My brain pounded against my skull hard enough to break through. Fire danced before my eyes. Embers soared into the starry night. “Ugh.” I rubbed my temples, readjusting to the world around me. Dozens of people danced and laughed in knots and clusters near the fire. The lawn chair under me wiggled as I pushed to stand.
“There you are,” Allison squealed. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you in forever. I thought you left. If you didn’t show up by midnight, I planned to tell Justin. First, I thought you dipped out to have a talk with him. Then I saw him helping Pedro with a keg stand, so I imagined you snuck away with Liam.” Her eyes widened. “Did you?”
Liam. My mind twitched. Memories rubbed my subconscious like a forgotten dream just beyond my reach.
“Here.” She handed me a bottle of water. “Were you drinking? You don’t look so good.”
“Someone put something in my drink.”
Allison stiffened. She looked over both shoulders. “Who?”
“If I knew, I’d level them, then sic Justin on them and maybe have them arrested.” I scanned the crowd for Kirk and his goons. I couldn’t blame them unless they’d snuck in and out. Who else was that slimy?
The water bottle Allison gave me was cool and wet in my hand. I pressed it to my forehead before cracking it open and gulping half the bottle.
“Everything okay?” Justin jogged up behind Allison. “I heard my name.” He looked me over. “What’s wrong?”
I shook my head at Allison. I wasn’t sure what had happened.
“Someone put something in her drink.” So much for reading my mind. Allison looked too worried to care what I wanted. “She looks like she blacked out or something. I didn’t see her for a while and now she can’t tell me where she was or who she was with.”
“Allison,” I snapped.
“What? Can you?”
My shoulders slumped. “No.”
Justin’s expression turned feral. He whipped his hat off his head and turned in a circle, examining the crowd. “Are you hurt?”
A throbbing in my arm drew my attention. Finger shaped bruises wound around my wrist and forearm. Justin followed my gaze and growled. “What’d you have to drink?”
A sudden chill fell over me. “Soda.” The only drinks I’d had were handed to me.
“Who gave them to you after me?” Justin clenched his fists.
I moved my head slowly left and right. “Only you.”
His eyes widened in shock.
Allison smirked. “She doesn’t think you did it, goof.”
“No. Of course not.” I wrapped an arm around Justin’s middle. “It just means I’m wrong about the drink, I guess. I’m not sleeping and things are…off lately.”
A crow cawed from the barn’s roof, nearly invisible in the night. He twisted his neck, angling a creepy black eye at us. Moonlight enhanced the oil slick of colors on each feather. His partner perched in the limbs of a nearby tree, hidden until he flapped his impressive wings.
“Good night! Those are the biggest birds I’ve ever seen.” Allison stumbled back and craned her neck.
“You want me to take you inside where you can lay down?” Justin touched my shoulder and I jumped.
“Ha!” Allison covered her giant smile with one hand, turned on her heels, and headed for a line of cowboys near the keg. “Sure. Let him help you lie down.” She winked over one shoulder and I wanted to crawl under my chair and hide.
“I didn’t mean…”
“S’okay. I didn’t think it either. You know how she is.” I nodded to Allison as she placed one of the cowboys’ hats on her head. “I think I’d rather go home. Something’s not right with me tonight. Maybe I’m coming down with something.”
“Uh…” Justin looked around. “Take my Jeep.” He held out his keys.
Oh, crap. Right. Justin had driven me and he probably wasn’t in a hurry to leave all these people alone on his property. I looked at Allison and the cowboys. Music rattled the speakers in a nearby truck, shaking the windows and my brain with each punch of sound.
“It’s fine. Really.” Justin pushed his keys in my direction. “Allison can drive me to your place in the morning to pick up my Jeep.”
“Are you heading home?” Liam’s voice sent my heart into overdrive. An unusual sensation jolted through me. I sensed I knew him from somewhere, long ago, another life maybe, but that was crazy. I didn’t know anything about him. Just the way he liked it. Still… I flexed my fingers at my sides, aching to reach for him. Maybe whatever was in my drink had been laced with ecstasy.
“Hale.” Justin nodded. “I didn’t realize you were here.”
Green lightning flashed before my eyes and I mashed them shut. “Ugh.”
Four hands grabbed me as my knees wobbled.
“How much has she had to drink?” Liam asked.
“She doesn’t drink.” Justin answered defensively as I cried out in frustration, “Nothing.”
“Are you quite certain?”
“Yes.” Justin and I answered in unison.
