“Me?” I snorted.
“Yes, you.” She rolled her eyes, doing her best to hide her laughter. “Get out and have some fun.
After leaving Aileen, I walked as far as I was able through the forest before doubling back toward Derrydun.
The tower house loomed over me, and I gazed up at it as if I was seeing it for the first time. I’d flown over it dozens of times, but I’d never really stopped to look at it before now. There was no particular reason for it, but I supposed it was a part of the landscape like the forest or the village.
Approaching, I felt a tingle in the base of my spine. It might’ve been the thrill of discovery, or it might’ve been something more, there was no way to tell. My senses were kicked into overdrive. It didn’t worry me, so I ventured forward, glad there was something new to be discovered within the boundary of the hawthorns.
Half of the structure had crumbled, leaving the interior open to the elements. Moss, vines, and grass had grown in every available crack, making it hard to imagine anyone had lived here at all. Further inside, I could see the distinct remains of three floors, and in the far corner, an alcove where spiral stairs had been set into the tower wall.
Surrounded by trees, it was secluded enough, and as visitors were not allowed to trample over the grounds, its wildness was beautiful. In the distance, I could hear the hum of the village, but it was almost drowned out by the comings and goings of nature. Birds sang, creatures burrowed and foraged, leaves rustled, and trees creaked. The air was close, almost as if a cone of silence had been dropped over the entire ruin, sealing me inside.
Sitting on the crumbled wall, I stared up at the sky, studying the clouds through a window right at the top. I wondered who used to live here. Ancient graffiti was carved into a stone here and there, but there was nothing left to give me a clue as to who they were.
A bellow echoed across the hill, the sound bouncing around inside the ruin. My head turned at the call, and I listened. Another sharp yell echoed over the fields, and not even the ruined walls and the strange sound barrier muffled it.
I could feel surprise, pain, and a tinge of fear… Something was happening, and it wasn’t good.
Placing my palm against the wall, I gasped as an image flashed before me. I could see it as plain as day. Roy facing off with Bully. Like I was dreaming, it exploded into my mind’s eye. The bull was readying for his charge, and the old man was stuck against the fence with no way out.
Bursting into a flat-out run, I careened out of the ruins and down the hill toward the farm. Leaping over the drywall, sheep scattered as I passed, bleating their annoyance as my feet pounded on the grass. Vaulting over another fence, I landed on the dirt road that led down to Roy’s house and the pen where he kept the giant bull, creatively named Bully.
Rounding the house, I saw the top of the bull’s back, but there was no sight of the old man anywhere. Bully lowered his head, the sound of his stamping hooves reaching my ears. It was then I realized I couldn’t see Roy because he was already on the ground. I couldn’t be too late.
“Boone!” Sean called out in a blind panic. “Stop!”
Spying Roy through the palings, I ignored Sean’s cry and sprinted across the yard, but I wasn’t fast enough. Bully’s hoof came down hard on Roy’s leg, and the old man bellowed in pain as the bone split. I heard the crack as plain as day, and I sprang into action.
It seemed I’d stopped thinking a long time ago and had allowed my senses to take over because I did the exact thing Roy—and Aileen for that matter—had warned me not to do. Run head first into danger without thinking.
Vaulting over the fence, I landed beside Roy and moved between him and Bully. My appearance startled the beast, and he moved backward, lowering his head and showing me his horns.
Bulls were stubborn creatures, highly temperamental and extremely dangerous if not handled correctly. Roy had taught me you had to show them who was the boss, or they would charge. It was a constant struggle for dominance. I wasn’t sure what’d happened, but Bully had decided he was king of the yard and skewered the old man.
I had to bluff my way through this or else Bully would trample us both. I’d heal given enough time, but Roy might never walk again.
“Boone, get out of here!” Roy cried.
Ignoring him, I held up my hands, never taking my gaze off Bully. The bull snorted, his eyes rolling, and stamped his forefoot on the ground.
“Whoa, Bully,” I said soothingly.
