Beyond the Iron Gate (The Faery Meadow Book 1)

Elaine gasped for air as Lorcan hauled her out onto the grass of the riverbank. She turned to look at Aifric, who, at the sight of Lorcan this close to her, bolted back quickly away from them. Lorcan bent down to her. His crimson eyes were filled with boiling rage. He carefully felt her forehead.

He leans over her head then and made a weird purring noise that made her give him a look of disgust.

“Found you,” he whispered in her ear.

He pulled her against him lifting her up bridal style. Then he set her on her feet.

His wings suddenly appeared again behind him when he looked over in the trees behind them seeing Aifric standing there watching. Elaine recognized the look in Lorcan’s eyes. He didn’t come just come to her --he also came to kill.

He was on the edge of falling into a violent outburst again. His body shook with rage as he glared directly at Aifric. Before she could have time to stop him, something flashed across his face and he stood right before Aifric.

“No!” Elaine shouted at Lorcan.

Aifric didn’t deserve to die. Then again, she wasn’t sure what he wanted with her or why he decided to follow them from afar.

“No use of that. His mind is well set. Not even you could stop him. Mate or not!” Aifric shouted to her while stepping away from Lorcan, “And now the game begins,” Aifric added with a dark laugh.

She watched stunned as his body flickered out of sight then he appeared right in front of her.

Lorcan turned around equally surprised.

“Where are you?” Lorcan yelled looking around.

Aifric was too close to her. Feeling vulnerable, she tried to sidestep him, but he simply followed her movement.

“You see dear Elaine, this guy’s got a big bounty on his head. What better way to lure him out of hiding, then by using you,” Aifric whispered.

“Where is he?” Lorcan hissed turning around frantically.

Her heart plummeted as she looked between Lorcan and Aifric.

Then, Aifric grabbed her chin. His fingers were like ice and made her cringe. “I’m invisible to him and so are you, if I touch you that is. It’s part of my power.”

“Let me go!”

She kicked her legs at him trying to get away. Her attempts were useless as he shoved her against a tree. His heavy body leaned on hers and she thrashed in his hold.

“Lorcan won’t be able to hear you,” Aifric whispered in her ear.

She still tried to shout at Lorcan to get him to hear the direction she was in. “Lorcan! Over here, listen!” Elaine hollered frantically.

“It’s useless, he can’t hear us,” Aifric cackled.

Elaine focused on her wings instead of him. The dark hues glowed dark pink in the night. She tried to recall the flicker of life in them she felt the moment they extended.

A slight shock ran up her spine. Her wings unfurled. She thought she could easily get away from Aifric if she could manage to fly to safety. She still had no control over her wings though so she resorted to screaming.

“Help me!”

Aifric’s hold on her loosened. He didn’t let go of her arms though. He muffed her screams with his hand as he forced her to run away with him. Disgusted, she tried to yank his hand away and dug her feet into the ground.

Abruptly, Aifric’s hand withdrew from her face. A stream of blood oozed down from his neck. Elaine saw someone standing directly behind him. Her breathing became heavy as Aifric suddenly fell toward her. She stepped out of the way as his lifeless body fell flat on the ground near her feet.

A huge nasty gash was embedded in Aifric’s neck. A pool of blood began to form around him.

Slowly, she looked up at Lorcan. His hands were covered in Aifric’s blood and his face was covered in blood too.

“Found you.”

Elaine quickly stepped away from Lorcan. Her wings quivered as she struggled to remain calm. She found a rock to sit on and tried to even her breathing. Then she glanced over at Lorcan. Her heart lurched when she saw he was gone.

She was about to stand, but a drop of something wet landed on her shoulder. Distracted, she glanced down at and yelped seeing Lorcan’s face hovering near hears. The drip came from blood. It was Aifric’s blood that smeared Lorcan’s face and now it was on her too.