“Are you two…?” Liam motioned between Justin and me.
Silence. Awkward. Awkward. Silence.
“Never mind.” He turned his face to mine. “If you’re going home, I can drive you.”
“I’ll drive her.” Justin pocketed the keys he’d offered moments before.
Liam motioned to the bottle in Justin’s hand. “Really?”
Justin’s grim expression said more than words. Trusting Liam with my safety meant he’d hold Liam accountable for anything that went wrong in his absence. Not a small threat from a guy built like Justin. “Fine. Take her straight home. I’ll call her landline in ten minutes, so don’t think of doing anything else.”
I pressed a palm to my forehead. “Tell Allison I’ll text her tomorrow.” Liam led me through the crowd, and I wobbled down the drive, looking for his Mercedes.
Night closed in on me as I moved. The fire ducked behind trees, snuffing out my only significant light source. Music and chatter from the party softened in the distance as I stepped over rocks and ruts in Justin’s tree-lined driveway. A chorus of bullfrogs and crickets replaced bass and laughter. I rubbed my arms, realizing the true temperature without benefit of a roaring bonfire.
“He’s your protector,” Liam said.
I didn’t need to ask who he referred to.
“Yeah.” On cue, my phone buzzed. A text from Justin. I assured him of my safety and kept walking. “Where’s your car?”
Liam stopped short.
“You drove here, right?” We’d reached the end of the cars.
He cursed under his breath and kicked stones. “Oliver dropped me off.” He pulled a phone from his pocket and slid his thumb across the screen.
“Oh-kay.” I pulled my backside onto the enormous boulder at the end of Justin’s too-long drive. “I need to rest before we turn back.”
“Yes. Thank you.” Liam pulled his phone away from his cheek and gave me an apologetic smile. “Oliver’s on his way.”
“He dropped you off? Where’d he go?” I rolled my head against one shoulder, easing the tension in my muscles. “I’m feeling a little better.”
“And your injuries?” He nodded to my bruised arms.
“How’d you see those in the dark?”
He held my gaze without speaking. “I overheard you with Justin.”
“I thought Oliver was coming with you to the party tonight. What changed his mind?”
“He had an urgent matter.”
Hmph. I rubbed both temples. I didn’t have the time or patience for this.
“I saw you with Kristy Hines the night she got hurt.”
Liam’s head tipped forward. “She was at Oliver’s party.”
“What happened to her?”
The corners of his mouth turned down. “I can’t say.” Regret colored his words. “Mason needed me in the house. When I went back out to get Oliver, most of the party had dispersed. Kristy was gone.”
“You didn’t see her leave, who she left with, or how she got hurt?”
“No.”
“Okay.” His eyes burned with tamped emotion. There was no more doubt in my mind. Liam hadn’t hurt Kristy.
A roaring engine pulled my attention to the road. Liam’s sleek black Mercedes zoomed up beside us and stopped. The door popped open and Oliver jumped out. The brothers appraised one another. Oliver nodded. Liam sighed.
“Time to go home.” Oliver stretched his hand toward me, motioning me into the car.
Liam scanned the area around us as if someone lurked nearby. “Do you still need to sleep, or can we talk privately?”
“Let’s go,” Oliver urged. In the moonlight, he looked much older than a high school junior. His easy expression replaced by something intense. He looked like Liam.
Curiosity gripped me and though leaving with the Hales was a risk, I wasn’t afraid. With Liam, I knew instinctively I was safe. He slid into the backseat, leaving me outside the car. Oliver returned to the driver’s side.
I took a deep breath and ducked into the car. “I can talk.”
The moment my seat belt fastened, Oliver took off. The night flew past as we navigated around the edge of town to his backyard. Their enormous renovated barn came into view and one door opened as we approached. The car stopped inside the cavernous structure and the door powered down behind us.
“What about your friend?” Oliver turned to me.
“Justin?”
“No.” Liam managed to sound aggravated.
I had news for him. I had the market cornered on aggravation. “Allison?”
“Yes. Is she safe? Who’s looking after her?” Oliver asked.
“I don’t know. A dozen cowboys, probably.”
Oliver’s expression soured. The brothers exchanged a look in the rearview mirror.
Liam nudged my seat. “Get out. Oliver will go for her.”
The urgency in his tone frightened me. “Don’t let anything happen to her.” I laid my hand on Oliver’s arm and he froze. I sounded like my mother. She was safe at Justin’s.
“You have my word.”
