by Alanea Alder
Izzy eyed the gleeful Meryn and the concerned looking Aiden. "That's cool." She wrote down the sites and log in information on the piece of paper, then handed it back to Ryuu. She turned to Oron. "What now?"
"Now, I'd like to invite you to take a walk with me outside so we can get to know one another better," he offered.
Izzy turned to the other women and they nodded. Amelia took pity on her. "Oron is both noble and kind. You couldn't ask for a better man. He will not only keep you safe, but put your needs above his own. Take a leap of faith Izzy, I promise you, you won't regret it."
Izzy looked back to Oron to see the concern in his eyes. She squeezed his hand. "Okay, but only if we find some bug spray first. I fucking hate bugs."
Meryn shuddered. "Amen."
Oron pulled his hand from her grasp and looked over to Micah. "If you would?"
Micah stood and placed a hand on her shoulder. He said something she couldn't quite understand, then was done. "There, you should be safe now."
Izzy raised her arm to her nose. "I don't smell anything."
Micah grinned. "It's a spell, not a chemical."
"So, I'm like bug proof now?"
Everyone nodded.
"Okay, being bug proof may just make all this craziness worth it."
Oron gave her a sardonic look. "Is that the only thing?"
She smiled sweetly. "So far."
"Have fun," Amelia said happily.
Oron stood and held out his hand to her. "Shall we?"
"Yes, but remember, the short one needs me in her life," she said, pointing to Meryn. "And she likes to electrocute people," she warned.
Oron grinned. "Trust me, I know."
Hand in hand, he led her outside.
I really hope he isn't a psycho killer, he's hot, and it would be such a shame if Meryn had to kill him.
*****
Oron didn't waste a single moment after they began walking to reclaim her hand. She had to admit, it felt nice. His hand was warm without being sweaty and he seemed to exude safety. Despite having only known him a couple hours, she felt completely at ease with him, as if she knew he'd do anything to keep her from harm.
"What did Ryuu mean when he said he'd arrange for supplies for our next destination?" she asked, after a few minutes.
"I wondered if you had caught that," Oron stopped and turned to stand in front of her. "Remember me telling you that Darian and I were fae?" She nodded. "Our next destination is Éire Danu, the Land of Eternal Sun and home to my people."
"Why do I think that it's not as simple as hopping in the car and heading down the road?" she asked.
He winced. "Because it's not. After the Great War, our queen saw the devastation our people were experiencing by losing their human friends and neighbors. The people back then were as close to the earth as we are and they were like curious children to us, but so susceptible to age, death and disease. To keep her people's hearts from breaking, our queen moved the entire city of the fae into a different realm, a sort of pocket existence parallel to this one. It can only be reached via a portal, and a portal can only be opened by the fae."
Izzy began to get excited. "A new realm and a fae queen! How cool is that!" They began walking again, ambling along the path.
When they reached a small clearing with a downed tree Oron led her over to it. He removed his jacket creating a cushion for her and had her sit.
"Thank you," she said, before sitting down and getting comfortable.
He simply sat directly on the ground. Even with her sitting above him on the tree he was still taller than she was. She watched his face, he seemed to be struggling with something.
"What?" she asked.
He looked up, surprised. "What?"
"Either you're constipated or you're trying to figure out how to tell me something awful, I kinda hope it's neither."
He blinked, then began to grin wryly. "It's the latter I'm afraid. There are things I must tell you about me before we return to Éire Danu, people may treat you differently being my mate."
"Different as in bad?"
He nodded silently.
"Listen, I just burned down my apartment and place of employment this morning. I've kinda gotten thrown into the deep end of this paranormal pool, but as far as movie scenarios go this," she waved her hand around at the serene picture the clearing provided. "This isn't so bad. I mean so far no one has tried to rip out my throat and aliens aren't trying to kill me, so I think I can handle what you're about to lay on me."
When he blinked at her, she realized how her pep talk might have seemed odd. "I suck at this comforting thing, don't I?"
He shook his head. "Actually, what you said helps. Maybe I have to realize that what is happening now far eclipses what happened in the past."
Izzy grimaced. "When you say past, please mean a couple years ago. Because if it's something horrible and traumatic that happened recently, I'm going to feel like an asshole."
"It happened almost five thousand years ago."
"Huh? What did? Like the pyramids being built?"
He chuckled. "No." He took a deep breath. "My family murdered an entire fae house."
"Your whole family? Grandma too?"
"No, both sets of my grandparents were lost in the Great War, but yes, all of the males participated."
Izzy felt so far out of her depth she didn't even know what to say. "I feel like saying 'I'm sorry' would sound trite."
"Trust me, I understand."
"So, did they get caught?"
"Yes, I overheard them planning. I was about to get help when my uncle caught me and threw me in the cellar. It took me all night to break the door down."
"Oh God! How old were you?"
"Ten."
"What happened to them?"
He drew in a shuddering breath. "By the time I reached the queen and she dispatched her royal guards to House Alina, it was too late, they were all dead."
"All of them?"
