by Jayne Hawke
Copyright Jayne Hawke (2019) ©. All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents and dialogue are purely from the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is fictionalised and coincidental.
Licensed material is being used for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted in the licensed material is a model.
Cover art by Deranged Doctor Design
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
FORTY-ONE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
FORTY-FOUR
FORTY-FIVE
FORTY-SIX
FORTY-EIGHT
OTHER BOOKS BY JAYNE HAWKE
ONE
My magic collided within me. The silky metallic war god magic crashed against the delicate crystalline threads of my witch magic. Groaning, I clutched my head as everything became too clear all at once. Every tiny piece of magic in the area suddenly came into agonising clarity, all while my emotions slipped away and I considered war.
“Kit. Focus. You can do this,” Ethan said.
I took a long slow breath and opened my eyes to glare at him. Winter was setting in, and he was wearing a thin wool sweater which brought out the gold in his eyes. It also highlighted his exquisite body, especially the strong chest I was growing to enjoy leaning my head on. I swallowed hard as I felt the blood running through his veins. It called to me, with sweet syrupy whispers and promises of greatness.
I’d found out a couple of weeks ago my mother had been a powerful dark witch. I wasn’t entirely sure how she differed from normal witches, but I did know that I’d inherited her blood magic. The more I worked with my witch magic, the more everyone’s blood called to me. The magic coursing through it was so easy to pluck out and manipulate. I could make it mine, and I’d be a goddess.
Exhaling, I pushed the whispers aside and pushed my mind into my god magic. The liquid metal surged into my fingertips. War drums pounded in my head. Standing straighter, I felt stronger, ready to take on any foe.
Ethan grinned at me. His own magic was just beneath the surface, a heady mix of death and war. He was the son of the Morrigan, a rare and exceptionally powerful fae. The rest of the world slipped away as I allowed my god magic to edge further into my mind. There was nothing but the smallest shift of Ethan’s balance and the spark in his stunning eyes.
He’d been kicking my ass all day. It turned out his reputation as the finest bounty hunter and assassin in all the fae lands had been well earned. I wasn’t giving up yet, though. Licking my lips, I focused my god magic and pressed it out into dangerous points. Slowly, agony slipped up through my arms and clouded my mind. I never looked away from Ethan’s eyes as I felt the cool weight of swords beginning to form in my hands.
Dad was a fallen war god. His magic gave me strength and speed, and I was learning that it came with the ability to form awesome new weapons out of the ether. The pain almost made me close my eyes. Gritting my teeth, I focused past the searing heat that felt as though someone was trying to flay me alive. The time of hiding had passed. I was part of Ethan’s pack now, and I needed to step up and start using my magic to help people.
The swords had barely finished forming. The beautiful raven-feather-black swords were perfectly balanced, made just for me. The silky black shimmered sapphire blue and emerald green in the pale winter sunlight. Ethan moved with terrifying speed. His fist almost collided with my throat before I shifted my weight and stepped slightly away. The vicious grin on his face sharpened as his eyes never left mine.
His other fist came at my ribs. I blocked, but the hard blow radiated pain through my entire arm. I was used to pain by now. I tried to move back to get room to use my shiny new swords, but Ethan kept in close so I was blocked and unable to do a damn thing. He was toying with me as he twisted around me and tried to drive his knee into my side, purely to demonstrate that he could.
My breathing was coming harder now. I’d been practising with my magic all afternoon, and it was draining me. A white light formed at the very edges of my vision. Nausea began to rise, and the feeling of intense strength and drive slowly slipped away, leaving me feeling weak and wobbly.
The viciousness immediately left Ethan’s face to be replaced with an expression of deep affection. He wrapped his muscular arms around me and gently pulled me to his chest. The scent of sandalwood and leather engulfed me, bringing me to breathe deep and relax into him.
My hands were starting to shake. I needed to eat, to recover the calories I’d burnt.
“You’ve done well, you’re making good progress. Let’s get you inside,” Ethan said gently.
He moved to my side and slipped his arm around my waist. I leaned into him as my legs threatened to stop holding my weight.
“You kicked ass!” Matt said with a huge grin as I stepped into the kitchen.
My adopted brother had settled into life with the pack very quickly. Happiness shone in his eyes where it had been missing since our father had disappeared. I’d done everything I could to give him a good life, but he was half cait sidhe. He needed to be around his own kind, and that was something I just couldn’t provide for him.
Luckily for me, Ethan had pulled us into his small pack. We didn’t get much of a choice in the matter, but as the days passed I was finding I didn’t mind so much.
Dean smiled warmly at me.
“Don’t worry, dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” he said.
As usual, he wore a plaid shirt and pale jeans. I’d asked if he owned anything else, and he’d just shrugged. I never thought I’d be happy surrounded by some of the most dangerous predators around, but sometimes we find home in the strangest places.
