Mind Over Matter

by Shea Balik

  Mind Over Matter

  Druid’s Curse 6

  Who would have thought there was something more horrifying than an indoor boy being forced to live in the Amazon? Yet, there was. In fact, the more descriptive word would be mind-numbingly terrifying. That it was brought into his life by a drop dead gorgeous man claiming he was there to protect Wylie, only made everything that much more surreal.

  Since the first druid came into their lives, Fritjof prayed he would never meet the druid that was destined to be his fated love. He knew that emotion would always lead to devastation and heartache. He’d seen it, experienced it, when his mother disowned him for not being able to save his father.

  But what happens when the Fae goes after someone they both love? Will they be able to find a way to trust in each other? Are some things impossible to overcome or is it Mind Over Matter?

  PLEASE NOTE: Although each book in this series focuses on a different couple, to best enjoy the overall story arc, these books SHOULD be read in order.

  Copyright ©2019 Shea Balik

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Cover by: Harris Channing

  Edited by: Avril Stepowski

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  Table of Contents

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  About the Author

  CHAPTER 1

  “Fuck me sideways,” Fritjof breathed out at the sight that greeted him after traveling for five long days to Odin’s armpit in the middle of nowhere.

  “Well, handsome, I can’t say I’ve ever tried that but I won’t say it’s off the table.” It wasn’t until a man stepped up in front of him, cutting off his access to what he’d been staring at, that Fritjof had even realized he’d spoken that last comment out loud.

  Not that it mattered. After everything it had taken for him to get there, to find himself having to protect her, Fritjof felt he was allowed to be more than a little freaked.

  “Then again, with someone as tall, blonde and…” the man cocked his head to the side and looked Fritjof up and down critically. Any other time, Fritjof might have found the guy adorable in a quirky sort of way, but at the moment, his brain was still reeling from what he’d just witnessed. “Please, tell me these nice big muscles you have aren’t to compensate for something else, because I have to say I’d be really disappointed to get you naked and find out there wasn’t anything to ride.”

  The fog that he’d been in since arriving at this tiny little farm was suddenly lifted as he really looked into the brightest blue eyes he’d ever seen. They were laughing at him, but instead of being pissed off or even annoyed like he would have been at anyone else, he found himself enthralled by the way the joy shining from those baby blues made them glow like gems.

  That’s when he found himself stunned in a whole new way. Maybe, just maybe, if the stranger had left the joking there, he would have laughed it off. But the thing was, Fritjof had been finding it harder and harder to find anything funny in the past several months.

  He’d tried, but apparently, it wasn’t working, since when the man’s eyes rounded dramatically and his shiny lips, clearly recently covered with a pink tinted lip-gloss, did the same with an over exaggerated ‘O,’ That annoyance he hadn’t felt a moment ago, reared up and smacked Fritjof in the gut – hard.

  “Oh my,” the man exclaimed, his hand going to his chest as if he were some southern belle in distress as he fluttered his eyelashes in dismay. “Please, tell me you don’t use,” then he leaned in and whispered very loudly, “steroids. Those things will shrink your nads and take away your ability to do what God intended them for.”

  Fritjof stood there – staring. He couldn’t seem to do anything else. A huge part of him was frustrated, annoyed, angry – to be honest he wasn’t quite sure any of those words worked but unhappy was the end result. But there was another part, the part that used to be more carefree and fun loving before all this shit had been going on for the past nine months when all his friends had fallen in love, leaving him… well, alone.

  Not that he wanted anyone, because he didn’t. After witnessing his mother’s breakdown after his father had died, Fritjof wanted no part of that emotion. Unh-uh. No way. Not going to happen. Ever.

  Ignoring the voice in his head that called him a ‘liar,’ Fritjof tried to pull his head out of his ass and do what he came there to do. “Where’s the rest of your family?” he asked, completely dismissing anything the man had said to him.

  He was especially trying to disregard the way his dick was trying its best to stand up and beg for attention from the handsome man with his short blonde hair, styled so it spiked up from the top of his head. Or the way his black eyeliner and mascara only accentuated his long lashes and blue eyes. Or even the fact that his slim, lithe body would look perfect if he did as suggested and rode Fritjof’s cock.

  The feel of a blade against his balls had his unruly prick taking the hint and finally deflating. “How…?” he started to ask as he glanced down to find the stranger, who he was beginning to think just might end up being the friend the other druids were talking about, with a knife pointing right against his balls.

  By Odin’s soul, he sure as hell hoped this wasn’t that friend. He wasn’t ready for that shit. Didn’t want it. Not one little bit. Fate or no. Hell, curse or no. Fritjof wasn’t about to let himself fall in love just because some prophecy said he would.

