Page 19 of A Fate of Blood and Magic (Fated #2)

Chapter

Eight

ELIAS

“What time will Javier be home?” I asked for the third or fourth time.

Teddy rolled her eyes as she bit down on her grin. “When he finishes hanging out with his friends. Now that they have the design on the skateboard I told you about, they wanted to practice riding it some more before they come over.”

I grumbled. It wasn’t that I minded him being with friends.

Quite the opposite. I was happy he’d made friends and was spending time being a regular kid, especially since life had robbed him of that opportunity far too many times.

I simply wanted to tell him and the girls our news.

It didn’t matter that he already knew; I wanted to share this moment with all the younglings.

And I wanted to see if his friend that Teddy had mentioned could contact Brenton from our realm.

If not, I’d have to get permission from his parents to take him to the human realm through the secret tear I’d created.

I didn’t simply want Brenton back to tell him about Teddy’s pregnancy. We needed to regroup and start planning our raid on the first compound. Now that we had Sebastian’s map, none of us needed to search aimlessly.

In the middle of our front yard, the girls played with Hee-haw. He maintained a firm grip on the rope he tugged on, and the three girls pulled their end as hard as they could, grunting and shouting at each other so they wouldn’t lose yet another round of tug of war to our silly pet.

Without the girls noticing, I sent snow beneath Hee-haw’s feet that I froze to make him slip. This time, when the girls tugged harder, Hee-haw fell to his butt and glided toward them.

Their raised hands and cheers made me grin.

Sitting on the wooden swing, Teddy poked my side, making me yelp. I grabbed her finger and kept it captured in my hand.

“Cheater.”

I scoffed. “I would never.”

As if he knew exactly what I’d done, Hee-haw glared at me with what I swore looked like malice. I laughed, but when he let out a derisive bray, I held my hands up in a sign of surrender.

“You win,” I said. “I apologize and will make sure you get extra treats for dinner tonight.”

Teddy shot me an amused look that warmed my chest while Hee-haw made his way to the patio.

He nudged the first step and let out an annoyed grunt before striding up the two steps.

Strange beast. With an even louder snort, he sat in front of Teddy, who crouched in front of him, petting him between his two large ears while the donkey stared at me.

If he could speak, I was certain he’d gloat about the fact that Teddy now held him instead of me.

I was tempted to show him my middle finger, a gesture Teddy used all too often, but I didn’t want the girls to catch the offensive signal.

“I’m sorry that mean fae is being a bully to you,” she said, kissing the top of his head.

Hee-haw brayed in agreement.

I caught Alastor and Javier’s scent, along with the three foreign scents of his friends, before I saw them. I shot to my feet with excited nerves drumming through me. At my sides, my fingers twitched in anticipation.

“I take it Javier’s home?” Teddy asked from where she still sat with Hee-haw.

“Alastor too.”

When Teddy shifted to rise, I offered her my hand, and with her free hand, she brushed the dirt from her jeans before she stepped to my side where I hugged her to me.

I dug my nose into her thick hair and took in her soft, distinctive scent.

And simply because I could, I focused on the extra heartbeats, that were faint but strong.

“Looks like we’re gonna have a full house to share our news.” She beamed, her fears from earlier no longer present.

Although I worried about what she’d said, I didn’t let it show. She was right, though. I wanted to be here for her pregnancy. Knowing I’d leave her again made it hard to fill my lungs.

Alastor lifted his brows at me in greeting as if he sensed the eager anxiety surging inside me.

Teddy noticed the disheveled look of Javier’s clothes before I did, and she rushed to him.

Our news burned in my chest, too bright to hide, and suddenly my hands and feet felt oversized and clumsy.

I crossed my arms, tucking my hands into my armpits.

“What happened?” Teddy asked when she stood in front of Javier. “Are you hurt?” She reached a hand to a cut across his lips before she looked at the other two young males and the single female in their group. “Are y’all hurt?”

“We’re fine, Mama Teddy,” one of the males said.

Finally noticing, I bent space to get to them quicker. “Who did this to you?” I asked, my tone a dangerous snarl, but the scent of his dried blood made my own blood boil.

His friends took a retreating step back.

“It’s nothing,” Javier said, holding his hands up at us. “I got in a little fight with some kid.”

Rage built, and while I couldn’t hurt some foolish youngling, I wasn’t above attacking their father. “What kid?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Javier argued.

“Javi,” Teddy said softly.

