Chapter Twenty-Five

Brand loped along the beach toward the sea caves feeling like he was swimming instead of running. The rain had returned with a vengeance while he had been sheltered in the magickal grove with his mate. He blinked the steady stream of droplets from his eyes and chuffed water out of his nose as he ran. He shifted at the mouth of the cave and a shiver went down his spine. Without his fur, he was freezing cold. His teeth chattered as he tried to slick water off his body with his hands.

"Cousin!" Thorstein's voice boomed from the dim light of the cave. "Come in from the cold and wet before you catch your death."

Shifters, in his experience, rarely got sick, but maybe it was different for these poor Skölls here. After all, they had lost much of their ability to shift. Who knows what else might have changed. Either way, Brand would gladly take some blankets to dry off and get warm.

A few minutes later, Brand was dry, dressed in a borrowed tunic and pants, and was sitting before a fire with