Page 56

M y gaze immediately went to Abe when he stormed into the house.

Shit. His green eyes narrowed on me, and I pretended to be busy making food even though Haden had told me that I was forbidden from cooking unless he was in here.

I didn’t blame him—I caught the bread on fire and almost burned our home down.

I refused to acknowledge his presence, but I could feel his eyes staring into my soul. Maybe if I ignored him, he would leave, but his presence was becoming more hostile with every passing second. Sighing heavily, I turned and looked at him.

“Oh, hi, I didn’t see you there,” I lied.

His eyes flashed red. Oh, fuck, he was really pissed at me.

“You invited her,” he said, glaring at me.

“She’s nice.” I smiled.

“She’s fucking stalking me. Her coven is the biggest pain in my ass.”

“I don’t think she’s stalking you; she just thinks you're handsome.” I smiled, but he was not amused. I sighed heavily and looked at him. “She’s pretty.”

“Yeah, pretty psycho,” he reminded me. “I do not want her anywhere near me. There is nothing about her that I want. You think she would take a fucking hint that I do not find her appealing in any sense of the word. The best part of hiding was that I did not need to see her or that damn coven.”

I looked over his shoulder and frowned when I saw Elowyn’s smile slowly fade away. My face fell when I watched her friendly, honey-colored eyes fade at my brother’s words. He noticed the look on my face and turned around.

“Elowyn,” he said quickly.

She looked at him like he had ripped her heart out and stomped on it. Then she swallowed hard, set down the desserts she made on the counter, and hurried out of the house to join the rest of our friends.

Abram turned his angry glare at me.

“She isn’t my mate.” He narrowed his eyes on me, but I saw a hint of something in his eyes when he said it.

“I didn’t say she was, but she is my friend. She helped me when she didn’t need to.”

Abe clenched his jaw before looking at the desserts she set down. He snagged one and began eating it before he stormed out of the house. A moment later, Haden came in and gave me a concerning look.

“What happened?” he asked. “Elowyn looks like she’s been punched.”

“She overheard how much Abe does not find anything about her appealing.”

Haden flinched, knowing that Elowyn had a big crush on Abe, but also knowing that he didn’t feel the same.

“Well, he could have fooled me; look at him.” Haden nodded his head toward the window.

I watched Abe standing off to the side talking to Ezra, but his eyes were on Elowyn as she sat by the pond away from everyone with some friend Ezra brought.

The man was making his way over to her, and Abe could not look away.

I didn’t know Ezra’s friend, but he said something to her, and she looked up to him and nodded.

He smiled and sat down next to her. Abe’s jaw was clearly clenched as he was not listening to a word Ezra was saying.

Ezra seemed to notice and slowly stopped talking before looking over at whatever Abe was staring at, then nudged him and said something that made him storm off in anger.

Ezra then looked up and saw Haden and I spying. We both ducked, trying not to be obvious that we were gawking, then we began laughing when we looked at one another. But someone clearing their throat behind us made us turn to see Ezra with his hands on his hips. He looked like a disappointed parent.

“Thanks a lot; now Abe is mad at me.” He glared.

“For what?” Haden asked.

Ezra pointed out of the window at his friend and Elowyn sitting at the pond.

“That. He’s pissed that I brought a friend.”

“Well, he just told her that she was not appealing to him in the slightest, so he can deal with it,” I said.

Ezra frowned, and I realized that it was similar to what Farris had said to him. He refused to talk about her. Even years later, he couldn’t think about her without an astounding amount of grief filling his eyes.

“Maybe you should go see her.” I frowned at his somber look.

“No, she is probably happy with her husband. I don’t want to ruin it.” His quick response made me think he had rehearsed it a thousand times. “She didn’t want me before, and nothing has changed. I can’t change who I am, and I already know that I am not what she wants.”

I frowned but dropped it because this was Ezra’s choice, and he had not changed his mind in twenty-five years. Ezra sighed as he looked at Haden and me holding hands. A commotion behind him made all of us focus on Cassius as he came in. His golden eyes were wide as he set down a plate of food.

“Prepare yourselves; she’s in a mood today,” he said warily.

We all smiled when Thea came in. Her face was in a hard-pressed line as she looked at Cassius, who was smiling.

“Why are you in such a good mood?” she asked Cassius grumpily. Haden turned away from them as he began laughing.

“You are so beautiful, little viper; you make me happy.”

Her eyes narrowed on him as he came over and hugged her tightly. She gave him a kiss before he reached forward and rested his hands on her huge belly. Thea watched Cassius stare at her pregnant stomach with wonderment, and she smiled softly at him.

“Well, I don’t feel beautiful. I feel extremely uncomfortable. I wish these babies would get out of me.”