The bull snorted again, his eyes rolling. I wasn’t sure if it was my magic or the affinity I’d created when I first touched his hide all those weeks ago, but I could feel his anger. The air felt hot around him, much like the sensation that overcame me when Aileen used her powers.
Roy moaned behind me, struggling to drag himself through the mud to the gate. Bully’s attention was drawn to the sound, and I whistled, bringing his eyes back to mine.
“Eyes on me, Bully,” I said, edging to the side, drawing him away from Roy. The bull followed me, lowering his head and stamping on the ground. “That’s it, you big pile of shite.”
“Sweet mother of God,” Sean exclaimed. “He’s going to charge ye, Boone! Get outta there!”
Bully spooked at the sound of Sean’s voice and galloped forward. I had no idea what overcame me at that moment, but I leapt straight for him. One ton of pure muscle and a pair of menacing horns rushed toward me, and time slowed down.
My fingers hit metal, and I grasped the bullring through his nose. Tugging as hard as I could, I jerked Bully’s head back down. He let out an angry bellow as I slipped under him, my head colliding with his chest and my legs almost trampled in the process.
Bully came to a halt, snorting and shaking his head, and my boots slipped on the churned mud as I righted myself. We were eye to eye this time, my grip on his bullring the only thing keeping him from bucking and ramming me in the chest.
“Sean,” I said, still focused on the bull. “Get Roy out of here. Now.”
I was vaguely aware of the commotion behind me as I stared down the bull. He was looking right at me, his bulging eyes staring right into mine. I felt his anger and pain, the metal pulling on his nose to the point he was in agony, and I let go.
My hands slipped from the bullring, the pressure easing from Bully’s snout, and before the bull had a chance to strike, I placed my hands on his head. Smack bang on the swirl of chestnut hair between his beady eyes.
My touch opened a pathway between us, and I shook as images passed between us. His mind was empty, and all I could see was the blind rage that had taken over his base instincts of food, power, and mating. There was no way of deciphering what had set him off, but it didn’t matter. He was angry, and when a bull was angry, he struck out. It was as simple as that.
“Calm, boy,” I murmured.
Bully seemed to settle as I murmured to him, my fingers stroking his fur. After a minute, his eyes stopped rolling, and his breathing eased.
“Boone, we’re out,” Sean said from somewhere behind me. “Ye best follow.”
Nodding, I was in complete agreement. The moment my palm left Bully’s forehead, he retreated with a wild bellow, his hooves churning the mud and sending it flying. Taking the opportunity to get out of the pen while the going was good, I clambered over the fence out of harm’s way.
Roy was lying on a patch of grass, his back resting against the bale of hay he must’ve been hauling in for Bully.
“What the hell was that?” Sean exclaimed, kneeling over him.
“He was on me before I knew what was happenin’,” the old man replied, wincing. “I think me leg is broken. He stamped on me real good.”
Sean glanced at me. “Boone, would ye wait here while I run down to the house and call the ambulance? There’s no movin’ him without a great deal of trouble.”
“Of course. Anything.”
As Sean ran down the path, Roy glanced up at me, his frown created from more than pain.
“What did ye do to Bully
, laddy?”
“I don’t know,” I murmured. “I really don’t know.”
As I sat there beside Roy waiting for the ambulance to arrive, I knew I’d used my power to calm Bully. There was no other explanation for it. He’d just backed down the moment my hands touched his fur, and that was that. How I’d done it was a complete mystery.
It wasn’t until later that afternoon, I realized there was no possible way I could’ve heard Roy’s cry for help inside the tower house. It could only mean my magic was growing.
I was finding my balance.
Chapter 9
“There Bully was, standin’ over Roy, mad as a bee in a jar…”
Slouching in my seat, I wrapped my hand around my pint of beer and watched Sean McKinnon recount the story of my showdown with Bully. For what felt like the hundredth time in the last two weeks.
Molly McCreedy’s was full of locals tonight, even Aileen had come, but it was all for a special occasion. Roy had come home from the hospital that morning, and this was his welcome home party. Any chance for little craic in this village.
