Page 55 of Hold my Reins

Bothvar and his toadies had been trying to return to the monster realm and would have no doubt returned with an army to slaughter anyone they thought standing in their way.

Thursten turned and stared at him. “Where is Rox?”

“Alive.”

Thursten sighed and dropped his ax. He stepped in and embraced Lynck. “Next time, do not be so stubborn and accept help.”

“I’m glad you didn’t listen.” He gripped Thursten tighter for a heartbeat, not sure how he’d gotten lucky enough to have a friend and a mate willing to fight frost giants for him before releasing him. “And you made another friend.”

He nodded at the leshy. He wasn’t one of the ones who lived in town. “I will help Irina.”

“Who is that?” Lynck asked.

“The leader of my tribe. We came to warn the humans about Bothvar.”

His ears twitched at the sound of Rox approaching, and he turned to his mate. Rox stopped several feet away. His gaze skimmed over him, landing on the bloody hand and sword before finally lifting to his face. “Um…you have a little blood…”

Thursten laughed. “I do not think your mate has seen a kelpie fight before.”

“I hope you never need to see it again.” He didn’t want to be this person again. Being free meant choosing who he was, and this had never been him. It was who he’d been forced to be by the bridle.

“You needed to finish this.”

“And it is finished. He won’t hurt anyone else.” All he’d wanted was his own freedom until Bothvar had threatened Rox.

Rox glanced at the portal, then back at Lynck. “You’re free to go home.”

Lynck dropped the sword and walked toward him, relieved that Rox didn’t back away from his bloodied body. He took Rox’s hands as Rox stared up at him. The blood was tacky between their palms. “You don’t need to bind me with a bridle or hold my reins to control me. My heart belongs here, with you. I love you.”

“I love you too.” Rox exhaled. “We need to clean up or call the military or cops or something because we can’t leave bodies in the woods. If they are found, it won’t take the cops long to figure out it was you.”

“We can take them through the portal,” Thursten said.

“Is that safe?” Rox squeezed Lynck’s hands as if worried about losing him.

“Leave them here,” a woman said as she walked toward the shimmering portal followed by the other leshy.

Lynck suppressed a shudder, not wanting to be rude even though her skull face was terrifying. Rox pressed a little closer to him, and Lynck tightened his grip. “That does not seem like the smart thing to do.”

He agreed with Rox. Throwing the bodies through the portal or dropping them to the bottom of the lake was the best way to make the fight disappear.

She tilted her head. “They killed the human who should be guarding the portal, and we were too late to stop them. We were coming to warn the humans after they passed our village.”

“Why didn’t you stop them?” Thursten asked.

“Do you think there was only these three? If you had not been here and willing to fight, we would not have stepped in. Now we have, and you were never here. Leshys took care of the frost giants; we prevented the raid that would have allowed them to set up a base of operations. I will speak with Bo and Jason, and they will sort this out.”

Lynck glanced at Thursten to see if he was okay with the plan.

Thursten shrugged. “If we were never here, then we shouldn’t be here.”

“But we were.” Rox said slowly. “And the cover up is where people come unstuck in crime shows. My truck is parked up on the verge. We might have been seen.”

“We went for a night swim,” Lynck said. He’d gone swimming at night many times. “And a swim would wash off the blood.”

Irina clapped her hands. “We are decided. Enjoy your swim.”

“Thank you for your assistance.” Thursten shouldered his ax. “We’ll let you deal with portal security.”

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