by Casey Lane
Thinking of Dylan made her stomach ache so she pushed the thought away as the boy with the huge black-framed glasses gave her a cautious smile. Quinn was his name. “Do you want to try it?”
“That’s okay,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll just watch.”
He shrugged, hitting the play button. Neoma’s gaze wandered the room. There was no bed in there, so Neoma figured this had to be a playroom. Aside from the television and the video games, there was a dresser overflowing with fabrics and a hat rack that held tons of scarfs and random props. There was a scarred white vanity with big bulbs just like a Hollywood movie star might have and tons of makeup scattered about. She wasn’t allowed to wear makeup.
But she was allowed to read books and to the right of the door was a floor to ceiling bookshelf filled with large hardcover books and small paperback books with curled edges and torn covers. She wandered to the shelves, picking up each book and stroking the spine. She loved books. She loved the way they smelled, the way the pages felt between her fingers. She liked how the covers got softer each time she read them.
“They’re just human books,” Quinn chimed in from the floor, not even looking in her direction.
Of course, they were. It was illegal to have books on magic. Only the Grove library could carry magical texts and only witches could access the library. Keeping magical books was a death sentence. Everybody knew that.
Tristin came to stand beside her. “Don’t listen to Quinn; he’s just bitter because his dad won’t let him see the Grove library anymore and Quinn’s already read like every human book in the world.”
Neoma knew the girl must be exaggerating, but Quinn seemed smart enough to have read every book in the world if he put his mind to it. He had intelligent eyes, and he exuded a sort of quiet genius that Neoma found calming.
Tristin pulled a small paperback from the third shelf, holding it in her hands as if it were a baby. “This is my favorite. It’s about a human girl who has to choose between two vampire brothers in love with her. Do you want to borrow it?”
Neoma's eyes widened. Real vampires were hideous creatures with mangled teeth and pointy bald heads...at least that's what Ezri told her. But the fictional vampires of the human world were something else altogether, tall and dreamy with supernatural strength and an unnatural allure. Yes, the fictional vampires sounded okay by her. Neoma couldn’t help the smile that split her face. “Yes, please.” When Tristin handed it over, Neoma clutched it to her chest, giving it the same reverence as the other girl. “Thank you.”
“You should come over here with me,” Tristin said, tugging her towards the bench in front of the vanity and pushing on her shoulders until she sat down. “I’m going to give you a makeover. We’ll make you look like a real faery.” Tristin opened a small drawer in the vanity and pulled out two pointy rubber ears. “Or even a fake faery.”
“Isn’t she already a real faery,” Kai laughed, not looking up from the screen. Neoma looked at the screen trying to see his face in the reflection, trying to discern whether the boy was serious or not. Kai's kart slipped on a banana peel and shot into a tailspin. “There aren’t any real faeries in our world anymore, stupid,” Tristin corrected her brother. “It’s too dangerous.”
“You know about faeries?” Neoma heard herself asking.
Kai snorted. “My sister thinks she knows everything about everything, but she doesn’t. The witches don’t want us to know anything about anything, so we know nothing and suppose everything. She just pretends what she knows is fact.”
Tristin pulled a pallet of glittery eye shadows from a drawer and opened it with a flourish before pushing Neoma’s hair from her face and clipping it behind her ear. “Don't listen to him. We used to have a server at the restaurant, and she was a Sprite. She knew all kinds of things about the fae world, and she used to tell me all kinds of things."
"What kind of things?" Neoma asked, a strange thrill coursing through her veins.
"That almost all magic comes from the fae, especially reaper and witch magic. I know that elementals like you are the closest genetic matches to the fae next to sprites and pixies which means your as close to a pureblood fae as we’re probably ever going to get."
Neoma had so many questions. Cain never let her talk about her fae side. He said it was better to pretend, to suppress that side of her. "Why is it dangerous to be a faery?"
"Because you're like unicorns on our side," Tristin said cryptically.
"What? What does that mean?"
