Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
“Of course you got lost,” Beck says with a frown. “You don’t know your way around the forest. You could have been killed. You almost were.”
I smile up at him. “You saved me.”
“Barely.”
I think about the strange little man in his red suit. I shiver as I consider the fact that he told me to get on the kelpie and ride. “Are those kelpie things common here?”
Beck shakes his head. “No, but they are very famous.”
“So anyone who lives here would know not to ride one.” I’m starting to believe that little red dude had it out for me.
“This is what we refer to as a neutral plane. That means there wasn’t a civilization here when we found it. Fae creatures have wandered off and on the place for centuries. Some stayed. I suppose there are plenty of beings on the plane that might not understand what a kelpie is.”
“So he might not have known.” He might have been confused. Though I have a hard time believing that. He seemed to know the forest very well.
“Who might not have known?” Beck’s voice goes positively glacial. “Did you meet someone in the woods?”
I might have been better off keeping my mouth shut. “It was a man, a little man. He seemed old. He said he could take me to my home plane.”
Beck stops the horse and looks down at me, his expression a mask of horror. “You met a Planeswalker? Oh, goddess, Meggie, that was a demon. What did you promise him?”
I shake my head vigorously. “Nothing. I told him I wanted to get back to you, and he pointed me to the kelpie. That was a demon? I thought they’d be bigger. I also thought they would have more style. I guess red is kind of their color, though.”
Beck lets out a long breath of air. “He was a short man, dressed in red from head to toe?”
I nod.
“It was Far Darrig. He’s a trickster. It’s his mission to trick travelers. He can read your mind, so he knows how to get to you.” Clicking his teeth, Beck gets the horse moving again. “Don’t talk to strangers. I don’t want you to be alone until you get used to this place. If you need to go somewhere, you take me or Cian with you.”
Beck returns to his silence, his eyes on the road, watching for threats.
“Will you kiss me?” I don’t want to think about all the creatures on this plane that might kill us. I have other things to worry about. I have a husband to train.
“You want me to kiss you?” His voice rises slightly as he asks the question, as though he isn’t sure he heard me correctly.
“Yes,” I reply with as much innocence as I can manage. “I have since the moment I met you. Kiss me, please. It makes me feel safe.”
His gray eyes look slightly mystified, but he bends his head down and softly kisses my lips. I hold still, letting him control the kiss. It’s gentle, tender even, and when he pulls away, he kisses the top of my head as well. He settles his cloak around my shoulders, surrounding me with warmth.
I try pushing my contentment outward. I’m not sure about how the whole psychic connection works, but I know it’s there. He needs to know and come to trust that I’m happy with him.
When I feel him chuckle deep in his chest, I know it worked. That chuckle is the sound of a man satisfied with himself. For some reason, Beck is unsure of his ability to please a woman. His instincts are all screwed up. Something happened to make him doubt himself and turn his back on his true nature. I have to smash that wall down if we’re going to be happy. I’ll use our connection to do it. Somewhere along the way I fall asleep, happily thinking of all the ways I intend to get past his barriers.
“Wake up, love.” His voice pulls me from my nap.
I try to sit up and realize Sweeney has stopped moving.
“Well, finally,” a familiar voice says from below. I rub my eyes and see Dante standing with crossed arms, looking up at us. He looks haggard and tired. “It took you forever. I expected you late this morning.”
“Meg decided to take a ride on a kelpie,” Beck replies sardonically. “It caused me to push back my schedule.”
Dante’s green eyes go wide, and his mouth drops open. He’s utterly fangless now.
“Seriously?” He turns my way. “What the hell were you thinking? Kelpies like to eat people.”
I stiffen at the thought of what might have happened. “It was going to eat me? You didn’t tell me it was planning on eating me.”
“Well, it wasn’t inviting you to tea.”
Beck hands me down to the vampire. Dante sets me squarely on my feet.