by Jane Godman
How far had she come? Mere weeks ago law-abiding Hollie Brennan would have been shocked at the suggestion that she would conceal information that could help with any inquiry, let alone the Incinerator case. Now she clutched at Torque’s suggestion like she was drowning and he had thrown her a life preserver.
She couldn’t analyze why it was so important for her to remain hidden. It wasn’t as if she was doing a good job of hiding from the Incinerator. He had found her at the Pleasant Bay Bar and now, if she was the intended target, it looked like he had found her here. All she knew for sure—and it was not a sixth sense or a hunch—was that she needed to be with Torque. Whether that was for her security or her well-being, she didn’t know. There was a strong possibility it could be both.
“I want to stay out of it,” she said.
“Leave it to me.”
Those words summed up everything about what had happened to her since she’d met Torque. No matter what else life was throwing her way, no matter how bizarre the situation, she knew she could place her life in his hands.
* * *
Hollie thought she’d coped well with everything life had thrown at her over the last few weeks. Rock stars who were really shifters, a dragon lover, attempts on her life...she’d taken them all in her stride, emerging, if not unscathed, at least quietly restrained.
But this? This was taking irrational to a whole new level.
“Let me get this straight. You are going to fly from here to Scotland—crossing the Atlantic Ocean—and you want me to ride on your back?” Her voice was getting higher and higher as she spoke, ending in something that was close to a screech.
“It’s perfect timing.” Torque appeared not to notice her near stratospheric levels of incredulity. “We have a few rest days in Dallas, so we can be there and back before the next performance.”
When she tried to discuss the logistics, including important things like her survival at altitude, he waved them aside. “Och, you’ll be with a dragon. Trust me.”
“Did you just say ‘och’?” She regarded him in bemusement.
“It must be the prospect of a return to Scotland.” Although he smiled, she heard a touch of apprehension in the words. Going home after all this time would be hard on him. Going home in search of answers about the woman who had destroyed his family? That had to hurt his soul. And Torque was doing this because Hollie was in danger.
She placed a hand on his arm. “I do trust you, but I can’t help thinking of all the things that could go wrong. What if I fall off?”
A smile glinted in the opal depths of his eyes. “Then I’ll catch you.”
She believed him. He had saved her from death twice, and both times he had done it in a way that no human could have achieved. “Okay. Let’s do it.” She gave a squeal as Torque seized her and spun her around.
Having made this decision, Torque seemed invigorated by it. His energy levels, always high, were off the scale as he paced the hotel room, throwing items into a backpack that Hollie would carry. When they were ready to leave, they stopped by Ged’s hotel room.
When Torque explained his plans, Ged regarded him with a thoughtful expression. “And you finally feel ready for this?”
“At long last, I believe so.”
“Then be careful.” Ged turned to Hollie. “Since Torque has no sense of time, I’m relying on you to get him back here for the next performance.”
She smiled. “I’ll do my best, but he’s in charge of the travel arrangements.”
Torque had checked a map of the area and chosen the nearby Cedar Ridge Nature Preserve as the best place to shift. They took a cab to the scenic area. As they left the vehicle and followed an isolated trail, the moon was full and round.
“Perfect for a dragon ride.” Hollie’s voice quivered with nerves. She still couldn’t quite believe she’d agreed to this. “Sorry, bad joke.”
Torque grinned. “Every night is perfect for a dragon ride.”
When they found a sheltered clearing that suited his needs, Torque slipped off his clothes and handed them to her. Hollie placed them in the backpack, ready for when they reached their destination. Even though she was prepared for him to shift, Hollie still found she was holding her breath. If she lived to be a hundred, she would never tire of this moment. If only she could live to be more than a hundred...
Torque shifted quickly, almost impatiently. Neck stretched out and wings held high, he crouched low, waiting for Hollie.
So, we’re really doing this. I’m really going to fly halfway across the world on the back of a dragon. Or die trying...
Hoisting the backpack in place on her shoulders, she caught hold of one of Torque’s wings and levered herself up onto his back. Settling into position, she straddled the base of his powerful neck, just in front of his wings.
Once she was in position, Torque spread those incredible wings to their full extent. Hollie could feel his muscles tensing in preparation. His mighty feet pounded across the ground as he broke into a run, gaining speed before launching into flight. Flattening herself tight to him, Hollie felt her face stinging as the air rushed past. When she risked a look down, her stomach swooped alarmingly. The ground dropped away as they soared above the trees, quickly reaching altitude.
It was like riding a horse bareback, with the same rocking and bucking motion, but on a larger scale. They flew up into cloud and down into clear skies. Time became meaningless, and in the darkness below her, Hollie caught glimpses of oceans and land masses, of vast cities and of mountains and rivers. Although the air around her was cool, she could stand its bite. Pressing close against Torque’s scales, she let the heat of his body warm her. No, she shouldn’t have been able to survive at this height. But she was riding on the back of a dragon. Nothing about this made sense. It was magic. Reason didn’t come into it.