"It means my sister's crazy and you shouldn't listen to a thing she says." Kai threw over his shoulder. Tristin chucked a lipstick, laughing as it hit the back of her brother's head with a dull thwack. He didn't even acknowledge the assault, still concentrating on the screen.
Neoma tried again. "How are faeries like unicorns?"
"Unicorn's are pure magic. That's why they don't exist anymore. Witches hunted them to extinction using their blood and their horns for dark magic spells. It's the same with faeries. Pure Fae blood is magic. Before the fae closed the window between our world and theirs, the fae had to keep themselves cloaked from witches who would steal their blood for summoning demons and other dark entities."
Neoma shivered at that. Was that why Cain told her to hide her magic? She wasn't a pureblood, but it made sense...as much as anything in the supernatural world made sense.
"Knock it off, Tristin. You're scaring her," Quinn said, honey brown eyes watching Neoma with an intensity that made her feel like he could see into her soul.
Tristin sighed, "Whatever. You're as close to a fae as we're likely to get, so I'm going to make you super sparkly.”
"Are real faeries sparkly?" Neoma couldn't help but ask.
Tristin shrugged. "I don't know, but I like to think they are. I like to think pure blood faeries sparkle like a Cullen vampire."
Kai gave another snort. "You and those stupid books. Vampires don't sparkle in the sun...they explode into a million bloody pieces...like a tick."
Neoma winced at the visual, but Tristin waved him off, makeup brush still in hand. "Nobody is talking to you. Play your stupid game."
Neoma pushed a piece of her hair behind her ear. "What else do you know?"
"Daisy—that was the sprite from the restaurant—Daisy said that their are three realms in the fae world and they are all controlled by one Kingdom. She said there's two types of fae...the Seelie—the light fae and the Unseelie—the dark fae. She said that every hundred years or so the realms go to war to battle out who will become the next ruler."
"You do know a lot about the fae."
“I like faeries. Or, at least, I think I would like the fae....the light fae, not the dark. I mean if there were any left.”
Neoma ignored the chill that ran along her skin, letting her eyes close as Tristin’s brush dusted glitter and shimmer along her cheeks, nose, and lids. "So the dark fae are bad, and the light fae are good?"
Tristin thought about it. "All I know is that witches used light fae blood to invoke a spell, but they used dark fae blood to revoke a spell. It just seems to me that the light fae are good and the dark fae are bad."
“Do you have any powers? As an elemental?” Tristin asked.
Neoma opened her eyes, sucking in her bottom lip as she stared into Tristin’s curious violet eyes. “I’m not supposed to say. Cain said it causes-" She paused trying to remember. "It causes unnecessary attention and that it’s dangerous to use my magic.”
That had the boys’ attention now. They paused their game, scooting closer on their butts. “Who’s Cain?”
“Wren’s dad. I live with them or, I did…”
Kai leaned forward. “Where’s your family? Why can’t you do magic? Isa said we can’t talk about magic outside of Belle Haven because the humans don’t know about it, but it’s totally okay to do magic in Belle Haven because the towns completely cloaked from the humans. You can talk about your magic or even use your powers. Everybody does,” Kai said. Tristin and Quinn
glared at him until he said, “Well, all the people who have their magic, anyway.”
Neoma looked to the closed bedroom door. She wanted to show them, to tell them. Wren had said it was okay, that Isa would understand. Did that mean Tristin and the boys would understand too? “My magic is tied to the earth. I can gather energy from living things, flowers, trees, anything with life,” she said, hesitantly. “The trees used to talk to me.”
Kai's eyes went wide. “The trees used to talk to you? Like actually speak with words?”
Neoma hesitated, cheeks flushing red, giggling. “Yeah, sometimes. They would tell me when I was safe and when to run.”
Quinn pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, frowning at her words. “Why would you not be safe?”