“Call if you need me,” Liam said.
I climbed out, followed by Liam. The oversized garage door powered up again and Oliver shifted into reverse, casting red light on our pristine surroundings. The interior of the barn was finished, spotless and painted white. The floor was covered in smooth cement. We followed the car out of the ridiculous hanger-sized garage. Oliver stopped and powered his window down.
“Shall I stay with her or return her to her home?” A wicked gleam in his eye reminded me of the happy kid I’d first met. Allison might have met her match for mischief.
“Maybe hang out until Justin can take over? She’s drinking, but she plans to stay at his place tonight.”
Oliver raised his eyebrows.
“It’s not like that,” I explained.
Oliver smiled wide. “Not you. Not her. Poor Justin. I almost feel bad for the guy. Almost.”
The car pulled away, leaving me alone in the night with Liam. “He doesn’t feel bad for him at all. He likes her.”
“Allison?”
“Yeah.” He turned to face me. “Tell me what happened at the party.”
“I’m not sure. It sounds nuts, but I think I passed out. I had two drinks, both soda, and things got fuzzy.”
“Like a dream.”
“Kinda.” Images flashed through my mind like scenes from a movie I’d seen years ago and nearly forgotten. I pressed my temples with frozen fingertips. “At first I didn’t remember anything, but bits are coming back. They don’t make much sense.”
He watched with intense, guarded curiosity while I resolved to tell him all the crazy things coming to my drug-addled mind. “Give me a try.”
“Have you ever woken from a dream and at first it slipped away, but parts creep back up throughout the day? It’s like that, but different, faster now.” More real. My pulse raced as a clear image centered in my mind. “Tony was there.” I rubbed the bruising on my arm. “He was mean. I don’t remember what we talked about or why I followed him into the woods, because I wanted to kick his ass, but you were there and you fought. I think. It was bright.”
“Bright in the woods at night?” Liam looked entertained, which worried me. He never looked like that.
A creeping sensation crawled over my skin, as if he wanted to fool me. Another, more disturbing image surfaced. A memory? It couldn’t be real. Could it?
“What else?” he prodded. “I like knowing you dream of me. Go on. Did I put Tony in his place for mistreating you?”
“Yes. I mean, I don’t know if it had anything to do with me, but you were both shirtless, hulked out, and you fought.”
“Hulked out?”
Surely they read comics in Iceland. “Like the super hero. That’s what I remember. Plus blood. Lots of blood. And green.”
“Impossible.” Liam stared into my eyes. “You can’t remember that.”
My mind itched. I couldn’t remember it? His words sent tingles along my skin, settling my heart rate and soothing my nerves. His voice was like a drug, confusing, intoxicating. I struggled to concentrate. The words felt right, but he was wrong. I squared my shoulders. “What do you mean I can’t remember?”
He ignored my question. “Tell me about your protector. He’s strong. Competitive. Tall. Is he fast? How is his temper?”
I lost a beat of time. Were we talking about Justin? My mind craved sleep, but my hardheaded heart wanted more time with Liam. “Uhm… Justin’s a bull rider. He’s fast. He has a temper if someone he cares about is attacked, but he rarely fights. He doesn’t have to. Everyone knows he’d win, plus he’s impossible to provoke. His confidence is too big. You can call him names or make accusations, but he shrugs them off and laughs like it’s your problem for not seeing how great he is.”
“Sounds pompous.”
“No. He’s confident. I envy that.”
“Does he have scars?”
I made a crazy face. “Do they not have rodeos in Antarctica? He has tons of scars.”
He ignored the Antarctica jibe. “Have you seen his scars? All of them?” His sour look made me smile. My smile soured his look further.
“I’ve seen most. A few I took his word on. He’s a tough guy.”
“Are the scars unusual? Do any of them resemble intentional cuts?” Liam motioned me toward the back of his home. The area reminded me of a greenhouse, covered in dark windows.
He pressed his hand to my back and I moved with him. “Like incisions? Yeah. He’s had a couple surgeries after some of his falls.”
Liam opened the back door and held it for me. He flipped a switch illuminating a beautiful pool. I gasped. The water twinkled under security lighting. White chairs lined one wall and everything smelled of gardenias and lavender.
“Do you like it?” he asked.
“Are you kidding me? This is fabulous. I’d never leave the house if I had this.” I kicked off my shoes and sat on the edge, dipping my feet in and tugging my pant legs up.