With a quick nod at Teddy, Alastor ushered the girls and Hee-haw indoors. The older younglings followed, giving me a wary nod in greeting.

“Look,” Teddy began but hesitated. “I’m sure you have your own way of dealing with things. Elias and I want to be here for you, but we can’t if you don’t tell us what’s going on. If someone’s messing with you . . .” She shook her head, ignoring the way her magic sparked on the tips of her fingers.

Javier dipped his chin to focus on a small rock he shoved with the toe of his shoe. “No one’s messing with me.”

Teddy sighed, her shoulders drawing in a little. “Fine.” It came out small and a little sad. “Come inside so I can clean the cut on your lip.” She pointed her chin toward his hands. “And your knuckles.”

Javier clenched his hand and nodded at her. It didn’t feel right to leave it at that, though. Before either of them moved, I put a hand on Javier’s shoulder.

“I know you can take care of yourself,” I told him. “The fact your knuckles look worse than your face tells me you’re more than capable of taking care of yourself.”

A small, proud grin crossed Javier’s face before he turned his attention back to the ground.

“All Teddy’s saying is you can count on us too. Okay?” I squeezed his shoulder, letting my hand drop as I waited for him to reply.

“I know,” he said.

“If Teddy and I are going to be getting a visit from an upset parent, can you at least tell us why you and this kid fought?” I asked.

He shifted his weight before he drew in a deep breath. Chewing on his bottom lip, he bounced his attention from Teddy to me.

“I—we weren’t doing anything, I swear,” he said. “I was showing my friends how to use this skateboard we’d built and”—he rubbed the back of his neck—“we weren’t bothering anyone.” His eyes were wide and pleading.

“Okay,” Teddy said, her tone gentle. She touched his arm and squeezed. When he teetered closer to her, she put her arm across his back. “You were teaching your friends how to skateboard, and then what happened?”

“We didn’t see them at first, but there were three human kids from my class hiding behind some bushes, and they started throwing rocks at us,” he said.

“They got Delaney right above her eye.” He rubbed a spot above his right eyebrow.

“I went after them without thinking, and I . . . I don’t know.

I lost it on one guy, but the other two ran off.

I just...I remembered how people had attacked us at Teddy’s house, and other times kids had gone after me at school, and I don’t know.

” His eyes still wide, he shook his head.

“I got so angry. Delaney, Kieren, and Aidas are unlike any of the kids back home. They didn’t care that I dressed different or spoke different from them.

But people, human kids always have. And seeing them go after my friends, I had to do something. ”

“Defending and protecting your own is among the most noble thing you can do,” I told him. “Did your friends retaliate?”

“No, they said they wouldn’t fight humans because we’re not as strong as them.”

Pride swelled in my chest at both Javier and the way he fought for his friends, and at his friends for knowing they could’ve easily destroyed those younglings but refrained from doing so.

“You did something good today,” I told him. “Something you should be proud of.”

He drew his brows together in confusion, his attention again swaying from me to Teddy. “You’re not angry I fought?”

“I’m angry those asshole kids threw rocks at y’all,” Teddy answered, her cheeks flushed. “I’m pissed you got hurt.”

Javier wiped a finger below the cut on his lips. “I’m barely hurt.”

With a laugh, I patted the back of his neck. “Spoken like a true warrior.”

He grinned. “I asked Alastor to heal me but he thought you should see me before he did.”

I winked at him, smiling at the way Teddy fretted over him. “What if you let Teddy tend to you, instead? It’ll make her feel better.”

Javier gave her a small smile. “I don’t know when Alastor got there, but he’s the one who got me off the guy,” he said, his tone calmer. “Alastor was healing him when the kid said some shit to Alastor.” He ducked his head down.

I waited for him to continue when Teddy asked, “Did you go after him again? ”

“Yeah, but Kieren grabbed me before I could.”

“I’m pretty sure we shouldn’t condone fighting, but you have a good group of friends. I’m proud of you for defending them,” Teddy said, taking in the smile that built on Javier’s face. When she held her arms out to him, Javier stepped into her embrace. “Thank you for defending Alastor too.”

“We’re family.” A blush rose from his neck to his cheeks. “Kind of, right?”

Teddy slipped her hand to the crook of his arm. “We are family.”

She tugged him inside, where they passed the watchful girls and disappeared into the kitchen.

“Is Javier in trouble for fighting?” Jasmine asked, her arms crossed and tone serious, ready to defend her brother the way he’d done earlier that day.