by India Amare
“How are you feeling about your classes?”
“Good.” Even with being completely derailed, I knew the material and was ready to turn in final assignments and take the tests. And really, my expectations had taken a nosedive. Did it matter if I got a ninety-nine versus an eighty-one? Both were good grades. Luckily I was an excellent student and had pretty high averages before my life flipped upside down. I could afford a little wiggle room at the end.
“Did you get the classes you wanted for fall semester?” She slid the pie into the oven, then pulled out hummus and naan. “Appetizer?”
My stomach growled. Again. I felt like that’s all it did these days. “Sounds good to me!”
We settled at the table and chatted about classes for a while. She was teaching a new class next year so she was putting the syllabus together for that as well as preparing data for a case coming up at the law firm.
I told her I had some new friends, leaving out the non-human part.
Naturally.
It was nice to be mothered for a little while. Olivia was probably the closest I had ever come to having someone truly maternal in my life. I wanted to tell her everything that was happening to me, and knowing that I couldn’t, hurt.
After dinner she stored away my leftovers and gave me a big hug. “Get some sleep. Chicken pot pie is notorious for good dreams. And promise me you’ll take at least a week off when the semester is over. It’s important to recover.”
Nervous energy ricocheted through me. “I’m actually going away for a bit.” I still wasn’t sure where the House of Axl was located.
“Wonderful.” She gave my hand a squeeze.
An hour later Gigi arrived with Chinese takeout and I devoured all of that too.
“So we’ll leave right from the lab. My shift is over at two.”
“How long will it take to get there?” At least I had a little bit more of an idea about my weekend travel plans. The Wrens lived in the mountains on a large piece of property where different branches of the family all had their own space.
“It’s about an hour from here. You’ll be so distracted by the mountain views you won’t even notice the time pass.”
So no vanishing in the mist as a form of travel. Noted. “I’m nervous to meet your family.” I wanted them to like me the way I liked Gigi and Dray.
“Don’t worry about them. Just be prepared for loud. When all nine of us are together things get noisy in a hurry. Everyone is excited to meet you and help you learn all about your new life.”
“Your family isn’t really in real estate is it?”
She blushed. “No. That’s our human cover story. Don’t hate me.”
I rolled my eyes. Like I could hate her for having a human story to cover up her real samhain life. “And the charity ball?”
“I mean, it was really a ball, but it wasn’t for charity.” She sipped her wine. “Since the families live in relative isolation, we have regular rituals to bring the families together. That night was the Super Moon. All of the House of Wren allied families get dressed up in their finest to meet and celebrate.” She took another sip. “It’s the best time to mingle with potential mates.”
“So it’s a mating party?” I teased her.
“Not at all,” she shot back. “It’s very proper and formal.”
“Dray said samhain are more sexual than humans.” I had so many questions about that and no time to ask them before now.
“We are.” Her gaze unfocused as she stared at the wall. “Definitely throw all your human preconceptions out. We don’t have the same prudish views on sexuality. Sex is different than mating, and mating is complicated to explain. We’ll get to it. All you need to know for now is we like the sexy times. A lot.”
Fair enough. If my response to a few minutes alone with Dray was any indication, the samhain were very into the sexy times.
We sat quietly for a while, letting each other have some quiet and time to think. It was one of my favorite things about Gigi. She might be effervescent, but she also enjoyed silence.
“Do you think I’ll ever meet my mother or her family?”
Gigi set her wine down and gave me her full focus, which I appreciated. “Yes. Dray is using his position to contact the right people and start making plans. He’s hoping it will be easier after you visit Lord Axl.”
“I don’t like feeling like I’m a pawn in someone else’s game.”
“I understand. It will get easier. I promise.”
I had to take her word on that. I poured a little more wine into my glass. “What happened to your parents?” It was strange to realize we had a little in common.
“It was a long time ago.” She swirled her wine, focusing on it like she could see her memories playing out like a movie. “I was six when it happened. An accident. Took them both. Dray became head of the house at the age of eleven. We were raised by our aunt. We all, of course, were devastated to lose them, but there was always so much love in our house. Aunt Bethany made sure we grieved and found purpose again. Only Dray had trouble. I think the weight of responsibility being thrust on him at such a young age changed him forever.” She smiled and her gaze unfocused. “He was the funniest kid. He still is sometimes, but it takes more to pull it out of him.” Then her gaze snapped to mine. “You’re connected. You and Dray. Your fates are intertwined. I can see it but not all the details. Not yet.”
That felt so right it actually calmed me a little. “I care about him.”
“And he cares for you. He’s loyal to his core.”
Part of me worried he only cared for me due to his loyalty. It was hard to pick apart the two with that man.
“Interesting.” Gigi sat forward, sliding her wine glass onto the table. “You have feelings for him...and you doubt they’re returned.”
I gave her a look. “I thought you weren’t telepathic.”
“I’m not,” she laughed, “but your aura is powerful and very easy to read.”
I had an aura?
“Did you know we experience something sometimes called Fated Mates? It’s when someone is destined to be with someone else. Their connection is beyond all other connections.”
