Page 66 of Fractured Souls
I hadn’t wanted to wake up Lorcan, but after some discussion we decided it was better to leave as soon as we could—even if it meant waking her up—because of the insane amount of time that passed while here. At least if we were back in Earth realm, she could sleep for four days without fear of several months passing at once.
So we’d woken her up, and I wasn’t positive she fully remembered the process of leaving the watery orb the institute was in, but she’d immediately shifted into her siren form in the water, surrounding all of us in a bubble of magic. It was almost like she was functioning on autopilot as we swam towards the portal entrance, and I found myself worrying about the transition from water to the rocky cave we had left from.
I had been right to worry, too. The journey in had been a hell of a lot smoother than the one out. So much so that I’d crashed right into the stone floor of the cave, the tide so low there was no water. I barely caught Lorcan, cradling her against me as the others were spit out rather violently as well. It was like the realm itself was trying to get rid of us.
Which was why we were all walking slowly out of the cave, sore from the landing and more than a bit confused on where to go from here since so much time had passed on Earth. Lorcan was still in my arms, her head tucked against my neck, and I did my best not to jostle her, wanting her to keep sleeping if possible.
I had no idea how she’d traveled with Nova like that, but it had been dangerous and impactful. So while I knew it had been the right move to show her friend everything she did, I was worried what it had taken out of her.
“What the fuck do we do now? How are we going to get off this rock?” Rhett asked as we emerged from the cave to walk along the rocky cliffside towards the more lush part of the island.
That was a damn good question considering I was almost positive our boat was gone. No way it had waited for nearly two months.
“I could transport us to the main island,” Adriel said. “I’m not sure I could do all of us, though. This portalling is kicking my ass.”
I nodded, knowing that if he was admitting to that then he was probably exhausted.
“Why don’t you portal and grab a boat, maybe from the resort? We could stay there for the night and rest up before we get back into the air. It would probably be good to establish a plan anyway,” Desmond suggested.
“Especially before heading home,” Dean agreed. I knew that while Lorcan took priority over his pride back home, he was still the leader of it and felt protective over them. And honestly, the group of us were a beacon of attracting bad shit right now.
“Alright.” Adriel stacked the materials we’d brought with us onto the beach and disappeared into thin air. Knowing it would be a long moment before he returned, I sat down on the beach, keeping Lorcan cradled against my chest.
“Did they say when they were leaving?” Zander asked Desmond, pulling me into their conversation.
“No, but we did arrange to stay in contact,” he said. “I’m going to guess and say they’ll be on Earth realm for a while now like ourselves. Then again, I really have no idea where they’d need to go to find the heart of magic.”
“Turkey,” I said easily, remembering one of the mages mentioning it.
“To unleash magic itself, right? Shit, that’s intense,” Cash said, making me smile. While I knew all of this was very real, sometimes hearing it in context made it all feel a bit unbelievable.
Rhett said something to make the others laugh, but my attention was drawn down to Lorcan, who let out a soft hum against my chest before her eyes fluttered open.
“Did we leave?” Her brow was pushed together in confusion, and my concern over her grew.
“You don’t remember?” I asked softly, trying to keep my voice relaxed.
“Sort of,” she said. “It’s like a dream though. The pool in the room helped a lot, but I won’t lie, I feel completely drained.”
“Keep sleeping, little lamb. We’re going to the resort nearby to stay the day and night, and we’ll stay longer if we need to.”
“But we need to get back…” She sighed. “Yeah, never mind, I wouldn’t be productive right now even if I was at home.”
I couldn’t help but feel relief and a bit of happiness at her awareness of her own health. While I hadn’t been around while she’d been in the darkest of times here on Earth realm—when she’d been trying to take her own life—I’d seen her ignore her own well-being time and time again in Broken House. Not anymore, though.
“Rest,” I commanded softly. “I’ve got you.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I love you.”
“I love you too, little lamb,” I murmured against her forehead. And fuck did I love her. Our mating had only intensified those feelings, to the point that I wasn’t positive anything else existed outside of her. It was like my brain and body had been rewired to only focus on and consider Lorcan in all things. I didn’t mind one damn bit.
“Here he is,” I called out, spotting Adriel zooming through the water in a small luxury boat. I stood with Lorcan and began to wade through the water, and when he came to a stop, killing the engine, I easily passed her to him and climbed onboard, taking stock of the space and realizing that it wasn’t nearly as small as it first appeared.
Once I was steady on my feet, I took Lorcan back into my arms and sat down on a bench, and before long the others were aboard, and Adriel wasted no time before speeding towards the resort. I hadn’t been to many human Earth realm hotels, but this one looked exceptionally unique. Instead of going towards the main building on shore, Adriel pulled up to a private dock. A staircase led up to a villa with what appeared to be a pool and a house over the water.
It was a sight I knew Lorcan would appreciate once she was awake.
Disembarking first, I made my way up the steps and across the deck that featured a netted bed over the water and through a pair of sliding doors. I felt my brows go up at the luxurious accommodations but beelined it to the bedroom, pulling back the covers and placing Lorcan down.
