Page 56 of Loched in Love

“Here we are, you two. The shell grotto, just as you asked,” Arthur says, from the driver’s seat, and turns around with a cheerful grin. “Right on time, and I’ve plenty left to go snag my tractor part. Brilliant trip all around.”

I sit up and look though the tinted glass of the window, and my chest immediately tightens.

There are people everywhere. Dozens of humans are milling about the entrance, tourists are laughing, families are pushing strollers and children run across the pavement. For centuries, my world has been nothing but a vast and quiet depth in the waters of a moat and the narrow suffocating stone walls of the castle where the curse held me captive. I’m used to silence and I’m used to isolation, but seeing this many humans packed into one sunlit space makes my instinctual defenses flare violently. There’s a warning ringing in my ears that I’m completely exposed.

My vision tunnels and my pupils dilate as I try to track every movement of body at once before my jaw aches from how hard I’m clenching my teeth.

Elena notices instantly. And just as the panic is taking hold, her smaller and warm hand slides into mine, her fingers anchoring firmly between my thick digits. She leans her curvy frame against my side, a solid, and appreciated shield between me and the outside world.

“I’ve got you,” she murmurs softly, her voice cutting through the haze of overwhelm and fear. “Just look at me, Lachlan. I’m right here, and we’re just going to walk right inside to meet your cousin.”

I suck in a slow and shaky breath, and let her calm warmth drag me back to reality. I’m a monster far from his waters, yes. But she’s my true mate and my anchor. If she isn’t afraid, I’ve no reason to hide in the dark anymore.

“Thank you, Arthur. For everything,” Elena says brightly as we step out from the car into the swift and salty breeze.

Arthur gives my shoulder an affectionate pat and tips his short brown cap before driving off into the Margate traffic. He’s to meet his brother-in-law on his way back to travel the rest of the way with him.

“Feeling okay, Lachlan?” Elena asks.

I nod in answer and wrap my large arm securely around her waist, and pull her flush to my side as we navigate the edge of the crowd. My gaze stays sharp but my stride is steady as we head toward a tall brick storefront.

I look out at the crowd one last time before we cross over the threshold inside, and a massive grin tugs at the corners of my mouth.

The moment we step inside, the oppressive noise of the busy street drops away. The air hits me instantly with the scents of the cool and damp, thick with the subterranean chalk. It calms my inner turmoil and the harsh pounding of my heart.

Sitting behind the long white counter is a striking woman with a wild mane of dark wavy hair and the eyes the color of a deep and stormy sea. She wears a thick and oversized sweater, and the moment her gaze locks onto mine her face splits into a bonnie and brilliant grin.

A stark wave of relief washes over me as I gaze at her, a familiar soul, my kinfolk and a piece of the deep right here in the midst of all this human chaos.

“Lachlan! Is that you, you old sea serpent,” she shouts, her voice carrying a sweet and dulcet lilt, and practically leaps out from behind the counter, setting off some sort of alarm as she does.

She throws her arms around my neck with a force that would knock a normal person flat to the floor and I let out a low and surprised grunt as I move to wrap my arms around her slight frame and lift her off her feet. The floorboards beneath my boots quake with the movement.

I’ve not seen my kin in hundreds of years, and it feels good to lay eyes on a familiar person after so long.

“Sorry about the silly alarm. The customers grow more bold by the day,” she says, a big grin on her round face.

“Maren,” I say, the brogue in my voice thick even to my own ears as I set her down, keeping a firm grip on my cousin’s wee shoulders. “You look well for a creature living in the English mud.”

“Hey, the mud treats us good down here, with as many tourists there are to swindle and all the fish you could want in the bay,” she chuckles, tossing her head back. Her gaze slides over to Elena at my side, and softens with a genuine warmth along with a strong hint of knowing curiosity. “Oh, and who might this lovely lady be? Don’t tell me you finally found a good enough reason to break yourself from that sorry waterway then?”

My arm wraps around Elena’s waist as I pull her boldly to me against my side with unmistakable pride. “Maren, this is Elena, my true mate. She’s the one who broke the curse.”

“Very well met, Elena. But I can tell by the look of you, you’ve still not reached and rested in your loch for some time. So what brings you on your visit then, cousin?” Maren asks, her shrewd gaze staring up at me.

Elena Pierson

Maren’s gaze flashes with a deep and solemn understanding after Lachlan gives her a short rundown of our past forty-eight hours. Her playful smile vanishes as she looks between Lachlan and me. “Vivian’s lair eh? Right inside the lion’s den, say no more cousin. Let’s get out of the open though and go where we can talk.”

She reaches over and flips the sign on the ticket counter to closed, grabbing a ring of keys from a row of them on the wall. “Follow me, we can talk freely down below.”

She leads us through a small doorway and down a steep and narrow flight of stairs that are carved directly into the chalk. As we descend underground, the daylight fades and becomes replaced by a soft and ambient glow of little lanterns that dot the walls. Lachlan’s heavy footfalls echo deeply against the stone behind me but the deeper we go the more the air changes. It becomes thick and heavy with an energy that makes the hair on my arms stand up.

At last, the tunnel opens up and my breath catches at the sight before me.

We step into a massive subterranean cavern that’s entirely lined and filled with millions of seashells. There are mussels and cockles, whelks and oysters, and each is painstakingly arranged in various and intricate swirling mosaic patterns. It’s a perfectly preserved dream, and my inner biologist is screaming. How did I not know this existed?

I only just found out about this place yesterday, but to the tourists outside, this place is just a quirky oddity, a seaside mystery to explore.