by Kate Keir
“That would be wonderful.” She beamed.
“Thank you, Pen.” I stood up and crossed the room to the wooden door. As I reached for the handle she called my name, and I turned back toward her.
“Finlay loves you with a ferocity that is rare to find. I don’t doubt his loyalty, and I truly don’t believe you should either. But I do think you should take some time apart for a few days. Let Lyall keep up with your shifter training. It would be lovely to finally find out what you will become.”
I gave her a smile and a nod and made my way out into the hall, feeling a lightness in my heart that had been missing for a long while.
Chapter Nineteen
Training with Lyall was fun but gruelling. At first, I had thought he was stern and actually quite a harsh tutor. Now I had gotten to know him better, I realised he was just passionate about getting results. He wanted me to succeed, and he got just as frustrated as I did every time I failed to make the change to whatever it was I was eventually going to learn to become.
We were on the third consecutive day of our intensive training since my chat with Pen and almost every single part of my body hurt from trying to change over and over again. I had just failed for the seventh time today, and I was so frustrated I kicked out at a nearby tree and growled in disappointment.
“Hey, grumpy ass?” I could hear the laughter in Lyall’s voice as he called out to me.
I turned around to snap a “what” at him. But before I could speak, he threw a bottle of water toward me. I had to concentrate on catching it as it fell through its arc in the air, so I held my tongue.
I was grateful for the drink, however. I was constantly thirsty when I trained with Lyall, and he knew it, which was why he always kept water to hand. I unscrewed the lid and swallowed back two thirds of the cool fluid before concentrating on trying to slow my rapid breathing.
Lyall approached me, taking a drink from his own bottle. “You’re doing amazingly, you know. This isn’t easy. You shouldn’t go too hard on yourself.”
He stood next to me, looking cool and fresh in his black jeans and black T-shirt. I looked down at myself, feeling majorly self-conscious. I was dressed in grey jogging pants because I found them the most comfortable clothes for training to shift in, and my white sleeveless top was saturated in the sweat that glistened all over my face and body.
“I’m a mess,” I complained.
“Nope, you’re beautiful, even when you’re covered in sweat and scowling, love.” He winked at me and ducked away, laughing as I swiped at him.
“Are we going to try again?” I was determined to get this right. It had almost become an obsession for me. Not only did I want to be able to better protect myself, but I also desperately wanted to know if I would take the same form as either Lyall or Finlay.
“Are you sure you want to? You must be exhausted.” He shot me a concerned look.
“I want to. I want to finally be able to nail this, Lyall. Apart from anything else, this training is tough. The sooner I manage to change, the sooner we can stop trying to kill me every day.” I placed my hands on my hips and shot him a determined look.
“I’m broken-hearted that you don’t want to train with me anymore,” he sniggered through feigned sorrow.
“You know I enjoy spending time with you. I can’t thank you enough for how much you’ve done for me. But I want to finally find out what I’ll become, Lyall.”
He gave me an odd look. “The lady wants to know whether she will be a cat or a dog? I understand, love.”
“I’m pretty sure the rules don’t say I have to bond with a Dion that shares my shape, anyway. I’m not sure anyone could stop me from making my own choice?” I pouted.
He crossed the clearing and gave me one of his familiar kisses on my forehead. “I don’t think anyone ever managed to stop you from doing something you’d set your heart on, love.”
I laughed aloud. “Are you saying I’m headstrong?”
“Never.” He laughed. “Anyway, I’ve had a thought. You’re at your most powerful when you’re in the Everwood. It’s your realm, Flora. Perhaps it might be worth going there to try your next shift?”
“At this point, I’m willing to try anything that could help. Let’s do it.”
“Okay, as long as you promise this will be your last attempt for today?” He gave me a questioning look.
“Promise,” I said sincerely.
We both conjured up the tranquil setting of the Everwood in our minds, quickly finding ourselves standing amongst the blue flowered trees.
