Chapter 15
Bluebell
I’m just finishing my evening meeting with the Mead Cute organizing committee when my comm watch pings, Hadrian’s name hovering above the band.
Merit and Bryony look at my watch with obvious interest, then Lemon and Oz shoot me matching satisfied looks as I rise from the table.
Heading for the door to get some privacy, I breathe a sigh of relief that the porch is empty.
Thank gods most monsters are still terrified of the Keeper’s house and won’t come inside the property.
It’s just Lemon who insists we meet here, and the house loves her, so she allows the rest of us in.
Something’s happening there, I’m just not entirely sure what, and I can’t wait to find out.
“Hey.” I can barely hold back a huge smile when I answer him.
“Hey, Blue,” Hadrian says softly. “You done yet?”
“Yeah.” I slide a hand into my back pocket. “Just finished.”
“Listen, baby, I’m out at the ranch working on some things. Can you come hang? It’s late, and I want to see you. I’ve got some news.”
Heat radiates through me, and I hop in place, the smile fully overtaking me. “Yeah,” I agree, heading for my truck. “I’ll come to you now.”
“I like the way that sounds,” he says, his voice low and gravelly. “I need you, little witch. It’s been a day.”
Oh boy, I bet I can help with that…
“Loving the new nickname,” I admit as I haul my truck door open and slip inside.
Hadrian laughs. “I might try out a few more to see what you like best, though.”
I’ve never driven so fast or been so thankful that Sheriff Rygold doesn’t hang around in speed traps.
By the time I get to Hadrian’s long rocky driveway, I’m practically slinging gravel as I barrel toward the house.
Reminding myself to have at least a little bit of chill, I slow down.
This is Hadrian; I don’t have to make this weird.
I’m still not ready when I pull into the driveway and he walks around the side of the house shirtless, jeans slung low on his hips and a bottle of beer in one hand. His wings are half flared at his back, tail lashing from side to side. He looks so…expectant.
When I put the truck in park, he stalks toward me with a secretive smile.
Except I don’t want him to be a dirty secret. I already know that. It’s not fair to him or me. We’re grown-ass people. I’m almost thirty, for gods’ sake. I’m going to tell him. We’ll talk to Jasper. It’ll be fine. Right?
He promised he’d protect our friendship, and I believe he will.
Or maybe we’ll just make sure this doesn’t end in disaster before we tell anyone. His friendship with Jasper isn’t the only thing at risk—he’s been my best friend for almost my entire life. I’d be devastated to lose that.
He gets close enough to press me to the truck hood, flaring his wings wide as he dips down and slides his hands under my ass.
Pulling me onto the hood, he slots his huge body between my thighs and leans his forehead against mine.
Staring into my eyes, he runs his hands up my arms and down my back, touching everywhere.
“Thank you for coming all the way out here,” he says quietly, pressing my upper body closer to his. “I gotta tell you something that’s gonna complicate matters, Blue.”
I freeze despite how fucking fabulous his big three-fingered hands feel on me.
Brows bunched, I stare up at him. “Something worse than my brothers?”
He nods. “Something I just found out about today.” He takes a step back and yanks his hair out of the high bun in a frustrated move that highlights his thick arm muscles. “It might be better to show you.”
I’m frozen on the truck hood, though, because why is it that every time we get close, something seems to pop up? My brothers. The Bodice. The fucking Gulch Gossip ladies. Now something else?
“Okay,” I say, hopping off the truck. “Talk to me, Alk.”
He grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “Still waiting on a better nickname, Blue.”
I’d come up with a witty retort, but I’m too worried about whatever he asked me out here to say.
He grabs my hand and pulls me toward the door.
Following in silence, I consider all the possibilities, but nothing makes sense.
Twenty years of friendship haven’t left any stones unturned.
I’d swear I know everything about this male, so whatever he has to say must be bad bad.
All of that changes when we enter the beautiful old ranch house. He’s redone so much of the inside, although it’s not quite livable yet—hence why he’s currently my neighbor. But across the living room in the room’s singular leather chair lies a young gargoyle female.
Wearing one of Hadrian’s sweatshirts. Skinny legs hang out from beneath it, cloaked in dirty jeans. Her tail thwaps loosely against the edge of the chair as she snores softly.
I blink rapidly, trying to process what I’m seeing. Wait…she looks familiar. I realize it’s the young girl who asked me about him earlier.
