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"As careful as I can be. Take care of yourself, Marella," Mananan replied, and she dropped his hand.
Ella watched him climb into the boat, and then thick fog surrounded them. With a cool brush of magic, the boat disappeared, leaving Ella on the beach, cold and more worried than she had ever been in her life. It was inexplicable. She had seen Mananan slaughter a kraken by himself; she shouldn’t be worried about him getting rid of a dead body and a pile of rocks.
She turned to walk back to the lighthouse when her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She pulled it free and found a message in her group chat from Freya:They’re going to be okay, Ella. They do this kind of shit all the time.
That’s not reassuring, she replied, and instantly, the message bubble came to life.
Elise:It should be. They are warriors, not just some guys.
You didn’t feel the Fomorian magic like I did.Ella quickly typed out what she’d seen in her vision.
Chrissy:Definitely sounds like the same mage’s work. That fucker. I wonder who the dead man was? I know what it’s like to touch that bastard’s power. You want company? I’m sure Oberon could bring me to you.
Ella:I appreciate the offer, but I think I need a night to reset. There has been far too much excitement for me in the past few days. I can’t handle being attacked by a kraken, almost dying, using too much magic, and being kissed all in the same week.
Elise:Kissing?
Chrissy:What kissing?
Freya:DID UNCLE MANAN KISS YOU?!
“Oh, crap. I shouldn’t have told them that,” she groaned.
Ella:He did but only to pull me out of the vision I was drowning in. It’s nothing to be excited about.
She was telling herself that just as much as them. Her lips were still tingling from touching his.
Ella laughed at the barrage of shocked emojis from the women. They weren’t concerned about Mananan and Bayn, so she ignored the squeeze in her chest and went to tend to the lighthouse.
12
The wind of the ocean sprayed frozen salt onto Mananan’s cheeks as they cut through the waves. Bayn sat at the front of the boat, his eyes scanning the storm closing in about them. He was the only one Mananan trusted wouldn’t freeze to death out there while he hunted below.
“Hold on,” Mananan shouted over the wind. Bayn nodded and gripped the sides of the boat. Mananan spoke the words, and magic covered the boat, sealing the air in around them before it plunged deep under the waves.
Bayn’s rare laughter echoed in the now quiet space. “That never gets old, uncle.” He looked about in the nearly black waters. “Can you see anything?”
“I can see just fine. This will be quicker than trying to ride the top of the waves,” Mananan replied and wiped the water from his face.
“So what’s going with you and Ella?” Bayn asked casually.
“What do you mean?” Mananan replied. He busied himself with his harpoon and pretended that his heart didn’t give a jerk at the mention of her name.
“I mean how you’re watching her like a hawk wherever she is and growling at anyone who gets too close. What happened tonight? You’ve been weird since I arrived.”
“Nonsense. I’ve barely said a word to you.”
“Exactly. Weird.”
Mananan studied Bayn for a long moment. He wasn’t a little boy anymore. He was a grown male, mated and settled in his own power. Maybe he could give some decent advice. Unlike his brothers, Bayn wouldn’t tease him mercilessly.
“I almost killed her ex-lover at the pub this afternoon,” Mananan said finally. Bayn’s brows shot up in alarm. “I said ‘almost.’ I didn’t do it, but I really fucking wanted to.” Mananan ended up telling Bayn the whole story, including kissing Ella to bring her out of the vision.
Bayn was silent for a long while after Mananan had finished. He was never one to just blurt out the first nonsense that came to his head. It was one of the things that made him Mananan’s favorite.
“You don’t like humans at all,” Bayn said finally.
“Not true. I like our extended family, and they are mostly human,” Mananan replied. “And I like Ella. She’s comfortable with silence and doesn’t feel the need to fill it. She’s not taxing to be around. I feel…responsible for her. I can’t explain it.”
