your pack?”
He scoffed, sounding almost disgusted. “I am no wolf. I’m Finfolk, another type of shifter, hated by humans. Hidden here, by our design.”
I wanted to ask him what Finfolk were, but suspicion flashed through me, directing me toward a more important question. “Hidden here, on an island that once belonged to a wolf clan that is now gone?”
“Now don’t go thinking that.” Annoyance cracked in his voice. “We didn’t replace them. Didn’t drive them off or nothing. Came here hundreds of years after they were gone, we did. Knew of them from their castle—a strange place, if you ask me.”
“The ruins that we saw from the church?” I asked, thinking of the other hill with the pile of broken stones.
“Aye. Carved things into the walls, they did.”
“And buried the Moon Stone there?” Lachlan asked.
“Indeed.”
“Can you take us to this place?” I asked.
“Aye.” He looked us up and down. “Haven’t seen a pair like you before.”
I frowned at him. “A pair like us?”
“Fated, yet so torn.” He shook his head. “You can’t fight the hand of fate.”
No, but I could sure as hell try. Especially since it meant that our lives were on the line.
6
Lachlan
* * *
The old man led us from his cottage and across the hills, heading toward the coast on the other side of the island. We passed a few cottages on the way, small things like his own.
“The people who live there”—Eve pointed to one of the cottages—“are they your family?”
“Aye, more Finfolk like myself.”
“What are Finfolk?”
“Shifter. But not like him.” He nodded at me. “Different, like you. Rare.”
“Rare?” Eve frowned. “You think I’m a rare shifter?”
“Ain’t you?”
“I suppose so. Do you know anything about what I am?”
He gestured to the broken stone castle that rose against the skyline in front of us. “One of these lot, I assume.”
“What made those wolves different?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Don’t know. Never saw one myself, now did I? But different they were. This island is home to the different. That’s the reason the Finfolk came here.”
The man spoke in obscure, broad statements, but he did reveal gems of information.
I gave Eve a considering look. The wind whipped her pale hair back from her face, the pink tips glittering in the sunlight. She was beautiful out here. Beautiful everywhere, but particularly here.
Hell, it didn’t matter where I saw her. I always thought she was beautiful. Part of it was how different she was from everyone around her.
Though I knew that she considered herself to be a failed shifter, I never had. I’d known she was different, of course, but never had the ability to put my finger on it. Perhaps this was part of it.
We reached the castle, which towered thirty feet overhead. Piles of broken stone sat around the base, and we found the entrance into the tower. All of the walls had been covered by inscriptions, which looked good as new. Though many of the stones appeared broken and ancient, the stones with carvings looked like they’d been made yesterday.
Eve held her hand near the surface of one. “Protected by magic.”
“Of course.” The Finman sounded shocked. “Of course protected by magic. The residents of this island are no weak humans, leaving our relics to rot in the elements.”
Humans didn’t have access to the tools that supernaturals did, so it was hardly negligence. At least, not on the part of some of them. But they didn’t need me sticking up for them.
“Well, I’ll leave you here,” he said. “Best be gone before dark, or you’ll regret it.”
I turned to him, but he was already disappearing through the door.
“We’ll regret it?” Eve asked.
I nodded, still able to feel the threat on the air. “This place isn’t keen to have us here, even if you are somehow related to the people who once built this castle.”
She nodded, her gaze bright and her face pale. “I can’t believe these might be my ancestors.”
“Let’s find out.” I walked toward one wall of carvings but was dismayed to find that I couldn’t read any of it.
“They must be runes.” She ran her fingertips over some of the carvings. “But I can’t read them.”
I pulled my mobile from my pocket. “I’ll photograph them so we can have them interpreted.”
She nodded and turned to inspect the rest of the space. It was empty save for the broken bits of the wall that had tumbled inside the structure. The ground was grassy and damp, scattered in places with sheep droppings that she carefully avoided.
“There’s no evidence of