  On the other hand, for the first time in months, someone actually had him wanting to laugh. If that wasn’t impressive enough, that same guy had gotten the drop on him, which hadn’t happened in… Fritjof couldn’t even remember the last time, but he was sure it had been at least a hundred years.

  Time wasn�
��t as easy to keep track of when one was immortal. Maybe if you had someone by your side, it would be. A voice whispered inside of him.

  Shaking off the unwanted thought, Fritjof stared the man down. “Unless you want your hand removed, I suggest you back the fuck off.”

  There was a flash of fear in those blue eyes that Fritjof seriously hated being the one to put there, but he also didn’t need this shit right now. The Fae could open the Veil at any time.

  Yet, despite the fear, the guy didn’t back off. If anything, he leaned in a bit more, putting pressure from the tip of the knife on Fritjof’s balls. He hated to admit he was impressed, but it was also impossible to deny. That didn’t mean he had to do so aloud.

  With a movement fluid and quick, he had his hand wrapped around the man’s wrist. Then he put a bit of pressure on the nerves there and the knife dropped to the ground with a soft thud.

  “How…?” Those blue eyes widened in surprise. Fritjof imagined it had been the same expression he’d worn when the man had pulled the knife.

  “We can discuss hand-to-hand combat later. Right now, I need you and your family to start the ritual,” he said as his eyes, that had been glued to the man’s beautiful face, finally were able to glance away and scan the area.

  The girl he’d seen before was gone, which was probably a good thing, because Fritjof feared seeing her again and what she meant. The only thing he knew for sure was, if she was who he thought, they were well and truly fucked.

  But instead of springing into action, the man who had just had a knife to Fritjof’s nuts, stood there gaping at him as if he were insane. “Ritual?” he whispered in a manner that indicated he was stumped.

  It wasn’t as if Fritjof had the wrong person. When he and his friends had been cursed over twelve hundred years ago, they had the ability to locate druids that were nearby. Ever since he’d gotten off the little boat he’d taken along the Juruá river, a tributary of the Amazon river, that led him to this little piece of land in Brazil near the border of Peru, he’d felt their presence beckoning him closer.

  It had taken a day of trudging through the jungle, but he’d managed to find them. Since there were no Unseelie pets around, he assumed he’d gotten there before the Veil had been opened, but he knew that wouldn’t last. Fen, the Fae who was helping them to keep the Veil closed, had been too adamant about getting there as fast as possible for Fritjof to believe there was time to waste.

  “Yeah,” Fritjof scoffed with more sarcasm than was strictly necessary. “You know, that thing you do with the dancing and chanting to keep the Veil closed before the Fae come across and tries to kill you all?”

  “Who are you?” the man whispered. “And how did you find us?”

  “My name is Fritjof,” he offered. “And I was sent here to stop the Fae from killing you.” A little on the dramatic side? Probably. But time wasn’t on their side. “So, unless you’re ready to put your life and the lives of your family at risk, I suggest you get moving, sexy.”

  Sexy? Get your mind back on what’s important, Fritjof. This is not the time to think about… never mind, it will never be time to think those thoughts.

  Thankfully, the man was too occupied to have noticed his slip. “No,” the guy said. “That’s impossible. “We’re protected. They can’t find us.”

  “Who can’t find you?” Fritjof asked.

  “The Fae. The other druids. You,” he said in dawning horror. “What did you do? How did you counter the spell?”

  “Look, dude…” Fritjof shook his head and decided to take a shot in the dark. “By any chance is your name Wylie?”

  Those blue eyes became wide as saucers, nearly consuming his face in terror. “How did you know that?” Suddenly another knife appeared in his right hand and he was pointing it at Fritjof as if warning him away.

  It wouldn’t have been hard to disarm him, but Fritjof thought it might be best to give Wylie a sense of security, even if it was imaginary. “You’re friends Ryley, Cullen, Kegan, Dermot, and Teagan told me about you.”

  He was hoping by bringing up Wylie’s friends it might help to let his guard down. But when his already pale face leeched of all color, Fritjof wondered if he’d made a mistake.

  “Dad,” Wylie screamed as he turned and ran for the small farmhouse on the other side of their property.

  How Wylie thought anyone was going to hear him from that distance, Fritjof wasn’t sure, but the panic in those blue eyes told him Wylie probably wasn’t thinking straight at the moment. From what he could tell, the farm wasn’t too large. Just enough to hold a few chickens and grow a decent sized garden.

