He reached out his hand. "Izel... please." She looked at his calloused palm, outreached for her. "Come ta me."

She chanced a look at his face, which was a mistake. His blue eyes were blazing with such raw ferocity that she shivered at the sight. Shaking her head she said, "You won't release me if I do."

"It's true," he nodded, "that I do no' want ta let you go, but if it means earning some of your trust, I will." Although she wasn't convinced, she craved to touch him, to feel his warm fingers on her skin. But she couldn't risk it.

"Lass"-he stared at her as if sensing her hesitation-"I will no' ever deceive you again. Come ta me, and I vow I will release you." He gritted his teeth as if the words, the thought even, pained him. "I will even watch you walk away from me and will no' call after you."

Did she just feel loss at that statement? Kelvin not calling after her, not wanting her? A lump rose in her throat. "But know this." His glacier eyes ensnared her and his deep voice was laced with wicked promise. "If you will no' open this door, I will find my own way from this cell. I will find my own way ta you."

A shudder ran down her spine. That was no threat he was giving, that was fact. He rested the side of his head against the bars. "Just give me a chance before ya leave me."

He was asking. For once, Kelvin Kerr was not demanding a thing. He simply wanted to be close to her. And he was letting her choose.

Her chest felt heavy. Although it was a small gesture, it was a start. Because the truth was, she wanted to touch him, too.

Her hand rose to meet his and she watched his eyes light up as her palm entered his grasp. Expecting him to yank her into the bars, she was surprised when he merely skimmed her knuckles with his thumb.

"So soft," he muttered.

A simple touch was all it took for her whole being to buzz to life. Her traitorous body responded to his so easily, the internal struggle she had over this man mercilessly pumping desire through her veins.

"I can scent myself on you... inside you," he whispered. Her gaze locked on his, and she didn't notice him slowly pulling her closer. "It grows every day." Closer. "We are one soul, love." His lips were inches from hers.

She snapped back to reality, withdrawing from his hold.

"Please come back. I did no' break my vow," he said.

Then it hit her. "You only want my body."

He frowned as if she stated something that was already known. "Aye, I want your body. But that is no' all."

She shook her head wildly. He was Pookah and she his mate. He had an animal instinct toward her and that was all. He didn't love her. He only needed her to sate him. "I'm no' gonna lie and deny my attraction to you."

"Now you decide to give up the lies, huh?" she huffed. "You said so yourself, Kelvin. It's in your nature to crave your mate. You never said anything about actually having to care about her."

"That's no' true!" He hit the cell door with his fist, blue fire in his eyes. "I long for you in a way I can never truly explain. I only want ta protect you, ta be near you. How can I make you see that?"

"How about you start with the truth?" she sneered.

A low growl sounded from deep in his chest. "You want the truth, lass?" He banged his fist again. "I knew you were mine from the first moment I saw you. Never have I hesitated in my duty. Never have I questioned my honor. But you..." She watched the last hint of the Pookah's composure disappear. "In a single breath, you changed everything."

His wild eyes locked on hers. "I thought you, of all people, would understand the struggle. To have all you've ever known, all you were ever taught ta be, suddenly fall away... ta change."

Her hand fisted the material of her shirt over her stomach. She felt sick at his words. Sick with herself. She expected so much from this man, wanted him to understand her, yet she had no idea of the burden he was bearing.

His lips pulled back from his teeth and he rasped, "I do no' regret it, though, love. I only regret my actions following. I did no' know how ta govern the change... ta handle my instinct. I tried so hard ta deny you." His eyes flickered with danger. "I will never make that mistake again."

Her body began to shake. She had no defense against this, hadn't expected him to be honest. She took a deep breath, realizing she was getting exactly what she'd asked for.

"You want more?" He pressed his forehead against the bars. "Our clans are enemies. I was sent ta find the Mystic, Euan, to confirm he was off this realm. I was sent ta kill you, not just because of your prophecy, but because of who you are, from whose bloodline you come."

A hard knot stuck in her throat when Kelvin looked up at her, anger and defeat plaguing his face. "I killed your father."

Kelvin watched his female's emerald eyes flood with shock. He stood silent, awaiting her response, but she gave none. For long moments, she just stared, moisture threatening to spill from her lashes.

"Why are you telling me this?" she breathed.

Because I want ta start a life free of lies with you.

"Because it's the truth, lass. Because there are thousands of years of things I've done that I can no' undo."

