Page 4 of Loched in Love

I place a hand on my chest while waiting on my heartbeat to return to a normal cadence, and I rationalize it could’ve been a lone wolf rejoining his pack after venturing near the castle wall.

Not that it matters, no way am I sticking around.

“Nat, let me call you back. I’m going to need to foot it back to the hotel,” I say, knowing running is about to be in my near future.

“The wolves?” she asks.

I grin even though I know she can’t see me. “They’ve moved up the ridgeline it sounds like, but I’m going to try and hurry back to check out these samples. The bus is coming early in the morning,” I remind her.

This is a working holiday-ish.

Besides, Natalie is used to my constant babble about work, and she knows once I get going on a new sample area I’ll be obsessed for days. Untapped water reservoir that’s home to my favorite beetle? I’ll be poring over these babies for weeks, I think to myself, my gaze scanning back over the terrain to where I’d left five new samples, and a flutter of giddiness fills me at the sight.

I’m so glad I made it before the castle owners did something nuts, like drain the moat and slap in a pool. A very real fear up until now.

“Okay, if you’re sure. Just text me and let me know you’re alive when you can. And try to have a good time, yeah? Collin just got home,” she says conspiratorially, and I know she means she needs to get off the phone anyway.

My brother Collin is part of the reason why I read my books with a hefty dose of kraken tentacles and monster smut, because men, like him and my other three brothers, are babies and are far more trouble than what they’re worth.

I check the time and nod. A little after two a.m. here, means it’s just after six p.m. there. “Yeah it’s just about dinner time now. Kiss Keegan for me,” I tell her, wishing I could hug my nephew suddenly.

“Have fun Elena, and call me when you make it into wherever you’re staying next,” Nat says.

“I will,” I promise, and the call ends.

The wind picks up and I shiver finally, and then register that the back of my shirt is damp too. What the heck?

I turn and my foot slides, causing my heart to lodge somewhere in my throat as I reach out and grasp for anything to hang onto. My fingers wrap in the deep green of the willow tree branches, luckily stopping my fall.

“Shit,” I gasp, laughing a little at how I must look, dangling out across the water.

I turn my head and meet the gaze of someone swimming just beneath the surface of the moat. Alarm flairs in my middle at the sight as my heart drops into my stomach.

A startled scream escapes my lips just as I lose hold of the willow branch, and I fall backward, plunging into the cold depths of the moat.

Strong hands register at my waist, taking hold of me just as my gaze dims to pitch black.

Lachlan Macbeth

Her eyes are blue. The thought hasn’t the time to pass through my brain before the decision to spend the rest of my life deciphering their exact color becomes my sole reason for breathing. My one true love has finally come and released me.

A high and shrill scream leaves her as she falls quite literally into my arms. Her gaze shutters and it dawns she may have fainted away, likely from seeing me swimming in swamp water in the middle of the night.

Happiness, along with a hefty dollop of concern, floods my sternum as I pull her to my chest and begin pushing her above water to allow her breath. My hands shake, and I fight to keep them steady while an overwhelming sense of rightness centers in my being as I watch the magic bond take hold between us.

She’s my true mate.

The knowledge fills me along with intense determination as the deep green glow filters through the air swirling around our bodies within the water. Her hair plasters to her scalp, making it look like light strokes of honey down her face as I walk us both out and onto the nearby steps of the bridge.

“My, but you are a right bonnie lassie,” I say, a pang striking my heart as I gaze down at her.

A pert nose, round pale face, and big eyes make up her beautiful features, and instantly I know I’d move heaven and earth to keep her. Down to the marrow of my very bones, I’ll fight to stay by this lassie’s side forever— if she’ll have me.

A tremble wracks through my body at the thought of her possible revulsion, and my grip tightens on her voluptuous form as I bring her closer to my chest. My hands, even as large as they are, can’t span the width of her thick thighs and waist, and a sense of pride washes over me.

Gods be good, she’ll like the look of me too.

Her hand falls listlessly at her side and I frown, noticing a light thread of magic touching at her temples.