Leprechaun's Mate: Leprechaun, #2

By Ember-Raine Winters

Darkness lurks in every corner and it's up to Aisling and Kingston to stop it.

They know what they have to do. They have to go to Sagemoor and find the missing shifters and the relic they were hiding. When the portal to the unknown magicless world backfires they are split between worlds desperately trying to get back to one another. New bonds are formed as the two groups race against the clock to get home.

Will they be too late, or will they actually have a home to get back to?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ember-Raine Winters
• Release date: Feb 2, 2021
• ISBN: 9781393352761

Book preview

Chapter One

Aisling

I stood in the center of the stones, looking around and wondering how to activate the portal or whatever we were supposed to do to get the portal to work.

What do we do now? I asked the group. Kingston shrugged. He didn’t know anything more than I did. Mateo? Did your mom ever tell you anything?

I’m trying to remember. He scrubbed a hand over his face. I didn’t blame him for not remembering. He always thought of Sagemoor as a bedtime story. I don’t think he ever thought he would need to go there.

What about the journal? Seamus asked. I pulled the journal from my bag and started flipping through it. I’d read the thing cover to cover if there was a clue in it as to how to open the portal I had completely missed it.

It says the stones were built around the portal, so I’m assuming they don’t have anything to do with it. It’s just a safety precaution. I thought about it for a few long minutes, but I didn’t get any closer to figuring it out.

Maybe we’re thinking about this wrong. Kingston looked deep in thought. Maybe they built one of the stones around the portal itself. If I were trying to hide something, I wouldn’t put it dead center. I would hide it in plain sight.

His idea had merit and I looked from one imposing structure to another. The tallest one stood out to me, but I quickly dismissed it as too obvious. Walking to the back I felt around for any hint of magic. I walked halfway around the circle before I got to a set of stones with very little room to wiggle through and gasped at the strong pull of magic.

I think I found it, I yelled, but they were already right next to me.

Are we supposed to walk through stone? I scrunched up my brows in confusion. The pull was so strong I took an involuntary step forward. I heard the guys shout, but it sounded as if I were under water. It felt as though something pulled at my bag as I went tumbling into the portal.

I felt a dizzying sensation much like I did when I got pulled into someone else’s teleport. It was a little nauseating. Colors I’d never seen before swirled passed me and stars bright enough to blind me winked in and out of existence before I was dropped into a soft bed of grass and rolled down a grassy hill.

Dusting myself off, I took a long look at my surroundings. The place was beautiful. It was nothing like the place I’d read about in the journal. There was a field of wildflowers in the most vibrant blues and purples I’d ever seen. I heard a shout just before I turned and watched as Seamus and Mateo tumbled down the hill next to me. I looked back to the hill waiting for Kingston and Brandy to show up next.

Where’s Kingston? I asked after several minutes when he didn’t show up.

What do you mean? He and Brandy charged in after you. They’re not here? Mateo asked confused. I shot him a duh look.

Would I be asking if he was? Looking around again, I realized something was wrong. Are we even in the right place?

The two men looked around as if struck dumb. Their eyebrows scrunched down in confusion. Seamus scratched his head. I thought it was a wasteland. Can you use magic?

I’m still not great at using it unless my emotions are high, I said but attempted to call my fire. I got nothing. The energy was still there. I didn’t feel like it was being blocked but I couldn’t call it.

What about you? Try to teleport, I said to Seamus. A second later he was gone. Well that answered that question. I felt his breath on my neck and turned around shoving him back. Very funny.

So, we still have magic and this place is nothing like we were told, Mateo said thoughtfully. I’m thinking until we figure it out we need to treat this as if we’re lost in hostile territory.

Agreed. Seamus nodded.

It didn’t make any sense. The portal was supposed to take us to Sagemoor. What did we do wrong to end up wherever the hell we were?

We should also assume that Kingston and Brandy are lost as well. Hopefully, the portal took them where it was supposed to, and they can find my mom and get the spear.

Just thinking about getting the spear made my gut tense. I knew what would happen if we retrieved all the relics. I knew it would release the darkness and evil beings into our world. I just hoped we would be able to end things before they got out of hand and Jaren destroyed our world.

C’mon, princess. We’re sitting ducks out here in the open like this. Seamus led me through the grassy fields. Everything here was gorgeous. I wished I had a camera so I could take some pictures of the beautiful place. I wished Kingston were there with me. He would love to see it. There was a pang in my chest as I thought about him. I hoped he was safe. At least he wasn’t alone. Even though, with Brandy for company he probably wished he were.

Chapter Two

Kingston

The landing was nothing to be desired. I landed in thick gnarled roots. The wood making the fall even worse. I rolled out of the way just as Brandy fell in the exact same spot.

Argh, that hurt. She rolled to her side before looking around. The twisted trees reminded me of the dark forest in the fae realm. The wood was black and looked to be rotting. It was definitely what I’d expected it to be.

Where’s Aisling? Brandy asked suddenly.

