Loving Ean (The Fae Guard Book 2) (27 page)

I knock twice on Aden and Shaylee’s door and when I hear her call out, I turn the knob and go in. I come to a halt when I see Shaylee on a step ladder in the kitchen, moving things to the top cabinets. I pop my hip out, with most of my weight on one leg, and cross my arms over my chest. “Shaylee, Aden is going to freak the hell out and I’ve got to tell you, if he locks you in your room for this, I’m not going to stop him. What are you thinking, weirdo?” I’m keeping it light, but I let some censure sneak out. I understand not wanting to be treated like an invalid, but that doesn’t mean doing stupid, and dangerous, things while you’re pregnant, particularly almost seven months along with twins. Shaylee glares at me over her shoulder, but her cheeks tinge a little pink, giving away her guilty conscious. “I hate to be the one to say it, Shaylee, but I’m not going to sugarcoat it.” I’m glaring at her, my tone stern, but I can’t hold the serious face very long and I grin, “You’re too fat to be up on that ladder, Professor Nutty.”

Shaylee rolls her eyes as she gingerly steps, “I’m not going to take the bait, shorty. I’m pregnant, not fat.”

I’m too busy busting with glee over my next words to acknowledge her dig at my height. I think my grin split my face in two, “You can sew up your stomach and your asshole and you will always be fat.”
Walked right into that one, didn’t she?

Shaylee starts giggling, “Damn, I’m grateful that’s not true. As soon as these babies are born, I’ll be back to normal.”

“Not if Aden has anything to say about it,” I mutter under my breath.

Her laughter has grown wild (drowning out my comment, probably a good thing), and her whole body heaving with movement, then her laughter suddenly stops and she grabs her stomach, doubling over and crying out in pain. Oh shit! I run over to her, but I don’t know what to do. “Shit, Shaylee. I can’t believe I—are you ok? I didn’t mean- to—what should I do?” I practically yelling now, I am trying desperately not to lose it. Her whole body is shaking now and I kneel down to see her face and—seriously? Shaylee’s face is screwed up tight as she tries to hold in her laughter.

She opens her eyes and looks at me with a big Cheshire cat smile, “Gotcha.” Then she practically falls over with the force of her hilarity, peals of laughter ringing in the rafters.

“Shaylee,” I grind out through clenched teeth, “I swear to all that is holy, I’m going to kick your ass once you’ve given birth to your evil spawn.”

This only serves to induce another round of raucous noise. I cross my arms over my chest and tap my foot impatiently while I wait for her to finish. She finally calms down and when she sees the scowl on my face, she smirks at me and walks toward the hall to the bedrooms. At the entrance, she turns around and gestures for me to follow her. “Come on, you movie quoting freak. Come and see the nursery.”

I sigh and start in her direction, “Oh,
I’m
the freak? Right.” I point to her crazy t-shirt that says:
I grow people, what’s your super power?
She looks down and her smile widens, clearly tickled by it. I shake my head in exasperation and nod toward the hallway. “Lead the way. By all means, show me where your monsters will be caged.” I reach where she is standing and I can’t help myself, I pat her belly and say hello to my nieces. I can’t wait to meet them.

We walk into a beautiful room decorated in soft yellows and pinks. White, antique-looking, wooden cribs are set up on either side of the room with pink gingham mobiles hanging above. I’m not at all surprised to see fairies hanging from the little dome tents. Shaylee loves to mock the human idea of the Fae. The walls are a soft buttercream yellow, with white floor boards and crown molding. Pink, sheer curtains hang across the floor to ceiling windows on the far wall, and plush white carpeting covers the floor. I know, white floor and baby room shouldn’t go together. I’m not going to be the one to point that out to my brother’s emotional wife.

“It’s gorgeous, Shaylee.” I smile. She beams at me and we return to the front room to visit.

We migrate back to the kitchen and Shaylee immediately starts rooting around for a snack, making me chuckle. “I haven’t seen much of you lately,” she mentions, her voice is almost inaudible because her head is literally inside a cupboard. I wait until she retreats back into the open with a bag of trail mix and a triumphant look on her face.

I plop down onto a stool before answering, “I’m still assigned a couple of leath leanbh, and I’ve had to take a couple of trips with some other guards whose kids were having a hard time accepting the truth of their background. They were wavering and I went to help.” With my ability to forge relationships quickly, and my teaching skills, I’m often able to help struggling halfs. Sometimes, it just takes giving them a short lesson on their abilities and helping them to grasp onto that piece of the puzzle. Sometimes it’s just about talking to them and feeling out what they need to hear in order to get them back to Rien.

“Lemonade?” Shaylee offers. I nod and watch as she busies herself getting us both a glass of the cool drink and I know I’m going to regret asking but, as nonchalantly as I can, I ask, “Has Aden talked to Ean recently?” Shaylee brings the glasses to the kitchen island, where I’m perched on a stool, and eyes me speculatively.

“Not since the weekend before last. I guess they had it out over . . . something and he took off.” Her hesitation strike me as odd and her probing gaze makes the atmosphere awkward. I squirm unnervingly. “I guess Ean was pretty upset that you and Phin are together,” she states, watching closely for my reaction.

I start sputtering, not able to string any words together coherently. “That’s not—he doesn’t—we don’t—um, did he tell Aden that?” I’m mentally crossing every appendage and anything else I can think of until I’m twisted up like a pretzel. I can’t imagine Ean would tell Aden and risk their friendship like that when it’s a moot point anyway, because nothing will happen between us.