“Wait…” As I glance up at Hadrian, his smile is totally gone.
“That’s Petra, she found me earlier today just after you left Betty’s. She’s...Shit. She’s my sister, Bluebell. Well, half-sister.”
My mouth drops open, and I look rapidly between them.
Her face is lax in sleep, but the resemblance is uncanny.
She’s got the same cute dimple in her chin but heart-shaped face with a wide, angular jaw.
Feminine, but similar. And earlier I remember thinking her eyes were such a pretty, familiar color.
Brighter purple than the average gargoyle.
Just like Hadrian’s.
“Is this for real?” My voice is barely a whisper, and Hadrian nods, crossing his big arms as he stares at the sleeping female.
“I took her to Sheriff Rygold, and he verified she’s my sister. My father sent a letter with her too, pretty much saying, ‘Hey, this is Petra; we just found out about her, but she wanted to meet you.’” He runs a hand through his hair. “So they told her how to come find me, and here she is.”
A disgruntled gasp leaves me. Hadrian’s parents have never been attentive.
I’ve known him for twenty years and met them twice.
They were always more than happy to send him to us for entire summers at a time, claiming he preferred to be with us anyhow.
Most of the time, we got him ready to go back to school.
I’m both shocked and somehow unsurprised at this. But an entire extra sibling?
“Where has she been living?”
He pulls me toward the back door. “Human world with her mother, an ex of my father’s. Let’s talk outside.”
Quietly, I allow him to guide me out the back door and across a rough stone patio to his firepit.
A fire rages within it, spitting golden orange sparks into the sky.
In the human world, you could never do a fire like this outside for fear of burning up the whole state.
But here in the monster world, we’ve got a potion for keeping that from happening.
Hadrian takes a seat in an oversized chair, pulling me onto his lap with a sigh that sounds like it carries the weight of the entire damn haven system.
“Apparently, her mother died, and she spent a lot of years looking for my father. She found him and stayed with them for a time, but she wanted to meet me. She was…excited to have a brother. It’s kinda detailed here.
She told me the rest at dinner.” He reaches into his shirt pocket and withdraws a crumpled piece of paper then hands it to me.
I unfold it and scan the contents. My eyes spring wide. “They want you to keep her for years? Are they fucking serious?!”
“Surprise,” he says in a glum tone. “I need a drink. Would you like one too? I’ve got some of that plum whiskey from the coach’s private stores.”
“Make mine a double,” I mutter as I reread the letter, freshly shocked by the absolute godsdamn gall of Hadrian’s parents to send her without even calling. Even if she wanted to come, they should have come too.
A surprise sister and oh, by the way, please watch her for some unspecified amount of time?
What in the actual fuck?! I know they’ve always been locked into their research, so forgetful of the fact that time moves faster inside the haven system than outside.
A week for them in the human world is a whole month here so they’ve lost years with Hadrian.
I think it’s why he’s so much the opposite of that now.
“She’s got nowhere to go,” he says, tucking a stray lock of hair over my shoulder.
“Showed up with just a bag of clothes but wanted one of my sweatshirts at bedtime. I don’t know how to take care of a nine-year-old.
I couldn’t hide her from you, Blue, but I want you to know that her sudden appearance changes nothing about my intention toward you. ”
I stuff the letter back in his shirt pocket, considering my response. “Don’t you think it’s weird how stuff keeps coming up, though? Between us, I mean?”
He scoffs. “Just because something is challenging doesn’t mean it’s not worth pursuing, Bluebell.
But I will make you a promise right now.
I won’t run from this, and I will always talk to you, because the foundation of this house, our house, is built on decades of friendship.
Don’t run from me, little witch, and I will honor that bravery by doing the same. ”
Those words make me care for him more than anything he’s said since our attraction became apparent. But they don’t soothe the worry inside me.
“How you doing with this, Bluebell?” He slides a hand up my back and into my hair while he pours a glass full of whiskey from a bottle next to his chair. “I know it’s a lot to lay on you, and I put you in my lap so I can read your scent. Talk to me, please.”
“It’s a lot,” I admit. “She’s so young, it’s like you became a dad this afternoon.”
“I tried comming my folks,” he says with a sigh. “No answer, of course. I suspect it’s true that they’re so deep into the forest that they won’t come out for years.”