"All except one. Before going to the queen, I snuck into the Alina nursery to see if their youngest had survived. I found him alive and sleeping. I picked him up and ran as fast as I could." He covered his face with his hands. "I was so scared someone would find me before we got to safety. I wanted my father, but, then it hit me, I was running from my father, he was the monster I was terrified of."
She didn't know about the whole mate thing, but she couldn't hear his story and not comfort him. She scooted closer and wrapped her arms around his neck to hold him. "You saved the baby; I think that is pretty amazing."
He tilted his head, leaning into her embrace. "My parents didn't know I had been going over to House Alina to play with him. Back then there weren't many children in the city. He was one of the closest to me in age. I used to help his mother change him and feed him breakfast. I knew that had I been too late to save him, I would have let my father kill me."
"Don't say that. You were only a child yourself; how could you possibly be responsible for the actions of the adults who were supposed to be teaching and guiding you?"
He looked up at her. "I loved him so much that, had he been murdered by my family, I knew that I would follow him into death so he wouldn't be scared or alone. I promised him when he was born that I would take care of him and that we would be best friends and warriors someday. Dying wouldn't have been me not wanting to live, it would have been me trying to find him."
"Oh Oron," she squeezed his head tight in a fierce hug.
He laughed and pulled her down into his lap holding her close. "There much better."
She glared up at him. "You didn't like my hug?"
"You mean your headlock?"
"Whatever. So, what happened to the baby?" she was completely vested in the story now.
He leaned back. "The queen started looking for families to adopt him. There was a list a mile long of couples who wanted to add him to their family. I would sleep in the nursery every night and tell him all the wonderful things his new family would do for him. One
day the queen asked me who I thought should receive the baby." He smiled softly. "I told her that he had to go to one of the few families that had a boy because he needed a brother to watch over him."
Izzy felt her heart melt into a puddle in her chest. "That is so sweet. So, who adopted him?"
He grinned down at her. "The queen. She looked at me and said it's a good thing I am adopting both of you, you can be his brother."
Izzy's hands flew to her mouth as tears filled her eyes. "You got to stay with him!"
He nodded. "The queen saw how much I cared for him and knew that no one would adopt me, so she decided the best course of action was to keep us together. She was the best mother two boys could ever dream of having."
"Why wouldn't anyone want you? You're a hero!"
He looked surprised. "You really believe that, don't you?"
"Duh!"
"You don't think that I carry tainted blood?" He pointed to his warm brown eyes. "Hardly any of the fae are born with dark eyes, rumors about me were swirling long before my family's treachery. I carry some serious marks against me. Are you that sure I am not a bad seed destined to be evil?"
She gave him a flat look before busting out laughing. "You? Evil?" she kept laughing.
"You seem so very sure I'm not."
"You may be a lot of things, but evil certainly isn't one of them. You are one thousand percent marshmallow fluff." Izzy knew without a shadow of a doubt that the man who held her so carefully could never be evil. The little boy who would go against his family to save a baby could never be tainted. Maybe Fate knew what they were doing after all because he was quickly becoming everything she had ever looked for in a husband.
"Fluff, huh?"
"Yup," she paused. "Wait, is that why people will treat me differently because they think you're evil?" He nodded. "I need Meryn to show me how she electrocutes people because the first asshole to talk bad about you, is going down."
He blinked down at her. "I understand Aiden a bit more now. From an outside perspective that must sound horribly violent, but as you are defending me, I think that has to be the sexiest thing I have ever heard."
"You think I'm sexy?"
"Absolutely."
"Is it just because we're mates? Have you been brainwashed to like me?"
He rubbed their noses together. "No, being mates is not like being brainwashed. It's more like feeling as if you're a complex jagged crystal. You go through life thinking that it's a smart way to be. You have sharp edges that help protect you, but it's a lonely existence. Then one day you find another crystal whose serrated edges align perfectly with yours. You experience this odd feeling of coming home, and you're fascinated to discover all the tiny ways you fit together."
Izzy felt tears fill her eyes. "We fit?"
He leaned down and pressed their foreheads together. "I think we're perfect for one another. You need a bit of stability and I need to be shaken up. I've lived my entire life trying to please everyone out of guilt. I think I've lost of bits of myself in the process."
"Maybe you didn't lose yourself, maybe Fate or whoever gave me your pieces for safe keeping."
"If I weren't already half in love with you, that alone would do it."
"How can you be half in love with me? We just met."
He sat back. "Yes, but I've been dreaming of you for weeks."
Izzy thought back to her recent dreams, how she hated waking because in her dreams she felt someone standing behind her, watching over her, and protecting her. "It was you!" she said excitedly, turning so that she now knelt between his legs. "I never saw your face, but I knew that no matter what was going on, you'd protect me."
Oron nodded. "I have a lifetime of experience looking after a little brother, I feel confident I can pull you out of your scrapes."
"Did you see the dream about the cracked car windshield?" He nodded. "The shaved dog?" He snorted then bobbed his head. "My attempt at creating a baking sheet sized cookie?" He frowned. "That was the first fire right."
She gave him a sour look. "My 'first' fire was when I was like three."
He paled. "Oh, gods."
She gave him an evil grin. "I can't wait to see this fae city. Will I get to meet the queen?"
"Of course, she is my mother."
