by A. C. James
Maelíosa nodded. “We are.” She glanced around—between herself, Sage, Kieran, Tomas, and Niall, they had a fighting chance of helping Fallon. But she couldn’t shake the creepy feeling that something much bigger than she’d initially thought was awaiting them.
“I’m going to check the armoury,” Tomas said.
Kieran cleared his throat. “I’ll come with.”
The two púca darted down the great stone hallway and began to descend the stone staircase that fed into the subterranean chambers of the castle.
“Thank you,” Maelíosa said as she turned toward Sage, so softly that no one else could hear. “This means everything. You being here, going with us...”
Sage gave a brief jerk of his head, and his voice was gruff. “Anything I can do.”
When he straightened, he was an imposing figure, one she needed in Fallon’s absence. She really couldn’t imagine anyone else she’d rather have in her corner right now. Sage was a man who’d been in battles, and if there was anybody she wanted to take into combat, it was him. His masculine presence was exactly what she needed, though a quick scan down his body made her mare start galloping down a rather inappropriate path. Maelíosa couldn’t tear her eyes away from his sculpted torso, the way his woven shirt clung to the muscles. He looked every inch a hero. There was no trace of the worn, sick man who’d first come for her aid.
“I expect we should let Darcy and Carina know what’s going on,” Maelíosa said. They’d left the great hall after Fallon had stormed off, and she’d asked Carina to keep Darcy busy. Her sister was stunned about Cyn, and even more upset about her da going after her by himself. “They’ll want to know where we’re going.”
Sage nodded. He reached down and took Maelíosa’s hand, squeezing it in his own. “We can find them together. Everything’s going to be okay.” He gave her hand another squeeze. “I promise.”
Maelíosa bit her lip. “I want to believe you’re right, love.”
“We’ll get Cyn back, and nothing is going to happen to your father. I won’t let it,” Sage said.
“That group is so full of hate. I don’t even want to think about what they’re planning for my father. It wouldn’t make sense for them to attack him if they didn’t have an agenda.” Her voice turned bitter...she had a pretty good idea of how they might use this to their advantage. “They’d want to make it public. They want to make an example out of him. And show everyone what they’re capable of doing.”
Sage pulled her close and pressed his broad face into her hair. “They’re not going to hurt him, because we’re going to get there first. I have an idea.”
NIALL PULLED FELICITY into a warm embrace. Their lips met, and Felicity swooned with dread. She didn’t want to say good-bye to her mate, but she was grateful that Niall’s sister was too busy calculating a plan to notice the intimate, shared moment.
“What’s wrong, love?” Niall pushed Felicity’s hair out of her eyes. “You don’t have to worry. We’ll be back soon—all of us.”
“I’m so scared for Cyn,” Felicity said quietly. “She’s pregnant, Niall. What if they find out? What if they kill the baby? What if they kill her?”
Cyn had been her bestie ever since university. They’d been through so much together, and even though leaving the twins was not an option, Felicity really wanted to be the one to knock Nathan flat on his ass.
“It won’t come to that,” Niall said darkly. “I promise. I’ll make sure that both Fallon and Cyn return, and their unborn child, all together, safe and sound.”
“Please hurry,” she said softly.
Niall laughed gently. “I want you to get your rest. Take care of Braden and Kira. Play with the babies. Try not to worry, love.”
Sage and Maelíosa walked over, still hand in hand.
“Felicity,” Sage said hesitantly. “Can you watch over Carina while I’m gone? She’s only nine. She thinks she’s an adult, but she’s still my little girl. She doesn’t need much looking after, but if you wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course,” she said, suddenly relieved to have another duty in the absence of her mate and family. “Carina and Darcy, too. I can have Ariel help me while Niall is away.”
“Thank you,” Maelíosa said. The two women exchanged a hug. “We’ll be back soon.”
“Bring your brother back, you hear?” Felicity said, only half-kidding.
Maelíosa grinned. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring back the useless sod.”