Neoma frowned. She didn’t know why she’d said that. She'd never felt unsafe with the pack, but something scraped at her brain, a memory just out of reach, trying to find it's way back in. “I-I just meant-”
Tristin cut her off. “She obviously just meant not safe from predators. The woods are dangerous. There are bears and cougars and mountain lions out there. It’s why Isa doesn’t let us go without Rhys.” Neoma looked at Tristin, grateful. Tristin winked at her and booped the glitter brush onto Neoma’s nose. “I think Neoma should spend the night. It’ll be fun to have another girl in the house. I never get to have another girl in the house now that Quinn's sister, Astrid, got her mark.”
"Her mark?" Neoma asked.
Quinn nodded, his expression solemn, eyes dull, radiating a kind of sadness that made Neoma want to hug him. "Yeah, you know, the mark that tells people you're the next to inherit your family's power. Do fae not have marks?"
Neoma just shrugged. She didn't have any marks that she'd ever seen. "I don't know any other fae. Shifters don't have marks. They just turn, or they don't."
The boys nodded, turning to, once again, lose themselves in their game. “I hope Wren falls in love with Isa,” Tristin whispered to Neoma. “Then we could be for real sisters.” She rolled her eyes in her brother’s direction before saying, “I always wanted a sister.”
Neoma hugged Tristin hard enough for the girl to grunt. “I want that too,” she promised. “More than anything.” But something nagged at her, giving her a pit in her stomach. Getting closer to anybody was a bad idea. Ezri said she wasn’t safe. She had giant holes in her memory, and somebody wanted to hurt her. Still, Neoma couldn’t bring herself to pull away. She wanted to be part of this family. In a weird way, she felt like she already was.
Kai suddenly tossed his controller. “I’m hungry. I’m going to go downstairs and find something to eat.”
“Isa is going to be mad if you spoil your dinner,” Tristin said.
“Well, Isa isn’t here, and I’m starving to death, so I’m going downstairs. Are you coming or not?”
Tristin heaved a sigh and pulled Neoma from the bench. “Okay, fine. I’m hungry too, but if we get yelled at, I’m blaming you.” Tristin once again snagged her hand, tugging her off the bench and out of her thoughts. “Come on, let’s go ask Wren if you can spend the night.”
Chapter Ten
Rhys
Rhys sat at the kitchen table, legs kicked up on the chair across from him, glowering at Wren who stood on a ladder in the hallway. Rhys didn’t speak to him, only watched. Just because Kai decided the wolf wasn’t a threat, didn’t mean it was true. It wasn’t like Kai would know anyway. He didn’t have any supernatural abilities, not really. He was a soul collector, big deal. He hadn’t even had his first collection yet.
Rhys stuffed a Frito into his mouth, chewing angrily. What the hell was a bonded mate anyway? It sounded fake, like something a person might make up to worm their way into stealing his sister’s pack. Isa was too smart to believe something so stupid. So why was Wren in their house? Why had his sister agreed to meet with him? Because he had the girl with him? Neoma? That had to be it. His sister was a sucker for an orphan, obviously.
Wren turned then, looking pointedly at Rhys’s feet on the chair. “Hey, kid, since you have elected yourself my security detail for the night, you think you could hand me that wrench?”
“Nope,” Rhys said, stuffing another chip in his mouth.
“Okay,” Wren said with a sigh, climbing down from the ladder. Instead of grabbing the wrench, he opened the fridge and helped himself to a bottle of water, twisting off the top and gulping it down, watching Rhys watch him. “I get that you want to protect your sister. I have three little sisters of my own, four if you count Neoma. I’d be protective too. It’s instinct.”
Rhys blinked at him, mouth flattening before he said,“If you’re trying to bond with me, it’s not going to work. I’m not as easily influenced as my sister.”
“I should hope not. You’re the left hand of the pack, right? It’s your job to be suspicious of strangers.”
Rhys snorted. “Right. That would only matter if we were a real pack. Which we’re not, by the way. So, if that’s your angle, you’re wasting your time. There are no super-secret members that we're hiding. It's just me and my sister and the kids.”
Wren shrugged, taking another swig of his water. “It’s as real a pack as any. You won’t stay this small forever, and Isa's going to need a left hand.”
“Isa would never trust me enough to make me left hand of the pack. She’d give it to Kai first.”
