I wanted to ask him what Finfolk were, but suspicion flashed through me, directing me toward a more important question. “Hidden here, on an island that once belonged to a wolf clan that is now gone?”

  “Now don’t go thinking that.” Annoyance cracked in his voice. “We didn’t replace them. Didn’t drive them off or nothing. Came here hundreds of years after they were gone, we did. Knew of them from their castle—a strange place, if you ask me.”

  “The ruins that we saw from the church?” I asked, thinking of the other hill with the pile of broken stones.

  “Aye. Carved things into the walls, they did.”

  “And buried the Moon Stone there?” Lachlan asked.

  “Indeed.”

  “Can you take us to this place?” I asked.

  “Aye.” He looked us up and down. “Haven’t seen a pair like you before.”

  I frowned at him. “A pair like us?”

  “Fated, yet so torn.” He shook his head. “You can’t fight the hand of fate.”

  No, but I could sure as hell try. Especially since it meant that our lives were on the line.

  6

  Lachlan

  * * *

  The old man led us from his cottage and across the hills, heading toward the coast on the other side of the island. We passed a few cottages on the way, small things like his own.

  “The people who live there”—Eve pointed to one of the cottages—“are they your family?”

  “Aye, more Finfolk like myself.”

  “What are Finfolk?”

  “Shifter. But not like him.” He nodded at me. “Different, like you. Rare.”

  “Rare?” Eve frowned. “You think I’m a rare shifter?”

  “Ain’t you?”

  “I suppose so. Do you know anything about what I am?”

  He gestured to the broken stone castle that rose against the skyline in front of us. “One of these lot, I assume.”

  “What made those wolves different?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Don’t know. Never saw one myself, now did I? But different they were. This island is home to the different. That’s the reason the Finfolk came here.”

  The man spoke in obscure, broad statements, but he did reveal gems of information.

  I gave Eve a considering look. The wind whipped her pale hair back from her face, the pink tips glittering in the sunlight. She was beautiful out here. Beautiful everywhere, but particularly here.

  Hell, it didn’t matter where I saw her. I always thought she was beautiful. Part of it was how different she was from everyone around her.

  Though I knew that she considered herself to be a failed shifter, I never had. I’d known she was different, of course, but never had the ability to put my finger on it. Perhaps this was part of it.

  We reached the castle, which towered thirty feet overhead. Piles of broken stone sat around the base, and we found the entrance into the tower. All of the walls had been covered by inscriptions, which looked good as new. Though many of the stones appeared broken and ancient, the stones with carvings looked like they’d been made yesterday.

  Eve held her hand near the surface of one. “Protected by magic.”

  “Of course.” The Finman sounded shocked. “Of course protected by magic. The residents of this island are no weak humans, leaving our relics to rot in the elements.”

  Humans didn’t have access to the tools that supernaturals did, so it was hardly negligence. At least, not on the part of some of them. But they didn’t need me sticking up for them.

  “Well, I’ll leave you here,” he said. “Best be gone before dark, or you’ll regret it.”

  I turned to him, but he was already disappearing through the door.

  “We’ll regret it?” Eve asked.

  I nodded, still able to feel the threat on the air. “This place isn’t keen to have us here, even if you are somehow related to the people who once built this castle.”

  She nodded, her gaze bright and her face pale. “I can’t believe these might be my ancestors.”

  “Let’s find out.” I walked toward one wall of carvings but was dismayed to find that I couldn’t read any of it.

  “They must be runes.” She ran her fingertips over some of the carvings. “But I can’t read them.”

  I pulled my mobile from my pocket. “I’ll photograph them so we can have them interpreted.”

  She nodded and turned to inspect the rest of the space. It was empty save for the broken bits of the wall that had tumbled inside the structure. The ground was grassy and damp, scattered in places with sheep droppings that she carefully avoided.

  “There’s no evidence of an excavation here,” she said. “But it would have been done so long ago that the land had time to recover.”

  “I can’t imagine they were particularly careful with their efforts.”

  “No, most antiquarians weren’t known for their scientific methods. Not in the early days, at least.” She pulled her bag from the ether and began rooting around.

  “What are you looking for?” I didn’t stop taking photos as I asked, making sure that each one was clear enough to study later.

  “Something that will show me if there’s anything still beneath the surface.”

  “What can it detect?”

  “Anything of value, though that’s subjective. In this case. I’m just trying to find anything manmade. Maybe the original excavation missed something.”

  Clever.

  She pulled a vial from her bag and decanted it into a spray bottle like she’d used back in The Bonnie Thistle to find the entrance to the Clerkenwell tunnels. Seeing me eying the bottle, she said, “It’s similar to that potion, yes. A slight modification of my own design. Packed it just for this purpose.”

  She truly was extraordinary. She had a gift for potions, no doubt, but she hadn’t been born into that form of magic or trained from an early age. She’d picked it up all on her own out of necessity.

  I often felt guilty that she’d felt the need to run from our pack, but she’d had no trouble handling herself in the outside world, that was for damned sure.

  She sprayed every inch of grass with the sparkling silver potion as I finished taking photos. When she completed her task, she stood back and surveyed the ground.