She caught Niall pulling a face at his twin. Meanwhile, Tomas and Mara said their goodbyes. Then Tomas joined the crowd standing at the entrance to the great hall. Felicity had promised to find Carina and Darcy immediately. Sage had wanted to tell Carina in person, but he also knew that time was critical.
“ALRIGHT PEOPLE, LISTEN up. We’ve got to get going,” Sage said gruffly. “We need to cross the veil and get to that private charter on the Aran Islands.”
Maelíosa nodded. “I agree. Is everyone ready?”
Niall, Tomas, and Kieran nodded in agreement.
Twenty minutes later, the small group was making their way down the lush emerald hill of the Realm, toward the gate. Sage had an odd feeling in his stomach. He’d thought that after he was mated, it would be months before he returned to the human world. It had only been a couple of days.
Maelíosa glanced up at him. “All right?”
“Yeah,” Sage said. He cracked a mirthless grin. “Just thinking about going back to London. Didn’t think it would be so goddamned soon.”
“Aye,” Maelíosa said, uncharacteristically quiet.
He could tell she was worried, and tried to lighten the mood. “That is, unless you threw me out of bed.”
“Oh, shut it, you lot,” Kieran said as he scrambled over a pile of rocks. “We’re almost there.”
“Aye,” Niall said. “Not much further.”
Kieran held up his hand and peered into the distance. “And it’s getting dark already.”
“Damnit,” Sage cursed. “We need to hurry. Can you all shift and run? I can keep up.”
“I can give you a ride,” Maelíosa said.
She flushed. Sage understood that while she hadn’t exactly meant the words to be coy, that was the way they’d sounded.
No time for that right now, Sage thought with a twinge of regret. He nodded, and watched as they miraculously shifted into horses. He’d seen Darcy change almost immediately after entering the Realm, but it never failed to shock him. Maelíosa’s mare sidled up beside Sage and knelt down on her forelegs. Tentatively gripping her mane in one hand, Sage climbed atop her. They made for the gate with supernatural speed.
“THAT WAS FAST,” SAGE said, unable to hide how impressed he was with his mate and her abilities. “Thanks for that.”
“Aye, love.”
He grinned at Maelíosa. “Much faster than walking.”
Maelíosa grinned back, seemingly unable to help herself. She wiped the sweat off her brow as she pulled her tunic over her head. His cock hardened as he admired her shapely body underneath the loose shirt. Later, when I get you all alone, I’m going to show you just how impressed with you I am. But a moment later, the sensual thoughts left his head, and the gears in his mind were turning, the same way they’d always done at the start of a mission with the SEALs. His limbs were jittery, full of adrenaline. He nodded to the group.
“Let’s go talk to the charter captain,” Sage said.
He didn’t know whether to feel pleased or angry at the sight of a small sea-plane. On the one hand, it might mean that Fallon had already made his way into London, alone. On the other hand...
A ruddy-cheeked Irishman called out when he saw Sage and the group approach. “Are ya gettin’?”
Sage frowned. “What?”
“He’s asking if we’ve been helped,” Maelíosa said under her breath. She called back to the man. “How-ye! We need a plane. We’re all going to London, and we’ve got to get there in a hurry.”
The man chuckled. “What’s
with you lot today?”
He craned his neck and glanced off into the horizon. Sage noted with alarm that the sky was beginning to change into a mess of pinks and oranges. Dusk would soon be upon them, and tracking Fallon in a strange city would be much harder in the dark.
“If you’re asking about another man who went to London, yes, we’re following him. And we need to get going. Right now, there’s no time to lose,” Sage said simply.
The Irishman stood with his hands on his hips. “Long as you can pay, I can get yer there.”
Sage dug into his pockets and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out his credit card and handed it over. “You take plastic?”
The Irishman’s eyes lit up and he practically scurried over to the small house with Sage’s card clutched in hand. “I love Yanks,” he muttered under his breath. “This way!”
He barely noticed. All he cared about was saving Cyn from Only Human, and Fallon from doing something stupid. The man was a stubborn ass. He looked over at Maelíosa. Sage knew exactly where she’d gotten her shining personality. He wouldn’t have it any other way, though, and he owed them both. He’d come to the Realm looking for someone to take care of his daughter when he was gone. He’d walked away with so much more—a wife, a family, and a new lease on life. He owed them everything.
