Page 79 of Loched in Love

I slide my phone back into my pocket before the signal can vanish entirely and lock gazes with my favorite monster. “How do you feel about a first class flight?”

He shrugs, bouncing the muscles of his pectorals when he does. “As long as it’s bigger than the last biscuit tin, I shouldn’t have any complaints.”

I grin and bite my lip. My brothers are going to lose their minds.

Lachlan Macbeth

“Oh, I can’t wait to show you around. We can even go by my favorite spot in the lake, if you’re up for it, and can meet a couple of people at the college, but we don’t have to if you don’t want to. My family is enough socializing for anyone, and if anything gets to be too much, I have an apartment nearby and we can just stay there,” she says, her tone filled with excitement.

“It sounds grand,” I say, giving her a soft smile.

I glance down at the heavy oak chest that sits on the deck of the ship, all my spoils dotted around the place. I look around the stone cavern of my home, at the damp walls that glow with the faint ethereal brightness of the cave moss that shines softly on the curve of Elena’s cheek.

It’s been incredible to be home, and for a long time before my confinement to the moat, this cold, quiet cavern had been my sanctuary, a place to get away from the human chaos. But what I feel for this place and its vastness feels small in comparison to what I feel for her.

My home is no longer a stationary location; she’s a moveable woman who wants to take me to her homeland, and I’ll move heavens and earth to give her what she wants.

I reach out and pull the modern piece of plastic from the wooden shelf I placed it days ago and hold it between my fingers. “First class or rent out a big plane like Frank’s for a time, but I cannot keep using his card,” I murmur, my voice echoing back to me from the high stone ceilings. “Using it feels untoward now that I’m back home with all my wealth, and I won’t be a parasite on the back of Frank’s fortune.”

Elena suppresses a smile and leans against the ship’s railing. “Lachlan, Frank’s a billionaire and practically owns the medical world with his pharmaceutical empire. I doubt he’ll bat an eyelash at the travel expenses.”

“It’s the principle of the thing,” I insist.

Now that I’ve my own gold hoard within arm’s reach again, keeping Frank Steins black card feels like a heavy weight on my chest. I gesture toward the corner of the cavern deck and at the gold she knows well by now.

“I’ve centuries of doubloons and solid gold bars sitting right here.” I point to the glittering mountain. “I want to exchange it properly, and I want this paper cash humans have or the digital numbers. I want to buy you dinner with my own coin and not Frank’s.”

Elena sighs gingerly and steps across the creaking boards to reach me. “Lachlan you can’t just walk into the Bank of Scotland with a sack of gold like a pirate. They’ll ask questions and the government will want taxes, and the media will want to know where a ridiculously handsome man got a mountain of treasure.”

I shove the card back onto its resting place. “Then we find a way around the rules and paperwork,” I say soothingly, looking down at her. “I missed it here, but my home is wherever you are, Elena. I’ll follow you anywhere, but I still want to fund my own expenses, even if it means dealing with the terrifying world of modern banking.”

Suddenly, I recall that Maren would have some contacts and know what to do, and I snap my fingers loudly. The sound ricochets around the damp cavern walls like a boom, as excitement unfurls in my veins.

“Wait,” I say, a grin breaking across my face. “We may not need to move a pirate sack of jewels at all. You know Maren used to spend half her time navigating coastal towns and the other half the seas. She doesn’t just dabble in finding lost things for people, she’s handled all sorts of odd trades, and I’d wager she knows exactly how to convert the hoard pile into something a modern airline will actually accept.”

Elena arches her brows and a spark of hope lights up in her blue gaze. “Your cousin? Lachlan, that’s wonderful. She was amazing when she helped us get our stuff back. Do you think she can get us a meeting with someone discreet to exchange it?”

“If anyone knows how to launder pirate treasure through the supernatural underground, it’s her,” I say, relaxing my shoulders. I head into the pirate’s quarters and rummage until I locate the mobile phone Whitley gave me for emergencies, only to see a glaring ‘no service’ icon in the upper right corner of the device.

“But I’ll need to get topside to reach her,” I add, sliding the phone away and pulling Elena into my arms. “The signals don’t usually pierce the ceiling of my home. We’ll have to head up to the surface and my stomach is roaring. Surely, we can find a local spot to grab a fry-up for breakfast. Why don’t we have a hearty breakfast and message her over a warm meal?”

“As much as I love the heart-covered swimwear and glasses,” Elena says, a playful glint in her eye as she gestures to my attire, “we should probably get properly dressed before we face the locals. Don’t you think?”

Chapter 32

LACHLAN MACBETH

After quickly heading to the cabin, I pull on a blue plaid shirt and some heavy trousers, while Elena bundles into her own layers, wearing a blue jacket that brings out her eyes. Once we are fully dressed and ready to brave the cool morning air, we step back onto the gleaming timber of the ship deck.

I hold Elena to me and rub lightly at her arms. “Ready, my flower?”

She nods, and I extend my right arm as I close my eyes, focusing my mind on the deep current of the loch and calling out to my weapon.

A moment later a brilliant flash of blue light illuminates the dark water just past the ship’s bow. With a sharp metallic clink, my trident materializes out of thin air, its heavy shaft sliding perfectly into my palm. The weapon hums with a raw power, ready to command the elements at my whim.

I glance down and check over the weld Vivian placed on it, finding the glow there has settled. My trident has truly been made whole again.

Elena smiles and slips her hand into mine as we make our way along the narrow stone wall, leaving the gold mound behind in the glowing moss light, and stop at the edge of the cavern where the path ends and the water meets solid rock overhead.