21. Baron
BARON
S taring up at my family home does nothing to calm the swirling emotions that claim me. My mind is always racing, but few words ever reach my mouth. The intensity of it all has only increased since Ivy’s arrival.
I should have anticipated it.
I didn’t.
Not until now, standing in front of my family home in the middle of Sunrock Valley without Sax by my side. He’s barely talking to me because of her. It’s getting better, but apparently not to the point where we make joint arrangements to travel home for our monthly family meal.
The front door looms before me, taller and wider than ever as I consider whether I should reach for the handle or turn around and leave.
As if sensing the fleeting thought, the door swings open, revealing my father on the other side.
“Son.” I nod, and he pats me on the back as he steers me into the house. “I’m doing you a favor. Your mother and sisters are all but hanging out of the upstairs window waiting for you.”
I grimace. “I shouldn’t have come.”
“After you finally accepted your fated mate?” He scoffs. “You’re lucky they haven’t paid you a visit before now.” Another pat on the back, and I find myself at the entrance to the kitchen.
Sax sits at the large dining table with a steaming hot mug in front of him. The tight smile on his lips puts me at ease enough to enter, slumping into the spot beside him as the three women in question come barreling through the door.
Spying my brother and me together at the table, her smile broadens as her green eyes dance with glee. I wonder if my duplicate eyes ever shine as bright as that.
Not anymore.
Attempting a smiley response is pointless, and she knows it.
Sax has our father’s eyes and our mother’s demeanor, while I have our mother’s eyes and our father’s demeanor. She knows my presence speaks a thousand words more than some bullshit smile on my face.
“My boys, you’re home,” she says cheerfully, descending onto the seat directly across from Sax while our younger sisters, Aster and Cami, the second set of twins, flank her sides, placing Aster before me.
I try to hide the grimace, but it’s impossible.
While Sax is a glass-half-full kind of guy, I’m definitely the glass-half-empty type. He’s more outspoken, whereas I’m more demanding. We’re two peas from the same pod, but we’re yin and yang, and instead of black and white, the color is from our eyes.
Green and Brown.
Cami and Aster are… completely alike in every sense of the word, except that Aster has no filter and doesn’t care about crossing any attempt at boundaries.
“Hey, Mom,” Sax says softly, reaching for her hand across the table, and she preens at the contact.
“Do you want a drink, Baron?” she asks, noting the empty coaster in front of me, but I shake my head.
“I’m good.”
“Are you sure? I can make you?—”
“I’m not thirsty yet, but I’ll let you know.” My tone is sharper than I intend, but it goes right over her head.
“You lost me twenty bucks, Baron,” Aster grumbles, folding her arms over her chest as she gives me a pointed look, and my eyebrows gather in confusion.
“How did I do that?”
She flicks her wavy red hair over her shoulder before leaning on the table to edge closer. “I bet Cami that you wouldn’t show.”
My pride almost made her the winner.
Mom shakes her head as she holds back a smile. “Baron should never have taught you how to bet on someone else’s actions.” The knowing glint in her eyes lets me know she thinks it’s payback for all the times I made Sax do it. For our parents’ actions.
“Pops said you love Momma too much to make her cry by not showing up,” Cami says, and I grunt.
Dad.
Pops.
Not the same.
My mother was gifted two mates. Finnick and Garside. They love my mom, Greta, like she hung the moon, but I don’t get it.
Finnick is Dad, mine and Sax’s father, while Garside is Pops, Aster and Cami’s father.
Garside is a good guy, I guess. I just struggle to connect with him. Some might say it’s because I don’t care to, but the truth is, I don’t know how. I know what I know, I feel what I feel, and I am what I am.
I’m the black sheep.
Every family has one, I’m happy to be ours.
I love my mother dearly. I’m permanently irritated by my father, even more so by Garside, leaving Sax as my closest companion, and the girls… everything. They’ll just never know it. They’d only find a way to use it against me.
Aster clears her throat. “So, are we going to address the elephant in the room before or after dinner? I vote for before since it’s sooner, and then we’ll all technically get to enjoy food in an awkward silence.”
Sax snickers, reminding me of his presence while he otherwise sits back, watching them gang up on me. “I didn’t know there was an elephant in the room. Why don’t you let us know what you’re referring to?” he muses, encouraging her, and I roll my eyes.