TWO
The pack took eating very seriously. I settled into my seat next to Ethan as Cade and Kerry brought the food over to the huge farmhouse-style table. We were being treated to the most incredible-looking roast dinner. Kerry placed a joint of pork with beautifully done crackling down next to the large roast chicken. Next came the large serving dish full of Yorkshire puddings, pigs in blankets, four types of vegetable, and last but not least, two huge serving dishes overflowing with crispy golden roast potatoes.
My stomach growled as I looked upon the feast. No one stood on ceremony. The moment the last dish had been placed on the table, everyone dove in. Ethan handed me a dish of roast potatoes, and we each piled our plates high with them. Kerry swatted Dean’s hand away from the pigs in blankets and pushed a few onto Matt’s plate. I didn’t think anyone missed the warm blush that crossed Matt’s cheeks as she did so.
I grabbed some crackling right from under Dean’s fork and grinned at him as I did so. The room was full of happiness, and
I was revelling in it. Everyone wore a brilliant smile as they filled their plates. Dean passed me the apple sauce as I went to bite into the pork.
“You can’t have pork without it,” he said with a grin.
I’d never had the luxury of having pork with it, but I was game for trying it.
I put a dollop of the pale green sauce complete with small lumps of apple on the edge of my plate. Dean slathered a large piece of pork in the sauce before he put it in his mouth with a blissful expression on his face. I followed his lead and instantly saw why he’d insisted.
The warm pork almost melted in my mouth, and the slightly tart apple sauce brought out the richness of the pork. I was pretty sure it was the best thing I’d ever tried. Of course, I changed my mind when I tried the roast potatoes. They were light and fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside. I’d never enjoyed food the way I did with the pack.
“Are you guys staying here to watch the latest episode of Assassin Delta with us?” Kerry asked.
“Absolutely,” Matt said with a grin.
I raised an eyebrow at him. I’d been hoping to get home and see how the renovations were coming along. Ethan had insisted on paying for a complete renovation of our house. He had declared that as we were pack, and I refused to move into the pack house, then he was going to ensure that the house was fit to live in. The money he’d paid me from the stolen god magic job had been more than enough to fix the leaky roof, but his insistence on paying for all the renovations meant it went in savings. There were greater hardships in life.
Ethan had taken it far further than fixing the roof, though. He’d had a custom kitchen contracted, and that was being fitted that day. We had brand new furniture, including a bed with a mattress that didn’t have springs poking up and stabbing me in the night.
“You know you have rooms here, if you’d rather not stay in the mess of the renovations,” Ethan said with a spark of mischief in his eyes.
I knew that he was quite determined to get us to stay under his roof where he could watch over us. I wasn’t ready to give him my freedom, even if I did enjoy being in his arms and feeling his lips against mine.
“We’d love to stay and watch Assassin Delta with you,” I said.
Matt grinned at me and mouthed thank you. He was plenty old enough to stay there by himself, but we were all we had and he didn’t like me feeling as though I was left out.
Kerry and Cade brought out the desserts and took a deep breath. I reminded myself that my body needed more calories from the intense work with my magic. A little dessert wouldn’t be the end of the world.
There was no such thing as a little food in the pack house. Before I knew it, I had a bowl with spotted dick and custard, a plate with a generous slice of treacle tart, and another bowl with bread and butter pudding and a large dollop of rich vanilla ice cream. I gave Cade a flat look. He knew that I didn’t eat as much as the pack. He grinned at me unrepentantly.
Ethan stifled a laugh and bit into his treacle tart. I wasn’t sure where to start. This wonderful food was still so new to me. I picked up my spoon and began with the bread and butter pudding. It was an expensive and sumptuous dessert. I’d been told that before the fae returned to the earth plane dairy products had been a normal and cheap part of everyday life. The fae, however, had a penchant for milk and cream, which had driven the cost of those products up into the high-end-champagne prices I was used to. The cost of the butter and ice cream alone must have been in the hundreds.
Like every bit of food I enjoyed with the pack, the pudding was incredible. The rich creamy vanilla ice cream complemented the sweet and rich bread and butter pudding. I couldn’t believe the pudding had been a poor person’s dessert once upon a time. Now it was something only the wealthiest ate. Formed from stale bread, butter, warming spices including nutmeg and cinnamon, a lot of milk, and finally a couple of eggs, it sounded awful on paper, but the final result from something rich and somehow very homey.
“If you’re not going to eat that...” Dean said as he reached his fork towards my spotted dick.
I gave him my best glare, and he laughed. A big hearty laugh that formed crinkles around his amber eyes. Apparently I wasn’t quite as good at glares as the big bad fae hounds I hung around with.
THREE
Ethan had insisted on sending Matt and me home with half of a Bakewell tart. He pressed it into my hands with a broad smile.