When Torque swooped and soared, it was as exhilarating as the most white-knuckle fairground ride. The wind brought tears to Hollie’s eyes and the wind whipped her hair straight out behind her like a flag on a pole. The best part of the flight was when Torque stilled his wings to glide, letting the air currents carry him for long distances. Without the heaving whumphing sound of his beating wings, there was only silence. Except when she pressed her cheek to his scales, then she could hear the strong, rhythmic beat of his dragon heart. Impossible as it seemed, she might have slept.
Or maybe it was an illusion, the sense of time passing too quickly. Because long before it should have been, the night was over. Daylight was streaking the sky, and Torque was dipping low over snow-covered summits.
When they landed, Hollie looked around in amazement. The low ground was dark, with patches of purple heather and green gorse. The mountain peaks glowed white against a sky that was endlessly gray. It was beautiful, majestic and forbidding. She knew this place. She had been here many times in her dreams.
Torque shifted back and slipped on the clothing she handed him.
“Welcome to Scotland.” There was a fierce pride in Torque’s voice. “The weather is unpredictable. It could hail, snow, rain or shine. And it could do all of those things within the next hour. These Highlands will show you their moods with no room for misunderstanding.”
“You love this place.” It was evident in everything about him. Even the way he held himself had changed. There was a new pride in his bearing.
“Aye.”
She’d never heard him use that word before.
“It’s my home.”
“But this is the first time you’ve been back here since Ged rescued you from Teine?”
He tilted his head up toward the mountains as though drawing strength from their beauty. “There was too much pain for me here. And too many memories. But now we’ve an arsonist to hunt down.” He took her hand. “And I have you. The memories are still here, but they don’t hurt as much with you by my side.”
She l
eaned in close, nestling her cheek into the curve of his neck. “I’ll be by your side as long as you want me.”
“How about forever?”
Neither of them took the thought further, even though the reality was always with them. There was no happily-ever-after for them. A human and a dragon? That whole mortal-immortal thing was a real barrier. They could do long-term, but it would last for Hollie’s lifetime. Which meant Torque was left staring down the barrel of a long, lonely forever. The Fates had gotten it wrong this time. When they decided to interfere and make them mates, it was like a magic trick that had gone wrong.
“Let’s get going.” Torque pulled on his beanie and shades, apparently feeling the need for his disguise even in this remote location. “If we walk to the nearest road, we can catch a bus into Inverness.”
Hollie started to laugh. “Maybe you can make the switch that quickly, but I’m having trouble adjusting. One minute I’m flying on a dragon’s back, the next I’m a regular tourist taking the bus into town?”
“Welcome to my world. Straddling the human and the paranormal is all in a day’s work.”
Chapter 12
Hollie soon learned that Torque hadn’t been joking about the weather. They waited at the roadside for the regular bus from Fort William in drizzling rain, but by the time they arrived in the city of Inverness, the sun was shining.
“Who are we here to see?” she asked as Torque led her down a narrow street. “Tell me it’s not a sorceress.”
“No.” He grinned as they halted outside a quaint bookstore. “It’s a dragon.”
He pointed to the sign above the door. The Book Hoard. It was accompanied by an image of a dragon guarding a pile of leather-bound books.
Before she could respond, he was ushering her inside. The interior was gloomy and it had that old-book smell that was instantly recognizable but couldn’t be categorized. Hollie thought of it as aging paper, with a dollop of dust, and a hint of incense. It always made her feel slightly giddy, as though she was in a place of magic and mystery. The difference was that, on this occasion, her instinct told her that was exactly where she was.
The store was long and narrow and the walls were covered from floor to ceiling with book-filled shelves. Oddly matched easy chairs were dotted about the place, and a large ginger cat dozed in the middle of a sagging red velvet sofa.
“It’s like something out of a fantasy story,” Hollie whispered.
“It may have featured in one or two,” he whispered back.
The shop was quiet, with only a few people browsing the shelves. Torque walked confidently through to the rear, until they reached an office with glass windows that overlooked the whole shop. As they approached, a man who was seated at a desk inside the tiny room, looked up. He went very still, his hand hovering in the act of pushing his half-moon glasses up his nose.
Hollie had heard the expression “cut the atmosphere with a knife,” but she’d never felt it until now. As Torque and the other man stared at each other, the air seemed to heat up and thicken. She could feel the relationship between these two. Although she couldn’t understand how, the memories and emotions of centuries were right there in that curious old bookstore. It was as if she could reach out a hand and pluck them from the motes of dust that floated around them.
“Hollie, I’d like you to meet Alban.”
The man who rose from the desk was stick-thin and very tall. He had the slightly stooped air of someone who has spent his life trying to compensate for his height. His shoulder-length hair, pointed beard and neatly trimmed mustache all shimmered silver. Everything about him, including his long, hooked nose and piercing blue eyes, seemed to enhance the impression of a wizard who had accidentally wandered out of his own time period.
“Alban?” Hollie muttered the word out of the corner of her mouth. “Isn’t he...?”
“The enemy?” Alban came out of the office. Hollie’s first impression had been that he was old. Now that he was up close, it was impossible to judge his age. “Have you been telling tales about me, Cumhachdach?”
“Only the truth, Moiteil.”