Aster somehow manages to lean even more on the table, so close that she’s almost breathing on my face. My fingers curl around the tablecloth in my lap, toying with the idea of yanking it, but it would only cause my mother to pout.
Instead, I use the fabric as friction against my palms as she speaks.
“The Angel.”
There it is.
“Ivy Hayworth,” Cami adds with a grin.
“Your. Fated. Mate,” Aster clarifies, her eyes so wide it makes her smile devilish as she towers an inch above me.
She’s sixteen, but she thinks she’s the older sibling.
My mother remains quiet, lips folded in on themselves as she tries not to pry along with them, even though we all know she’s desperate for answers.
“There’s not much to say,” I manage, face neutral as I meet each of their stares, but it’s clearly not enough.
“Has she forgiven you?” Cami asks, and I scoff, eyebrows almost touching my hairline.
“I wasn’t aware I needed forgiveness.”
Aster animatedly claps a hand to her chest as she blinks at me with wide eyes. “You don’t think you need forgiveness?”
“For what?” The three women across from us look among themselves, and I sigh.
“Having a fated mate isn’t easy, you know.
Especially when there are others involved,” I state, but my words fall flat when all they do is gape at me.
“What would you do if you had multiple fated mates?” I snap, the question blurting from my lips before I can stop myself.
Aster sighs, falling back into her seat with a soft smile. “Thank goodness, do you know how many needs I have?” she declares, and I choke on my next breath.
“I don’t need to know about your needs,” I grumble, and she cocks a brow at me.
“Well, there’s no wonder Ivy was gifted more than one mate, because you alone would be useless.”
“Aster,” my mother grumbles, eyes crinkled with a torn expression, attempting to come to my aid while not completely opposing what she’s saying.
“What? I’m not wrong; he only likes his views and doesn’t care to see reason or anyone else’s perspective.” Her stare whips from our mother back to me. “Have you considered that’s why she was gifted more than one mate, so her needs would actually be met?”
I purse my lips as silence descends over the room, but it doesn’t last long before Cami chuckles. “This feels like a ‘how many people does it take to change a lightbulb’ joke,” she whispers, holding her hand out for a high five off her twin, who is more than happy to oblige.
“Is food?—”
“So, Ivy… she seems nice,” my mother states, ignoring my attempt to change the subject as she smiles at me.
Sax slouches in his chair beside me, content with the fact that this conversation is going nowhere, while also leaving me to deal with the madness alone.
“How would you know?” I ask, and Cami huffs, tilting her head at me.
“She’s The Angel of Heaven’s Ridge, it’s easy to learn about her,” she replies as my mother sits taller in her seat.
“The papers say she is demure, polite, and courteous.” She stares at me expectantly, waiting for me to confirm or deny.
I shrug. “And?”
Another pointed look from the female side of the table before my mother nods at me. “Is she?”
I glance at Sax from the corner of my eye, but he’s happy to leave me to suffer. “She’s anything but,” I grumble, reaching for my brother’s drink since he’s not having it.
The taste of green tea sticks to my throat as I gulp it down, cringing at the taste. I glower at my brother for his poor choice as Aster regains her position, half-leaning across the table.
“It probably has something to do with the fact that you rejected her two years ago.”
“Aster,” my mother chastises, but it does nothing to change Aster’s demeanor as she crowds my space.
“I thought we were moving on from that, now that she’s there,” my mother says quietly, and I exhale, defeated.
Sax clears his throat, finally making his presence known at the table. “How do you move on from that? How do you look four guys in the face and offer anything more than a glare after what we did?”
I wish he’d kept his mouth shut.
It takes everything in me not to hide my face in my hands.
“Fix it,” my mother declares, like those two little words change everything.
“There is no fixing it,” I bite, earning four pairs of narrowed eyes, Sax included.
“You’ve tried?” Cami asks, and I look away while Sax runs a hand over his cropped hair.
“I helped her try to catch up on some subjects, but only once; she won’t see me again.”
“What did you do?” Aster all but kneels on the dining table, hands planted on her hips as she glowers at him.
“I didn’t do anything,” he insists, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Well, technically, I did, but she actually thanked me for it afterward. Yet, since the Rejuvenating Ceremony, she’s gone quiet.”
“You mean, since she was alone with Archer,” I mutter, glancing at my brother from the corner of my eye as I watch his jaw fall slack.