  The air buzzed with power, and I looked at her. “Is that your spell?”

  She frowned. “Shouldn’t be.”

  I turned to the door and looked out onto the rolling hills that fell toward the sea, searching for an external threat. Every inch of my skin prickled with wariness.

  Something was happening here. I’d been feeling it ever since we arrived, but this was more than just a vague discomfort.

  This was a distinct threat.

  “The sun is going to set soon,” she said. “The Finman did warn us.”

  I nodded. “Be quick, then. How long for your potion to work?”

  “Almost there, I think.”

  I stood guard at the door, watching the horizon for anyone who might approach. The threat might not be from the living, however. There could be any manner of spells on this island that could create trouble for us.

  With every moment that passed, the threat seemed to grow stronger. It vibrated against my skin like the sting of bees.

  “They took everything,” Eve said.

  I turned back to look at the ground. It glowed with a faint light from her potion, and I could somehow see through the dirt. There were places where the earth seemed disturbed, but there was nothing beneath the soil that had been manmade. The bastards had cleaned the place out.

  A moment later, she gasped.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “The moon has risen.”

  “You feel it?”

  She nodded.

  It wasn’t fully dark yet, but at certain times of the month, the moon could rise early.

  “Let’s go. We have everything we can get from here.”

  She nodded and hurried toward me. We left the castle without a backward glance, heading for the shore.

  “I can feel them now,” she said. “Someone is coming.”

  The sky was darkening, the sun having finally set. I scanned the horizon and spotted figures rising up over the hill. They were pale-faced, nearly dead-looking, with dark green weeds for hair and ragged clothes.

  “Twenty pounds those are the Finfolk in their not-so-pleased form,” she said.

  “Aye. I think you’re right.” There were a dozen of them, possibly more, and they stood between us and the beach where Colm had dropped us off. I turned to head to the other shore. “Colm will have to pick us up from over here.”

  She nodded and followed me. We ran, sprinting across the hills. I looked back over my shoulder and spotted the Finfolk running after us. We might be able to fight them—there wasn’t much that I couldn’t take on in my wolf form—but Eve probably wasn’t at full strength, and we had no idea what the Finfolk were capable of.

  As we neared the sea, I drew the flare gun from my pocket.

  “It’s going to take him too long to get here,” Eve said.

  She was right. “We need to find another way off this island. We just have to get far enough away that the transport charm isn’t blocked.”

  “Can we swim?”

  I looked back at the Finfolk. “Probably not smart, given that they’re creatures of the sea.”

  “Shit, good point.”

  I scanned the shoreline, finally spotting a small rowboat in front of a little stone house. I pointed to it. “Head for that house.”

  As we veered left to go straight toward it, six pale, green-haired figures rose from the sea and climbed out of the waves.

  “More Finfolk.” Eve drew her potion bag from the ether.

  Inside, my wolf growled, struggling to break free. The threat moved between Eve and the safety of the boat, and my beast grew even more enraged. With the moon in the sky, it was impossible to fight.

  And I shouldn’t. We’d need that strength.

  “I’m going to shift.” As soon as the words escaped my lips, the wolf burst free. Magic swirled around me as my beast took over. Bloodlust and rage flowed through me, followed by cool cunning.

  I hurtled across the grass, putting myself between Eve and the Finfolk who were closest. We just had to break through them to get to the boat before the other attackers reached us from behind.

  A red glass orb arced high overhead and slammed into one of the Finfolk at the far fight of the crowd. The bomb exploded against him in a fiery blaze, and the creature shrieked as it sprinted back into the sea.

  I was nearly to the closest attacker, and I leapt forward, already imagining the crunch of bone beneath my jaws.

  Protect Eve.

  Eve

  * * *

  Ahead of me, Lachlan leapt onto one of the Finfolk, his massive form gleaming dark black under the moonlight. He was power and grace incarnate, viciousness in living form.

  Awe filled me, chasing away some of the fear.

  Lachlan’s jaws clamped into the Finman’s shoulder, and he shook him before tossing him aside.

  Desperate desire flared inside me. Not for him. No, I wanted to be him. It was like there was a wolf awakening inside me who wanted nothing more than to join her mate in the hunt.

  My muscles burned, and my heart ached. The moon called to me, the pale light reaching inside my soul and trying to draw the beast out.

  But nothing happened. Nothing but pain.

  It sliced me, fiercer than before, and I nearly went to my knees.

  What was wrong with me?

  I’d felt nothing inside myself for so long. No hint of a wolf. Now, there was something desperate to come out, but I couldn’t make it.

  Through a veil of tears, I reached for another potion bomb and hurled it as an attacker headed for Lachlan. I had no idea why we were being attacked—the Finfolk clearly weren’t friendly after dark—but I didn't want to kill them if I could help it.

  We were the invaders here. And we’d been warned.

  My potion bomb smashed against the chest of the Finwoman who was nearly upon Lachlan. She lit up in flames, screeching. It wasn’t my hottest fire and wouldn’t leave too many burns, but a little fire would send them back into the sea to recover.