  Although, the property did back up to the jungle, so it was possible they owned more land than what was cleared for animals and vegetation. Still, as small as it was, the distance from where he’d met Wylie and the farmhouse was significant enough that he’d assumed Wylie would be winded when they’d arrived, but it didn’t even seem to faze him.

  Maybe his friends hadn’t been completely right about Wylie. They’d labeled him dramatic and a bit of an indoor guy, who hated anything related to the outdoors. Living in the Amazon might have changed at least one of those things.

  The bright pink tank top with bejeweled tiara on the front kind of said it all. Add in the cut off jean shorts that really didn’t cover a damn thing, which Fritjof thanked Odin for, since the view he got of those nicely rounded ass cheeks was something else. He may only have seen the skin along the bottom, but it made his dick jump up and beg to see the rest.

  With the exception of the plain brown boots, everything about Wylie screamed, ‘drama queen,’ as his friends had indicated. Not that Fritjof cared. Because he didn’t. Wylie could be whoever he wanted to be, it still didn’t mean Fritjof was going to get involved with him like the others had with the druids they’d saved.

  So then, why are you checking out his ass?

  Fritjof forced himself to look away, but damn if his eyes were right back to those tanned butt cheeks, making him wonder if Wylie sunbathed nude or not. His cock throbbed at the thought of catching Wylie au natural.

  Who are you kidding? There’s no way you’re going to leave him alone.

  Damn that inner voice. Fritjof didn’t need it reminding him that he was checking Wylie out. As long as he didn’t touch, there was no harm, right?

  Even he knew that it wasn’t, but none of that mattered when they arrived, for he got another glimpse of the young girl from earlier. His heart raced and his palms started to sweat as he got a really good look at her up close.

  Yep. They were well and truly fucked.

  CHAPTER 2

  This couldn’t be happening. Nope. No way. Wylie hadn’t lived a miserable existence in the fucking middle of the rainforest only to find out the Fae were still going to find them. No. Not them. Just Tess.

  His gaze shot to his sweet blonde haired niece with the two issues that had forced them to move to this godforsaken place. The first, albeit strange, they might have been able to explain away or even cover and that was her skin, for it glowed.

  Not that cute, sun-kissed kind people fawned over, or even that radiant joyful way every one wished they had. No. Tess actually fucking glowed, like a jewel catching the sun’s rays. It was ethereal in a way that was a challenge to hide. Still, with the right make-up, not to mention just keeping her out of the public eye, it would have been possible.

  But the eyes? Well, the only way for no one to notice their coloring was if they couldn’t see them. They were violet with specks of pink and blue mixed in. Even from a distance, they were as noticeable as her skin. The only difference, there was no way to hide them.

  Behind sunglasses worked only if she was far enough away, but up close they didn’t begin to diminish the color. Wylie had tried, too. He’d used every damned color of sunglasses out there, yet so long as he was about fifteen feet from her or closer, the purple just shined right through them. Don’t even get him started on those pink and blue specks. They were like gems or some shit, b
ecause they were by far brighter than the purple, many times nearly blinding the person looking at her, especially if they were outside in the sun. Glasses or no, there was no covering them.

  His heart stopped at the thought of what the Fae would do if they found Tess. “Papa, Mama, we have to leave.”

  “What?” Fritjof said, taking his eyes off Tess and back onto Wylie, then Wylie’s parents. “No. There is no escaping the Fae. You have to do the ritual.”

  “No.” Wylie whirled on Fritjof, doing his best to ignore all those bulging muscles. “This is all your fault. You’re being here is what will lead the Fae to us.”

  He rushed to the front hall closet and grabbed one of the backpacks. “Get the three of you packed,” he ordered his papa, who was staring there blinking at him as if he’d lost his damned mind.

  Not that Wylie could blame him. The thought of Tess being in the hands of those monsters who had destroyed his sister, Mairi, made him sick. He’d sworn to Mairi that he would take care of Tess, protect her during Mairi’s more lucid moments at the end, and that’s exactly what he was going to do.

  “You can’t run,” Fritjof said, the frustration coming through his booming voice. “If they get through that Veil they will find you.”

  But Wylie wasn’t so sure he was right. All he knew was that being there when the Fae arrived wasn’t something he was willing to risk.

  “He’s right, Wylie,” his mama said softly as she lifted Tess into her arms. “We tried that with Mairi,” she reminded him. “It didn’t work.”

  That was an understatement. Wylie had no idea how they kept finding her but, no matter how many times they’d run, he’d always find Mairi, use her, and then break her heart. Time after time.

  It wasn’t until they’d discovered she was pregnant that his parents had changed tactics. But it hadn’t come without a cost. Mairi’s life. No way was he going to risk Tess’s too.