“I hadn’t thought about that,” he admits, scrubbing the back of his neck, and I shrug.
Aster clears her throat, like we could have possibly forgotten she was here, her interest in Sax no longer relevant as she narrows her eyes at me. “That doesn’t matter. What matters, Baron , is you need to realize she’s not Odesa.”
The entire room falls still, stiff with tension at the mere mention of the name.
“I thought we weren’t talking about her anymore,” Cami whispers behind her hand, like it will shield her words from the rest of the room, and my grip on the tablecloth tightens, but it’s with distress now.
“We’re not. Well, we weren’t, but I can see she’s in your head even now,” my mother states, sad eyes finding mine as I shake my head.
“She’s not.”
My mother’s pointed look leaves nothing to the imagination as she stares into my soul. “She’s making you hold back from the girl The Fates have blessed you with.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say with a sigh, truly questioning why I thought coming here would be a good idea today.
“I don’t?” My mother’s voice rises to that pitch she reaches when she’s hellbent on proving her point.
“No,” I answer, regardless, and she huffs.
“I might be old, but I’m wise, Baron. I know the look of heartache. I know what she did to you, and I know it comes with consequences.”
“Mom,” Sax warns, the roles shifting as she stands, bracing her palms on the table between us.
“She promised you forever and vowed not to accept her fated mate for you. You held up your end of the deal, against my advice, I might add, only for her to do the complete opposite.”
“Mom,” Sax repeats, but it goes unheard as my mother’s cheeks redden and unshed tears line her eyes.
“I won’t stand for it. I won’t allow that girl to cause you further pain. I?—”
“That’s enough, Greta baby.”
Everyone’s attention snaps to the doorway, where Garside fills the space.
His hands are relaxed at his sides as he stares lovingly at my mom.
Slowly, he strides into the room, the awkward silence dissolving as he throws an arm around her shoulders, tugging her into his side.
“Greta, darling, you mean well, but you’re making it worse. ”
She exhales, defeated, and I instantly feel bad as her eyes find mine.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, and I shake my head.
“It’s okay.”
Garside rubs his hand along her arm soothingly as he settles his eyes on me. “What your mother means to say is, we love you, with all our hearts, and we’re here for you always.”
My chest clenches, but I brush it off. “Sure.”
Before anyone else can make the situation worse, my device vibrates in my pocket, the perfect distraction.
Archer’s name flashes across the screen, making my eyebrows furrow as I bring it to my ear. He doesn’t give me a chance to speak before his voice floats over the line.
“Have you seen Ivy?”
My brows deepen. “I’m at home with Sax.”
“Has he seen her?”
I glance at my brother, who must hear Archer’s question because he shakes his head. “We’ve been here a while.”
“What’s going on?” Sax asks, waving at my device, and I reluctantly put it on loud speaker, placing it on the table between us.
“Teddy said she was at fencing, but no one has seen her since. Her friend Meadow is worried, apparently. She managed to find Clay, who asked Ember, who couldn’t find her in the dorms either.”
“So why are we worried?” I clarify, earning a deathly look from my mother and sisters, while Sax shoves at my arm, taking their side.
“We’re worried,” Sax confirms, and Archer sighs.
“I’m out by Inky Lake, but I can make it back in…” His words trail off, silence hanging like a guillotine blade as Sax clears his throat.
“Archer?”
Heavy breathing filters through the room.
“Fuck,” he whispers, the sound of wind whipping around the device as Sax frowns at me.
“Archer?” he repeats, but he pays us no mind as distorted panic crinkles through the line.
Unease tingles down my spine and I launch to my feet.
“Archer!” I boom, a few groans coming through before Archer’s voice echoes in my ears.
“It’s Ivy.”
“Ivy?” my mom asks, helplessness glazing over her eyes.
“Ivy? Ivy! Can you hear me? What the fuck? Ivy? Talk to me, Angel. Ivy? Ivy!”
“What the fuck is going on?” Sax snarls, eyes wide and nostrils flared.
“Fuck. She’s drenched, sopping wet from head to toe with a fucking bag over her head. Shit. Her pulse is weak too.”
“What the fuck happened?” I roar, my vision misting red as rage burns through my veins, until Ivy’s weak voice comes through the device.
“Odesa.”