“We don’t have it.” The water was only a few feet away.
Briana’s response was cut off by a screeching howl. White and blinding, something erupted from the divide, streaking over the top of Kel and Elena.
“Who foolishly disturbs me?”
The voice, a whisper that came from everywhere and nowhere, sent a chill ripping up Lucan’s spine. Water rushed over his feet, rapidly climbing as high as his knees. The frigid temperature cut into his bloodstream.
Briana stood next to him with her eyes closed. Kel and Elena retreated from the opening that continued to flood the clearing, the water waist-high on the other two immortals all but pointing the finger at each other.
“I summoned you.” Briana took a step forward from the trees hiding them from immediate sight.
What the fuck?
He reached out to stop Briana. A wall of water knocked him away from her. He regained his footing easily, but letting go of his human form didn’t allow the next six-foot wave to pass right through him. Once more he was on his ass and Briana even further away from him.
Briana dropped to her knees, and the water rode up to her chest. “I apologize for the intrusion, Lady of the Lake.”
Lady of the Lake. The four words at the bottom of the map.
The white form made up of threads of light and menacing shadows, dispersed, revealing a woman who looked no older than her early twenties and dressed entirely in white. Waves of long black hair fell halfway down her back, her narrowed eyes so dark they reminded Lucan of the wraith’s.
“And you are?”
“Late to the show,” Elena put in.
A wave nearly twice the size of the sorceress slammed into her, knocking her back in the water. She came up sputtering.
“Briana Callaghan.”
The Lady of the Lake, an immortal shrouded in more mystery than the gods, tipped her head, regarding Briana with interest. “Another gargoyle?” She glanced at Kel, dismissing the dragon who didn’t move except for the flaring of his nostrils. “And your business with me?”
“We’re competing in the Gauntlet.” Again Elena answered.
This time the water came from behind the sorceress, lifting her off her feet and holding her immobile as the Lady of the Lake turned in her direction. “I know well who you are fledgling, but unless you wish to die in this competition here and now, you will be silent.” She faced Briana once more. “Show me.”
Briana rose, tugging at her pants and revealing the mark of the Gauntlet branded on her hip.
The ancient one’s gaze moved to Lucan where he continued to try to reach Briana. “He’s protective of you,” she mused. “Unusual.”
Something in her eyes had Briana growling.
“I have no interest in your mate, gargoyle.” She released her hold on Elena at the same moment the water receded, draining back into the earth faster than seemed possible.
With the water gone, Lucan slogged across the muddy ground to reach Briana’s side.
The Lady of the Lake sighed, her expression so still Lucan almost missed the blink of sadness that crossed her face. “I will honor my vow.”
Briana glanced at him, equally confused. Vow?
A length of chain appeared at Briana’s feet, and he nodded to where the thick ropes of silver all but hummed with old magic. She glanced from the chains to the Lady of the Lake. “What are they for?”
“Not what. Who.” The Lady of the Lake’s gaze shifted to Lucan. “He will not be taken without them.”
“I don’t understand.” The chains offered no clue as to who they were meant for.
Briana frowned. “Where do we find him?” Whoever he is, went unsaid.
Shaking her head, the ancient one burst apart in a blinding white cloud of light, receding into the trees like a fog moving back out to sea.
Alone once more, the other immortals digested what just happened, looking at each other—and then Kel charged.
Lunging forward, Lucan struck the dragon’s body, barely slowing him down. But it gave Briana the few seconds she needed to snap the chains off the ground.
One minute he was trying to hold off a wall bent on trampling both he and Briana to get the Lady of the Lake’s chains, and the next he was slamming into an entirely different one.
Lucan stumbled back, spinning around in his room at the mansion. Briana wasn’t with him.
The wraith stirred, claws raking along Lucan’s awareness wanting to find her, but not nearly as much as the man still reeling from her confession.
He should have figured it out on his own, should have realized her feelings were as genuine as his own. If hadn’t been so determined to protect her from himself…
He stopped, bracing his hands on the door, old doubts surfacing.
We’ll find a way.
Her words haunted him now. It didn’t matter how certain he was that Rhiannon would find a way to end him before she’d ever willingly release him, he refused to let Briana down again.
If he won the Gauntlet—
No. He cut off that line of thinking. No more what ifs. The only woman to get under his skin, to mark a place so deep inside him he’d have to cut out his heart to loosen her hold, wanted to be with him. Loved him.
And that was more than enough.
Despite the ties to Rhiannon, for the first time in centuries he felt free. Because of Briana.
He wrenched open the door, took a few steps into the hall, stopped.
Briana walked toward him, every tentative step taking way too long. He couldn’t wait anymore.
He strode toward her, extinguishing the distance that separated them, determined that nothing else would part them again.
She met him halfway, leaping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. Her mouth came down on his, her hands caging his face, the fierce tenderness threatening to take him to the floor.
His hands tangled in the hair at her nape, both of them tired, cold and wet—and he’d never known a better moment in his life.
Breathing hard, her eyes were shiny as they met his. “I wasn’t sure if you’d come to me or if you’d changed your mind.”
He silenced her with another kiss, dragging it out with long, thorough sweeps of lips and tongue until he’d convinced them both he was done pushing her away. She belonged with him.
Always had.
“I’m scared too,” she murmured, reading him too easily.
He was pretty sure that scared didn’t come close to describing the fear that drilled through his middle. The thought of something happening to her before had scared him. But now…
The wraith snarled, hungry to destroy a world that would dare hurt her in any way.
He kissed her again, carefully touching his lips to hers, more testing the waters than diving in. Everything between them had always felt rushed, stolen moments snatched from their real lives, and he didn’t want to rush this one.
He could never undo what happened in the past, couldn’t wipe out the memories of hurting her, but he could replace every single one of them with something so much better.
Her arms tightened around him, eating up every millimeter of space between them. “Are you going to invite me in?”
Tucking his face against her throat, breathing deeply, he carried her inside.
Chapter Thirteen
Briana held on for dear life. If she could feel the weight of Lucan’s arms, the slow caress of his mouth, then maybe she could convince herself this wasn’t another illusion. They were truly together.
It didn’t matter if the odds were stacked against them—a territorial goddess, a competition that could kill them before it was all over, her brothers—he was here because he wanted to be. Finally.
Lucan set her beside the bed, her body sliding down his in what felt like slow motion, touching every part of him. He left her long enough to close the door and then he was back. He turned his face into her hair, then her cheek, her neck.