Chapter 8
Ash’s expression immediately closed off.
It just slipped out. Callie realized that she’d been holding it back since Ash suddenly reappeared in her life.
Sure, she might’ve decided to give him a second chance rather than shut the door in his face and hide behind her wards, but it…
they... would never work unless she got past the hurt he caused her when he rejected her in favor of the queen.
He tried to explain already. Callie hadn’t been ready to listen.
The way she saw it, having a fae soldier watching over her was more about the welfare of her unborn baby than it was for her sake.
And maybe she’d been fooling herself that she actually believed that because Callie knew that she couldn’t move forward until let go of the past.
She shuddered out a breath, rubbing the underside of her belly as she met Ash’s gaze. His stunning face was flat. Expressionless. It wasn’t that cold, dismissive look that had twisted his handsome features, but it was just as bad.
Keeping his voice low, Ash leaned in so that only Callie could hear him. And what he said? It had shivers quivering down her spine.
“Let me make this perfectly clear. The queen demanded that I reject you. That I forsake you. To save you from her wrath, I would’ve done anything…
you should know that, Calliope. As your bonded mate, you should believe in me.
You should know there isn’t a single thing I wouldn’t do for you. I thought I already proved that.”
Callie looked away.
Because Ash… he had. She had trusted him so implicitly that she gave him her body, her soul, and her name. That was why it hurt so fucking bad when he seemed to discard her so easily like that.
“I never lied,” he continued in a voice like a lullaby.
“She thought I wanted you as a toy. A pet. She neglected to understand just what you mean to me. I didn’t want you.
I had you, and I claimed you. I love you.
But, more than all of that, I need you more than I’ve needed anything in this realm or the other. ”
Stay strong, Callie.
Stay strong—
She gulped. “You… you love me.”
“I always have. From the moment I knew you were my ffrindau, you were mine. But then I got to know my white-haired beauty and there was no question. Not for me. And there shouldn’t be for you, either.”
“Ash—”
He cut her off with a snap of his fingers. The fire didn’t catch on the first try, but when he did it again, the tiniest of flames formed at the tip of the pointer finger.
As she watched in astonishment, he created a small square.
One of his fae pockets, Callie knew, and she watched as his hand disappeared into the space he made.
Anyone else in the cafè could’ve seen his trick and realized he was less than human despite his glamour, but she didn’t care.
Her eyes were locked on his hand as he pulled it back out of the pocket.
Between his fingers, he held the stem of a familiar yellow flower.
“Another freesia,” she breathed out.
“That’s right. And do you remember what it means?”
“To love someone—”
“—unconditionally,” Ash finished.
Reaching out, he offered Callie his empty palm. And then her fae waited.
If she touched him, she was giving him permission. She wasn’t so sure that he needed it—considering he knocked her up, she figured that was a moot point when it came to a fae and his mate—but she understood the gesture all the same.
Turning her hand over, she pressed the back of her hand against his palm.
A hint of color returned to his cheeks; instead of being sickly pale, he tanned considerably as soon as she nestled her hand in his. His eyes brightened while his lips curved in a wicked smile.
Ash pressed the freesia blooms into hers.
“I’m back,” he told her. “I’m back and I’m not going anywhere. You have my heart. My loyalty. If Melisandre dared come through the portal, I’d take her head in your name. Nothing will ever separate us again… except for maybe you. Do you understand, Callie?”
She nodded, speechless.
“I can be your guard. Your soldier. I’m already your mate, but if I must prove myself again, I will. I’ll do anything for you. What do you say, my ffrindau?”
The word was out before she even thought it.
“Okay.”
It was happening again. Callie could feel herself falling harder, deeper, and she couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.
She wasn’t even sure she would if she could.
She blamed her hormones. Now that she was approaching her third trimester—and still hoping that she would have a normal pregnancy—she was consumed by them.