Chapter Five
Sage reclined in his chair. “Nice... In the Navy, we usually sat on the floor.” He chuckled at his own joke, half-expecting the others to join. Instead, they stared blankly.
“I hate flying,” Maelíosa said. She was clutching the armrests of her seat and looking a bit green in the face. “I hate it.”
“Have you ever flown before?”
“No,” Maelíosa snapped. “And I don’t think I ever will again.” Niall and Kieran started to chuckle, and before long, her frown turned into a reluctant smile. “But I like the view.” She peered out of the plane window, glancing down at the blue-green seas of the Aran Islands. “It’s lovely.”
Sage ran a finger down her arm, and she seemed to settle in the seat next to him.
“Tis,” Niall agreed, although he was gripping his armrests too.
Sage could tell that the prospect of rocketing through the air at hundreds of miles per hour was one he enjoyed about as much as his sister.
“Y’know,” Sage said. “Planes are actually the safest way to travel. It’s much more dangerous to ride in a car.”
Niall gaped at him. “I’ve never ridden in a car, either. But somehow I don’t think I’d mind it as much.”
“Me too,” Maelíosa grumbled. “And I expect you’ll tell us that we’ve got a car trip in store, as well?”
Sage hid a guilty grin. “Hate to say it, but there’s no way around it. It’ll be fine. I’ve ridden in cars hundreds of times.”
“Aye,” Niall said. “Brilliant.”
Sage winked at Niall and Maelíosa. “Only two of them have ever blown up.”
Maelíosa’s jaw dropped. “Only two?”
Sage threw his head back and laughed. “Both in the Navy. Roadside bomb. That kinda thing. Not the shit we have to worry about in London. Though I gotta say, shifting with my left hand is a real pain in the ass.”
Maelíosa lowered her glance. “I’m not even going to ask what that means.”
Sage grinned. He was reminded of the first time he’d met her, back at The Stables. She’d been so gorgeous, and gloriously stubborn. And now she was his.
“Good,” Niall said, chiming in. “Because I don’t want to know.”
“I like this,” Kieran said, tapping the armrest of his chair with one hand. “Human transportation.”
Suddenly, the plane lurched to one side, and everyone except for Sage clutched their armrests and began to sweat.
“Maybe not,” Kieran said in a strangled voice. “I think in the future, I’m just going to stay on the ground whenever possible.”
Sage laughed. “It’s just turbulence.” He got up and stretched, then walked over to the pilot. “Hey, you got any idea where the last guy who flew to London was dropped off?”
The pilot shook his head. “He took a car from here that dropped him just outside of London. In a rural area, mostly residential.”
The gears in Sage’s mind began to turn, and he closed his eyes, thinking hard. He hadn’t spent much time in London, or England in general, but if he closed his eyes he could see a map of the city spread out before him. His eidetic memory had saved him more times than he could count. Anytime he visited somewhere new, he picked up a map.
“We’re going to need you to drop us closer to Hyde Park.” Sage recited an address from memory. “A buddy of mine lives there, and we’re going to need to pick up a few things.”
Maelíosa spoke up from behind him. “What? Why’re we stopping?”
“Weapons,” Sage said. “We need more firepower. This is a buddy of mine, ex-SEAL. He owes me a favor.”
Maelíosa raised her eyebrows. “Like...guns?”
Sage nodded. “And explosives, and grenades, and whatever the fuck Craig’s got stored in his basement.”
The pilot looked up in shock. “Christ, you Yanks are really something!”
Sage grinned, rocking confidently on the balls of his feet. He pulled out his wallet and handed a hundred to the man. He’d done this long enough to know that if you tipped well enough you bought some discretion. “That we are.”
Maelíosa was shaking her head. It was hard not to laugh. She leaned close and whispered in his ear. “Do you really think we’ll need all that?”
“It’s like this... I’d rather have a few extra grenade launchers and not need them, than walk in there outgunned. We’ve really got to get a move on, dear. Less talking, more guns.”