As they gazed at each other for a moment, the outcome appeared in doubt. Hollie wondered if they were about to fight or embrace. Then Torque moved forward and grasped Alban’s forearm. “Too long.”
The other man clamped a hand on Torque’s shoulder. “It was your choice to stay away.”
“You know why.” Torque’s voice was rusty with pain.
“Aye.” Alban shook his head. “She did for you. Just as she promised she would. What brings you back now?”
“Her. Always her.” Torque’s jaw muscles were tight. “Can we go somewhere to talk?”
Alban looked around the store. “Give me a few minutes.”
He walked away and Hollie watched in amazement as he started hustling his few customers out the door. “Closing time, folks.” He pointed to the scarred grandfather clock in the corner of the room. “Och, I know the sign on the door says we’re open until five, but you cannae always trust those things.”
“Isn’t that bad for business?” Hollie asked when Alban had locked the door.
“Possibly.” He beckoned for them to follow him up a flight of stairs that was tucked away behind the office. “But I do this more as a hobby than for profit. I’ve a pretty hoard tucked away.” He lowered his voice and cast a look in Torque’s direction. “But don’t tell yon thieving Cumhachdach.”
“I’ve a tidy sum of my own. I’ve no need to raid the Moiteil cave,” Torque said. “Not this time.”
“The stories about dragons and their hoards are all true, then?” Hollie asked. She was in Scotland, in the company of two dragons, sharing a joke with them. Life didn’t get more surreal than this.
“Aye, we like our gelt. But you’ll be pleased to know we know longer demand the sacrifice of a pretty maiden.” Alban led them into an apartment above the store...and took them back in time.
Everything about the place, from the heavy wooden beams that meant Alban and Torque had to stoop low, to the wood-burning stove, seemed to be from another era. Hollie looked around her with surprise and pleasure. This was the home of a fearsome dragon leader? These cozy, floral cushions, woven rugs and fringed lamps were straight out of a 1950s English detective movie.
“I like my home comforts.” Alban seemed to follow the direction of her thoughts. “If you’ve a long life ahead of you, why not enjoy it?”
As he spoke, another cat, this one a huge black-and-white ball of fluff, wandered into the room. Favoring them with a look of disgust, it jumped onto the window ledge and proceeded to ignore them.
“Tea? Or will you take a wee dram?”
Since Alban was already reaching for the whiskey bottle that sat on a table beside a winged chair, there seemed to be only one answer to that question. Alban’s idea of a “wee dram” was a hefty slug of fifty-year-old Scotch, and Hollie sipped the heady liquid cautiously.
“She’s dead, Torque.” Alban didn’t mince his words. “We both saw her die.”
Hollie looked from one to the other in surprise. “Alban was with you when Ged freed you from captivity?”
Torque nodded. “I told you Teine delighted in playing us off one against the other. When she imprisoned me, she thought Alban would be pleased. His enemy was destroyed. The Moiteil would reign supreme.”
“It doesn’t work like that.” Alban swirled the whiskey around in his glass. “We dragons are honorable. What Teine did to the Cumhachdach was murder most foul. My clan was not going to tolerate that.”
“Alban and the Moiteil tried to rescue me,” Torque said. “It didn’t go well.”
“No.” The look in Alban’s eyes reminded Hollie of Torque’s expression when he talked of Teine. “It couldn’t have gone any worse.”
Torque raised his whiskey glass in a half-mocking salute. “You are looking
at the last of the two Highland dragon-shifter clans.”
“She killed the Moiteil, as well?” Although Hollie had already heard the horror story of what Teine had done to Torque and his family, it was hard to believe that she had repeated her atrocities.
“Like I said, she considered us her playthings. But Teine was like a child having a tantrum, and when things didn’t go her way, she stomped on her toys. The dragon-shifters who lived in these Highlands were the casualties.”
“She threw me into the cave with Torque. Told me if I had become so fond of him, we could spend eternity together.” Alban’s laughter had a hollow ring to it. “I thought we would. Which reminds me, how is Gerald?”
“Ged,” Torque explained when Hollie raised questioning brows. “He’s fine. Still saving the world, one endangered shifter at a time.”
“We saw her die, Torque.” Alban returned to the subject of Teine. “There is no more to be said.”
“We saw her fall.” There was a challenge in Torque’s eyes. “Can we be sure she died?”
Alban sighed. “I suppose you have a reason for asking this?”
“Someone is lighting fires that appeared to be a tribute, but have now become a warning, to me.”
Torque drew a piece of paper from his pocket. On it was the message from [email protected]. When Alban read it, his already pale complexion lightened by several shades. “It certainly appears to be from her.”
“I came to find out if you’d seen, or heard, anything that might make you think she could still be alive,” Torque said.
“Hell, no. If I thought that, I’d seek her out and kill her all over again myself,” Alban said. “And enjoy every minute.” He tapped the piece of paper. “But if Teine is behind this, she wouldn’t have returned to her old, secluded life here in the Highlands, would she? She’s a sorceress, but her powers are not unlimited. She would need to be able to travel around and start these fires.”
“What can she do?” Hollie decided it was time to find out more about the enemy. “And why do you call her a sorceress and not a witch?”