I looked around like an idiot wondering where my mate had gone off to. Where is she? And where are Seamus and Mateo?

I don’t know. I know she’s mostly ignorant to our world but she’s not dumb enough to wander off by herself. Brandy looked around again at the dense forest of black trees.

I think that’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard you say about her, I chuckled.

Tell anyone and I’ll kill you.

We waited for another fifteen minutes before we realized no one else was coming. We need to find her. The queen will skin me alive if anything happens to her. She’s a baby immortal with no magic. This isn’t good at all.

We need to assume the portal dropped her somewhere else in the realm. Hopefully, Seamus and Mateo are with her. We can search for her as we look for the shifters, I said scratching my head. Worry knotted in my gut as I thought about my mate alone in this unforgiving landscape with no way to protect herself. We needed to find her, but I had no idea how.

Okay, so which way do we go? Brandy looked around but there was no way of knowing. Everything looked the same.

I don’t know. Aisling has the journal, it has some descriptions of the place in it but there’s no way of knowing if they would even be accurate millennia later. I scrubbed a hand over my face. It looked like we were going to be wandering around aimlessly and hoping we got lucky.

Okay, so I guess we go that way. She pointed in a random direction and we started walking. Walking probably isn’t the right choice of words. We stumbled over one tree root after another. It seemed like the forest was endless but in reality we had to go slower than we normally would, or we would have been falling at every step.

Do we even know who we’re looking for? Brandy grumbled. I thought about it and cursed myself for not thinking of every possible scenario. I didn’t even know Mateo’s mother’s name.

I didn’t even ask him her name, I sigh waiting for the inevitable explosion from Brandy.

That’s just fucking perfect! How could you be this stupid as old as you are? I hadn’t been wrong about the tirade. Brandy never disappointed when it came to things like that.

I know! But, honestly how many people can be in this god forsaken place? I yelled back at her. Immortals didn’t really get headaches, but I was feeling one starting up behind my eyes. Brandy had an uncanny ability to piss off even the most patient people.

I stepped on something hard that had me stumbling into Brandy and suddenly we were both airborne. It took a second to realize we were in a net high up in the trees.

How many people can there be, huh? You wanna answer that question? Brandy snarked as she pulled her knife from her boot.

What are you doing? I asked with wide eyes. We were at least fifty feet in the air. If you cut that we fall, and we don’t have magic to help us heal.

She raised an eyebrow at me but blessedly returned her knife to her boot. Now all that was left to do was wait and pray whoever made the trap was friend and not foe.

Chapter Three

Aisling

It was getting late and I was exhausted. We didn’t teleport because we didn’t know where we might end up. We’d been walking for miles with no sign of life anywhere. There were mountains on all sides of us, so we looked to be in a valley.

Where do you think we should go? Seamus asked. We were basically flying blind.

I don’t know. I don’t even know where we are. We could go the wrong direction come to a dead end and have to circle back. I rubbed at the tension in my forehead. Mateo had been really quiet. I looked over at him to see him squinting at something in the distance.

Is that a trail? he asked still squinting. I hoped what he saw was right because if there was a trail that meant there were people. Right?

I say we go check it out. If it’s not then no big deal but we can look for civilization in that direction anyway. I don’t think it’s wise to stop just anywhere especially since we don’t know what kind of animals there are around here.

Wild animals lurking around hadn’t even crossed my mind until Seamus said that. Now I was jumping at every shadow. The breeze rustling through the tall grass had me imagining all kinds of scary predators stalking us.

Don’t worry, princess, I’m much scarier than anything hiding here. Mateo grinned. His hand turned into a claw and then back again. I still forgot sometimes that he shifted into a wolf. I hadn’t been a part of this world very long, so it was gonna take some getting used to.

We walked closer to where Mateo had thought he’d seen a trail but when we got there it was just dirt. The dirt trail led up into the mountain range and we decided we may as well take it. It was the best option we had. We were already lost in an unknown realm. Even if it was beautiful. Some of the most dangerous things looked beautiful on the outside.

Hours later we made it to the edge of the mountain range. I was practically dead on my feet, but Seamus and Mateo kept pushing forward.

I need to rest. We’ve been walking forever. I punctuated my statement with a yawn.

Seamus looked nervous about stopping, but Mateo smiled indulgently. Just a little while longer princess. Once we get in the mountains, we’ll find a cave or something and take turns on watch.

That seemed to ease some of the tension in Seamus’ shoulders. He breathed out a relieved sigh and we kept on moving. I hated walking. After this I was never walking anywhere ever again. I’d just have Kingston carry me everywhere. The thought made my heart clench and a frown formed on my lips. What if I never saw him again? Was he even okay? A dark cloud hung over my head as I wondered what was going on with my mate.

It wasn’t long before Mateo spotted a cave up on a cliff face. It was on higher ground which he said would be good. No one below would be able to spot us, but he insisted on going up first to make sure it was safe. After several close