by T. M. Cromer
He turned gray, but he stood his ground.
The boy appeared from a rift in the fabric of space between his mother and Nathanial. He rushed toward the man, stopping short of touching him.
Nathanial’s father conjured a flaming ball of energy and aimed for the boy.
“Noooooo!” Isolde screamed. Her body jerked, and she started forward, but halted when Nathanial caught his father’s arm.
“We don’t make war on children, Father. You taught me that.”
“He’s her son, Nate. He’ll grow to be evil like her. Did you forget what she did to your brother Jonah?”
Nathanial’s cold-eyed stare collided with his father’s. “He’s a boy, now under my protection. You’ll not harm him.”
“Mackenzie! Snap out of it!” Rough hands shook her. “Mackenzie, right now!”
The past disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Alastair’s expression was fierce, as if he were prepared to fight all the demons in hell to bring her back to the present.
She raised a trembling hand to her forehead and nodded. “I’m good. I’m here.”
“What the hell happened?” He still hadn’t let her go, and she was grateful for the support since her knees felt as shaky as the rest of her.
“I don’t know. Once I touched your arm, it was like I was teleported back to the confrontation between Isolde and Nathanial.”
“Nathanial?”
His sharp tone brought her head up.
“Yes.” She rubbed her arms against the chill of her vision and the cool night air. Closing her eyes, she envisioned heat forming and spreading to each of her cells.
“Better?” Alastair asked.
“Yes.” Inhaling a deep, calming breath, she met his probing gaze. “There’s a connection. To you, I think. Why did she deliver the letter to you? You weren’t born for another hundred and twenty-five years or more, right?”
“I think, like you, she had psychic visions. It may well be why you both are linked together.” He straightened the cuffs of his dinner jacket, the dark look never leaving his face. Mackenzie had come to realize this was his deep-in-thought expression, as she liked to call it. For most people, it was off-putting. However, she understood he was working through a problem.
“Why do you suppose the replay of that incident came to me now, Alastair?” she asked softly. Falling into step beside him, she tried to reason the importance of the past she’d just witnessed. “They weren’t her memories. Nor were they Nathanial’s. It was as if I saw everything from an outside perspective.”
“I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”
She halted and plucked at his sleeve, careful to release him as quickly as she’d touched him. “If Isolde was in my head and those visions came to me, I’d have her thoughts and feelings to lend them more detail.” She frowned down at her feet, trying to find the right words to explain. “This was as if I were watching a movie. I didn’t know all the players, but she would’ve.”
“Ah. So you believe someone else—say Isis or Set—fed you that vision when you touched me.”
“Exactly.”
He nodded slowly, his expression turning thoughtful. “Obviously, if either of them is providing you information, there’s an importance related to it. Something took place that you can use.”
“That’s how I see it, too.” She liked she wasn’t alone in her thinking. It helped her to believe Alastair understood there was something deeper at play here.
“Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“To the place I was originally going to show you.”
With a small shake of her head, she allowed him to lead her. A short while later, they arrived at a small stream.
“What’s this?”
He only smiled and bent to remove his shoes and socks.
She followed suit, kicking off her heels and rolling up the flowing material of her pants legs.
With a hand on her elbow to support her, he guided her up onto a small boulder overhanging the stream. The snap of his fingers next to her sounded loud. She didn’t have a chance to comment before the night sky around them was lit with hundreds of fireflies. It lent a wondrous glow to the water, and as the fireflies danced and played, the surface of the stream caught their light and made this hidden paradise magical.
“I love it.” Truly, she was awed by the beauty. “When I think you can’t surprise me, you do.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he said with a deep chuckle.
“Alastair?”
“Yes, child?”
“Thank you.”
As he turned his head, the wind picked up and a lock of his hair fell over one brow. Mackenzie could see the young, dashing man he’d once been. Long before the wars, long before responsibility, Alastair Thorne would’ve been a charming rogue, collecting hearts as he made his way through life.
Their gazes locked. In his, she saw deep affection.
“For what?” he asked.
She shrugged, leaned sideways, and put her head on his rounded shoulder. “For always being there for me. For always making sure I was provided for and encouraging me to chase my dreams. You’re the father I never had, and I love you.”
He rested his cheek against the top of her head. His voice was gruff when he replied, “You’re welcome, Mack. I couldn’t be prouder of you if you were my own daughter.” He wrapped his arm around her and gently squeezed. “I love you, too, dear girl. And I’ll be here to see you through this.”
“I’m scared. For Baz. For you and the others.”
He remained quiet for a long time in the wake of her confession. “I think you and Sebastian Drake are the perfect match.”
Mackenzie snorted and raised her head. “That’s what you say when I tell you I’m afraid?”
His chuckle triggered her smile. Remaining serious in the face of Alastair’s wry humor was impossible.
“You, Mackenzie Ann Thorne, are a woman to be feared. You’re not the one who should ever be afraid.”
“How do you figure?”