“Would you like to swim while we talk?” He lowered his body beside mine. For the first time since he appeared at the party, I noticed the stutter in his step. He moved slower than normal.
“Are you okay?”
“The water helps. Would you mind if I swim?”
“No.”
He stood again and moved to a swinging door near one wall. He pushed through and returned with a set of towels and a swimsuit. “This is Victoria’s, but you’re the same size, I think.”
I lifted the two pieces of material he dropped with the towels. “Whose?”
A snide smile lifted one cheek. “My mother’s.”
I eyeballed the suit again. “How can you know what size swimsuit I wear?”
“I pay attention.” He limped away, disappearing briefly behind a white door.
The still water of the Hale family pool beckoned me to slide my feet in deeper. I imagined diving in and being consumed by its depths.
“Your turn.”
I stood, taking in the sight of Liam in black board shorts. “Do you have a shirt I can wear over this?”
“It will fit.” He smiled.
I tilted my head to the side. Wearing my racer back one piece at school was one thing. Wearing a bikini, alone in his private pool at midnight was another.
Realization dawned on his exquisite face. “Ah. I sometimes forget modesty still exists. I left my shirt in there. Feel free.”
“Thanks.” I shut the swinging door and looked at the changing area. Whitewashed walls with framed pictures of pirate ships and a gilded mirror adorned the walls. I wrestled my hair into a ponytail and sat on the smooth wooden bench. The pirate ships had violent images of cannons booming and holes in the ships’ sides. A creepy choice for interior design. I stopped breathing. Somehow, in the confusion of the evening, I’d forgotten I was terrified of Hale Manor and walked right in the door and out of my clothes. I gripped the bench. So far, I’d seen nothing as horrific or evil as I’d imagined all those years. Maybe a weird picture or two. The pool looked heavenly. I put on the suit and tugged Liam’s navy T-shirt over my head, inhaling the seductive scent of him on the fabric. The hem dropped to my knees. Either he was a behemoth or I was a pixie.
“Everything okay in there?” Liam called in conjunction with the lapping of water.
I pushed open the door and stood at the pool’s edge with my clothes and phone in hand.
Liam swam to the pool’s edge where I stood. He nodded to my phone. “You should make sure Justin doesn’t alert the authorities. It’s been more than ten minutes.”
“Right.” I sent one more text to Justin. “Okay. All set.”
“Come on in.” The look in his eye stirred something in my middle, as if he’d issued a challenge.
I dove in. Under water, my hazy mind cleared. My limbs felt alive. I broke the surface rejuvenated. “Oh my goodness. I feel amazing.” I blinked salt water from my eyes.
“I’m glad.” Liam treaded water, closing the space between us slowly.
My fingertips traced the white scars on his chest. “Do you mind?” I glanced into his eyes, barely able to break focus on the luminous lines over his chest. They called to me. Whether because their shape was so familiar or because it broke my heart to think someone had carved into him this way.
“No. I don’t mind.” His breath shuddered over the words. “How do you see the runes?” His fingers encircled my wrist, stopping my hand against his skin.
“It’s the same one on the tombstones. Why’d you do this?” I flattened my palm over his heart. “Was it because your father died?” I bit my lip and shut my eyes. He hadn’t told me about his father. “I researched you online and I read about your dad. Was that the reason you moved?”
Liam released me. “You see the runes on the tombstones as well?”
“Yes.” Discussing his dad’s death, his move, and his scar were apparently off limits. I swallowed my irritation as I tallied up the things we couldn’t talk about. Fine. Maybe I could figure out what the rune meant without his help. “I grew up wandering the cemetery, collecting acorns and buckeyes. Mom took me for picnics when I was young. The kids played there in grade school. When they stopped, I kept going. It’s my quiet place. I think there and walk Chester there. I have chalk rubbings of almost all the stones.”
His eyes widened.
“The runes never come through. They’re smooth.”
Liam blinked, unspeaking.
“Did you do this to yourself?” I touched his scar lightly.
“No.”
My eyes flashed to his. I hated this option worse than any other. “Who did?”
His soft green eyes darkened. “I will answer your question on one condition.”
My heart jumped. “Okay.”
Liam lifted a palm to my cheek. Watching me closely, he slid his other hand to the back of my neck, cupping my head and bringing me closer in the warm salt water. He brushed his thumb over my lips and lifted my chin with his fingers. “Still okay?”
I nodded, hoping I wouldn’t forget how to swim or breathe.
His lips whispered against mine with feather light pressure, testing me.