Was I Fated to be with Dray? He dreamt of me before he knew me. “That’s a pretty big leap for someone I barely know.”
Her eyes wandered over me like she was seeing me for the first time. “My best friend and my big brother, Fated. Huh. This is cool.”
“How does one know if one is fated?” My heart started racing. As much as I liked Dray and really wanted to spend more time with him, this conversation was quickly veering out of control.
“You know already. And so does he. And it scares the piss out of you both. I mean, I get that there are complications with the war and you being half enemy, but he’s not at your side out of honor. Yes, he chose to exercise the treaty and stand for you in the place of your mother, but it’s so much more than that. He chose you first. He’s just using the treaty as an excuse.”
I swallowed down a lump in my throat as I remembered the night we shared, how perfect and necessary he felt. How he said I’d never be alone. “I think that’s about all I can take tonight.”
Gigi laughed. “Oh honey. Wait until tomorrow. You have no idea what overwhelmed is.”
Chapter 7
We turned down one winding road and then another, and just when I thought the roads couldn’t get any twistier or narrower, Gigi turned left onto the scariest looking road I’d ever seen.
“Just close your eyes if you’re scared.”
“How are you not scared?”
She smiled, the steering wheel spinning one way and then the next as she maneuvered the all-wheel drive Audi up the incline. “I grew up here. I think big straight roads are weird.”
Well at least she was confident and experienced. I covered my eyes with my hand and sank into the seat. “How much further?”
“About two whole minutes.” She vibrated a little more with every mile, excited to see her family. And al
so, probably to introduce me to them. She babbled for the first half hour about how much fun we’d have.
Where Gigi was excited, I was nervous. I ate a normal amount of breakfast and lunch instead of the enormous meals I’d been eating. I simply couldn’t stomach anymore. My insides were twisted up in knots.
“Here we are!” She pressed a button and an old metal gate I probably wouldn’t have noticed began to open. A cement wall ran along the street and tall trees obscured what lay beyond the gate. “We moved to this property in 1802 and it’s been our homestead ever since.”
She maneuvered the car through the gate and slid down a gravel lane surrounded by forest. We drove over a little stone bridge. The forest disappeared and a meadow opened up on either side of the car with a little creek running through it. From there everything went up, up, up. Nestled into the forest above I counted four small houses. The gravel path wound back into the trees and twisted up a drive.
“And this is the main house,” she said, glancing upward with a smile.
What looked a lot like an enormous tree house emerged. It was made of wood and had wide porches all around. Windows—old and new—were flung open to let the crisp mountain breeze through. The more modern windows folded away while the older ones were propped up. There was at least one story that disappeared into the mountain below, and one and a half stories above.
It was like stepping into a fairytale.
“This is gorgeous!” I was so taken with it I could barely get the words out.
“The main house is where we grew up and it’s where all family gatherings take place, but as the family grows older and branches out, cousins and siblings have staked out a part of the property as their own and built their homes.”
“Where do you live?” My nose was plastered to the window and my mouth hung open.
“In the main house. We’ll share the top floor. I call it the Princess Tower because it’s only two bedrooms and it’s always been the girls’ floor.”
“Whose room am I taking?”
“Leena moved out a decade ago and the room has been empty ever since.” She drove past the main house and toward what looked like a barn on the outside but seemed to be a garage on the inside. There were parking spots on either side as we drove in, and Gigi slid into an open spot near the middle. Every vehicle was expensive and four wheel or all-wheel drive, which made sense given the road we just drove up. I could only imagine how terrifying it would be covered in snow in the dead of winter.
She popped the trunk and we gathered our bags, then I followed her toward the house. Dray loomed above at the top of the stairs. His jaw was cleanly shaven and his face showed no expression whatsoever. Not excited to see me, but not unhappy either. Just...nothing. He wore faded jeans, tall brown boots, and a t-shirt that was more worn than I’d seen him wear before. He still looked really (really) good, but different.
An older woman stepped out beside him and gasped, her hands going to cover her mouth. She had light brown hair and wore a floor length yellow dress. Then she reached out blindly for Dray.
“She looks just like her mother.” Her eyes traveled over my face as I mounted the final step and joined them on the porch. “She gets her hair from Tiynan, but the rest...if I didn’t know better I would believe I’d stepped back in time and Marhysa was standing before me.” Then she wrapped her arms around me and gave me an enormous hug.
I froze, my arms awkwardly pressed into my sides, my bag dangling from my fingers. Dray stood just behind her, watching us carefully but still with no emotion at all.
“Oh, this is great!” Gigi dropped her bag and threw her arms around Aunt Bethany’s. “One big happy family.”
Except I wasn’t family.
Dray blinked, his eyes meeting mine. Welcome. His voice echoed through my mind, sending a shiver down my spine. How did he do that? Did I like it? I think I did.
Gigi stepped away first. “All right, let’s get inside. Come on now. Shoo.”
Bethany laughed, releasing me, but not without one more rub down my arms and sweep of her gaze over my face.
“What hair does my mother have?” I ran my fingers through my dark locks, cherishing the special knowledge that this hair was my father’s and my face was my mother’s.