“You’re highly intelligent, you are quick on your feet, and you have the ability to charm the stars from the sky. You’re also a force to be reckoned with when you’re protecting your own.” He made a scooping gesture with his hand, and the water crested, rising up to fill his palm. With a flick of his wrist, he splashed her.
She shrieked when the cold water hit her face.
Alastair teleported a safe distance away and scooped up his shoes. “I look forward to your devious revenge.”
The air crackled, and he was gone.
Mackenzie laughed and kicked her feet in the water. The fireflies dipped low and surfed the breeze she created, circling around her.
Sebastian stood in the shadows of the trees and watched his wife play. When she threw back her head and her lovely laughter rang out, her enchantment over him was complete. To him, she was a faerie princess in the mortal world. Mackenzie Thorne’s magic was her beautiful spirit. The rest was just packaging. He couldn’t deny he appreciated the hell out of her body, but her soul was pure. Her love for those around her was fierce. She was everything he could ever want.
The only thing hanging over their heads was Isolde.
But for tonight, he didn’t intend to let her win.
Sebastian closed the distance between Mackenzie and him. “Can anyone join, or is this a party for one?”
She grinned and held out a hand. “I wondered when you’d show up. I was worried I’d have to send you an engraved invitation or something.”
“I’m never far behind you, love.” He crowded next to her and placed an arm around her shoulders.
When she turned her face up to his, her eyes held the promise of a love so great, it made his heart stall and his lungs seize. Any words would’ve been wasted at this moment. The driving desire inside him was to kiss her. Touch her. Worship her body in every way. He lowered his head, and she shifted to meet him halfway.
Chapter 18
Mackenzie wasn’t sure what woke her, but she didn’t immediately get out of bed. Instead, she stilled and held her breath, listening. No sound, no lurking figure, nothing but a faint yellow illumination. The line of light crawled across the floor and up the far wall, beside the hearth. About halfway up, it stopped where it met the chair molding.
With a quick look at Sebastian, who was lost to dreamland, she eased back the covers and grabbed her robe from the ottoman at the foot of the bed. As she got closer to the wall, the yellow light pulsed and became brighter.
Hesitating, she glanced back at the bed and wondered if she should wake Sebastian. Her adventurous nature could potentially be a problem if it wasn’t a pot of gold at the end of this mysterious trail. Also, with the Enchantress prone to hijack her body whenever she was so inclined, Mackenzie wasn’t sure she shouldn’t have a babysitter. She was independent, not stupid.
“Find the book, and all will be well.”
She shivered. Goddess preserve her. When this was all said and done, she’d be lucky to get out of it with her sanity intact. How was it she could see trails no one else did? It didn’t bode well regardless of the encouraging voice in her head. The true question was whether the entity prodding her into action was the Goddess or the Enchantress. She wasn’t sure she could trust either at this point.
Still, the light was inviting, and Mackenzie found it difficult to resist. She ran her hands along the molding lit by the golden glow, feeling for a hidden latch or anything out of the ordinary. A small indentation caught her fingernail, and she paused to examine the spot a little closer. Silently cursing under her breath, she crept back for her phone.
As her hand closed over the device, Sebastian’s husky voice surprised her. “What are you doing, love?”
The cellphone fell from her hand, and she slapped a palm over her mouth in an effort to muffle her surprised scream. Crap on a cracker, she was jumpy!
His low laughter woke the butterflies in her belly. How the hell he sounded amused and sexy at the same time was beyond her.
“You scared the crap outta me, Baz! Goddess! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?”
He sat up, and the sheet fell to his waist, stopping at his happy trail. Those divine abs of his caught and held her attention. Her pulse began to pound in her ears for a whole different reason, and she had a very real fear drool was pooling in the corners of her mouth.
“Mack?”
“What?”
“Eyes up here, love.”
With reluctance, she met his twinkling gaze. “Right. What was the question?”
Again, he laughed. “You were sneaking around, feeling up the wall. I was getting jealous of the attention you were paying it.”
“Uh huh.” Her lips twitched, and she dropped to her hands and knees to search under the bed for her phone. “There’s a secret passage by the fireplace. I need my phone’s flashlight to see what I’m doing.”
“Why not use your magic?” He yawned and stretched. Her words finally penetrated his sleep fog, because he went on full alert and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “Wait! What? A passage?”
Before she could explain, Sebastian was across the room. He snapped his fingers and illuminated the entire room.
Mackenzie took a full minute to admire his bare backside and legit wiped her mouth with the sleeve of her robe to rid herself of the excess moisture pooling there. The man’s ass was beautiful—as were those sculpted, muscular thighs. Now that she’d had a glimpse under the kilt, she would bask in her good luck and give thanks to the Fates every day. The first chance she got, she’d kiss Isis’s robe for pairing them up, because surely only a goddess would’ve blessed Mackenzie this way.
“What are you doing, Mack? Come on.”
Apparently, as she sat on the floor, ogling his body, Sebastian had found and triggered the lock mechanism for the secret door. It separated from the wall with a flare of red light.
“It was magically sealed so no one could find it?” she asked as she joined him to peer inside the opening.