The dusting of his lips ignited something inside me and worry washed away. I inclined my chin, pressing my mouth to his, savoring the electricity flowing through my veins. Liam’s lips parted. “And now?”
I draped my arms over his broad shoulders and curled my fingers into his hair. “Still fine.”
Our bodies touched from chests to thighs. Heat radiated in the spaces where our skin met and parted in the still water. His shirt suddenly felt unnecessary over my borrowed suit. Our legs slid over each other in rhythm. As much time as I spent swimming, I’d never kissed like this, alone in a pool, treading to keep my body afloat while my heart and mind soared in the atmosphere.
Liam’s chest rumbled, vibrating mine. The feral sound set me on fire. I deepened the kiss, angling myself to him, and he accepted. Our tongues slid against one another in a slow, easy dance, caressing in ways that should’ve been unfamiliar but weren’t. Liam’s kiss had power I’d never known existed. Maybe this was what people meant when they talked about passion. He released my head and supported my back and bottom instead. I stopped kicking and wrapped my legs around his waist. His lips slid down my neck, to my collarbone, and my head fell back. Every fiber of my body was one with the water, as if I’d melted under his touch.
He worked his way across my collarbone with gentle kisses. Liam kept us afloat, while I grabbed and stroked the taunt muscles of his back and arms, hungry to explore more than I should. When his lips reached mine again, he pulled away slightly. His green eyes glowed in the dim lighting.
“Callie.”
“Your eyes.” I held his face in my hands, brushing the corners of his eyelids with my thumbs.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“I’m not.” I wasn’t.
“I had to do that once before you go.”
Do what? Kiss me? If he thought he could kiss me like that just once, he was nuts.
I touched my swollen lips with my fingertips. “I’m not going anywhere. Tell me what’s wrong with your eyes.”
“You’re familiar with the statue in our cemetery?” Not what I’d expected.
“Yes.” I nodded, staring into his eyes as the glow settled into a more human shade of green “Nike. Your eyes.” I lifted a hand, gesturing to the absent glow.
“I know.” He squeezed my hand in the air between us. “In a minute. Nike. What do you know of her?”
“She’s the goddess of victory. She lives with Zeus. Not much more.”
“Correct. Nike had three siblings. Two brothers, Kratos and Zelus, and a sister, Bia. They represented strength, zeal and force in that order. Nike didn’t have children, but her siblings had relationships with many humans. Can we sit?”
Embarrassed and hyper-aware of how my body clung to his, I untangled my legs and glided to the pool’s edge. Liam handed me an enormous white towel then spent a ridiculous amount of time drying off before sitting with me poolside.
“Demigods,” I prompted, knotting my fingertips into the plush towel on my lap. Embarrassment for tying my body around his dissipated under the direction of his conversation. Never had I stopped making out to discuss anything more than why I wasn’t ready to finish what I’d started. Ironically, it was also the first time I was ready, which made no sense. At all. Except that my unseemly behavior fit like a puzzle piece into the night I’d had.
Liam nodded. “Demigods are unpredictable, especially these. Sons of Strength, Force and Zeal are what your history books call Vikings. They’re driven by primal urges. Their only goal in life is to conquer. They desire the titles of strongest, fastest, and richest. They seek competition like fuel for their souls. Many are unkind and destructive in how they go about satisfying their needs.”
I dropped my gaze to his chest. “The runes have something to do with this?”
“Runes mark the lineage.”
Heat rose in my chest, blooming over my neck and cheeks. “You.”
He stretched one long finger out, brushing it against the back of my hand. “We are charged with locating new Vikings as they emerge.” He clamped his mouth shut and scrutinized me.
He was a demigod. Shivers coursed through me until my teeth chattered. Liam pressed a folded white towel into my lap and I cradled it to my chest. “Why would you tell me this?” Something so private. Something so insane.
“I want to and I rarely get the opportunity to do what I want anymore.” He shot me a wolfish grin.
My heart thundered erratically. I dropped my gaze to refocus my thoughts. “You asked about Justin. Is he fast, strong, and quick-tempered?” Sickness coiled my tummy. “Why?”
“We were given reason to believe Justin might be one of us. We can’t know for sure. Not yet.”
“Go on.”
Liam licked his lips, clearly debating what he’d say next. The set of his jaw hardened. Determination, or perhaps, resolve, squared his shoulders. This was what I’d waited for. Whatever came next. I pulled in a long breath.