The old man was sitting in the seat of honor beside the fireplace, a pint of ale in his hand, his cheeks red, a smile on his face, and his leg set on another chair before him. He’d been plastered from ankle to mid-thigh, and after an operation to put a metal pin in his femur, he had two weeks of recovery before he was allowed to return home. It seemed Bully had broken his leg in two, shattering the bone rather than snapping it. Hence, the metal rod.
“Boone leapt toward Bully with no fear at all,” Sean declared, sweeping his arm wide. “He jumped…” He did the action, his boots thudding on the floorboards, the beer sloshing over the rim of the pint glass in his hand. “And grabbed Bully’s bullring and swung off it like a trapeze artist.”
“I can’t believe you’re still talking about that,” I complained.
“Who lit the fuse on ye tampon, Boone?” Sean shot back. “You’re the hero of the story. Ye should be thankin’ me.”
Hannah burst out into peals of laughter from behind the bar. “What happened next?”
“Yeah, Sean. What next?” someone called across the room.
“You all know what happened next,” I said. “How many times have we heard this story?”
Sean held up his hand to shut me up and said, “Bully and Boone were eye to eye.” He pointed to his eye and turned to show the room. “The air was thick with tension… Would Bully knock him flyin’? Or would he be the one to tame the wild beast?”
“Ciach ort,” I swore in Irish.
“Let them have their fun,” Aileen murmured beside me.
“I used my powers,” I replied under my breath. “Blatantly.”
“You didn’t realize, and neither did they. They think you’re the bull whisperer.”
“You don’t know how true that is.”
“Oh, I can have a good guess,” she replied.
I groaned and sipped on my beer. At least no more craglorn had been drawn to the village before or after the day Aileen had saved me by the hawthorn behind Sean’s farmhouse.
“You did a good thing, Boone,” she added. “Not only did you discover that your abilities as a shapeshifter run deeper, but you also saved a man’s life. Bully could’ve trampled Roy to death, and this might’ve been a different kind of party.”
I suppose she had a point. Time was a strange thing when you were stuck in the one place.
“Are you sure using my abilities won’t draw any unwanted visitors?” I muttered under my breath.
“No, you’re safe, Boone. What you do is instinctive. It’s a part of your physiology. It’s completely different to how a witch uses her magic.”
“Then,” Sean declared, the entire room hanging on his every word, “Boone let go. He let go of Bully’s bullring. Can ye believe it? Standing a mere inch from an angry bull, he let go.”
A dozen fists hit the table in a riotous exclamation. “No!” they chanted.
“Never fear! It wasn’t over, not by a long shot. Boone placed his hands on Bully’s head.” He slapped his palm on Roy’s forehead, much to the old man’s amusement. “Then…” The room was on a knife’s edge. “Then he sent Bully runnin’ across the yard, his tail between his legs. Just like that!”
Everyone hollered and hooted, raising their glasses toward me. Embarrassed at the attention, I nodded, hiding behind the shock of unruly black curls that usually hung in my eyes. Lifting my pint, we drank, and with that, the story was over, and all eyes returned to Roy as he began recounting his stay in the hospital.
“Damn Bully shattered me leg, the cúl tóna,” he was saying. “They cut me damn leg wide open and put metal rods inside. Can ye believe it?”
“Are you feeling better about everything?” Aileen asked now the attention was on Roy.
Setting my pint down, I inclined my head. “I guess so.”
“Be a little more enthusiastic, Boone.”
“All this chattering is exhausting,” I said, nodding toward the room. “Ever since I touched Bully’s mind, the noise is hard to tune out. I never noticed it before.”
“Then you must notice how Hannah looks at you.” Aileen smirked and nodded toward the bar where the young woman was having a hard time keeping up with the demands of the villagers. “She’s sweet on you.”
Glancing over to the bar, I contemplated the notion of a romantic entanglement with a human woman. Hannah was pretty enough with her fiery hair and freckled cheeks, but I wasn’t sure I could be with someone like that and not have them understand who I was. Keeping my abilities secret from Derrydun was hard enough, so what would happen when she wanted me to take her to Dublin for a weekend? Or even to the coast? I couldn’t leave the boundary set by the hawthorns.
