“Come morning, I will explain more.”
“Oh, I think you’ve explained quite enough. Just go. Okay? I know it’s the middle of the night, but the storm’s over. If you can’t find a dry place out there to sleep, feel free to head back to Seven Cairns. Immediately.” She pulled the blanket higher and bit the inside of her cheek to keep from giving in to tears. She hated being right about relationships. They just weren’t worth it.
Otto settled down against her back and rested his head in the curve of her neck, comforting her more than he could possibly realize. So much so that she amended her opinion. Relationships weren’t worth it unless they were with a dog.
The click of the bedroom door closing assured her that her almost mistake had finally left her in peace. At least with all the damage to the house, she’d be too busy to think about him and wonder about what might’ve been.
As soon as Mathison stepped out of Calia’s bedroom, he found himself in the hallway of Wraith Tower’s uppermost floor. He had no idea how Mairwen had managed it, but the old one had melded that wee chunk of Calia’s world to the place where he’d lived ever since the curse had exiled him from his ancestral keep, the place where he’d ruled over the shifter clans of the Ninth Realm.
His housekeeper, Mynlis Nalwes, met him in the hall, her large, dark eyes filled with compassion. She was an ousted member of the Selkie Clan, condemned to serve him, the Wraith, for the remainder of her life as punishment for angering her chieftain. Even in her human form, it took no stretch of the imagination to see her as an overfed seal stretched out and sunning her great, round belly on a wharf. But she served him well, and he’d never found any fault with her. She and her loyal maids kept the tower as comfortable as it could be kept, considering it was not only his home, but his prison.
“Would ye be having us bring anything up for yer guest, mighty Wraith?”
He shook his head. “I would not, and no one is to go in there unless by my order. She thinks herself still within her own reality, the mortal realm of the twenty-first century.”
“The mortal realm of the twenty-first century?” The housekeeper toddled a bit to the right and leaned around him to eye the door. Mynlis slowly shook her head and made that annoying tsking sound she always made when she found something unbelievable. “That poor lass will no’ have an easy way of it here. What would ye have me tell the others?”
“When I deem it time for the lot of ye to meet her, ye will treat her with the utmost respect, ye ken?” He was well aware Calia wouldn’t have an easy way of it and wasn’t in the mood for the reminder.
Mynlis backed up a step and bowed her head. “Of course, mighty one. That goes without saying.”
“Forgive me.” Mathison scrubbed his face with both hands. “I nay meant to growl at ye.”
Compassion and respect rolled off the Selkie housekeeper in waves. “Ye are a good and fair master, for which I am verra grateful.” She tipped her silvery head at the door behind him. “All of us here will do our verra best to make the lady feel welcome.”
“I know ye will, Mynlis, and for that I am grateful. Spread the word and do what ye can to prepare.” He dismissed the woman with a nod.
As the echo of her footsteps faded, Mathison leaned back against the wall beside Calia’s door and rubbed at the grit of weariness burning his eyes. This was not how he’d planned to introduce his fair mate to the Ninth Realm. “Damn ye, Mairwen.”
“We should have shifted,” Dubh said. “Why did we not shift when she asked about the shifters?”
“Because I nay wished to shock her more than I already had. The woman already thinks me either addled or a liar.”
“Or a drug person…nay…a drug user. What the feck is a drug user?”
“Perhaps she meant laudanum? I dinna ken if they used that in her time.”
His wolf snorted. “Wicked stuff, that. Makes ye see things that are not there.”
Mathison agreed. “We should rest. When she awakens fully recovered from passing through the Veil, the true chore begins—not only getting her to accept our bond but helping her accept the Realm.”
“The pale one told her ye were safe. I heard her speak. Plain as day. Just as I hear yerself.”
“Could ye tell if Calia acknowledged her?”
“She relaxed as though she trusted the pale one’s opinion, but she nay spoke back to her as ye speak with me.”
“Interesting.” Mathison turned and eyed the door. If Calia heard the infamous pale alpha speak to her, where did she think that voice came from, since she had clearly said she didn’t believe in anything she couldn’t see or touch? “Stay alert for more conversations,” he told Dubh as he settled across the threshold of the door and pillowed his head on his arm. When Calia awakened, he wanted to be the first to know, and sleeping on the floor across the doorway would ensure that.
“Aye. I will. Do ye truly mean to sleep?”
“’Tis doubtful that I can, but at least I can rest a bit.”
“Understood.”
But just as he went to close his eyes, an ever-brightening glow just beyond the far curve of the hallway shot him to full alertness. He jumped to his feet and stood ready, barring the door from whatever approached.
His wolf rumbled with an angry growl, ready to battle if called.