"Wait, so she's a queen and your mom. Does that make you a prince?"
He gave her a roguish smile. "Does that make me more appealing?"
"I, no shit, get a prince. Like a fairytale prince!" she jumped to her feet and thrust her fist to the sky. "Take that Emily Jenkins you empty-headed rerun! Who's voted 'Most Likely to Die Alone' and 'Most Likely to Amount to Nothing' now!"
Oron stood and swung her around laughing. "You tell them, Izzy!" He set her on her feet. "Is there a class reunion we need to go to?"
Izzy knew right then and there she was falling hard and fast. "You'd do that for me?"
He spread his hands. "You're willing to electrocute people for me, it's the least I could do."
"You're kinda wonderful."
"As long as I'm wonderful to you, that's all that matters."
"There's someone I want to meet more than your queen mom."
He frowned. "Who could that possibly be?"
"I want to meet the baby you saved. The little boy who became your brother."
Oron's eyebrows shot up. "But you have."
"Huh? When?"
Oron jerked his thumb toward the path that they had followed. "Back at the house. You remember the other blond guy who was teasing me and I flipped him off?"
"No! Seriously?" Izzy had a burning desire to get to know Darian better and hear from him how Oron was growing up.
Oron groaned. "You can't believe anything he says."
"Uh, huh." She turned toward the house.
"No, really Izzy. He lies. He is a horrible liar."
She began marching up the path.
"And he exaggerates, even about the smallest of things."
"Right."
"Izzy...baby. Come on, let's go torture your old classmates instead," he suggested.
"Later. Right now, I want to get to know my sort of mate's brother."
Oron stayed at her side. "I felt like we were bonding, let's just stay here." He halted dead in his tracks. "What do you mean 'sort of' mate?"
She stopped and looked back at him. "We haven't even kissed yet. I don't think we can be called mates if we haven't even kissed."
Wrong. Thing. To. Say.
She watched his eyes darken before he closed the distance between them in a single step. "I can remedy that." He leaned down and captured her lips.
This was no hesitant kiss from a blind date gone awkwardly wrong, this had the intensity of a starving man devouring a banquet. He licked and teased her until she felt her knees give. He easily caught her and held her against him. When he finally pulled away, she found she had difficulty breathing.
"Mates?" he asked.
She nodded, still feeling befuddled. "Mates."
"Good," he stepped back and steadied her on her feet. He gave her an elegant low bow. "After you," he said, nodding toward the house.
"Right. House. Good. Houses have bedrooms," she murmured, still feeling off kilter. She heard a loud thump and cursing. Confused, she looked behind her. "Why are you on the ground?"
Oron simply shook his head and stood. "Never mind. Let's go." He took her hand and led her back up the trail.
CHAPTER FOUR
Oron sat at the large dinner table with his Vanguard brothers, his friends, family and mate. He didn't think life could get much better. He watched Darian's eyes shine as he regaled an enraptured Izzy with stories of the two of them growing up. Even Amelia and Meryn had gotten sucked into the storytelling.
"And then there was the time Oron used briar brambles to tie Molvan Vi'Lerido to a wall," Darian said, smiling wide.
Oron groaned. "Not that old tale."
Darian shook his finger at him. "It's only old once you've heard it few dozen times."
/> Cameron and Liam leaned forward. Liam grinning broadly. "Do tell. I've crossed paths with Molvan before, I'd love to hear this story."
Darian took a deep breath. "Let's see, this was back when I was six, no seven."
Oron shook his head. "You were five."
"Right. So, when I was five, I was innocently wandering around the city..."
"He had escaped his nanny," Oron interjected.
"As I was saying, I was meandering around minding my own business when I came across Molvan teasing a tiny sprite. I was outraged, so I marched up to Molvan and demanded that he stop it at once."
"Cheeky little brat," Oron muttered.
Darian ignored him. "Molvan acted confused. He asked me what I was talking about."
"Why would he ask that?" Meryn wondered.
Darian turned to her. "You know how not all fae can see sprites?"
Meryn and Amelia nodded. Darian continued. "Well, there are caveats to that based on age. The older a fae becomes, the more likely they are to gain the ability to see sprites. Likewise, as a sprite gets older, they gain the ability to make themselves visible to everyone."
Izzy pointed to where Felix sat on Meryn's shoulder. "So, he's old?"
Everyone stared at Meryn, trying to figure out who Izzy was talking about.
Meryn's eyes widened. "You can see him?"
Izzy scooted closer to him. "Am I not supposed to?"
Oron wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "It's like Darian said, not every fae gains the ability to see sprites, but since you are mated to me, it makes sense that you have the ability to see them, it will help you acclimate to our world."
Amelia practically bounced in her chair. "I can see them too!"
Izzy wiggled her fingers at Felix who was now peeking out from Meryn's hoodie. He gave her a shy smile and wiggled his fingers back at her.
"So, this Molvan jerk was acting like he didn't know what you were talking about because he didn't think you could see sprites since you were so young?" Meryn guessed.
Darian nodded. "Oron and I hid the fact we could see them when we were younger, to avoid irritating the older fae around us, now it's second nature to do so."
