Page 87 of Their Mate
If the Watch had a base here, it wouldn’t be marked on any map. These were the same people who’d shoot a wolf on sight and call it civic duty. They were dangerous, disciplined, and tied close enough to the British military to get the kind of weapons you couldn’t barter for. Walking into their base would be asking to die.
We eased the boat around the outer rocks until the inlet yawned wider. The water inside was calmer, the swell gentled by the stone teeth at the entrance. A natural sea cave rose ahead, black stone arching high overhead, gulls wheeling in the shadows.
Jamie kept the engine running while we studied the place.
Declan broke the silence. “If she’s in there, she’s either a guest… or she’s locked up.”
Aidan’s gaze slid to me. “So what’s the play? You think she’s a prisoner?”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “We don’t walk in blind. First, we watch and then we come up with a plan.”
Edward tilted his head, catching on. “Recon only. We chart entrances, patrol patterns, weapons if we can spot them.”
“Exactly,” I said. “We stay outside their line of sight, find a high perch or two, and watch for our mate. If she’s in there willingly, we’ll see signs of it. If she’s not… then we’ll figure out how to get her out.”
Jamie frowned toward the dark of the cave. “You think we can get close without them knowing?”
“We don’t get close,” I said. “We get smart. Let them think the island’s empty except for them. We hide the boat in the outer rocks, come in overland, and use the cliffs to stay above their sight lines.”
Declan’s grin was humorless. “A long way ‘round.”
“If it keeps us breathing,” I said.
We eased the boat into a narrow crease of rock farther along the coast, where the cliff overhang swallowed us in shadow. Once the engine was cut, the slap of water against stone and the gulls shrieking overhead were the only sounds. Edward secured the lines while Aidan scanned the cliff face, his eyes tracking every seam and outcrop like he was already mapping a climb.
We settled in to wait. Declan sat with his back against the gunwale, arms folded, gaze fixed on the black archway. Jamie crouched down, binoculars braced against the rail. Edward had the long scope, checking every angle of approach. I stayed at the tiller, watching the waterline and the shadows for any ripple of movement.
Minutes bled into an hour. The tide shifted, pulling the swell in a different rhythm. Gulls came and went. The only changes were in the light as the sun slowly set.
“Nothing,” Jamie muttered at last, lowering the binoculars. “No patrols, no launches, no sign of anything breathing in there.”
Declan grunted. “Doesn’t mean it’s empty.”
“No,” I said. “Just means they’re better at hiding than we are at finding.”
Edward adjusted the scope once more. “If they’re watching, they’re doing it from deep inside. No sentries at the mouth. They’re confident no one gets this close without being invited.”
Which meant they truly didn’t know we were here, or they knew exactly where we were and simply didn’t care, or there really wasn’t anyone here.
None of the three options sat well with me.
“She’s in there,” Aidan finally said.
Declan snorted. “Or gone already. Either way, walking through their front door is suicide.”
Edward didn’t take his eyes off the water. “Impregnable,” he said flatly. “If she’s inside, we’re not getting her out without half of us bleeding out on the rocks.”
Jamie leaned on the rail, jaw tight. “She wouldn’t be in there if we hadn’t been wasting time arguing before. We should’ve gone after her the second she left Dublin.”
“That’s rich,” Aidan said, his tone all teeth. “Youlether go, Jamie. Or do you want us to pretend you didn’t open the damn window for her?”
Jamie’s smile was thin and humorless. “I gave her space to make her own choice. You don’t get to lock someone in a cage just because you’re scared of losing them.”
“Youdon’t get to hand her to the Watch either,” I said, keeping my voice even. “Not when they’ve got every reason to see her as the enemy.”
Declan’s hands flexed like he was resisting the urge to throw something. “We’re chasing a ghost on an island full of humans who’d shoot us for breathing the wrong way. She could be locked up two hundred feet underground, and we’d never even sniff out her scent.”
Edward lowered the scope, finally looking at us. “This is a fortress carved into a cliff. Centuries of guns pointed at the sea. If she’s in there, she’s not walking out all by herself. And if the Elder Lycan’s got even a whiff of her location…” He shook his head. “We’re staring down two enemies, not one.”
