‘It does,’ he replied solemnly.
Tillie watched him take off into the woods. She sat back and fanned herself. Who cared if anyone believed her now. She’d trade all the followers in the world if it meant she could keep the memory of this night for herself.
So, Nessie was an incredibly hot shapeshifter guy. Mystery. Fucking. Solved.
* * *
Cam ran, following the course of the stream back to the waterfall where he’d last been human. The banks were still unstable and muddy where his Nessie bulk had scraped them away on its inelegant passage into the loch. They were also littered with rubbish now—appallingly typical evidence of the amount of human attention the area had received lately.
He didn’t pause at the waterfall, instead sprinting toward the road. Meredith had promised to hide his bike to keep it safe. He was relieved to find it tucked up under a green tarpaulin, wheeled a good distance under the trees and obscured by branches for good measure.
Cam released the Matchless from its confines with an urgent flourish and wasted no time getting it onto the road.
He knew where he was heading. The landscape he’d glimpsed outside Bryce’s cave was familiar—he traversed it at least once a year to reach Red Point. And the other figure in the middle of the circle with Lachlan was familiar, too. Connecting the dots (the tattoos and kelp kilt were a big clue) he guessed it was a Minchman.
And beyond that, he still had the link with Bryce. Cam had fought to grip onto it as he escaped the loch. He could feel Bryce out there. Could feel the pull of the fire that connected them.
He wasn’t going to let Bryce hurt anyone else. He wasn’t going to let him lay afingeron Lachlan.
Cam blazed a trail across the Highlands, chasing that pull. Anyone watching would have been knocked back by the shimmering heat haze that tore through the air in his wake.
Somewhere in the unseen distance, Bryce halted what he was doing. He turned around, staring into the unforgiving darkness with a shocked mix of rage and fear.
I’m coming for you, Bryce,Cam vowed grimly.This all ends tonight.
Chapter Fourteen
When Bryce stormed back into the cave, there was a wild look in his eyes that made Lachlan tense with dread. Bryce’s hands flared with fire, illuminating the space and throwing grotesque, stuttering shadows over his already twisted features.
‘Escaped your bonds, I see,’ Bryce spat viciously. ‘Very clever. Still trapped, though, aren’t you?’
Fionn opened his mouth to snap a response, but Lachlan laid a hand on his arm to dissuade him with a small shake of his head. He recognised the signs of a frayed mind. Bryce was on the very precipice of losing his, and there was no telling what a single snarky comment might cause him to do.
Bryce rattled through his satchel, tipping out black candles and arranging them at the circle’s edge. He lit them all in one sweep from his palm. It seemed to Lachlan that he wheezed as he did so; like the effort of casting the magic took it out of him. He didn’t look well. There were grey bags under his eyes and his cheeks were sallow.
All the while, Bryce kept glancing at the night sky. He let out a strangled cry when the moonalmostappeared from behind a thick mass of cloud, before being swallowed up again.
‘This ritual seems an unnecessary hassle for you.’ Lachlan picked his words carefully, seeking to distract Bryce’s attention. ‘Why go to so much effort just for us?’
It worked. Bryce focused on him with an ominous intensity. ‘You think I want to waste my time with this, lad? You’re not special. Count on it.’
Lachlan swallowed, watching the clouds move behind Bryce’s head. ‘You made it sound like we were, earlier. Special, that is. You said you wouldn’t have to do this, if it weren’t for us.’
‘Ha! A disappointing truth,’ Bryce drawled. ‘I conceived of this dark magic three centuries ago. It is by my own design! I put in hours of toil. Hard graft. I sought to formulate a ritual that would capture the essence of a wasted life, to award it to someone more worthy. Elspaith never had the vision for this sort of work…’
The moon ducked out of the clouds, revealed in a brief gap. Bryce carried on ranting, oblivious. ‘But in the end, she gave me the key I needed. A discovery! That we shared a bond through our magic. She used it to trap me all those years ago, but she was hasty. Her curse wasimperfect.’ He spat the word, eyes gleaming. ‘She never was the best with words, dear Elspaith. She ended up ensnaring her own immortal soul for as long as I lived. That loch wasourprison.Ourcurse.’
There was a sadistic edge to his grin. Bryce began pacing, and it no longer seemed as though he was addressing Lachlan so much as the universe at large. ‘She thought she could hold me there, if she kept me without physical form. She didn’t bank on mechangingmy form, oh no! That monster, my lad, that was my creation. My way of wedging the prison door open—but I needed someone else to open it all the way. And so you did, andsowillingly.’
Lachlan let the indictment wash over him. There was nothing Bryce could say now that he hadn’t already accused himself of, blamed himself for. Meredith was right. He wouldn’t shoulder the guilt for Bryce’s actions any longer.
Bryce had clearly forgotten what Lachlan had originally said to spark his outburst, and it trailed off as he moved to adjust a dripping candle. When he turned back to check the sky, the moon was safely hidden away once again.
Fionn nudged Lachlan and muttered in his ear. ‘Nice effort. But tell me you have a better plan than just side-tracking him all night?’
‘I’m open to other ideas.’
The Minchman groaned quietly. ‘I wish I had a weapon.’
