Page 246 of Lana Pecherczyk

Thorne glared back, but scraped his hand through his ice-blond hair in a pose Blake had seen blokes at the gym use when they knew someone watched them. The other two Guardians, Leaf and Indigo, stopped rigging and added their glares to the mix.

Nova clapped her hands and ordered her mate back to work. Leaf doubled down on his glare, then paused to tie his long blond hair, flexing his biceps and grumbling something to Thorne. Indigo grinned at his mate, Violet, and tried to go to her. Leaf tugged him back by his leathery wings.

Blake had the urge to join them. These people had become her friends, welcoming her as easily as River’s family. But first, she had something to do.

She refocused on the lake and fished a glass container from her windways pocket. The device felt warm in her palm—not really a device, but a thin, rectangular glass canister about the size of her old iPhone. Trix had outdone herself with this one. Even though they’d been using it to contact family for a few years, no one had named the invention.

So Blake called it a glasshole. River approved vehemently, and now the name had stuck.

She dipped the glasshole into the lake water and filled it to the rim. Bioluminescent flecks swirled through the liquid like tiny galaxies. Before she corked the gap, she held a finger before her face and concentrated. Mana rose from her inner well, swift and obedient, moving along her arm until it pushed out a claw from her fingertip.Success.

She let a few drops of blood fall into the water.

“Now for the finishing touch.” Crystal beads were next. She watched them settle between the glass planes, corked it, then shook it to test the sparkle factor. Not enough razz. “Tomorrow I’m bedazzling you, okay?”

But first—she sent another sliver of power into the glasshole’s water and asked it to reach out to any of her ancestors or family members that might be out there somewhere, frozen, just as she had been.

The water began to glow. She held her breath, too excited to hope.

No face appeared in the makeshift screen, just her reflection staring back with eyes holding flecks of gold she’d not noticed before. Honestly, she didn’t expect anyone to be on the other end, but had learned to hope for impossible things lately, which was why she continued talking.

“G’day, me little hidden gems.” She drawled. “Did you miss me?”

Silence answered, of course.

“Right, well, I’ve got some bloody fantastic news.” She tilted the screen toward her face, grinning. “Remember how the last time you saw me, I thought Jeff was about to propose again on that yacht? Well … that didn’t happen.” She frowned, realizing she didn’t even want to talk about him, and waved her free hand dismissively. “Yeah, nah. I won’t bore you with details about dickface. He’s not worth it. But me new man is. Or should I say, me new crow boy? New fae? I dunno. Doesn’t matter what you call him because check this stunner out.”

She panned toward River and let out a soft “Awwww,” then dropped the glasshole slightly as she became distracted by how cute her mate was being. The twins had upgraded from playful feather tugging to braiding his long primary feathers.

“Rush.” River’s voice held a warning tone. “Get them off.”

Rush tilted his head and put his hand to his twitching fae ear. “What’s that?” He spoke to no one. “You need my help to finish the setup.” He showed his palms to River and made a disappointed face. “Gotta go. Duty calls.”

“No one said anything!” River shouted, but Rush was already walking away.

Blake watched River stand there for a full minute before he finally ground out, “Flock faces, those aren’t for yanking.”

Giggling.

“Fine,” he sighed. “I give up. Go chase your daddy, and I’ll tell you a story tonight.”

The twins gasped and let go. Hazel bolted after her father, but Holly stumbled and scraped her knee on a jutting root. She looked up at River, tears welling in her eyes.

River shrugged. “You’ll get over it.”

But when she gave him those devastating puppy dog eyes, he made a constipated expression. Two seconds later, he checked to see if any of the male work crew watched.

“This should be good,” Blake mumbled, raising her screen to capture the moment secretly. The blood connection was still in effect.

River crouched and pressed his palm to the little girl’s scraped knee. Blue light flickered between his fingers. Then, with another quick glance around, he pulled a wrapped sweet from his pocket and pressed it into her palm. Whatever he said next was inaudible to Blake, but it put a mischievous and evil grin on Holly’s face. Then she skipped off, too.

“I think me ovaries are combusting,” Blake breathed as River watched the girls retreat, an unguarded smile touching his lips. She decided right then and there to make him paint this moment on her section of their trove wall when they visited later tonight.

“Hey, hun!” she shouted.

Her mate whipped around to face her, eyebrows raised, cheeks flushing pink.

“Wave for the camera and show the world how lucky I am.”