“You need to look after yourself now you’re using your magic,” he said.
“I already ate three days’ worth of food...” I said with a laugh.
He leaned in and brushed his lips over mine.
“Take it, for me,” he whispered.
A shiver ran through me.
“Now that’s not fair,” I said.
He smirked at me.
I held the tart wrapped in brown baking parchment closer to my chest and sighed.
“Fine, I’ll see you in the morning.”
He leaned in and kissed me with a surprising ferocity. We’d been doing this little dance for a couple of weeks now. I ached to go further, to feel his hard body beneath my fingertips, but I was nervous. He was still a cu sith, if he decided to turn on me we’d have to flee to the other side of the world. It was a big decision that I wasn’t ready to make just yet. If I slept with him, then everything would change. I’d already signed a contract saying that I was his - for my own safety, he had argued.
Ethan smiled at me gently and opened my front door for me. He had a key for it now, which I felt weird about. I gave him my best smile and walked inside. Everything had changed. The interior was bright and airy. The kitchen was barren where the fitting was unfinished. The bones were there, but it didn’t feel like the creaky old home I’d grown up in. My heart ached as I closed my eyes and remembered my father’s laugh and my mother’s brilliant smile that lit up every room.
“We’ll always have those memories,” Matt said softly from the doorway to the living room.
I placed the Bakewell tart down on the small table that sat just inside of the front door.
“I know,” I said.
I pulled off my boots, another gift from Ethan. Chewing on my bottom lip, I wondered if it was all starting to feel like too much. He meant well, but I needed my independence and freedom.
“How’s the apprenticeship going?” I asked Matt.
He grinned at me.
“It’s incredible! There are no classrooms, I’m taught everything one on one - and we’re not starting with boring theory, either. Today I experimented with spring dew, and you would be amazed at the possibilities for something so simple,” he enthused.
A month ago, I’d thought that he wanted to be a marketing executive and live a comfortable, normal life. Then it had turned out that he really wanted to be an alchemist. Cue Ethan and the most incredible alchemy apprenticeship.
Matt put his hands on my shoulders. He was leaner and more lithe than me, thanks to his cait sidhe half. He made good use of the inches he had on me as he looked down at me with his best fatherly expression.
I poked him in the ribs.
“Don’t give me that look. I’m your older sister, remember.”
He smiled at me.
“You can tell Ethan to back off, you know. He’s a millennium old or something, plenty old enough to handle something like that.”
“It’s just so much has happened so fast,” I said, gesturing at the house.
“I know, but, look at all of the opportunities we’ve been given. We finally have a house that doesn’t sound like it’s going to fall down in the next storm, we can eat every meal instead of just a few here or there, and we know Dad’s alive out there somewhere.”
I thought back to the fallen gods that had been wired up and drained of their magic by some rogue hounds. I had known for a long time what the hounds did, how they stole the fallen’s magic to return to their own gods. Seeing it in person was something entirely different. One of the fallen had recognised me and said Dad was al
ive. I still wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. I knew it was nearly impossible to kill a god, fallen or otherwise. The idea of his being wired up and suffering like that turned my stomach, though. It was surely a fate worse than death.
FOUR
I tried to avoid spending all my time at the pack house, but the fact was that it was infinitely more comfortable than our house, especially during the renovations, and the majority of my friends lived there, as did my... I hesitated to think of him as my boyfriend, but he wasn’t exactly an acquaintance... my It’s complicated.
So, yet again, Matt was at his alchemy apprenticeship, and I was curled up on their very comfortable couch with Kerry in her favourite armchair next to me. She looked every inch the cat as she curled her slender legs beneath her, her fingers flying across the keyboard. Her usual leather pants had been replaced with a pair of baby blue pajama bottoms with tiny black cats on them.
“I see that warrior fashion has taken a sudden and unexpected turn,” I said, nodding to her pajama bottoms with a grin.
She gave me the very feline slow blink, and slowly a smirk spread across her face.
“Making your enemy underestimate you is a very useful tool,” she said.
I laughed and knew that she’d easily kick ass in those pajama bottoms as she did in her usual light leather armour. The cait sidhe was unstoppable in a fight.
“Did you hear about those grisly murders this morning?” she asked after a moment.
“No, I don’t make a habit of watching the news. Aren’t there grisly murders every morning? Hags, red caps, rogue shifters, witches with a grudge,” I said with a shrug.
“These were different. It was a highborn fae. They were a regular in the courts,” Kerry said with a frown.
Fae weren’t particularly easy to kill on a good day, but the higher they were up the ranks the more difficult they were to get to. The more time a fae spent in the courts the more power, and often magic, they wielded. That meant they had more protections.
“Any idea what got them? I assume it was a higher ranking fae reminding everyone how the court works,” I said as I began flipping through the channels on the TV.
