Page 16 of A Taste of Bliss

“Ah yes, now I remember.” She inspects Evan closely. “And you still haven’t met your mate?”

“Don’t interrogate the poor boys, Maude,” says her companion—Shaun’s grandpa, I assume.

Evan smiles kindly at Shaun’s grandparents. “I don’t mind.” He shakes Shaun’s grandpa’s hand. “It’s good to see you again, Mr. Pyxus.”

“Barton is fine, lad.”

Evan inclines his head and steps to the side, motioning to Benny and me. “These are our friends, Benny and Pisces.”

I nod my head in greeting, shifting a bit nervously on my feet. I’ve never met anyone from Shaun’s family. I suspect he hasn’t introduced Benny and I to them for a reason, so I’m not sure what to expect.

Maude peers closely at us. She leans in and whispers conspiratorially to Shaun. She must have noticed Benny’s pointed canines. “A turned vampire? Your mother and father will blow a gasket,” she says, though her words are accompaniedby an approving nod. “And you, boy,” she says to me. “What kind of Made fae are you?”

“A siren.” I stand up straighter, as if this will make her approve of me.

Her face blanches and she looks over at Shaun, her smile turning wickedly gleeful. “I’d buy tickets to see your parents meet this one.”

“Enough, Maude, they aren’t spectacles to be gawked at,” Barton admonishes.

She gives us an apologetic look. “Yes, I am sorry. How rude of me.” She turns to Shaun. “You’ve got a good group here of good lads. Listen, you must come by for dinner sometime. It’s been too long.” She pinches her grandson’s cheeks. “I’m proud of you, Shaun.”

They excuse themselves then and Shaun grimaces. “They mean well, but they’re still a bit stuck in the old way of thinking.”

I let out a little laugh. “They’re nicer than most Born fae I’ve dealt with.”

Shaun grins. “Even Evan and me?”

I bark out a laugh. “Especially Evan and you.”

Shaun leads us to another group, some of his old university buddies who also had their bonds activated during the ceremony yesterday.

“Gavin, this is Evan. I’m sure you remember him from uni? He was a few years ahead of us.”

Gavin grins and reaches his hand out to Evan. “Good to see you again,” Gavin says. His voice has a poshness to it that makes me almost instantly dislike him.

Evan shakes his hand but doesn’t smile. “Been a while.”

“We were just discussing the warlock attacks,” the blonde fae standing next to Gavin explains, almost like he’s doing us a favor by catching us up on their conversation.

I shift my weight to my other foot, practically buzzing with the need to get out of here. I look over to Benny, my face probably sayingwe don’t belong here, but Benny just gives me a reassuring squeeze on my arm and grabs another two drinks off a passing tray. He hands one to me. I take a few sips, grateful to have something to hold, some job for my hands to do.

“I’m of course of the opinion that we should eradicate them,” Gavin responds, proving my first impression dead on.

“You want to eradicate an entire species of fae?” Evan responds, a lethal note in his tone that Gavin doesn’t pick up on.

“Well, yeah, a violent one that’s starting to turn on us.”

Another of the group speaks up. “Watch them try to bring wraiths back to this realm. We should have eradicated warlocks at the same time we banished all wraiths.” I stop myself from rolling my eyes. This guy is an idiot to think the wraiths have all been banished. Some definitely still walk this realm. I’m proof of that.

“You make it sound like they’re dogs that need to be put down,” Shaun responds, his brow cocked in surprise. Though I don’t know why he’s surprised.

“Aren’t they?” one of the group says and laughs, the others joining.

I can feel my siren teeth pushing at my gums, wanting to put these disgusting Born fae in the ground.

Where they belong.

“The same might be said of you,” Benny says softly from beside me.