A Life Unexpected: Holly Nather Book One (Holly Nather Series) (25 page)

“She is telling the truth!” Mallory yells before Arlo brings me to my death.

“I got suckered into all of this. Luke failed to tell me everything. I was lied to. I just found out the truth the other day, so I left. It’s a long story, but Luke is against his parents too. I didn’t believe him at first, but I do now. When I got that paralyzing headache earlier, I had a vision. Luke told his parents he was against their plans, and he left. I am not sure where he is, but we need to find him. He wants to defeat his parents and bring peace.”

“You married the Prince? Are you crazy?” Arlo’s tone is radiating anger.

“Arlo, stop…” Mallory tries to stop Arlo but doesn’t succeed.

“Holly, you have married into a dangerous family! How can you be so stupid?”

“Luke is different from them.” I say defensively. Arlo laughs and walks away.

I turn to Mallory and say, “Where do you think he went?”

“Not sure… He and Prince Luke don’t have a good history.” Mallory and I sit down in the grass, not really knowing what to do besides wait for Arlo to return.
If
he ever returns.

Mallory sits up and rests her head on her knees and says, “Do you love him?”

I look at Mallory, and tears fill my eyes. “I do…I
think
I do anyway.”

“You do…I’m sure of it.” She gives me a re-assuring smile.

“I just don’t understand how it happened so fast….. Falling in love with him, I mean. You can’t use magic to make someone fall in love with you can you?”

She laughs and sits up straight. “No. That would be messing with someone’s free will. Love is something that will never make sense. It can happen fast or it can take time to develop. Love isn’t something we can plan or put a time frame on; it just sneaks up on you. ” I nod in agreement and smile.

“So what’s the deal with you and Arlo?” I ask trying to take the spotlight off mine and Luke’s love life.

“Oh it’s not a big deal. We were—” Mallory stops what she is saying when Arlo decides to grace us again with his presence.

“Is she telling the truth?” He asks while looking to Mallory for an answer.

Mallory sighs and rolls her eyes at Arlo. “Yes. I already stated that earlier.”

“Arlo, I am not lying and I know Luke will help us. We just have to find him.” I say.

“Well that should be easy. You are married to him. With a bond of marriage, you should be able to sense him and find him no problem.” Arlo says. Yeah, it probably is as easy as it sounds if I only knew how to control my magic! I’m getting better, but I still need more practice.

“How?”

“Just think of him. It’s that easy. It should show you where he is. You probably shouldn’t tell him about me when you do find him. Best to just let him see me when he gets here.” Arlo says.

“Why?”

“He won’t be too eager on following you back here if you tell him I’m here.” Arlo says with a disgusted and condescending look on his face.

I roll my eyes. I am so sick of drama. Instead of asking more questions, I start thinking of Luke. I notice tears are falling down my cheeks and quickly wipe them away. It’s been a couple days since I have seen him, but I feel like I’ve been away from him for forever. I start thinking about him, the way he kissed me, the way he smells, the way he talks, and slowly I begin to see him. After he has fully taken shape in my vision, I see Brody, Jett, and Mason as well, all in an old run-down building. They are talking, but I can’t hear anything they are saying. I want to run to him, but this is only a vision, I’m not really there. Luke looks so upset.

“I can see him, but how do I know where he is? It’s an old building. That is all I can see.” I say while keeping the vision clear and talking to Arlo and Mallory at the same time.

“Just imagine being there with him, and you should be able to teleport there. But just be sure you come back here and tell us what the new plan is, okay?”

“Okay. I sure will!” I say and then I start concentrating on what I see in my vision. I concentrate on being there with Luke physically, not just in my mind. After what seems like forever of trying to teleport, I am in the old building with them. I want to run up to him, but I am blocked by boxes that I happen to have just ever so gracefully knocked over during my entrance. Luke, Brody, Jett, and Mason turn their heads in my direction. I hide, not sure why I do, but I do.

“Do you sense other magic here?” Brody asks. I notice he is pulling magic ready for a fight.

“Brody let your magic go! It’s Holly!” Luke yells and starts looking for me. “Holly, where are you?” Luke starts walking around trying to find me, but I stand behind a wall frozen.

“How do you know for sure it’s her? You know your blood is wanted now.” Jett says and then morphs into a wolf. He must feel threatened, because Luke said they only do that in severe situations.

“No! I know it is her; I think I would know; she is my wife!” I love hearing him call me that. I come around the corner, and his eyes meet mine. We both just stand here frozen in time. Why I can’t move, I don’t know. It is like my brain isn’t telling my feet to move.

I want to tell him how sorry I am for leaving and that I believe him, but nothing comes out of my mouth. Instead tears start running down my cheeks. It doesn’t take long for his feet to remember to move, and he is running to me. He picks me up and spins me around and then places me gently back on the ground. He puts his hand under my chin and lifts my lips to his. Before he kisses me, he pauses momentarily to stare into my eyes. I watch a tear roll down his cheek.

“You came back.” He says in barely a whisper. I start to say something, but I’m stopped when his lips find mine and capture me in a kiss. This moment is perfect, and I never, ever want it to end.

His hands go from my cheeks down to my waist, and he pulls me closer to him. “I kept wanting to come after you and change your mind, but I didn’t. I know you needed your time and space. I was so worried!” He starts looking at my arms and legs, examining for indication that I’ve been harmed in any way.

