38. Connor O’Doyle

Chapter 38

Connor O’Doyle

Living the fur dream .

“That water is disgusting. I can’t believe you put me in the bloody moat.”

I scrub the towel Whitley thankfully handed me a moment ago over my hair and glare at Odette, who stands just inside the castle doorway. She tips her head into the air as if studying the ceiling closely and disappears inside. I’m going to murder that woman.

“You peed on me and yourself! What did you expect me to do?” Vlad bites out, his red eyes ablaze, stealing my attention. “And I didn’t throw you. You needed a bath, so I gave you one.”

“It was uncontrollable,” I snap. “I don’t know if you noticed, but I was living life as a puppy at the time. You’re fucking lucky, else you’d be in a bloody cat carrier right about now!”

Thank the gods all the guests have now gone, or someone would be seeing a lot more than what they paid for, and then some. Luckily, once my skin touched the moat, whatever spell Odette cast let go, probably because of Lachlan’s curse that holds him there. Maria, one of the employees, did see, but Odette did her special hand wave, and the woman forgot everything, including me as a dog.

“What in the hell has happened since I left?” Vlad’s gaze darts around, stopping at the sight of Whitley before he catches my stare.

I grab Whitley’s hand in mine, kiss her knuckles, and hoist our hands at him. “Meet my mate.”

“Ye lads are just as sweet as the highland heather, ye are.” Lachlan’s voice booms out, echoing off the stone walls of the drawbridge close to the castle entrance.

“Lachlan?” Vlad’s pale hand grips the stone rail as he looks down into the moat.

Lachlan’s hairy chest is bare, and he’s wearing swimming trunks while sitting inside a pink coffin floaty with a drink in his hand.

“Lookie what I got.” Lachlan points down at his coffin-shaped floaty then waves, as carefree as ever, the git. “I bought ye one, too, Vlad. The internet is a wonderful place.”

“Since when do you move about?” Vlad asks, his lip curling at the sight of the gaudy flotation device. “You look ridiculous.”

“That’s the cutest floaty I’ve ever seen,” Aubrey murmurs. “Who is that, anyway? I thought all the guests left.”

“That’s Lachlan,” Whitley attempts to whisper back. She’s up on her tiptoes like the rest of them, all trying to see the idiot below. “He’s the Loch Ness monster, but he’s cursed to the moat and can’t leave it.”

“This place is so cool,” Aubrey whispers back. “Vlad did tell me about him.”

“The humans think I’m a bloody animatronic, Vlad. What is the world coming tae?” the Loch Ness monster grates out, glaring up at us.

When that doesn’t get a rise out of my newly returned friend, Lachlan shrugs and settles back onto the floaty, then slurps at the straw from his drink. A straw that suspiciously looks like it has the word Nessie wrapped around it. He raises his brows, forcing the sunglasses atop his head to fall and shield his eyes.

Before I can get a word out, Vlad goes on a tirade, his face flushing almost as ruby as his eyes.

“What the fuck did you do my ancestral home while I was gone?” he thunders, his nostrils flaring.

“You should be giving me congratulations, but instead you start whining and complaining before you’ve even set foot in the castle,” I snark.

“I’m not sure whether to offer you congratulations or go purchase puppy diapers for you, since you peed on me before I could even get through the fucking door,” Vlad intones, his gaze on Whitley, obviously still annoyed when I’m the one who smells of moat water.

“Why don’t we all go relax and watch a movie? We could have some snacks!” Whitley blurts, and everyone starts talking at once.

An hour later, Whitley, Aubrey, Vlad and I are all situated in the theater room as the scents of popcorn, candies, and chips permeate the air. Odette isn’t the type to watch a movie with strangers, and with the way she and Vlad constantly spat, it’s probably for the best she didn’t join us.

The girls sit on the big sunken couch together, while Vlad and I are seated in two singular chairs at the side of the room. The Mummy II plays in the background as the girls sit and talk with one another, and I smile at how at ease Whitley seems with Aubrey.

A line creases my forehead. We’ll be having a lengthy discussion about Odette and her fertility potions later, and I’m not sure how that’s going to pan out.

“How long has Odette been here?” Vlad mutters, his head angled as he tries to keep his voice down.

“A little over a week, but she says she’s leaving this evening,” I answer.

“I wish everyone would stop coming here,” he says with a grunt.

I roll my eyes at the grump and glance back at Whitley when she lets out a laugh. She and Aubrey talk amongst themselves about gods know what. I’m glad my mate seems to be enjoying herself.

The past couple of days have been a blur, and I want her to relax as much as possible. She’s been through enough the last few weeks.

“What are you girls on about?” I ask over the sounds of the movie.

“We are planning a girls’ night,” Aubrey says.

Aubrey beams at Whitley before shoving some popcorn into her mouth, and I don’t miss the worried look Vlad gives her. The women turn back to the movie and Vlad sits unmoving, staring at Aubrey like he wishes to devour her—and not in the pleasant way.

“You look constipated, stop it,” I tell him, swirling my glass of scotch against the arm of my chair.

Vlad’s brows pull low, worry lining his face as he stares at the back of her head. “I have no idea how long until she starts her immortality, and for the first time in my long life, Doyle, I find myself obsessed with time.”

“She’ll be fine. It’s only been a couple of months, and besides, now that you’re back, you can help with the next ball.” I nudge him and bounce my brows suggestively, knowing talk of it will distract him.

“I would rather be castrated via paper cuts,” he snaps, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.

“A ball? Yessss! We should do costumes.” Aubrey’s face is bright with excitement as she peers over the armrest of the couch at us.

Eureka.

A sly grin stretches across my lips as I lean toward him to whisper, “When are you going to tell her that you know a mummy?”

“Mummies are real?” Aubrey gasps, and her eyes are like an owl’s as she turns them to us.

Red suffuses Vlad’s face and flashes in his irises. “Fuck me. It’s like you don’t know when to keep your trap shut,” Vlad grumbles under his breath.

“Wow, I think her hearing is coming in, don’t you?” I say, enjoying how his nostrils flare.

He growls sharply, his eyes practically glowing as he swipes up his own scotch from the small table between us and takes a swig from the crystal glass.

“I have really missed you,” I tell him honestly, just before he erupts.