“Okay, we’re going to do this exactly the same as if we were back at the castle. Nothing’s different except the scenery.” Lyall took a seat on a fallen tree branch, leaving me standing alone in between the trees.
I clenched and unclenched my fists several times, trying to relax my muscles as much as possible. Lyall had explained to me that shifting was easier when you weren’t tense. It made complete sense that if you allowed your muscles to relax, then when they had to shrink and morph into your new shape, it would hurt a lot less.
“Okay, love,” he called to me. “Think about changing. Imagine every part of your body being receptive to those changes. Your legs want to get shorter. Your teeth want to get longer. Your body wants to be covered in fur.”
We had agreed that it was unlikely I would become a bird and even less likely I would become a hamster, so even though we were completely in the dark about my shifter form, we were aiming for furry and ferocious. What neither of us had said out loud, was that we knew we were probably aiming for either a big white cat or a black wolf.
I closed my eyes and imagined the changes were happening in my body as I heard Lyall speak them out loud. When it came to colour and specific shape, I only ever permitted a grey haze to appear in my mind. I was pretty sure the reason I had struggled with shifting for so long was because I refused to choose a complete image to focus on. But my heart simply wouldn’t let me choose between Finlay and Lyall.
As I listened to Lyall repeating his instructions over and over, I felt the first phase of my shift begin. I wasn’t surprised. I found it easy to reach this stage now and the next. It was getting past the third phase that usually sent me panting and swearing to my knees.
I felt the desire to change start to swim through my body, and as it began to take a hold of my muscles and bones I felt phase two start. At this point, I could feel the prickle of real change threatening to happen all over my body. I could also feel a sense of clearance inside my head that would enable a second, more feral mind to share the thought-space.
I could only vaguely hear Lyall’s voice now, but I knew it was encouraging me. I thought I heard him shout, “You’re doing it, love,” but I couldn’t be sure as I was distracted by a bolt of agony that tore through my body. I couldn’t believe it. I knew this was the start of the final phase of shifting. I was knocking on the door of phase three, somewhere I had never managed to get to before.
The pain was worse than it had ever been before. Usually I would get to this point, and in one quick burst of agony, I would be thrown out of the shifting cycle and be back in the real world, with only a splitting headache to show for it. This was different. I was going to change.
I heard a sickening snap as my bones began to reshape themselves to accommodate my new form. The pain continued to pulse though me, but it was a tolerable ache, just as Lyall had promised it would be.
In a brief moment, I heard Lyall shout something that sounded like a warning. I panicked and lost all focus which caused a searing rush of pain as I was thrown back out of my shift and returned to my normal body, just in time for a dark shape to knock me off my feet so hard I lost my breath as I collided with the floor.
I heard a sudden growl and saw wolf Lyall leap across me to clamp his jaws down on the throat of a Draugur who had been headed straight for me. As I tried to override the nausea in my belly, I realised we were under attack. There was a heavy weight over my feet and a glance told me it wa
s a second Draugur. This must have been the one that knocked me to the floor, I realised.
I sat up and hit out at the Draugur with my fists, trying to land a hard punch or find an eye socket I could poke, but with my legs out of action, I struggled to reach its face. I could hear Lyall snapping and snarling at his opponent a few metres away from me.
The Draugur climbed off my legs and crouched over me, hissing through rotten teeth. “If you won’t come willingly, Soul Keeper, then you can be put to sleep.”
I tried to kick out at the ghoul but it was much stronger than I was, and it wasn’t dazed to hell after having been dragged out of an almost shape-shift. It raised its hand back behind its fleshless head; too late, I noticed a heavy piece of wood between its skeletal fingers. It brought the wood crashing down on my skull, and everything went black.
Chapter Twenty
I was dreaming, and I knew I had been for a while. My first real thought was that I was glad I wasn’t in the Endwood. Instead I found myself on a beach. I could hear the waves rippling along the shore, and the seabirds clamoured noisily in the sky above my head.