“I know now you were telling me the truth. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you but—” I start to say more, but he shuts me up by kissing me again. I hear one of the guys let out a fake cough to remind us they were in the room. I pull away laughing and looking at Brody who looks way too serious. Jett has morphed back into his human form, and Mason is laughing.

“Where did you go?” Luke asks. I knew that question was coming.

“Not really sure. Somewhere out in the forest. There was a waterfall and trees, and that is all I know. I met some people too.” Luke doesn’t look happy with what I just said.

“Did you tell them who you are? Did they try to hurt you?” He asks without taking a breath between questions. He starts looking me over again.

I pull my arm away from him and roll my eyes. “I’m fine! No, they didn‘t hurt me! They have been nothing but nice. I trust them. The girl’s name is Mallory and the guy… he said he knows you.”

I don’t know how any words come out of Luke’s mouth; his teeth are clenched so tight, but they do. “What is his name?”

“Arlo.” I cover my mouth with my hand.
Crap.

“Oh, this isn’t going to be good!” Brody says while leaning against the wall and crossing his arms. Luke looks like he is about to kill someone. He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and doesn’t say a word. So I do.

“We were kind of plotting to come get rid of your parents. Mallory thought it would be a good idea to have him train me and her to prepare for a fight.” Nothing I say makes him feel any better. He is getting madder by the second. If I’m not mistaken, he is pulling magic.

“Holly, did Arlo tell you who he is?” Luke is pissed, and now has me by my shoulders looking straight into my eyes.

I don’t want to say another word, but I do. “Yes. He trained you and others at the castle how to fight. Mallory says he is one of the best fighters in Terre.”

Sighing and running his hands through his hair, he closes his eyes and says, “That’s true, but he is dangerous, Holly. He could kill you without you ever knowing what was coming. How stupid could you be to trust him?!”

“He was there to help me, not to hurt me! He also said to bring you back with me, to where they are, and he wants to help. Mallory does too.” I am getting irritated that he doesn’t trust my judgment.

“You know nothing about Terre or the others who live here! I knew I should have come to find you the moment you left. We are
not
going back there.” Luke gives Brody an evil glare. I don’t know what that look was all about. Brody shrugs his shoulders and looks away from Luke.

“We have to! I promised them I’d be back! Mallory can tell if someone is lying and if they have good or bad intentions. She didn’t sense anything bad about Arlo!”

“This Mallory girl can do what? And how do you know you can trust her?” He asked not hiding the annoyance in his voice.

“That’s part of her abilities or whatever. She can sense if someone is lying or telling the truth. And I don’t know why I trust her, I just do! They could have left me to die the two days I was knocked out, but they didn’t!” By the look on his face, I should have left the last part out.

“YOU WERE WHAT!” Luke yells and gives Brody another evil stare. Brody turns his head to avoid Luke’s eyes. Jett and Mason are leaned against the wall enjoying the soap opera going on before their eyes. I, on the other hand, am
not
enjoying this.

“I almost killed Arlo when my magic went out of control, and Mallory had to stop me.” I am looking down at my feet, trying desperately to avoid eye contact with my very angry husband.

“Okay, change of plans. We
are
going, and I’m going to talk to these two personally.” By the tone of his voice there may not be much ‘talking’.

“Why do you keep looking at Brody like he is guilty of murder?” I ask.

Luke avoids my questions so Brody answers. “I was your personal babysitter while you were gone. Luke had to stay at the castle to make sure no one went after you or he would have come himself. You were not in any danger so I never had to intervene.” Brody looks away from me and looks at Luke. “Luke, you know you can trust my judgment. She was fine or I would have come to get you.” Luke gives Brody another evil glare.

“Luke, I’m not mad.” I say.

“I wouldn’t care if you were. I had to do everything I could to keep you safe while letting you have your space.” A smile creeps onto Luke’s face.

I smile back. “So, are you ready to go? And please don’t assume the worst before you meet them. They are really nice.” Luke doesn’t say anything. I have a feeling this isn’t going to go smoothly.

“LUKE, I’M NOT
going to tell you where they are if you can’t promise me you won’t hurt them!”

“Holly, we can trace your magic to where you just were. We are going. I am not promising you anything.” I hate the fact that I am so naïve to all this magic stuff.

“Luke, promise me that you will at least talk to them before you try anything stupid?”

Luke sighs and looks at me. “I promise.” Something tells me he is lying. “So how have you spent your time with these two?”

“Arlo taught me a little about control, and we worked on fighting, but that is when I almost killed him.” When I say Arlo’s name, his faces hardens.

“Well I can teach you more. Let’s go back to talk to them now. Do you want to try to take us there?”

“I guess I can try… I know how to get
myself
back there. How do I bring all of you with me?” My mind is in magic overload.

“Just concentrate on being back there, and concentrate on taking us with you. Sometimes it works better if we all join hands, because it helps you concentrate on who you want to bring with you. If it doesn’t work, it will be fine. We can just trace your magic back there. I just think it will be good for you to try. ” Luke calls the guys over, and we all join hands.

I close my eyes and start to think about everyone who is with me; then I think about the waterfall and the trees as well as Arlo and Mallory. Once I have everything and everyone in my mind, I start to push back any random thoughts that try to pop up. It is really hard this time because having Luke’s hand is making me so happy that it is hard to concentrate. Once I push everything that needs to be pushed away from my mind, everything goes black. Before opening my eyes, I can hear the waterfall and know I did exactly what I was supposed to do.