Wren frowned at him, but Rhys didn’t care. An alpha’s mate was her right hand, they helped with decisions and played diplomat with visiting packs…but the left hand of the pack, that position was only for a wolf who was strong and loyal, a wolf who would do what was needed regardless of the task. They’d kill or die for their alpha, did the thing the alpha couldn’t or shouldn’t do to maintain the integrity of their position.
Finally, the older wolf said, “That's not true.”
"You don't even know what you're talking about," Rhys growled, his wolf flexing within him, annoyed by Wren's assumptions. Rhys shuddered, swallowing hard, wanting to tear at his skin to make room for his wolf. Rhys always did what needed, always thought about the pack first, but Isa would never see him as anything but a screw-up.
“It’s hard to control, isn’t it?”
Rhys’s head snapped up. “What?”
“Your wolf? He’s restless, right? Always pacing? You feel like he’s always waiting for you to show even a bit of weakness so he can take over?”
“What do you know about it?” Rhys said.
“When I was your age-”
Whatever he was going to say died as Kai, Quinn, Tristin and Neoma came down the back stairs. Quinn went straight for the table and Rhys’s bag of Fritos. Rhys snatched it from his grasp. “Uh-uh, these are mine. Find your own food.”
“Come on, dude, we’re hungry. Can’t you not be a jerk for like five seconds?” Kai asked.
Rhys looked to Wren and then to Kai, upended the bag and pouring the contents into his mouth, chewing the remainder of the chips before handing the empty bag to Kai, smiling around his mouthful. “All yours.”
Rhys could smell Kai’s anger and, for a moment, it felt good. He loved getting a reaction from Kai; any response made the boys scent so…appealing.
Kai aggressively smashed the empty bag before stuffing it into the trash. “You’re such a d-”
“Okay,” Wren cut in. “That’s enough. I’ll make dinner. All of you, go outside. I don’t want to see you back here for at least an hour.”
They all stared at Wren in horror, all except for Neoma. She was already moving toward the back door, pausing when she saw nobody followed. It was Tristin who finally said, “What do you mean play outside? It’s hot out there, and when it’s hot, there are mosquitoes, and mosquitoes have malaria, and I am not going to go outside in the dark and get malaria just so you can make dinner, and I’m pretty sure Isa isn’t going to marry you if you give her kids a fatal disease.”
Rhys rolled his eyes as Quinn and Kai bobbed their heads in agreement. They were such babies.
Wren grinned. “Isa told you I’m here to marry her?”
Tristin gave Wren a withering look. “I heard Isa tell Gen that you’re her betrothed. Why else would you be here?”
Wren nodded. “That’s a fair point. As for your argument, I promise you; you’ll be okay. I’ve been in places where malaria is a pressing issue, Florida isn’t one of them.” Wren pulled a box of pasta from the pantry, opening every drawer and cabinet like he owned the place. “Go outside, run around, get sweaty, play in the dirt, be kids.If you don’t come back filthy enough for a shower, you’re not getting dessert.”
Tristin’s mouth fell open as if Wren had personally offended her. “You can’t threaten us with no dessert, only parents and babysitters can do that,” Tristin said. “More importantly, why do we have to go outside when we have perfectly good inside things to do like watch tv or read…in the air conditioning…like civilized people. It’s not fair.”
Wren bent until his forearms rested on the counter, and he was eye level with Tristin. “Tristin, you seem like a tough girl. The kind of girl who doesn’t whine about things like bugs or getting a little sweaty. So, I’m going to ask you a question, and I want you to think about it before you answer me.”
Tristin shifted from one foot to the other. “Okay?” she said, hesitating like a rabbit who might sense a trap. “Are you arguing with me simply to argue or is the idea of going outside for just one hour really that upsetting to you?”
Tristin contemplated his question. “I guess just to argue?” she said as if she wasn’t sure.
“So, could you please go outside with the others while I cook dinner? I’m trying to make a good impression, and you’d be helping me out.”
Tristin gave Wren a calculating look. “I’ll go play outside if Neoma can spend the night here with us.”
