Ash blew out a breath, misting the air white, and made her way back to them, tucking her hair behind her ear. “I hate lying to them. But if they knew the truth, they’d only fret.” She handed Shae’s phone back with a tired smile. “Thank you.”
“Later.” Race nodded to them. Time to get to the island and face his leader.
Exhaling roughly, he reopened the portal with a wave of his hands, took the backpack from Ash, grasped her hand, and stepped through the swirling gateway.
At least this transition should go smoothly, unlike every damn thing he faced in Lemuria.
Chapter
Twenty-One
Ash blinked hardas the portal snapped shut behind them once more.
One moment, Lemuria’s dark, molten air choked her, then the next, Romania’s sharp midmorning glare. Now, waning sunlight glided over snowy grounds, throwing yet another shift at her, and her vision scrambled to keep up.
“Oh, boy.” She rubbed her eyes.
As she lowered her hands, her gaze caught on the enormous lake spreading before her, with a white gazebo on its central island, connected by a narrow bridge.
Despite the freezing temperature, the water remained a liquid glass, a stream of silver fish darting beneath the surface. She huffed. Of course—bloody warded. Why should anything in the new world she was coming to know obey actual physics?
“Come.” Race grasped her hand and tugged her along.
Ash’s jaw nearly hit her chest. In the distance, a mammoth, sprawling four-story castle rose out of the whiteness, its towers and battlements reaching toward the cloud-dense sky.
“Whoa. Balmoral Castle.”
“What?” Race frowned.
“Nothing.” A wry smile tipped her mouth, and she shook her head at her silliness, taking in the granite stone walls covered with snow-dusted creeping ivy. Pale sunlight reflected off windows, making her feel as if she’d stepped into a bygone era. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
Race frowned, glancing up at the castle. “I suppose.”
She rolled her eyes. “Men.”
“Again, I’m no man, heart-fire. C’mon.” His grip firmed, pulling her along, cutting short her gawking. “Later, I’ll show you around. I think it’s best we go straight to Michael’s study. If the others get wind I’m here with you, there’ll be no peace.”
“Why?” She took in his set features. “Dagan and Shae seemed nice.”
“Her, yeah. Him, no. And the rest of them here, all together? Absolutely not.”
Ah, okay. She bit her lip at his surliness, recalling Dagan’s teasing provocation. So, the others might be like him, then?
She really hoped so.
Ash rubbed her free hand against her trousers leg, remembering what else Race had said to Dagan, and it stung. She might have been on her mobile with her parents, but she’d heard snatches of their conversation.
And something in her demanded to know, “So, you don’t want a mate, huh?”
Those dark claret eyes snapped to hers. “You offering?”
Her heart skipped a beat.Ugh.He was just being his usual provocative self. She laughed. “No.”
God knew she was already hooked on this dragon, and she had to remind herself he was immortal. In the interim, she’d just enjoy this time with him, deal with whatever being psionic meant to this group whose leader was a divine being, and then go home.
“So, I’m to meet this archangel?” she asked, changing the subject.
He nodded, removing the sliding elastic band from his ponytail. “Michael can be a scary bastard, but just to us Guardians. To the females here? He’s a pussycat.”