Her estrogen levels were continuing to skyrocket, and while the pregnancy books she borrowed from the library warned her that would happen, she’d been prepared for swollen ankles, tender boobs, and such wicked heartburn, she was keeping her local pharmacy in business with all of the Tums she was buying.
An unhealthy attachment to her Light Fae? Yeah… none of her books said that might be a side effect.
It took a few days before she agreed to really give him another chance.
Not as just a hired guard, but as her lover and the father of her baby.
He spent every night watching over Callie as she slept, willing to stay outside of the apartment if that was the boundary she felt comfortable in enforcing.
So that it was easier for Ash, she took apart more than half of her wards.
She still had enough to keep a fae fresh from Faerie from getting to her, and the longer he stayed in the Iron, the easier Ash found it to put up with the salt, the iron, and the herbs.
What he did struggle with, though? Was knowing that, while she kept him out of her personal space, Mitch still lived in the apartment.
After their breakfast at the cafè, Ash knew better than to mention her roommate again. He seemed eager to prove that he was only looking out for Callie, and with her hitting her seventh month, he didn’t want to upset her by forcing her to choose between him and Mitch.
Honestly, there was no reason for him to. By the end of that first week, Callie had fallen deep enough to realize that, if she was going to make this work, she had to do her part—and that involved sitting Mitch down one night and telling him that she was getting back with her baby’s father.
He took the news well enough, his disappointment lasting for only a heartbeat before he congratulated Callie on reconciling with her ex.
She could tell he was a little taken aback when she asked if it was okay that he move into her bedroom until the baby was born, but Mitch didn’t even hesitate.
If that’s what Callie wanted, he was on board, though he teased that he still wanted to be Uncle Mitch to the baby.
Once she got used to having Ash around again, it was like it used to be. The first time Ash got riled up over something, his aura flaring and shorting out her blender, she actually laughed. It was exactly like it used to be.
The only thing that really changed was how often she saw Mitch.
And maybe it was because she spent most of her free time at the apartment resting in her room with Ash as company, but over the next few weeks, it seemed as if she rarely saw Mitch.
She purposely did everything she could to keep the two males separated—if only because she was still worried that Ash might try to “convince” Mitch to leave again—but so long as he had her attention, Ash didn’t even react like there was a third person who lived in the apartment.
Mitch did the same thing, she realized. He never even asked what her boyfriend’s name was, almost as if by avoiding talking about him, he could pretend that he wasn’t there. Probably not the healthiest reaction, but Callie was happy to take it if it meant they didn’t argue.
Before long, Mitch started spending more and more time at the office.
If he wasn’t there, he was in his own room.
She didn’t even notice that it had been close to a week since the last time she bumped into him in the kitchen—and, considering her belly was growing by leaps and bounds lately, she meant bump pretty literally—until he sought her down one afternoon well into her seventh month.
She’d been laying down on the couch, her back aching, watching as Ash paced back and forth in front of her.
The fae was obviously agitated, something that he didn’t normally let anyone see, including Callie.
Finally, when it hit the point that he couldn’t stand it any longer, he told her that he needed to check something outside.
With a quick kiss to the top of her head and a warning that she shouldn’t leave the apartment, he strode toward the door.
The moment it shut behind him, the door to Mitch’s room swung open.
She looked over at him, ready to say hi.
“Hey, Mitch.”
“Can you talk?”
A pang of guilt stabbed her. And though she knew Ash would be back any minute now, she nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”
It was her fault, after all. She hadn’t meant for such a wedge to be driven between them, but it had just sort of happened.
And it wasn’t like she could explain to Mitch that her boyfriend was really one of the fae who was both pretty jealous and handy with a sword.
Not to mention he had a way of compelling humans to do things they wouldn’t usually do.
To keep Mitch safe, she had to keep them apart.
At least, that’s what she thought… until Mitch looked around the room, seemingly searching for something. Then, when he seemed pleased that he didn’t find it, he walked over to Callie.
She thought he was coming over to sit with her. Pushing herself up to her elbows, she swung her legs off of the couch, giving him room to sit next to her.
