but I doubt they’ll do anything. Some places around here are not friendly to us monsters.”

“I can report it to the department I work for. If this is now government land, they’ll put a stop to it.”

“You’d do that?” Finn asked, stunned.

“Of course. No one deserves to be treated that way.” Margaid laid a kiss on Pearl’s forehead, just above her horn. “She’s falling asleep.”

It melted his heart to see her so kind and tender to his sister, who was his whole world and responsibility since his father died. She didn’t see them as something weird or something to be mistreated and conquered.

“She’s tired,” Finn remarked quietly. “Plus, the poison drained her.”

“She’s beautiful in both of her forms, but this reminds me of my favorite cartoon unicorn as a kid.

I can see why your mother called her Pearl, the violets and blues in the undertone of her white fur makes her shimmer like one.

Absolutely precious. I know my name means pearl, but I don’t really emulate that.

Not with my red hair and freckles and my nearsightedness. ”

“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” he said softly, kneeling beside her. “Pearls are beautiful and rare and I think you are too.”

She looked at him softly, her cheeks blooming pink in the moonlight. She looked away, stroking his sister’s mane. “Should we get her back home? The hunters might come.”

“You’re right. Can you carry the netting? It won’t hurt you and I’ll carry Pearl to my truck. She’s small and can sit in the back cab.”

“I sure can and I’ll sit with her. That way she won’t startle and hurt herself if she wakes up.”

“I appreciate that.” He reached down and scooped her up.

Pearl, thankfully, wasn’t the size of a horse.

She was small, like a Great Dane. Her head rested on his shoulders, her breathing shallow.

His mother would have a poultice ready for Pearl and he’d called her once they were in the truck and headed home.

Margaid followed along, carrying the netting.

They got back to the road, and he kicked down the boarded-up gate with ease, but it didn’t startle Pearl, thankfully.

Margaid secured the evidence in the bed of his truck and then climbed into the back.

He placed Pearl down, with her head resting on Margaid’s lap.

Pearl stirred, crying, but as soon as Margaid laid hands on her, she calmed right down.

They didn’t say much as they drove back to his house. He’d called his mom and let her know what was going on. The moment they arrived, he lifted Pearl out of the back and carried her into the house, lying her down on her bed.

Hetty applied the poultice to the places the netting had cut to allow it to suck out the poison and heal.

Finn quickly left and headed back outside where Margaid was placing the netting on his houseboat. He climbed back up.

“Sorry our date was ruined,” he said. “I really appreciate you coming to help.”

“You don’t need to keep apologizing. Besides, it doesn’t have to be over, does it?”

He took a step closer to her and gently reached out to run his fingers across her cheek. Touching her soft skin was electric. She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning into his touch.

“I’d very much like to kiss you and I can shift if you?—”

“You need to stop right there,” she said. “I don’t want to kiss that guy from the bushes. I want to kiss you.”

His heart completely stuttered in his chest, hearing those words. She wanted him and not because of some kind of weird curiosity to kiss a monster. She wanted him and that meant the world to him.

Tipping her chin up, he bent down and kissed her on her luscious pink lips, softly at first, before it deepened into something more primal, a yearning that had been burning in his blood since the moment he first laid eyes on her.

Margaid moaned and melted into him as he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her curvy body against him.

He let his hands wander down her back, cupping her ass.

His cock was so hard and he desperately wanted to throw her down on the deck and mount her, but this was only a first date and he wasn’t going to pressure her.

He broke off the kiss, but kept his arms around her. She rested her forehead against his muzzle, her hands resting on his chest.

“I’d like to go out with you again,” he said huskily and trying to regain his composure.

“Who says the date is over?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Isn’t it?”

She smiled and kissed him again. “No. It’s not over yet. I want you, Finn. More than just a kiss and more than just for one night.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Positive, though it’s been some time since I’ve been with anyone.”

“Same. I do want you, Margaid.” He kissed her again, possessively. “So much.”