Page 97 of A Highland Gargoyle's Lucky Star
He fills me in on everything that’s come to pass since the battle ended. Fortunately, although we had a number of injuries, a couple of them serious, there were no casualties on our side. The Sluagh horde was defeated, and everything has returned to normal.
“Nasser’s coming to visit soon,” Noah offers with a grin.
I wince. “No doubt he’s planning to take the piss out of me.”
Noah chuckles. “Maybe, but I think he was genuinely worried for you. We all were. I talked to him on the phone earlier today, and he’s planning to be here over the weekend. Now that the dangers passed, it should be safe for him to leave the loch behind for a few days’ visit.”
Noah shifts nervously in his seat.
“What is it?” I ask.
He clears his throat. “My parents are here too.”
My eyes widen. “At the castle?”
He nods. “They arrived yesterday, and I had to send Braewyn to go pick them up at the train station. To say they were surprised would be an understatement, but they’re adjusting. We’ve got them situated in a comfortable room, and they’re both passed out from jet lag right now.” He takes a deep breath and lets it out. “But you need to be forewarned. I’ve already told them about you being my mate, and they’re dying to meet you.”
“I look forward to meeting them too.”
Noah sighs in resignation. “Be prepared. Mom’s going to want to do your astrological chart and see if our stars are aligned properly.” He rolls his eyes fondly. “And Dad will undoubtedly want to talk your ear off about the history of this castle, its architectural design, and lord knows what else.”
It’s my turn to chuckle. “That all sounds lovely to me. If I’m gonna be trapped here in this bloody hospital bed for a week, I’ll need people to distract me from the boredom.”
Noah leans over in his seat and carefully rests his head on my chest. “Is this all right?”
I reach up and stroke his hair. “Aye, my sweet.”
He closes his eyes. “I like to hear your heart beating and know you’re alive and safe.”
My chest tightens at his words. I hate that I’ve made him worry about me.
We stay like that for a time, and I’m just drifting off when he whispers, “I love you something fierce, Elryk DarkWing, and you’re not allowed to die and leave me, now or ever.”
I like the sound of that.
EPILOGUE
One week later…
Noah
“Oh, this is different,”I say as I buckle myself into the driver’s seat of one of the Land Rover’s that belongs to the DarkWing clan.
I’ve discovered that the clan doesn’t keep a large number of vehicles at the castle, particularly since many of them fly wherever they need to go, but they do require some for transporting food and other supplies. And the occasional fated mate and family, of course.
My parents hop in the back and Elryk settles into the front passenger seat, which is honestly a bit of a mind fuck because the interior of the vehicle is the reverse of what I’m used to back in the States.
Thankfully, Elryk’s back to his usual vigorous and healthy self after a rather grumpy and frustrating weeklong stay in the medical wing of the castle. I think Dr. Martha might have killed him if I hadn’t been there to keep him in check.
The man’s not used to lying around and doing nothing, that’s for sure.
I spent as much time as possible with him in his room every day working on my next children’s book,Kraken in a Kilt. I’ve already had some preliminary conversations with my agent and she’s excited about shopping this one around. She thinks I’ve got a real shot at a publisher wanting this LGBTQ-inclusive Otherkind children’s series. “Otherkind parents have been begging for this type of story, Noah,” were her exact words.
When I wasn’t working on my book, I also brought a laptop to Elryk’s medical room and forced him to watch some essential movie classics with me so he could begin improving his overall film knowledge.
“If you hope to understand me better,” I told him one day, “you’d best start learning my movie references ASAP.”
That seemed to motivate him quite a bit.