  My heart pounded violently in my chest as I looked behind me and spotted the second line of Finfolk growing closer.

  I so wished I could shift.

  Instead, I drew another potion bomb, feeling the warmth of the moon on my skin. It called to me, reaching deep into my soul, soothing and ravaging at the same time.

  More and more, the feeling was growing. Ever since I’d been in the stone circle at our headquarters in the Highlands, I’d felt it inside myself. I still didn’t understand it, but I wanted it.

  And something about being here made the feeling rage all the stronger.

  It was the moon, this island—a past I didn’t know and feared was fraught with lies.

  I shoved the thoughts away. There were still two Finfolk between us and the boat. Lachlan lunged at one, and I hurled my third potion bomb at another. I was using my weakest magic, now, but my most reliable.

  The bomb exploded against the Finman’s chest in a fiery blaze, and he ran screaming into the water. Lachlan dispatched the last of our attackers, then we raced for the boat.

  He shifted in midair and braced his hands against the bow to shove the boat out to sea. “Get in!”

  I leapt into the boat, then grabbed the oars and settled them into their sockets. Lachlan heaved us off the beach, and the waves rocked our little craft as I pulled on the oars, giving it my all.

  “Let me take over,” Lachlan said. “I’m stronger.”

  It was true, but we were almost there. I could feel the barrier weakening. “Just a few more strokes. Get the charm.”

  At my words, hands appeared on the sides of the boat, pale and gnarled. Finfolk heads appeared from beneath the waves, green hair waving in the water as their eyes gleamed up at me.

  “Hurry!” I shouted.

  Lachlan pulled the charm from his pocket, smacking one of the Finfolk off when he tried to climb into the boat. My heart shot into my throat as a hand gripped my leg. I kicked out, breaking the grip, and pulled hard on the oars to drag us over the line and out of the barrier of the protection charm that trapped us.

  “Now!” I smacked another Finfolk with my oar.

  Lachlan hurled the charm to the floor of the boat, and a silver cloud burst up. We dove in at the same time, just as the boat was overrun by Finfolk.

  7

  Eve

  * * *

  The ether spun us through space, making my head whirl and my stomach lurch. The pain inside me grew, as if my wolf didn’t like being parted from Wyre.

  By the time the ether spat us out in the courtyard in front of the Shifters’ Guild tower, I was gasping, my muscles weak. I knelt on the damp green grass, the pale moonlight bathing my skin in warmth.

  Somehow, it burned.

  “Eve.” Lachlan knelt at my side, his hands hovering gently over my shoulders. “Are you all right?”

  I nodded, trying to force myself to my feet. Every muscle shook, and the pain was excruciating. With a shaking hand, I reached into my pocket and withdrew a potion. I gulped it back, sighing with relief as it soothed.

  I staggered upright, then nearly keeled over. At Lachlan’s look, I waved him away. “Don’t worry about me.”

  He hoisted me into his arms, clutching me to his chest as he strode toward the tower. “Of course I worry about you.”

  “You shouldn’t.” I looked up into his handsome face, my heart breaking. “You really shouldn’t.”

  “I know.” His voice sounded rough, and he did know. He could already feel the effects of the curse. Of course he knew. “I can’t help it.”

  “That’s the problem.” I wanted to rest my head against his shoulder, but I knew that I shouldn’t under any circumstances.

  Exhaustion tugged at me, a soul-deep ache that demanded I rest. I needed his help now, but I couldn’t take more than the bare minimum. I couldn’t take what I really wanted.

  My gaze flicked to his lips, then away.

  Definitely not.

  Lachlan climbed the steps to the tower two at a time, sweeping through the doors and ignoring the looks of the people in the great hall. I could feel their gazes burning into me, each of them ravenously curious. I made sure not to make eye contact. I had as many questions as they did—there was nothing I could say to them.

  Lachlan reached his quarters a moment later and lay me in the bed. It felt divine, my aching bones sighing at the welcome of the soft mattress. But the location…

  I looked up at him. “This is your room.”

  “Ah—” He looked briefly surprised, as if he hadn't realized and had just brought me here on instinct. “You’re right. It is. But I’m not staying.”

  I blinked at him. It was the first time I’d ever seen him look anything close to embarrassed.

  He stood abruptly and went to the door. “Get some rest.”

  “What are you—”

  But he was gone, and exhaustion was already pulling at me. Whatever had happened back on Wyre had sucked the strength from me, and the only solution was to sleep.

  Didn’t matter if I didn’t want to—my body was making it clear. Within minutes, I was out.

  Lachlan

  * * *

  This is your room.

  Eve’s words echoed in my head.

  Idiot.

  Why had I taken her there? I hadn’t planned on anything other than laying her down to rest. For that, I should have taken her to a nearby guest suite.

  Instead, I’d brought her to my room, instinct driving my motions. That was exactly the kind of thing I wasn’t meant to do. I was supposed to be putting distance between us, not putting her right in my bed.

  Frustrated, I dragged a hand through my hair, then reached for the flask in my back pocket. As I palmed it, I remembered that there was no point. It would do me no good. I could no longer rely on that crutch to suppress my emotions.

 

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