The Human’s Heart (Brinnswick Stories #3)

Chapter 1

Hugo

It was so strange to me that Zay’s family was close enough with him to warrant so much construction. Everywhere I looked, there were people milling about, hammering, drilling, carrying heavy wood, and doing… things I had no clue how to do—or even knew needed to be done when building an addition.

Zaos, my very sweet and super sexy incubus, looked at me from where he was speaking to the supervisor and lifted a brow in question.

I’d been learning how to block him from my thoughts lately, not that I was trying to hide things or anything.

It was just… nice to be in my own head, by myself sometimes.

Although, I liked having him there more than I didn’t.

But right now, I didn’t want him to think I didn’t like his family or wasn’t happy with this… giant project.

Because I did, and I was.

Zay’s family was amazing, if a bit overwhelming at times, and I was happy we were going to have more space here for visitors. It meant they’d have their own rooms and wouldn’t be sprawled about our living room or anything like that when they came for long visits.

But… I was also kind of worried that his grandparents were going to want to stay with us for weeks at a time. I wasn’t sure I could handle that much Ailin Ellwood at once. He was great; he was amazing.

Buuut… he was also terrifying.

And seriously intense. All. The. Time.

Like wow. Take a chill pill, dude. At least some of the time.

“Are you okay?” Zay asked in my head while somehow still listening to the supervisor dude while he pointed at some plans.

“Yeah, I’m good.” And I was, but that wasn’t the whole truth, and I didn’t want to lie to him. I never wanted to lie to Zay. “This is just a bit overwhelming.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how invasive this was going to be. Do you want me to call it off?”

I couldn’t help but snort at that. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that he’d do it if he thought I wanted him to. But what were we going to do? Leave a giant hole and a half-built foundation on the side of the house in our damn yard? That would be absolutely ridiculous.

“No. I’ll be okay.”

“You sure?”

“Definitely.” A small smile quirked up the tips of my mouth before I turned around and walked back into the house. “I’ll make us some lunch.”

“Sounds good, isa mezelie. Let me know if you need anything?”

As soon as the back door shut, I let out a long sigh, closed my eyes, and leaned against it for a moment. I only needed a few seconds to get my head back on straight.

“Are you okay, Hugo?”

My eyes snapped open to find Sebastian standing before me.

I wasn’t even surprised.

Ailin had wanted no one they didn’t know on the property at all, but Zay had finally gotten him to agree to let this particular construction team in. But only if he and Sebastian were allowed to be here any time the workers were.

I couldn’t exactly blame him after what happened over the winter with my old boss, Bart, who I hadn’t even known was a kitsune.

That had been terrifying, and I didn’t want a repeat of it ever.

Plus, knowing he and Sebastian were here to protect Zaos was a bonus.

Nothing could hurt my viramore with the two of them around.

I hadn’t seen Ailin outside, but I was sure he was out there somewhere, probably scaring the other poor humans half to death.

His presence alone was enough of a deterrent for attacks, so I wasn’t sure what he was worried about.

I sent Sebastian a small smile. “Yeah, I’m fine.”

He made a sympathetic expression. “It’s a lot out there.”

With a sigh, I pushed off the door to walk farther into the room. “Yeah, it really is. Figured I’d take a break and make some lunch.”

“That’s exactly why I came inside. A’s driving me nuts with his bossiness out there, and I’m sick of watching construction when I know nothing about it.

At this point, I’m used to helping make our homes out of living trees—or watching A do it—so this is foreign to me.

Figured I’d come in here and start lunch.

” He let out a small chuckle, and I couldn’t help but grin at that.

“Can I help?”

“Sure.”

He was already making some kind of pasta salad thing, so I got to helping with the sandwiches.

Apparently, most of the Ellwoods were vegetarians, so I was learning different things to make them.

Right now, I was doing a mixture of cucumber and avocado sandwiches, and of course, a few peanut butter and jelly ones—nothing could beat a good PB taking care of me and my sister—I’d been way too worried about keeping myself and Harlow alive.

And look how that turned out.

I winced to myself and pushed thoughts of my sister and her death out of my head.

It wasn’t my fault, and deep down, I knew that, but there was still a big part of me that felt guilty, that felt like I could’ve done things differently and saved her.

“You okay, isa mezelie?” Zay’s voice asked in my head.

“I’m alright. Just… thinking about Harlow.”

There was a brief pause. “Do you need anything?”

“No, I’ll be alright. Lunch is almost ready, so I’ll see you in a minute.” If I didn’t put a stop to it, Zay would march right in here and whisk me away to somewhere private so I could cry on his shoulder or maybe just so he could hug me.

Honestly, a hug sounded fabulous. But I wasn’t about to make him stop what he was doing just so he could hug me.

“Alright, isa mezelie, I’m here if you need me.”

“I know you are. Thanks, puddin’ pop.”

I could hear his chuckle in my head—the reaction I always got when I used that silly nickname. It was the reason I said it. I liked hearing him laugh. He had a really great laugh, and knowing I was the one who’d made him happy always made my chest feel warm with affection for him.

“Alright. I think we need maybe ten more sandwiches, and we should be good to take everything outside,” Sebastian said, bringing my attention back to the task at hand.

I stared at the humongous pile of sandwiches on the biggest serving platter I’d ever seen and raised a brow at Zay’s grandfather. “You really think we need ten more?”

He nodded without hesitation. “Most of the men on that crew are shifters or some other supe. Have you ever seen how much a shifter eats? You saw Kian’s appetite when he stayed here, didn’t you?”

“Wow, I’m really bad at recognizing supes. I thought all of them were humans,” I muttered under my breath.

Of course, Sebastian heard me because he was also a supe, and he chuckled. “You’ll get better at it.”

“You really think so?”

“I know so. When I first found out magic was real, I couldn’t tell what anyone was unless they shifted or did magic right in front of me.”

“Humans really didn’t know about supes and magic back then?”

He snorted. “Back then. You make me sound ancient.”

I couldn’t help but grin. “Well… you were in my history books, so…”

He barked out a laugh, shaking his head. “That’s still so weird to me. I never would’ve imagined I’d be in someone’s history book. Wild.” When I glanced at him, I noticed his cheeks were red.

I said, “I remember learning about you and Ailin. You guys were invaluable in, um… that one war… what’s it called?” I pursed my lips in thought. “Oh! The Berserker War, right?”