Stone Guardian by Maeve Greyson

All he wanted was to end his fate.
All she wanted was a new beginning.
They both got just what they asked…
Just not like they planned.
The old adage is true: Be careful what you wish for.

As guardian of the realm portals hidden among the Outer Hebrides, Chieftain Torin Grey discovers the consequences of challenging the gods. Betrayed by a wife he adored beyond reason; Torin ignores the gods’ edict and dares to change his fate. The punishment for such disobedience? Stasis in a cursed sleep while all he cherishes turns to dust. Torin can’t imagine a worse sentence but that’s before the gods awaken him to a world he no longer knows.

Science + Data = Fact. Pediatrician Emma Maxwell only believes in what she can prove. Career-driven and raising her sister since her parents’ death, Emma doesn’t waste time or energy on anything as unexplainable as emotion. While starting a children’s clinic on the Isle of Lewis, Emma ignores the eerie pull of the Callanish Stones, chalking the sensation up to some scientific anomaly. But when she finds herself nose to nose with an ancient Scot babbling that Emma possesses magic, her scientific explanations become much harder to find. It boils down to one of two things: either Torin has escaped from a mental institution or the stress of leaving college-age sister alone while starting a clinic halfway around the world has finally pushed Emma over the edge.

Emma and Torin are the world’s last hope when the gods realize the beast they unleashed to cleanse mankind should never have been unshackled. Their combined powers are the only weapon strong enough to overcome the demon and save humanity. But for their joined magic to work, Torin must accept the truths of his past and Emma must embrace an unexplainable future that includes neither science nor her sister.