It was a bright and cloudless day, and the sun shone down on the water, making the tops of the small waves look as though they had been covered in melted gold.
Not far off the shore, a small boat caught my eye. It was a tiny sailing vessel that was painted in a deep green colour. My breath caught as I took in the name on the side of it: Flora. This was my parents’ boat, and the two people whom I could just make out at the bow were indeed my ma and da.
My eyes filled with tears as I began to jog along the shore, following the boat, shouting and waving to catch my parents’ attention. They couldn’t see or hear me, though, and I looked around the beach in frustration, searching for another boat that could take me to them.
As I continued my search, I suddenly noticed the light begin to fail, and the sound of the sea birds ceased at the same time. Looking back to the boat, I was dismayed to witness the large, dark storm clouds roiling though the sky above my parents. The waves were no longer lapping at the beach; instead, they crashed and burst against the shoreline. Even if I found a boat now, I would be smashed to pieces if I attempted to launch it.
I was equally horrified and mesmerised by the image before me. I followed the boat as it was captured by the swell of the sea. It was going to be pulled under, I realised. I was about to watch the moment of my parents’ death.
They both stood on the deck, and I could see them better now, I called out to them, but they didn’t respond to me. They looked so afraid. A flash of lightning confirmed the storm had arrived, and I blinked as the whole panorama was lit up by stark, white light.
When I opened my eyes again the tall, grey form of Sluag stood on the deck of the boat behind my parents. I screamed at them to turn around, to stop him, to get away. But instead, they both raised a hand and waved sadly at me as Sluag drew a long silver blade from his belt.
“Noooooo,” I screamed above the wail of the storm.
As he drew the blade across each of my parents’ throats he smiled broadly at me. I hadn’t realised I had slid to my knees, and I was pounding my fists against the sand while I howled.
“Eventually, Flora, I will take everything from you,” he crowed triumphantly as he dropped my mother’s lifeless body to the deck.
“I hate you,” I shrieked in my grief. Then I repeated it over and over again. “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you.”
My vision clouded as I used all of my breath to shout across the ocean at Sluag. I felt dizzy and sick, so it took a moment to realise someone was calling my name.
“Flora? Flora. You’re okay, I’m here with you You’re all right.”
My eyes flew open, and I sighed in relief as I took in Finlay’s face. He sat next to my bed and was squeezing my hand tightly in his. I couldn’t understand how I had gotten back into my bed at the castle. The last thing I remembered was Lyall and I fighting the Draugur in the Everwood.
I sat bolt upright in the bed. “Lyall?”
Finlay tried valiantly not to roll his eyes, and he almost succeeded. “Lyall’s fine, Flor. He’s been here with you for hours, but Pen insisted he go to get cleaned up. He had quite a bit of Draugur blood on him.”
My head throbbed mercilessly, so I dropped back against the bed once I knew Lyall was okay. I reached my hand up to where I remembered being hit by the Draugur and was shocked to feel stitches. I looked at Finlay questioningly.
“All I know is what Lyall told us. Two Draugur attacked you both while you were training. Apparently, you didn’t see it coming because you were getting really close to shifting, Flor.” He grinned at that.
“What happened to the Draugur?” I smiled weakly as I remembered how I had almost made it through phase three of my change.
“Lyall ripped them to pieces. That’s why he’s gone to get cleaned up. You took a hefty knock to the head, Flor. You’ve had six stitches and lost quite a bit of blood. But don’t worry, you’re okay. You just need rest.”
I sighed and squeezed Finlay’s hand tighter. “Thank you for being here when I woke up, I had the most awful dream.”
“I’ll always be here, Flor. Right by your side for as long as you need me.” He frowned. “Was it a dream, or was it Sluag?”
“A bit of both, I think. I started off dreaming about my ma and da, but then he somehow hijacked it and killed them while I watched. Jesus, I can’t even be unconscious in peace.” I hit my fist weakly against the bed in anger.