“I like the way you think, mate,” Niall said.
Sage grinned. He was going to get along famously with his new brother-in-law. He clapped Niall on the back. “Let’s do this!”
MILES AWAY, OUTSIDE of London, Cyn’s mouth ached with thirst. She hadn’t been fed or had anything to drink in hours, and it was making her lightheaded and faint. She was in some kind of basement, so she couldn’t tell what time of day it was, but somehow it seemed the room was even darker. Maybe evening was setting in. She whimpered, biting on her lip. It was still bleeding from where that bloke had smacked her around. Some of the blood soaked into her mouth and trickled down her throat, making her nauseous.
Bloody hell. She twisted in the seat. Her right wrist was handcuffed to the frame, and the more she turned, the more the metal bit into her delicate flesh. She supposed she could sit on the ground instead of twisting in the chair, but she imagined the concrete would be just as cold and uncomfortable. Nathan’s gone bloody mental.
“Don’t think of him,” she murmured softly. If she didn’t get out of there, she was going to go daft talking to herself. Cyn closed her eyes and imagined herself back in the Realm, by Fallon’s side with his arm wrapped around her. She loved the protective way that he held her. No matter what was going on in the world and in her mind, she could always count on Fallon, with his strong, confident presence. Cyn cringed, remembering again how deeply she’d hurt him. She’d never meant to break his heart—or anything else—but she hadn’t known how sick he’d been. She’d let all her insecurities, baggage, and her fear of losing herself hold her back. None of that mattered now. She never wanted to be parted from his side once this nightmare was over.
Maybe if she could sleep, she’d wake to find this was some horrible dream. She slid down in the chair until her bum nearly shifted off the seat. Closing her eyes, she tried to remember all of the meditation techniques her agent had taught her. They’d helped her to stay calm during auditions and callbacks, but now she discovered they might have an actual, real-world application.
She breathed deeply, in and out. If she were home, she’d pull Fallon straight into bed. They’d make love and curl up together, maybe even order food from the kitchen. She opened her eyes, surprised at the tears threatening to s
pill down her cheeks. It would be perfect, just the two of them, without a care in the Realm. Her eyes were heavy. Slowly, Cyn began to drift into a light, uneasy sleep.
At first, there is nothing but white light dancing behind her eyelids. Then her vision adjusts and she realizes that she’s lying in Fallon’s big bed, with the curtains drawn. Cyn reaches out and tugs them apart, grinning as the daylight filters into their chamber.
“Sleep well, love?” As always, Fallon’s sexy brogue cuts right to Cyn’s heart.
“Not as well as I could’ve,” Cyn says coyly. She pulls Fallon close. When their lips meet, a spark jumps between their bodies. Cyn shivers with delight.
“You’re so bonny first thing in the morning,” Fallon whispers against her mouth. He trails his hand down her back, and she shudders. “I’ve never seen a lass as beautiful as you. You take my breath away.”
She bites her lip to keep from blushing. Then she tangles her hands in his hair, pulling him down for another kiss. The woodsy, masculine scent washes over her, and she closes her eyes, breathing it in, recording it to memory. The kiss begins innocent, but turns steamy within seconds. Cyn’s heart hammers against her ribs, and her skin is hot, itchy. As she wraps her arms around his neck and guides him to her breasts, her nipples pebble. It’s so good—almost intolerable—and she moans softly as his teeth nip her pink tips.
“Breeding has turned you into a vixen, love,” Fallon whispers huskily. “I can’t believe it, but somehow you’re even sexier now that you’re carrying my child.”
She smiles, her heart overflowing with love for her mate. He pulls away from Cyn and stares into her eyes until she thinks her heart might melt. She eagerly pulls him close for another passionate kiss. Cyn doesn’t think she could ever get tired of kissing him. Each time is an exploration that reveals her soul, and she loses herself as if it’s the first time she’s tasted his mouth. Fallon’s hands roam over her body while her arousal builds and builds. Fallon always knows how to touch her like no other man, and as they move together in the giant bed, she lets herself go, focussing only on the feel of his hands and mouth.