Page 56 of Hold my Reins

Lynck looked at the bodies, then at Thursten, and finally the two leshys. He didn’t want to argue with them when they were prepared to claim responsibility for stopping the frost giant threat. “Thank you.”

“That’s it?” Rox whispered. “We’re leaving?”

Lynck pulled him away from the portal. “We’re leaving.”

“What if?—”

Lynck kissed him. “It will be taken care of. Now we need to clean up.”

Rox pulled off his hoodie. “Do you want to put something on so you’re not running around naked and bloody, which isn’t suspicious at all?”

Lynck glanced down, realizing he was naked. He hadn’t worried about it while fighting. It was normal for a kelpie as it made shifting between forms easy without needing to strip off a loin cloth and keep track of where it had fallen. “I will wash in the lake first.” He tilted his head at the portal. “Do you want to have a peek?”

Rox licked his lip. “Why don’t we take a week off and have a holiday? That way, you can see your herd?”

Lynck shook his head. “I can’t go back. I killed one of my own. To them, I died the day I was bridled, and in part, that is true even though I was no longer in control. But I am happy to take you on a holiday and spend some time in a monster town.”

“I’d like that.”

Thursten grunted. “And I’d like a bath. So let’s move this along.”

Lynck put his arm around Rox’s shoulders. “Will you swim with me?”

Rox smiled. “Someone needs to make sure you wash all the blood off your face.”

twenty-six

Rox floated, staring up at the starlit sky. Lynck floated next to him, holding his hand. Around him, the world was silent, and within him, there was calm for the first time since learning about the bridle.

He shouldn’t be this at ease after seeing his lover kill a man, even though Bothvar deserved to die for what he’d done.

When they’d reached the lake, Lynck had waded in and dived beneath the surface, disappearing into the inky depths for long enough that Rox worried that he’d drowned. He’d resurfaced as a horse and waited for Rox to strip off and climb on. Riding a swimming horse was very different than riding a running one. And while he held on tight, Lynck stayed in the shallows until Rox relaxed—because skinny dipping in the cold lake to wash off blood was the ideal way to relax.

Except once Lynck shifted back to the man-like form Rox was used to seeing, and the blood was gone, the tension melted away. Even the scar over his nose and cheeks was less noticeable. As they stood chest-deep in the lake, Lynck held him close and kissed him under the moonlight as if nothing else mattered.

And for tonight, it didn’t.

Thursten had washed, checked his cuts, and taken his ax back to the truck, claiming he was going to take a nap, leaving them alone in the lake where there was nothing but the sky and the lapping of the water on the shore.

Rox tried not to think about the other creatures in the lake, from this world or the monster realm. But the illusion of being alone was just that.

Something brushed his thigh. “Nope.”

He floundered as his body refused to be calm and float.

He splashed and almost went under before Lynck caught him. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I weirded myself out thinking of the fish and stuff.” He clung onto Lynck, arms around his shoulders, fingers tangling in his wet hair, which looked a little greener when wet.

“I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

Rox nodded as he shivered. Lynck’s body heat was not enough to warm him. He hadn’t felt cold a moment ago as he’d floated amongst the stars.

Lynck rubbed his back. “I think it’s time I take you home.”

“I want to be with you.” He didn’t want to go back to the motel. He hadn’t slept there all week.

“My home is your home. You belong with me.” Lynck strode toward the shore, still holding him.

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