A tear finally escaped and Kelvin winced at the sight. "Christ, love, I'd take it all back. Anything. Everything. I never want ta cause you pain." He rocked his forehead against the cold bars while clenching the steel in his fists.

He looked in her eyes. "I love you, Izel. You are the most precious thing ta me. Above all else, it's you."

A warm breeze came from nowhere and Kelvin shot up, peering around. He sensed that they were no longer alone. He felt an eerie presence, an essence that seemed to engulf him. Izel didn't seem to notice, just ran a hand over her damp cheeks.

"I have to go," she whispered.

He shook the bars. "Izel, no! Do no' leave."

Turning, she glanced over her shoulder, green eyes laced with misery. "You said you wouldn't call after me."

Kelvin regretted his words the moment they replayed on her lips. Since she'd gone, he'd been pounding on the walls trying to get her to return-to reconsider her dangerous plan.

"Give it up, Pookah," Gunn muttered, sitting across from the cell, eyeing his crossword puzzle. Kelvin hadn't stopped banging and clawing the bars since Izel left. "You can no' escape; the bars are reinforced with magic."

Although he heard the Fionn, he didn't care. He just continued his attempts to get free. "She's been out there for hours unprotected!" Kelvin bellowed, digging his claws into the wall of brick.

"Izel is with Andrew. She's fine."

"That piece o' shite could no' even protect his own arse!"

The Fionn threw his paper to the floor and approached him. "Andy's stronger than those hogs you employ on the front line, Kerr."

Kelvin paid no attention to the Fionn's insult, just continued to work on the wall of stones. "What the hell are you doing?"

Never ceasing his clawing, he simply said, "I'm going after my woman."

Gunn shook his head. "She's fine-"

"No!" Kelvin cut him off, unwilling to hear that his mate was fine without him. "You must free me," he growled. "I will find a way from here, but I do no' wish ta waste any more time. If you open the door, I will spare you."

The Fionn chuckled. "Gotta hand it ta you, Kerr. You're no' a pessimist under pressure."

"You do no' understand, you sod!" Kelvin clung to the bars with dirty, bleeding hands. "I am her curse, and the only one who can save her."

"What are you talking about?" The Warrior's voice suddenly held just a hint of distress.

"The Mystic," he tilted his chin, letting Gunn know he was talking of Euan Campbell. "I read it in his journal."

The Fionn's eyes narrowed to slits. "And what do you know of that?"

"I know that it's at my castle. I also know that if Izel encountered me her fate would change."

"I know all this," the Fionn said in a bored tone.

"Aye, but did ya know she'd die?"

The Warrior's dark eyes snapped to Kelvin's face. "Ah, fuck," Gunn rasped as if completely understanding everything by those few words.

Gunn shook his head but seemed to believe Kelvin. A terrified realization came over the Fionn's face, like he knew more than even Kelvin did.

Kelvin's knuckles went white on the bars. He knew desperation seeped from his pores, but he didn't care. Izel's safety mattered above all else. And if he had to hit his knees and beg a Fionn to release him, he would.

Gunn frowned, seeming to hate his thoughts.

"If you care anything for Izel, if you are truly her friend, her loyal subject, you will release me." He caught the Warrior's dark stare. "Because you know I am the one who can protect her best."

The Fionn scowled at him but pulled a large key from around his neck. "I'll be in so much shite for this," he muttered, unlocking the cell. As soon as the bars creaked open, Kelvin jumped the Fionn, taking his sword.

"I need ta borrow this," he stated simply, and ran down the dungeon hall.

"You have until I finish this," Ramsey waved the puzzle in the air, "before we come after you."

Kelvin gave him a tight grin. "Noted." Who'd have thought? Fionns and Pookahs... on the same team.

Bounding from the castle, he picked up speed once he hit the surrounding forest. The darkness fueled him and took over his whole body. Catching the faintest scent of his mate, he sprinted after her. Running as if his life depended on it.

Because it did.

Chapter 30.

Andrew had informed Izel that there was a warehouse hidden on the outskirts of Campbell territory that housed massive amounts of backup weapons, vehicles, and mystical potions and powders. It was at least worth looking through; maybe something stored there could help disguise her human scent. "Euan showed me this bunker right after your birth. No one else knows of it."

Izel nodded in understanding. Her grandfather was a secretive man. If he bottled powerful potions, it was no surprise he trusted only Andrew with their whereabouts.

