Chapter 3 Hawk
Hawk
Ipressed my lips together as I hammered another board into the wall. The tower, which would eventually become Ivy’s office and personal library, was slowly coming together. It was my pet project, and other than some help from Orion and Xerxes, most left it to me to complete.
My gift to her, in a way.
Even though I stole it from Orion.
He didn’t seem to mind, since the entire fucking island was his gift to her.
And anyway, he had his own pet-project happening in the gardens.
Now that the courtyard was complete and fully set up with all the things Ivy could possibly need, he was tackling the back patio area—which was more a deck than anything, with some hidden functions we were still sorting out—and the yard directly below it.
According to him, he couldn’t tell if there had been anything for children on the island. At some point, there would have been kids living here, though we couldn’t seem to find anything that would indicate they spent much time outside.
So, with the help of Arthur and Xerxes, he was going to build play equipment or something.
Honestly, those kids had an entire ballroom set up as an indoor play area.
And now that the weather was getting warmer, we were taking them to the pond in the field or to the beach to swim.
One of the guys had fixed up the shack down by the water to make it into a small space to keep kid-related stuff—toys, sunscreen, extra towels, snacks—and the pavilion out in the field was set up for camping, something Maisie was really into.
But this tower…it was mine to work on as I pleased. And I had a lot of ideas.
“You know, we need to paint this like, a deep purple-red, right?” Thea said, interrupting my thoughts. She had the seven cans of different paints I’d picked up in town.
I’d gravitated towards a deep green, considering all the personal library pictures I’d looked up—and, well, Ivy looked good in green.
But that was why I’d brought Thea in. Because even though I had a deep bond with my mate, her best friend still knew her better than I did.
I was working on it, but pregnancy sometimes put Ivy in moods where actually getting to know her proved…
difficult. One-on-one nights were a thing we tried to do after the war, especially for those of us new to the bonds.
But after a while, the pregnancy hormones kicked in tenfold, and it had to be more group time so she could get her magical fill.
“What do you mean?” I asked, lowering the hammer.
Thea set down the small tin, leaving the paintbrush inside, and pointed to the swatches she’d painted.
“These are great, don’t get me wrong. I’m proud of you, because most guys wouldn’t get so close to the right colour on the first try,” she said, meeting my eye.
“This would be great up in the reading nook. But Ivy always had a vision for her office, and she wanted it to be purple whimsy.”
“Damn,” I muttered, setting the hammer down with a groan. “Shit.” I stared at the swatches, none of which were the colour. At least I could use one upstairs in the reading area slash little library, which we were stabilising with new flooring and a better spiral staircase.
But I hadn’t stopped to wonder what colours Ivy would prefer.
“Hey, don’t stress,” Thea stated, hands going to her hips. “I doubt anyone here knows that about Ivy. You guys love her, but you’ve all known each other a year at best.”
“This is meant to be her wedding present.” I looked between Thea and the wall. “Or her pre-birth present.”
“And you still have time for both. I’m just letting you know, we need to go pick the right colour. You’re lucky you came to me.” When I glanced at her, she shrugged. “I will say, you’ve done well. This space is exactly what she wants.”
I blew out a relieved breath and scrubbed a hand down my face. “You think?”
“Yep. I know Ivy. She’s going to love it now and when it’s done.
But more so when it’s done and you get her a really fluffy, comfortable armchair.
” Despite the history we had, I was glad Thea could put aside my asshole behaviours to help.
Sometimes, it was hard to remember what I’d done.
When I was working, it was also easy to just… forget.
My memories would be forever fractured. Not broken, but also not quite whole. There would be pieces that were hidden, that slipped away when I wasn’t paying attention and would come back eventually.
The damage had been done; Dante made sure of that.
I released a breath and shook my head. “Would you come into town with me to look?”
“Have you gotten picture frames yet?” she asked, again crossing her arms.
“No.”
A small smile pulled at her lips. “Then you’re paying, Nash.”
Thank fuck for Rhadamanthus and his shadow jumping. He got Thea and me out without drawing any suspicion and picked us up the moment we needed it.
Of course, Ivy knew we’d gone out. The bond would have told her as much.
But she thought we were doing research on Thea’s identity and possible creature.
As it was, with the dismantling of Dante’s empire, we’d found at least three compounds he’d been jumping between.
The one in Luna, a manor just outside the city centre where he’d been operating his trafficking, and another small compound in Aither, at the very end of the Titania Mountain Range.
To say I was disappointed in my Court, the one I used to call home, was an understatement.
But with those compounds, we were locating artefacts and writings that were changing the landscape of what we knew, not just about Emris, but the old Gods. And within, we hoped to find anything that might explain Thea’s origins—if she had any in our world, that was.
We were trying to keep it under wraps, not just to hide it from our world, but to understand it better before it eventually leaked. Because it would.
“We have food!” Thea announced, holding up bags of takeout—well, Avalon’s version of it. We didn’t have fast food, necessarily, but we had variations of it. Burger places were big, as was pizza, but we did our own styles of both.
And from the Underworld came glorious smoked meats, tender and used in all different ways. A new place opened in the closest town by a group of shifters and demons who met during their time in Elysian after Dante’s attack, and they’d come together to build something new.
