“If you promise me that when you’re done with all this daft magic training stuff, you come to Tir-na-Nog and meet the Queen.”

“Yes, yes. I promise,” I said rashly. “You know it might be five years though?”

He shrugged. “Time is not a problem.”

I snorted. “Not for you. I’m on a clock.” I peered at him anxiously for a moment. “You will keep Mrs Alcoon safe until then?”

Solus bowed dramatically and grinned at me. “You have my word.” He held out his arm and the air started to shimmer purple. I held my breath waiting for the inevitable flood of nausea to hit and closed my eyes tightly.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Several moments and several retches later, I was picking myself up off the dark mossy ground at the Clava Cairns. Unlike the last time I’d been here, there wasn’t a soul in sight. In fact, other than a patch of blackened grass from someone’s abandoned campfire, there was no trace of the winter solstice festivities that, for me, now seemed half a lifetime ago.

Solus was standing a few feet away, hands on hips, and head slightly cocked. He looked vaguely amused.

“Don’t say anything,” I growled at him.

The corner of his mouth lifted slightly. I glared at him in further warning and he shrugged and wandered off to inspect some of the standing stones. Spitting on the ground to rid myself of the taste of bile, I began to cast around for signs of the blisterwort. There appeared to be a cluster over to my right so I strode off, ignoring the Fae further.

I figured that I’d probably require a great deal of the stuff. Whilst it was by no means indigenous to Inverness, I had absolutely no idea where else I’d be able to procure some so it made sense to get as much as I could right now. I was careful to dig into the cold hard ground with my fingertips and uproot the plants completely however. At least that way Julia would be able to make proper cuttings to encourage it to grow elsewhere – preventing any future outbreaks of the disease. As I did so, I entertained myself with visions of Corrigan falling at my feet in abject gratitude at my having saved the entire Pack from oblivion.

“I will never call you kitten again, Mack, my savior,” I grunted, scrabbling into the earth while on my knees. “Neither will I have my minions capture you and throw you into a cell. Instead I am clearly out of my league as leader of the Pack. You must take my place and I will become your servant.”

An image flashed into my mind of myself draped over a chaise longue and Corrigan, wearing nothing more than a loin cloth, dropping grapes languidly into my mouth.

“What are you muttering about?” asked Solus from right behind me.

I started, blushing involuntarily as my daydream immediately evaporated. “Uh, nothing.” I cleared my throat. “Make yourself useful, Solus, and help me get as much of this as I can.”

The Fae moved round in front of me and knelt down, waggling his fingers in my face. “Do you see these?”

“Yes, you have fingers. Congratulations. Now put them to use.”

“Dragonlette, you fail to see what is right in front of you. It takes considerable time and effort to maintain such perfectly manicured and groomed fingers as these. I am not about to ruin such good work by shoving my hands into some frozen Scottish dirt for a shapeshifter. In fact, truthfully, I don’t really understand why you are doing it either. We are talking about the people who threw you out because you weren’t furry enough to be one of them and from whom you’ve been hiding for the last six months.”

“Well, by the sounds of things I didn’t have to be hiding from them at all. I had kind of got that wrong. They were only worried that I might have gone rogue, not that I might be a human.” I shoved the blisterwort I’d already collected up at Solus. “Here. If you’re not going to help dig it up, then the least you can do is hold the bloody stuff.”

He reluctantly took hold of the plants, with the faintest expression of someone who’d been asked to carry nuclear waste. “That still doesn’t explain why you’re so keen to help them. What have they done for you?”

I sighed and moved over to another patch. “Life isn’t all about quid pro quo, Solus. Sometimes it’s just nice to be nice.” I tried conveniently to forget that I’d just been fantasising about exactly what quid pro quo I could get from Corrigan.

“Bullshit,” he said mildly. “You’re not nice.”

I began to splutter, pausing from my digging. He waggled his eyebrows at me. “Oh, come on, dragonlette. You have an outrageous temper. And when was the last time you were nice to someone?”

“I’m nice all the time!”

“Go on. Name the last time you were nice.”

I stared up at Solus, slightly open-mouthed as I tried to think. Surely there must be lots of times in the last few days? I rocked back on my heels. “Oh god. You’re right. I’m a horrible person. I can’t remember the last time I was nice. I’m a bitch.”

Solus laughed at my mournful epiphany. I shot him a look filled with daggers, then realised that probably wasn’t very nice. “Dragonlette, you’re not a bitch. You’re just a dragon. You have a bad temper and a strong sense of survival but you’re so much more than nice. Relax.” He grinned at me. “And stop changing the subject.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not helping the shifters because you’re nice. You’re helping them because you want them to like you. Or rather because you want a certain black haired, green eyed cat to like you at least.”