“My brothers and I are guides. Watchers. When a Viking is born, he requires guidance. We seek them out to advise them. They need facts to make the best decisions about how they will handle their true nature. We answer questions and offer them protection while they make decisions. Their choices are binding and often permanent.”
“You came here for Justin.” A tiny part of me wished he’d come for me. Clearly, I wasn’t in a good place mentally.
“We followed a tip to this place seeking the new Viking. We’re burdened with keeping the balance on Earth by reaching new members before they choose a clan. Our name, Hale, is Norse. It translates for you as hero.”
“You and Oliver?”
“Yes. My brothers and I. Oliver, Mason and others before them. The man you read about online wasn’t my father. He was simply older than us and better positioned as father than brother to the public.”
I lay back on the cool tile floor, staring into the high glass ceiling. “Mason is the man with your mother. He pretends to be what? Your stepdad?”
“Yes. Sometimes. Other times, our uncle. I promise you, I’m not insane, nor am I fabricating any of this.”
“Vikings.” The word plucked at a memory. “I believe you.”
“You do?” Liam lay beside me, propped on one elbow. “This is the part where you run away and call the police.”
I laughed without humor. “It’s not.” His explanation settled in my soul, someplace deep I didn’t think about but knew was there. The way I knew there was life after death, in the stars or under the sea. Mentioning the police reminded me of Kristy. “Kristy was attacked after your party. Could one of your brothers be responsible?” He’d just said Vikings were violent, hadn’t he? My stomach knotted.
He tensed, working his jaw side to side. “We didn’t do that. We were framed.”
“Like the other girls online.”
“Yes.”
“Explain.” I braced my head in one palm and matched Liam’s position, facing him on the floor of the pool house. I was all in. His words didn’t feel fresh or crazy. They felt like a story told to me in childhood, which I’d forgotten for a while and was presented with again. The truth of it tingled in my spine. Now, I needed facts. I believed unequivocally. The words he spoke resonated, clinging to my fibers and sealing holes in my fabric I didn’t know existed.
Liam’s free hand turned in the air before him, animating him in a new way. “Vikings rarely meddle with humans. There’s no point to the challenge, so they attack one another, claiming their victories, and seizing their heirs and fortunes.” He spoke quickly. His hand moved in time with the rapid-fire details.
Seizing heirs and fortunes. “That’s the reason your family’s so rich.”
He nodded. “I’m still waiting for you to decide I’m insane and leave. I won’t bother you more than absolutely necessary if you do. You have my word.”
I shook my head. I could no sooner leave than drown in the pool before me. Impossible. Unthinkable. “You, Oliver and Mason are Watchers? Are you all descendants? Are the others? Is Justin?”
“We are the oldest. The other Vikings, new emergents, are further down the family tree. Reincarnates of our great-grandchildren, that sort of thing.” He shrugged. “It’s in the blood. All males in the lineage carry the potential to become one of us. Not all will. It’s a very frustrating and imperfect system.”
“Why?” I was lost in the details, sorting and organizing the information into piles I understood and things I’d have to examine later.
“We need to reach every new Viking. There are fewer today than ever before and the clans are restless. The largest clan, the Stians, has made plans to overthrow all who do not side with them. In the process, they’ve weakened many other clans and eliminated most of my family. Without the Guides to preserve the balance, Earth is ruined. The Vikings who remain will be claimed by the Stians, and seek the destruction of everything and everyone who doesn’t call them King. It will be a very violent apocalypse.”
“You think the Stians came for Justin?”
Sadness coated his voice. “I don’t know. There are so few Guides now. Our response is slower and at times, uncertain. I’m unsure if The Fates sent us for a new Viking, which might join us and strengthen our side, or if they sent us into peril, knowing the Stians were here. The Fates are sometimes cruel.”
“How few are the Guides?”
“Oliver, Mason and I.”
“Three?” Alarm pierced my tone, startling us. “Only three Guides? How many were there before?”
“Originally twelve. We lost several very quickly, before we realized the Stians’ plan to eliminate us wholly. Now we migrate. Never staying too long in one place and exploring all areas where a new Viking is suspected to come. We need to increase our number, so we’re always hoping to find more Guides.”
“You should tell him. Justin is good and honorable. He’d make the right choice.”
“He won’t understand until the time is here.”
“But I understand.”
Liam examined me again with furrowed brows, a look I’d come to expect and appreciate. “Why is that?”
Before I could answer, his hand tangled into my hair, pulling me to him, and his lips found mine once more.