“Aden guessed. The way you two have been moping around and avoiding each other, it wasn’t hard to come to that conclusion.” I slowly uncross everything inside me and sigh.
A lot of good that did you.

“Well, nothing is going to happen there, so I hope they work it out,” I state. I put a little steel under the statement, making it clear that we need a subject change. That reminds me . . .

“Has anyone talked to Kendrix about this thing with Fate?” I take a sip of my lemonade and almost choke at the sour concoction in my cup. My eyes are tearing up and I start coughing, when I look at Shaylee, she just shrugs and continues to drink the bitter liquid as though it were the most delicious thing she has ever tasted. After she’s drained the glass, she grabs the pitcher and starts to pour herself another. “I’m not much for sugar these days,” she explains.
Clearly.
I wait for her to finish drinking and answer my question. “No. I don’t think anybody is brave enough to ask Fate about it. I’m not sure what to make of it, really,” she muses.

“She certainly evaded the question about his fated status quite smoothly. You don’t think—they can’t possibly be fated, could they?”

Shaylee’s shoulders bounce again. “You’d know more about it than I would.” A thoughtful look crosses her face, and it becomes mixed with skepticism. “I have a hard time believing that Fate would be sleeping with the guy she is fated with. She’s pretty adamant about staying far away from that kind of relationship.” I incline my head slightly in silent agreement. “Well, whatever is going on is between them.” Shaylee laughs ruefully, “Listen to us, gossiping like your little sisters.”

I grin at her, perhaps we do.

“How are things going with Phin?”
And, we’re back to awkward.

“I kissed him the other night. Like really
kissed
him.”

Shaylee’s brows raise in question, although she waits for me to go on. “It was nice.” I wince, the words sounding ridiculous, and I wish I could call them back. I don’t really know why, it’s not as though keeping it inside is going to change anything.

“Nice?” If possible, Shaylee’s brows rise even further.

I slump down in my chair, feeling frustrated and defeated. “I don’t know what to do. I want it to work with Phin, I really do. My body just isn’t on board with my head.”

“I wish I had the answers for you, Laila.” Shaylee grabs one of my hands and gives it a sympathetic squeeze, “Is the connection still there?”

This question draws out my irritation with Fate. “Yes,” I growl. “She won’t tell me why, but she says she’ll sever it when the time is right. I tried to ask her about Phin, and whether or not our souls would fit together and we could be fated. She gave me the run around.” Anger flushes through me and my temperature heats up, “As usual,” I spit.

“Either way, you could still be happy with Phin though, right? You don’t have to be fated?”

I sigh, some of my anger abating, “Yeah, I’d just like to be with my soulmate, and Fate did tell me she would help me find him. She hasn’t discouraged me from dating Phin, so I guess I’ll just keep hoping.”

I feel the first stirrings of guilt and mentally stab it with a very sharp knife. Ean has made it very clear that he doesn’t want me, there is no reason for me to glue my feet to the ground and stay in limbo. The future is in front of me, I just need to reach out and grasp it.

I’VE BEEN CONSUMED WITH
watching my charges since I stormed out of Brannon’s house. I just couldn’t take it anymore. I needed to work, to find solutions for the things I can control. When I’ve checked on each of them, I spend some time with the Ohtar, and then check my kids again. I don’t make myself known every time, I just take a little time to feel out the area and make sure I don’t find any indication of Fallen hanging around. I’ve run into it every so often, but they slip away almost the moment I feel the cool breeze inside, alerting me to their presence.

I was almost constantly on assignment, and I didn’t want to deal with shit from the guys, so I moved back into the training center. I hadn’t decided what to do with my apartment, so it was just as I’d left it. I studiously avoided running into Laila and so far, I’d avoided the inevitable collision.

A couple of my charges turned twenty-one last week and I was overwhelmed with relief that I’d been able to successfully protect two more Fae. I approached the council about replacing them and was thrown for a loop when they denied my request. Flynn tried to tell me that they thought I was spreading myself too thin. I have too much respect for them to blow a gasket and rage at them, but I was so pissed, I punched a hole into the window of my car.

Don’t they understand that work is all I have; it is all that I am? Staying busy with that means I have no time to dwell on . . . other things. Other people. So, I have become more vigilant with the leath leanbh I have left.

One of my charges is a sweet Irish girl about to be marked in a month. I can see Cuirealan struggling to find herself, and I hope that means that the knowledge of her rue heritage will give her direction. The last few times I have visited, I’ve sensed Fallen around. I’m still baffled as to how they are finding these kids before they are marked. When Aden got rid of Killian, we assumed that they would be crippled by not having a fate reader on their side anymore. It seems to me that they must have another if I keep finding them near my kids. But, Fate hasn’t said anything about it, so I’m not positive of anything. All I know, is that I feel their presence more frequently and I won’t let them get what they want.

I’ve just finished an afternoon sweep around Cuirealan’s house and I’m ready to return to Rien for some sleep and then a hunting assignment, when my magic is pricked and begins to flow through me. It’s followed by a gust of cold air, heavy and thick, almost like the air right before it rains. It’s stifling and it flashes from my very center, before I’m once again over taken by the comforting warmth of my power.

Whoever this Fallen is, they are powerful. Their presence begins to fade, keeping to the shadows as they leave, but this time, I decide to follow, to attempt to confront this evil being and find out what the fuck is going on. After passing a few more houses, the road narrows and becomes covered by intertwining trees, reaching across to each other and creating a tunnel of sorts. Sunlight leaks through the branches intermittently, however it is full of dark areas and in reality, I would be at a disadvantage entering the passageway.