I must’ve been staring at her too long because she turned and saw my gaze was fixed on her. She caught my eye, her cheeks flushed slightly, and winked.
“I know,” I said to Aileen. “I can feel it, and not in an inappropriate way.”
She laughed softly. “I was about to say… With that and your bare ass, I’ve had about enough of you.”
“You’re like my mam if I do say so,” I retorted, not even missing a beat.
“You’re making me feel old. I’d stop it if I were you.”
I thought about her daughter Skye and smiled. I wasn’t too old that I could be her son, and honestly, our relationship was more than a witch helping a shapeshifter. In the few short months I’d been in Derrydun, she’d become just that. A surrogate mother with all the trimmings.
Finishing her lemonade, the witch turned to me. “I’m off for the evening.”
“Aye, I’m not far behind you.”
“Don’t leave on my account. You should flirt a little with Hannah. Have some fun. Wouldn’t hurt, you know.”
“I’ve had just about enough excitement for one evening,” I replied, not wanting to lead Hannah on. “I might go for a run to clear my head.”
“Don’t forget to give your best to Roy before you do,” Aileen commanded in her motherly way. “After the mess with Bully, he thinks of you as a son.”
“I know…”
“I’m sure you do,” she said mysteriously before rising to her feet and smoothing down her skirt.
Taking her cue, I approached the old man and smiled.
“Ah, Boone,” Roy declared, patting the chair next to him. “Have a seat and chat with me.”
Sitting beside him, I studied his cast. Someone had put a brightly colored hand-woven sock over his foot.
“I missed ye at the hospital,” he said.
“I know you don’t like to be fawned over, so I helped Sean make sure things were running on the farm. But after tonight, I’m not so sure about that.”
“I must say, I’m likin’ the rise in popularity.”
Smiling, I looked around the room, and all I could feel was warmth. It was rather nice. These people genuinely cared about one another, no matter how many shades of c
razy they were. Even old Fergus—the ancient Irishman who sat out near the coach bay every day with his donkey and scrappy little dog, selling his hand-woven crosses of St. Brigid to tourists—had come in for a drink. The donkey had to stay outside, but his dog sat by his chair as quiet as a mouse.
“How did ye do it?” Roy asked. “How did ye calm Bully like ye did?”
“I can’t say,” I replied with a shrug. “I knew I had to distract him long enough for Sean to drag you out so…I distracted him.”
“That was more than distractin’,” Roy stated. “I’ve never seen a man stand eye to eye with a bull like that in me life. Sixty years of farmin’ and handlin’ bulls and never…”
“I wish I knew.”
Roy eyed me with an air of skepticism. “Sometimes, I’m not sure how to take ye, lad.”
“What do you mean?” I didn’t like the sound of that, and my skin bristled as I felt wariness fill the air around him.
“Ye don’t talk about your past much, do ye?”
I frowned. “There’s not much in it. Derrydun is my home now, and everything before is irrelevant.”
“Ye don’t have the Guard after ye? Last thing anyone needs, especially Aileen, is the law comin’ down on her.”
I shook my head and laughed. “Take it easy, Roy,” I said, rising to my feet. “Don’t you worry about the farm. I’ll be there with Sean in the morning. You can count on that.”
“Ye little bugger,” he cursed after me.
Outside, the air was clear, and I shook off the warmth that had overtaken Molly McCreedy’s. Fergus’s donkey raised her head from the cast-iron pot at her feet and immediately disregarded me, sticking her nose back into the chaff.
“Nice to see you too, girl,” I murmured, placing my palm on her back. Immediately, I felt her sense of satisfaction. That must be some good chaff.
“You going home already?”
Glancing into the darkness, I caught sight of Hannah leaning against the side of the pub.
“Aye, I’m not big on all the attention.”
“I can tell.” She pushed off the wall and came to stand before me. “You’re a bit of a mystery, aren’t you?”
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