Hiking, once again, through the dark woods of Scotland, Izel thought of the last time she'd been in this same predicament. God, how she missed the Pookah. She'd had such a good plan before. Leave, stay out of trouble until she could undo the bond with Kelvin. Now what the hell was she going to do? She was officially out of excuses.

She wanted honesty, so he'd given it to her. She wanted a confession of his feelings, so he'd confessed. And the way he looked her in the eyes when he told her he loved her... she could hardly think past that. But how could she love the man who'd killed her father? She recalled the scar on Kelvin's stomach, and realization hit. It had come down to him or James. All she'd heard about her father was that he was a fierce warrior. It must have been he who'd come so close to ending Kelvin...

Confusion racked her. Could she blame the Pookah for defending himself? Taking his rage out on the battlefield against his enemy? What would she have done?

Probably the same thing.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she walked behind Andrew. Nothing was simple. But by God, she would fix this. The Campbell-Kerr rivalry had gone on long enough. Yes, she wanted to find her own path, but maybe Kelvin was the salvation she was looking for. Together, they could end this feud and bring about peace. Finally the hatred could end.

And then maybe they could slide down a rainbow into a swimming pool of gumdrops.

No... she had to believe that there was a chance, even a small one, that all this could work out. She'd already come to terms with the fact that she loved the Pookah. But it was a whole different ball game now. With his little rant of honesty, she couldn't simply turn her back and allow him to shoulder the pain she'd felt for the last few weeks. She had wanted him to try, and that's what he'd done.

"Your time has come, human."

"What was that?" Izel asked, looking around the dark forest.

"What was what?" Andrew stopped and turned to face her.

"That woman. Did you hear her?"

His neck twisted, and his eyes darted around. "I don't see-" His head snapped to the shadows in front of them. "Imogene Zarr," he whispered.

A woman in a bloodred cloak stepped into the moonlight. Her dark eyes glowed from beneath the hood. She eyed Izel but kept her distance, as if awaiting something.

"Shite." Andrew withdrew his sword and dagger and pushed Izel behind him. "Flesh eaters near."

Panic raced down her spine. Hadn't Lennox said this Imogene Zarr was the Reaper?

When the shrubs before them rustled and stirred with movement, Izel gasped. A sickening creature emerged from the tree line, looking as if he literally had walked out of the grave. "Vampires," Andrew muttered when nine more stepped from the darkness.

"Stay behind me," he instructed her. With a speed she'd never before seen, Andrew leapt into action, gracefully swinging his blades, plunging into the fray of creatures. Blood and body parts began whipping past her, and she was relieved none of them belonged to Andrew. Gurgling sounds of dying creatures echoed through the forest, and the metallic stench of blood and sweat was everywhere.

A sharp sting ran across the back of her hand. One of the vampires had broken free of the crowd and had scratched her. The creature's eyes were locked on her neck as he began circling her. She looked to Andrew, but he was still battling four at once.

Crap.

She was on her own. Picking up a fallen branch from the ground, she took a batter's stance. The creature swiped his claws at her and she jumped back barely in time.

When he lunged again, she screamed and swung the branch, landing a hit on his jaw. The vampire scrambled back, holding the side of his face.

A frightening roar sounded in the distance and a smile slid across Izel's face. She'd know that sound anywhere. Kelvin had come for her. His strength and speed were unmatched and she knew this, having witnessed it firsthand when he'd fought the Alp. Although she couldn't see him, she knew he was sprinting faster than any other being on this realm to get to her.

Undeterred, the vampire staggered toward her again. Gripping the branch more tightly, she was more determined than ever to flatten this asshole and run to her Pookah. Nothing can keep me from him, she thought. Her heart surged with hope, with love. It warmed her, made her feel strong. She and Kelvin would live happily ever after even if it killed her.

The vampire struck out, lashing for her throat. She tripped backward and his claws raked down her chest instead. Screaming in agony, Izel fell onto her back, wet moss hitting her bare arms, hot blood pouring from her wounds.

"Rest, human. Close your eyes and let go," Imogene spoke, a soothing sound that vibrated in Izel's mind. The taste of copper filled her mouth as she lay helpless on the ground. She could only watch as the vampire licked at his blood-soaked hands while eyeing her as one would one's last supper.

Izel forced herself to stay conscious. She couldn't bleed out. Couldn't die. No! She would not kill Kelvin this way, all because she was human. A warmth grew inside her.

"Izel, darling."