Page 25 of Sasquatch's Claiming

“We’re not,” Adam said tightly, and then he stepped to the side.

Ben was lying on the ground, his arm bandaged. There was blood on his shirt and his axe.

“Ben!” She rushed to him and threw herself on him. “What happened?”

Ben grunted. “I’m okay. Everyone is making a big deal out of nothing.”

“It wasn’t nothing,” the pink-haired woman hissed. “A wendigo tried to breach the barrier and it’s because of your human!”

Ben let out a protective snarl and pulled Bernadette tight against him. “That’s not a proven fact.”

“It is,” the pink-haired woman hissed. “It said that it was here for her.”

“Coraliane, have some patience. She’s new and just fully aware of our world,” Aoife snapped. “You can cut her some slack.”

The pink-haired woman named Coraliane just rolled her eyes and tossed back her hair.

“I don’t understand,” Bernadette responded. “A wendigo is created by a human spirit that eats human flesh. A cursed soul.”

“Beware of the wendigo,”Cillian’s warning resounded. Her stomach knotted. This wendigo wanted her, according to Coraliane.

“That is true,” Aoife responded, quietly. “The question remaining is why the wendigo wanted you. It asked for you before it attacked.”

“And it’s not having her,” Ben growled. “She’s mine. My mate.”

“I still don’t understand,” Bernadette responded. “Up until a few months ago I never had any comprehension of this world.”

Just hunches that more than what she could see existed.

“Our realm, the northern realm, was just freed from a tyrannical rule. Only a few months ago,” Adam said. “We signed a blood treaty. The lights you may have seen shimmering is a protective shield. Usually, your kind can’t see it, but Caleb mentioned you can.”

“It’s because she’s been exposed,” Ben stated. “She’s part of our world now.”

“Not yet,” Coraliane replied harshly.

A shiver ran down Bernadette’s spine, because it seemed very much like a threat and she didn’t want to be taken away from Ben.

“Humans aren’t supposed to be here. We’re still figuring it all out,” Aoife said.

“Ben told me all about the king and the treaty,” Bernadette stated.

“Mixing our kind with human is powerful magic,” Coraliane explained. “You could be calling on some deep, dark blood magic that we don’t even comprehend yet. The way the barrier is reacting, it’s a dark bad magic.”

Instantly Bernadette thought of her mother and that early memory.

“Where’s Cillian? He usually comes in about now with a cryptic remark,” one of Ben’s brothers quipped.

“Cillian is…occupied,” Aoife said, wringing her hands. “And Coraliane is right. Bernadette has powerful blood magic. It’s clear netherworld beings are attracted to her.”

“We need her to leave then. Send her back to her world,” someone from the crowd shouted, though she couldn’t see who it was.

Ben was low-key growling under his breath.

“Her world is part of our realm. That isn’t going to do anything,” Adam stated. “She’s here and Ben has claimed her. You can all sense the love spell.”

There were murmurs and discourse. Coraliane was scowling, but then her shoulders slumped. “We have no laws about intermixing with humans and we can’t have the rest of the magical beings running amok and starting to snatch human mates.”

“No. We can’t,” Aoife stated. “Whether we like it or not, we need rules about human intermixing and we have to protect our borders not only from King Tiene’s realm, but from undesirables getting in. The barrier protects us from Tiene, from evil beings, just like it protects the humans from seeing us. It’s a veil, but it’s not perfect.”

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