“Corrigan? You think I’m doing this because I want Corrigan to like me? I can’t stand him! He’s a total arse. In fact, he’s a megalomaniac who has done nothing but cause me trouble.”

“And?” prompted Solus.

“And what?”

“Oh come on. You clearly fancy the pants off of him.”

“Fuck off! I do not!”

I pulled myself up to standing and eyeballed Solus. He just calmly looked back at me. “It’s okay, dragonlette, you can say it.”

I shook my head at him in glum confusion.

“Say ‘Solus, you are always right’.”

I stared at him. “I do not fancy Corrigan,” I enunciated.

He smirked. “Sure.”

My mouth was suddenly dry. I thought about the Lord Alpha and the last time I’d seen him, with his green gold eyes roving irritably over me, and the ridiculous disappointment I’d felt when he’d turfed me out, as well as the way his muscles had rippled under his shirt despite the tiredness that was no doubt caused by the red fever.

“Oh God,” I whispered.

“There you go,” said Solus smugly. He licked his lips. “It’s alright though, I can wait.”

It took me a moment for his words to register and for me to find my voice. “Wait for what?”

“Till you work it out of your system.” The Fae leaned in towards me and lowered his voice. “It’s because he’s so unattainable that you have, what do you humans call it? The hots for him? You’ll get over it and I’ll be here.”

My eyes narrowed. “You’ll be here? Solus…”

“Shhh,” he said, placing a long finger against my lips. “This is a discussion for another time.”

I opened my mouth to speak again but realised I had no idea what I would say, and shut it again. Solus might be right that I had a tiny crush on the Lord of all shapeshifters and he was probably right that it was just because I couldn’t have him. However I knew deep within that there was not even the faintest flicker of attraction inside me for the Fae. I shifted uncomfortably, hoping that the reason he’d helped me so much had not been because he thought he might get something out of it by the end, before remembering that he was on the point of giving me up to the Summer Queen. It was probably more curiosity about shagging a dragon that had piqued Solus’ interest, rather than any real emotion. I relaxed.

I moved away from him and changed the subject. “It’s getting light. I need to get back to London to give this to Julia and then return to the mages.”

Solus cocked his head and sketched a quick bow choosing not to remark on my sudden volte-face. “As you wish, dragonlette.”

I began to snap at him not to call me that but the air was already starting to shimmer and the all too familiar nausea was rising in my stomach. I felt the Fae press something into my hand and dully registered that it was the cluster of blisterwort. My vision started to go blurry and the night sky swirled around in dizzying clouds. And then I was back in the entrance hall of the Brethren’s hide-away, on my knees, nails clutching into the cool decorative floor tiles whilst around me I heard ripping clothes and the growls of changing shifters. Why Solus couldn’t have picked a less conspicuous spot was beyond me. I looked around for the Fae, forcing down the nausea, but he was nowhere to be seen.

A tawny wolf took a step towards me, teeth bared. A sliver of drool hung from its mouth.

“Careful,” I said slowly, trying to get control of my stomach and getting up to my feet, “you’ll mess up the pretty floor.”

From behind me I felt something snap at my calves. I sighed. I wasn’t quite sure I was up to another fight just yet. As more shifters came into the hall, some already transformed, I knew that the odds would be massively against me anyway. I just had to get hold of Julia and pass her the blisterwort.

“I’m not trying to cause you any trouble,” I shouted out. “I have something to help you.”

The growling around me got louder. Goddamn shifters and their hardheadedness. I caught sight of a familiar figure, her body lowered and ready to pounce.

“Lucy! Look, you know me.” I coughed slightly. “Well, sort of. I need to give this to Julia. It’s for the red fever. It’ll cure it, I think. Please, just let me…”

Before I could finish my sentence a giant paw cuffed me on the side of my head and I went sprawling back onto the floor. The familiar flames answered the ringing pain in my head and, without thinking, I jumped to my feet and prepared to defend myself. I saw through narrowed eyes that the attack had come from Staines. I was going to enjoy this. Tingling heat ran through my veins and I felt my fingertips prickle. Interesting, that meant that the green fire was returning. I made a mental note of how long it had taken the strange magic to recover and hastily stuffed the blisterwort down the back of my jeans so that it didn’t get singed. It rubbed irritatingly against my skin and I inwardly cursed the stupid shifters who I was actually trying to help.