Ivy waddled her way towards us, eyes locked on the bags. “Oh, that smells amazing.”
“Girl, you should have seen inside,” Thea said, hooking arms with my mate.
“They did the place up all themed. Hawk said it was kinda Elysian inspired, with volcanic rock and shit. Anyway, it was so cool. We’ll have to take the girls in, because…
” As they walked off in the direction of the outdoor sitting area where some of the guys and kids waited, I stopped, blinking hard.
Darkness swam at the edges of my vision for a moment, shadowy spots dancing across my eyes.
The room around me was unfamiliar, and panic set in. The large windows across from me revealed a large group of people, none of whom I recognised, and the noise…
I moved to cover my ears as a ringing sound started, echoing in my skull. Pain pulsated through me as I looked around for a way out. My shoulders burned as I considered releasing my wings—
A hand clamped down on my shoulder. Are you okay? someone asked inside my head. It made me flinch and turn towards the creature.
Broad, tall, light hair, blue eyes. I blinked again. I knew this male. Knew his voice. Knew why he communicated with me that way, but…
I shook my head, mouth suddenly dry.
Someone else entwined their fingers with mine, and when I looked down, it felt like a light switch flipped. My mate’s sweet, calming scent filled my lungs with each breath I pulled in, and her touch calmed my racing heart enough for the pieces to fall back into place.
“There you are,” she murmured, smiling. “Come on, we’re having dinner.”
My breath came out shaky. “Right. Dinner.”
“You went to this new place in town,” she reminded me, “with Thea.”
Thea. Blonde, smoky sweet scent, unknown. Not a threat. I remembered her. She was helping me with a surprise. “Yeah. Thea. That’s right.”
The soft smile and the tentative hold Ivy had on me allowed me to slowly return to the present. The ease with which I’d forgotten made my chest constrict, but somehow, she could always bring me back.
I didn’t fucking deserve her, but I would be forever grateful for my girl.
Ivy guided me onto the back stone patio overlooking the back of the island. Through the trees, you could just see the field of wildflowers, the stone pavilion, and the pond.
The large table outside could seat us all, as well as a few additional people when needed. The handcrafted item had been a gift from the Summer Fae, a small sign of respect and thanks for all Ivy had done during the battle with Dante, and a request for forgiveness for their part in his schemes.
Even though we had our own food today, on the occasion no one wanted to cook, a spread would appear, like the table on the ferry that brought Ivy and us over from the human world. The kids loved it, and after a long day of running around, it was a useful gift.
Elias took the bags of takeout from me and set them down with a nod.
One thing I appreciated about these guys was that, unless I wanted to talk about it, none of them brought up the memory issues.
They were all able to help me through it when Ivy wasn’t around, but most times, she was the only one who could bring me back completely.
I knew it worried them, especially with the pregnancy progressing and Ivy being closer to her due date, but when I wasn’t working on the tower, I was with the witches trying to come up with ways to deal with it.
Right now, they weren’t sure if there was a cure for whatever Dante had done to not just me, but to the dozens of other creatures he’d had in his hold.
We took our seats; Ivy stayed beside me, Thea on my other side, while Arthur took the chair next to Ivy. The children came running around, clambering into their seats and chattering about their day.
“The new school year starts soon,” Eloise, the eldest, said quietly to Ivy. “Can we go back?”
Ivy leaned forward, brows raised. “Is that something you think you’re ready for? Because I would love for you to get out there and experience more than just tutoring.”
“I want to.” Eloise nodded firmly, picking at her dinner. “I think I’m caught up enough that I can keep up. I hope.”
“Has your tutor given you any tests?” Maeve asked as she nursed a glass of blood. She still wasn’t willing to feed from Ivy, didn’t quite enjoy our blood, so she drank from blood bags. “Just to see where you are?”
Eloise shrugged. “I keep asking, but she is, like, really strict with our lessons.”
“Yeah, that’s because she was our tutor for a while, and she had to deal with Rowan,” Adrian said with a laugh.
“I’ll test you on where you sit with your peers,” Maeve offered, leaning back. “But you are an excellent student, Eloise. I’m certain you’ll be fine attending secondary school in town.”
“Or, maybe we could look at getting you into the feeder school for Oberon,” Ivy offered quietly, a tentative smile playing at her lips. “It’s more work for you, but you’ve been doing so well…”
The girl brightened immediately, sitting up. “Really?”
Ivy nodded once, and through the bond, I felt her relief. She’d been incredibly cautious with the kids about these sorts of things since bringing them home, but she also knew what they wanted. And she knew being too protective would only push them away.
It was something we were all working on.
“Yep. But you have to do the tests Maeve gives you,” Ivy said, leaning into me. “And you must earn your spot there. I know this is something you want, and I’m not going to stop you, but you’ll have to keep your grades up. You won’t be staying on campus, and—”
Eloise flew out of her chair and ran around the table to wrap her arms around Ivy’s shoulders in a hug. “Thank you,” she whispered. “You’re the best.”
She really is, I thought. Even after everything, Ivy could just keep them here and know they were safe, but she knew better. Despite her fears, which came through easily with the bond, she still wanted her sister to succeed.
It made me love Ivy even more.