Page 14 of Loched in Love

“Shit. What happened?” Whitley asks, suddenly appearing from a stone doorway near the rear path.

“I don’t know,” I blurt, watching his tail whip through the air.

Lachlan’s back stiffens before he folds inwardly on himself. He holds his face in his hands and shakes his head back and forth. “I didn’t want to show you this way. I wanted time for you to get to know me,” he says through his palms.

I blink in confusion, unsure of how to respond to that.

He lifts his head and gives me a sheepish look. “I didn’t even get the bloody chance to tell her,” he says, looking past me to the castle chef.

“I see that, Lachlan,” Whitley says, her tone sad.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask no one in particular.

Aubrey, Vlad, and Connor, along with a redheaded woman who seems oddly familiar, although I know I’ve not met her yet, stand near the castle walkway, probably coming to investigate Lachlan’s screams.

“Elena, there’s something I must confess to you,” he says solemnly.

“Okay?”

Seconds pass. I can’t move. I can’t speak. My breath catches on a sharp inhale, my heart thundering in my ears as I try to take in what he’s saying while he walks toward me like I’m the wild animal.

He puts his broad palms up, his expression pleading as he nears me.

The closer he gets, the louder the buzzing in my ears. It crackles, drowning out everything else as an indescribable feeling begins to tingle through my limbs.

A wave of protectiveness comes over me when Lachlan gives me a sloppy smile on his way to me, and suddenly I’m tipsier than the one time I let Collin talk me into six shots on my twenty-fourth birthday. A deep warmth settles low in my gut, and I fight to stay lucid.

“Did you hear me, lass?” he asks, in that thick husky brogue that sends chills up my spine.

“I said, I’m the Loch Ness monster.”

“Come again?” I ask, knowing I must have heard him wrong.

“I’m not really the pool boy. I’m the Loch Ness monster,” he says, holding his scaly hand out for me to see.

I glance back at everyone else, to see them standing idly watching.

How peculiar. I note how his claws look sort of like an alligator but larger, much larger, and his fingers are still jointed and humanoid-shaped. Tiny webbing forms between the spaces of his fingers while I watch. I reach out to touch one to see if it’s as soft as it looks, and instantly human skin covers his body.

Oh my god. I flinch back, having never witnessed anything like this in my life.

He removes his hand from my arm and frowns as the scales return slowly.

“When you fell into the moat last night, you set me free, Elena. I’d been locked there under the castle for a very long time, until you,” he says, tucking a stray blonde hair behind my ear and giving me a smile that would stop traffic in most cities. “You fell in and broke the curse holding me here.”

First they give you butterflies, then mental health issues.

Chapter 5

LACHLAN MACBETH

Iwalk a few feet behind Elena as we follow Whitley through the castle, my insides alight with wonder at the mere scent of my mate.

Whitley, after quite literally seeing me floundering for words, jumped in to save the day with talks of eating lunch in the dining room. We’re on our way there now, but my concern squarely on the woman in front of me.

Elena’s barely spoken since I confessed what I am, and I’ve had to ball my fists at my side to keep from reaching out to touch her more than once. The want is almost unbearable.

All the same, I’m sure she understands me about as well as I do her wee beetles, and as much as I crave to pull her into my arms, I’d rather gnaw my own hand off than scare her more than I already have. It’s best to ensure she feels comfortable with me before pushing her into anything more.