Page 11 of Sasquatch's Claiming

Now more than ever.

“Ben,” Adam said gently. “We have to be careful. Please. Our realm is still under a threat.”

“Is it though?” Cillian asked, appearing out of the shadows of the forest.

Ben groaned inwardly and Adam rolled his eyes as Cillian approached them. Only this time, his presence didn’t darken the early morning light that was filtering through the trees.

For once, he didn’t completely suck the joy and light out of the space.

Maybe he was mellowing, but Ben seriously doubted it.

“Cillian, what are you doing here?” Adam asked. “I thought you had your own realm.”

“Full of goblins and all that other nonsense,” Ben added, ribbing him.

“Turning on me? Taunting my realm?” Cillian’s white eyes flashed briefly with red as he turned his gaze on him. “And after I did you a favour.”

“Favour. What favour?” Adam asked gruffly.

Ben sighed. “Fine. I claimed my female.”

“Sort of,” Cillian said. “He didn’t actually plant his seed in her.”

Ben let out another feral growl, annoyed Cillian was reading his thoughts.

Adam frowned at Ben. “What the fuck, Ben?”

“She was in danger,” Ben responded. “What am I supposed to do? Let her be claimed by another being, one that’s malicious. The moment she walked intoThe Lusty Krakenthat night, some other beings tried to use her for nefarious purposes. I rescued her. You didn’t get that part of the story because you were too busy stuck in a love spell of your own with Aoife. Why do you get a mate and I don’t?”

“Aoife is part of this magical realm,” Adam responded. “She’s a banshee.”

“Aoife is half human,” Ben countered.

“She is,” Cillian agreed. “She has more banshee in her though, which is why I like her so much. I have other siblings Ican barely tolerate. The goblins in my realm, if you want to call them that, are siblings who have displeased me.”

Ben ignored Cillian and turned back to Adam. “She is mine, Adam.”

Adam sighed and glanced at Cillian. Ben could see the distaste in his brother’s eyes, but then his expression softened as he turned back to him. “So, what’re you going to do about it? We’re not ready to be a part of the mortal world and we don’t want to give King Tiene any reason to come back to this realm and try and take it back.”

Cillian snorted. “There is blood magic protecting this realm.”

“Are you still here?” Adam asked.

“Yes,” Cillian stated through gritted teeth. “You both are fools and cannot see what’s in front of you. Blood and humans. It’s important.”

Adam rolled his eyes. “You are speaking in riddles. Ones we don’t have time for.”

“Fine. I’ll leave, but first, I’ll tell you obtuse bushmen what to do. It’s really simple. You let your brother claim his mate, or he dies. You know the severity of that mating spell. Humans and magical beings are meant to intermingle. That Tiene stopped that powerful mixing because he wanted complete control. What you and the council need to focus on is your borders. There are beings that want to cross here and not all beings should cross. Protect your portals.”

Ben glanced at his brother, holding his breath, because they both knew that Cillian was right. Every other magical being in the northern realm had said that there were others, beyond the protective border, from other realms that wanted to come through.

They wanted freedom.

They wanted to go back to way the world used to be, a long time ago, when they didn’t have to live in secrecy from the humans.

When the earth was young and the magic flowed everywhere.

When blood was spilled freely too. Ben was very aware of that. It was why so many humans were afraid of monsters and other beings. It’s why they all had to go into hiding and their movements were restricted.

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