Only he didn’t. Instead, grabbing her hair by the fistful, he jerked her head up where he wanted it before bending down, forcing an open-mouth kiss on an utterly shocked Callie.
It took a heartbeat for her to realize what was going on before she yanked her head out of his grip. Her lips were bruised, her head stinging from where he pulled on her hair, but she was so stinking pissed at what her roommate had just done that she barely noticed the pain.
Shoving him away from her, Callie scrambled to her feet, dashing around the back of the couch so that it was between them before she snapped at Mitch, “What the hell, dude? What were you thinking?”
Please, oh please, let him tell me that he tripped and fell and landed on my lips…
Mitch’s dark eyes seemed unnaturally bright as he stalked her around the couch. There was no other word for what he was doing. He was stalking her like he was the predator, she was the prey, and there was nothing that was going to stop him from getting to her.
Nothing, except for a Light Fae who would come as soon as she called his name.
She opened her mouth, but Mitch managed to speak first. And what he said? Had Callie stunned into silence.
“I couldn’t take it any longer. Knowing another man is with you. Touching you. Kissing you. That should be me.”
Her eyes went wide.
He didn’t just say…
“I’m supposed to be the dad. Not him. Not the deadbeat. Me. It was always meant to be me. I can’t keep it to myself anymore—”
Finally understanding that he was getting way, way too close, Callie threw up her hands, trying her best to ward him off. “You really should, Mitch. I mean… we’re friends. That’s all. You know that.”
“No. I know that I’m in love with you. I’ve always been in love with you.”
“This is crazy—”
“I’ve always been in love with you.”
“You’re crazy.”
Mitch’s lips split in a wide grin that she’d never seen him wear before. “Maybe so, but I’m crazy in love with you. This is me, finally taking my shot.”
She shook her head, her white-blonde hair whipping her in her face with how fast she moved. “You really don’t want to do this, Mitch.”
“Run away with me, Callie,” he pleaded, backing her toward the kitchen. “Be mine. We can leave right now and that fae of yours will never, ever know. Trust me.”
Callie froze.
Trust him?
Trust him?
When he knew that Ash was a fae and he was only just telling her that?
His senses were dulled, but he was still an elite soldier. Over the iron and the noise, the stink of human waste, Ash caught a hint of Faerie lingering too close to Callie’s home.
In the few weeks since he’d been living near, then with Callie—staying in her bedroom with her while she was home, following her down to the portrait stop when she insisted on going to her workplace—he’d sensed it a few times, but nothing as strong at what was hitting him now.
It had been irking him since early that morning. He thought it would be a fluke. With Callie’s wards, very few of the faerie folk came near the apartment, but some passed by near enough for him to sense them. Assuming it was as simple as that, he ignored it.
Hours later, though, and it hadn’t dimmed.
It hadn’t grown stronger, either, and that concerned him.
Unless he was wrong, and he doubted he was, it seemed as if someone was keeping watch outside.
Just like how he used to stand at his post for hours at a time under Melisandre’s orders, it was like the presence he sensed was unmoving.
When he finally couldn’t stand it any longer, he told Callie he was going to go check. He only planned on taking the ten flights of stairs to the ground floor, then doing a circle around her block.
Turns out, that wasn’t necessary. The moment he stepped out of the lobby, he felt the pull of Faerie like an undeniable beacon.
Narrowing his gaze on the street in front of him, he searched for the source, but didn’t see anything.
Jogging closer, he followed the pull toward the ground where he found an apple.
Ash bent down, grabbing it. Beneath his glamour, his eyes sparked in recognition when he saw that the half-eaten apple wasn’t just any apple. It was more pink than red, with a crystalline sheen, and a sugary taste he knew very well.
It was a Faerie apple, taken straight from the Fae Queen’s garden.
Ash squeezed the fruit, pulp spraying to the ground and the sticky juice ran down his wrist.
Melisandre.