“Marhysa has the most beautiful head of red hair I’ve ever seen in my life. It’s entrancing.” Then she took my elbow and led me inside the House of Wren.
The inside was every bit as magical as the outside. Open, bright, and somehow made me feel at home even though it was magnificent. The ceilings in some parts stretched upward twenty feet. There was a massive stone fireplace in the kitchen and the living room, the floors were hardwood and covered in rugs.
“Gigi will get you settled upstairs, then Dray will take you on a tour of the property. Everyone will be here for dinner to meet you.” Bethany kept smiling at me like she couldn’t stop.
It made me feel special, just like Gigi and Dray had from the moment I met them. Apparently they learned it early on.
“This way!” Gigi grabbed my hand and yanked me toward a staircase.
I caught a glimpse of Dray watching, following the action with only his eyes. What the hell was up with him? Maybe I’d find out during my tour. After mounting two flights of stairs, it did indeed feel like we were up in a tower. The hallway overlooked the living room fireplace below. It would be so easy to play Rapunzel and throw down a long braid of hair from up here.
Gigi pushed open the first door. “This is me!” She tossed her bag onto a queen-sized bed. “And this is you!” She opened the only other door at the end of the hallway.
The room was a blank canvas. White walls, dark floors, a large queen bed with a wooden head and footboard, a white comforter, and a matching dresser.
“Everything’s empty, so unpack as you like. Use the drawers or hang up your clothes.” She cracked a door that I assumed was a closet. “And over here is the bathroom. I hope you don’t mind sharing.” She waved at the Jack and Jill bathroom between our bedrooms.
“The only bathroom I’ve had to myself is the one in my cottage. I think I’ll manage.”
“Oh yes. Of course. That was careless of me to say.” Her cheeks heated with embarrassment.
I threw my bag on the bed and plopped onto the mattress. It was an old ritual that taught me a lot quickly. Mostly how soft or hard the mattress was, but also if I got into trouble for doing it, how strict the rules were. And even though I was a few years past needing to worry about such things, the ritual stuck.
The mattress was soft and the comforter pillowed around me. Gigi threw herself down onto the bed beside me, looking up at the ceiling. “I know I’m a little over the top excited but nothing interesting has happened in forever. Sometimes it’s like we’re being so careful we might as well be frozen in time.”
“Careful of the treaties you mean?”
“Yeah. At least you’re a bright spot! So for your tour, make sure you’re wearing your boots and clothes you don’t mind getting dirty. I may like fine clothes and adore the occasions I get to dress up, but mountain life is its own thing.”
She had instructed me at length while packing. Nothing fancy. Dress for comfort and a little work. “How long do you think we’ll be?”
Gigi popped up off the bed and moved toward the bathroom. “At least an hour. Maybe two depending on how many times you stop to make-out.”
Dray’s emotionless response to my arrival popped into my mind. “I somehow doubt that will be happening.”
She shrugged. “It’s your loss. Have fun!” Then she skipped through her door, closing it behind to give me privacy.
I collapsed onto the bed. So this was the House of Wren.
“I like the boots.” Dray eyed my feet as I hopped off the stairs.
“They’ve only ever been used for snow days on campus, so hopefully they're up to the task.”
He grunted and moved to the door.
Apparently he was still in the mood to be emotion free with
the bonus of using as few words as possible. He climbed into what looked like a golf cart mashed up with a monster truck.
“What?” he asked from the seat with the steering wheel.
“I’ve never been in one before. I was just looking it over.”
His brow furrowed with confusion. “Never?”
I finally slid in beside him. “I’ve been in a couple of golf carts, but never something like this.” I pointed at myself. “Foster kid, remember? I didn’t exactly have a lot of extra experiences growing up.”
His face softened and his beautiful blue eyes moved over my face. “Yeah. Okay.” Then he started the vehicle and off we went down a dirt path. It was indeed an awful lot like a golf cart, but more capable of navigating dirt roads.
“The meadow is the most vulnerable part of the property but we haven’t had any intruders in decades, so I wouldn’t worry too much. It’s also the best way to access the Sato property. They homesteaded just to the east of us, and your mother’s family is just beyond them.” The cart trundled down the gravel road to the meadow and then along the creek to a fence.
“The Satos are allies?” One of these days I’d get it all straight.
“Our three families have been close for generations. We typically find our friendships and lovers here. Not just because we’re neighbors, but because we’re a safe alliance.”
He never once looked at me as he drove. Not when he took me along the fence line or the stone wall, not up the road back to the house and past it to the mountain forest above.
“Can humans become samhains?”
His jaw ticked. “Yes. There is one bloodline that has the ability to do that.” He finally glanced my way. “We can’t.”
“What’s the difference?” Apparently all samhain were not alike. I realized everyone had different sensitivities and that affected their gifts, but this sounded like much more than had been explained to me so far.
“Every house has different abilities. We’ve evolved them. The Wren’s are powerful shifters. Your mother’s house, the Nala’s, they’re deeply rooted in what you think of as magic. Of casting spells. Their words are powerful.”