“It appears so. I never knew it was here.”
“Huh.” She cast him a wary glance and gnawed on her thumbnail. “Is it smart for us to enter? Like did we just unleash some terrible curse or something?”
Sebastian grinned as he waved his hands down his body.
Mackenzie sighed to see all that gorgeousness covered up.
He cupped her neck and nuzzled the spot just below her left ear. “If you don’t stop looking at me like that, I’m dragging you back to bed.”
“It might be a better option than walking into a Hellmouth,” she muttered, turning her face to seek his lips.
Before she could connect, he pulled back and frowned down at her. “Hellmouth?”
“Well, apparently you’ve never watched horror films.”
He didn’t bother trying to hide his amusement. “Hellmouth. Right. You may want to put on some sensible shoes so we can explore.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“Weren’t you going to go on your own before I woke up?”
“Yes and no.”
His brows shot up.
Mackenzie shrugged. “Yes, I was going to explore the opening, but no, I doubt I would’ve gone into the passageway alone.”
His thumb caressed the sensitive column of her throat. “I’m fortunate I married such an intelligent woman.” His eyes dropped to her lips. “And such a sexy one.”
“Are you buttering me up to go into the Hellmouth first?”
“Is it working?”
She laughed and shook her head. “I can see chivalry is dead.”
“I’d have to exchange my jockstrap for a purse if I let you venture into the Hellmouth first.”
“You don’t even know what a jockstrap is, let alone own one. Don’t forget, I now know what’s under that kilt, darling.” Mackenzie stretched up on the tips of her toes to kiss him. “But it was a nice save.”
Sebastian captured her mouth in a longer, more drugging kiss. He pulled back with a wide, satisfied smile and lightly swatted her butt as she struggled to overcome her sexual haze. “Shoes.”
All teasing aside, Sebastian wasn’t thrilled to explore the passageway at this point in time. Two weeks ago, before the Enchantress reared her nasty head, yes, he’d have been eager. Now, it felt as if there was a menacing air surrounding the opening.
As Mackenzie scrounged for her phone and changed, Sebastian contemplated what it had taken to open the door. She’d somehow known there was a passage, but it had taken him to open it. Was it only intended for a Drake?
“Mack.”
She lifted her head from wiping off her device’s screen. “You sound thoughtful. Maybe even worried. What’s up?”
“I think I should go in alone.”
“Nope.”
He looked at the opening and back to her. “You weren’t able to open it. I was, with only a single touch.”
“So you think I’m not supposed to go in?”
Once again, he studied the opening. With a shrug, he faced her. “I don’t know what to think. Tell me, how did you know it was there?”
“The yellow light.”
“Like the one that led you to our hidden ceremony room?”
“Yes.” She chewed on the corner of her lip as if she wanted to say more.
“You might as well tell me, love.”
Mackenzie waved her arms, and twinkling lights encompassed her. When they faded, she was clothed in jeans, a hoodie, and trainers, with her hair in a ponytail. In other words, she was dressed for exploring.
Sebastian sighed. “Okay, we can do this together, but I want to know what led you to the wall first.”
“Nothing really. Something woke me—what, I can’t say—and there was a yellow trail from our bed to the wall. As I watched, it climbed to the molding and stopped.”
“That’s not all, Mack. I can tell by the way you’re avoiding looking at me.”
>
She heaved out a sigh. “I may have heard a voice in my head.”
He went cold. “Isolde’s?”
“I don’t think so, but I can’t be sure.”
“What did it say?”
“‘Find the book, and all will be well.’”
Sebastian swore under his breath. “As if that’s not ominous.”
“You asked.”
“And you didn’t care to volunteer this information prior to me opening the Hellmouth?!” He realized he was shouting, but his concern was pressing.
With a suddenness that surprised him, she busted out laughing.
“What’s so bloody funny, Mackenzie?”
“You!” She wiped her tears of mirth as she continued to giggle. “Your use of ‘Hellmouth’ when you’re pissed, to be exact.”
Coming to a decision, he pointed at her. “You’re not going. You’re staying here, and I’m going to wake Spring to watch over you.”
“First, I am going, and second, it’s the middle of the night. We shouldn’t wake anyone.” She placed her hands on her hips and returned his glare. “It’s rude.”
“Then we leave the exploration of this passage for the morning.”
They had a stare off. Finally, Mackenzie caved. “Fine. I’ll wake Spring and Knox to tell them where we’re going. But I am going.”
“This is the worst fucking idea ever.” But he was still going to do it. He couldn’t dismiss the chance that one of his ancestors—or possibly the Goddess—was responsible for leading them to this hidden entry. If there was a tool they could use to keep Isolde contained, they needed to find it.
Mackenzie smiled.
The beauty of her happiness froze him in place. He’d seen so many different emotions on her expressive face in the short time he’d known her, and yet, every time she smiled, it floored him. Her glow was a sight to behold, and the mischievousness in her blue eyes was captivating.
“Hurry, love,” he ordered gruffly. “Who knows if this door is on a magical timer.”