“Pen thinks he’s ramped up his attacks on your mind and on your physical form because he’s frustrated by you.” Finlay poured me some water as he spoke.
I took the water gratefully and drank it back. My dry throat felt instantly soothed. “Why’s he frustrated?”
“Because you’re so goddamn tough.” Finlay laughed.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “But seriously, why?”
“Pen says you’re doing brilliantly. You’re coping with the summonings. She even tells me you’re giving him sass when you’re at the Endwood. You have avoided several attempts to kidnap you; that’s obviously because your Dion are so efficient.” He smirked.
“But it’s all just been through luck and the fact that you guys are willing to risk your lives to protect me. I hate it, Finlay. I’m not tough at all. I’m scared.”
He carefully laid himself on the bed next to me and wrapped one arm around my shoulders, gently rolling me against his chest. He took care not to jostle my head in any way.
“Flor, you don’t need to be scared. We won’t let anything happen to you. Pen’s working on a way to get rid of Sluag. Permanently.”
I looked up at him hopefully. “Do you think it can be done? Can he be gotten rid of?”
“I think he can, and I think that Pen will be the one to find a way. She’s got scores she really wants to settle.” He shrugged, forgetting my head was nestled against his arm.
“Ouch,” I squeaked.
“God, Flor, I’m so sorry. Are you all right?” He unhooked his arm from around my shoulders and gently took hold of both my cheeks with his hands.
“I’m okay.” I was suddenly so aware of his bright blue eyes just inches away from my green ones. I swallowed hard.
“If something had happened to you today, I think I would die. There’s no world without you in it, Flor.” He rested his forehead against mine.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I whispered.
“Ahem.”
Finlay and I jumped apart from each other so quickly another spiral of pain shot through my head.
A freshly showered Lyall stood in my bedroom doorway. He had his thickly muscled arms crossed and was leaning with one shoulder casually resting against the doorframe. Dressed in his usual all black ensemble, he looked just as divine as ever.
The only evidence of the earlier fight was a bandage covering his left forearm and a small cut that ran parallel above his left eyebrow.
He stepped into the room
. “How’s the patient doing?”
“I’m okay. My head hurts.” I flinched as another bolt of pain shot through my skull.
Finlay stood up. “I’m going to tell Pen you’re awake and see if we can get you some stronger painkillers. I’ll be back later, okay?” He leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on my cheek before heading to the door. As he passed Lyall, I watched them both nod stiffly to each other.
After Finlay left, Lyall sat down on the edge of my bed. “Flora, I’m so sorry. They caught me off guard and they shouldn’t have. You were so vulnerable when you were shifting, and I should have been more aware.”
I reached out and placed my hand on his arm. “Hey, I’m here and not in the Endwood being sacrificed. I’d say it was a good result.”
He gave me a small smile. “I still hate that I let them hurt you. I don’t ever want to see you in pain.”
“From what I hear, they ended up in a lot more pain than me, once you were through with them.” I laughed softly so I didn’t hurt my head again.
“They did,” he growled.
“Thank you, Lyall, for protecting me, and thank you for teaching me how to shift. I almost made it through phase three this time, you know?”
“I know. I saw.”
He didn’t sound very happy about it. I supposed it was just because I had been so vulnerable when the Draugur attacked us.
“I need to get fixed up as quickly as possible so we can get back to training. I reckon I’ll do it, the next time we try.” I grinned.
“I reckon you probably will,” he said sadly.
I lifted my hand from his arm and gently touched the back of my fingers to his cheek. “We’ll still hang out? Even once I can shift properly, won’t we?”
“Of course, we will, love.” He smiled.
I smiled back at him, but it quickly turned to a grimace as the agony once again pulsed through my head. My arm dropped back to the bed, and I groaned aloud.
He placed a quick kiss in the usual place on my forehead, then stood up and crossed the room. “I’m going to chase those painkillers up for you, love.”