Cassius reached over and grabbed a dessert, handing it to her. Thea immediately smiled brightly and started eating it.

“I love you.” She smiled, and Cassius’ eyes burned bright with his amusement when he looked at us.

“I love you too, my love.”

“These are so good. Who made them?” Thea asked.

“Elowyn.” I smiled.

“She’s an angel; this is exactly what I needed.”

Cassius looked at us and the desserts, then out the window.

“What’s going on there?” he asked, making all of us turn to look.

Abe and Elowyn were having a heated argument, and then suddenly, she slapped him.

“Oh shit,” Haden whispered.

She was storming into the house, and Abe was right on her heels. We scattered like guilty children caught snooping. She came in, her pretty face red with fury.

“Thank you for inviting me, but I have to leave early.” She exhaled sharply, barely holding herself together.

“You don’t have to go.” Abe was right behind her.

She ignored him.

“Do you need me to take you home?” I asked.

She had no magic to take her home quickly and lived quite far away. Tears welled in her eyes as she kept her gaze firmly away from Abe. He looked at her like he was begging with everything in him for her to turn to him.

“No, Vic offered to take me.”

We all looked at Abe when she said that, and he instantly became pissed off again.

“Over my dead fucking body,” he growled. We all watched my normally calm brother lose his shit. “He is not taking you home. I will.”

She whipped around, her dark hair floating over her shoulders.

“Go fuck yourself. You are the last male I would want to take me home. Stay away from me,” she warned him.

Abe’s green eyes flashed red, and he stepped toward her.

“I am not letting some fucking stranger take you home. He could be a pervert or something.”

“I wasn’t asking for your permission,” she hissed. She raised her finger, poking it into his chest. “I can make my own decisions, Abram. And I am choosing for Vic to take me home.”

“I wasn’t asking either, Elowyn.”

Much to our amusement, Vic walked in a moment later, and everyone remained dead silent as he looked at Elowyn and Abe. They were less than a foot away from one another, both breathing heavily and staring daggers into one another.

“Are you ready, El?”

Abe turned to him and narrowed his eyes. Gods, I might have to hold my brother back from killing this man.

“She isn’t going anywhere with you.” He spoke very calmly, but we all knew that this was worse than him yelling at Vic.

Vic looked at Abe before looking at Elowyn. Then a smug grin crept over his lips. Oh, fuck, this man was asking to be strangled.

“El’s a big girl; she can decide what man can take her home, and that is me. So, back off.”

Ezra sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of his nose. He knew his friend was toeing a very dangerous line right now.

“Come, Elowyn,” Vic called to her in a way I didn’t like. Elowyn hesitated and looked at Abe.

“She isn’t a dog.” Abe stepped forward. “You should leave before I embarrass you.”

The man laughed and reached forward, grabbing her wrist and tugging her.

Before any of us could move, Abe swung, punching Vic so hard in the stomach that he let go of Elowyn and fell into Abe’s chest. Abe grabbed him by the collar of the tunic, lifting him up, and walking him backward out of the house.

I heard him toss Vic out before slamming the door shut.

When Abe came back, he was fucking livid. Elowyn stepped back and put the table between the two of them.

“That isn’t going to save you from me,” he promised.

She swallowed hard, but Abe used his magic to move directly behind her. She gasped when he spun her so she was facing him. Then he lifted her, tossing her over his shoulder, before looking at all of us.

“I will make sure Elowyn gets home safely.” He paused for a moment and looked at Thea and Cassius. “Sorry, I will miss the excitement.” He smiled at us all again before he and Elowyn disappeared.

“Oh, he’s in love.” Ezra laughed.

I didn’t know what the hell was going on with those two, but I was staying out of it from now on.

“What did he mean about excitement?” Haden asked Cassius. But Cassius was staring at Thea, who swallowed hard. Her eyes filled with tears before her face looked pained.

“My love?”

Thea turned to him and began crying. He stood up and looked over her to see if she had been wounded.

“What’s wrong?”

She groaned in pain.

“Oh, my gods, she’s in labor,” I said.

Cassius pulled back and looked at her with a big smile. But stopped when she began crying harder.

“I can’t do this. I’m not ready,” she muttered.

He grabbed her face and made her look at him.

“You are Thea Valeska; you can do anything. We are ready. I will be right by your side the entire time.” Cassius kissed her before picking her up and smiling at us. “It’s time to have some babies.”

Then they were gone.

Haden turned to me and smiled.

“When are you two going to have babies?” Ezra asked. “Probably soon, right, considering?”

I looked at him oddly. “Considering what?” I asked.

Ezra looked at me and then Haden before disappearing without a damn word. Haden smiled at me.

“Abe told us how many children each of us were going to have when he was trying to convince us he was the God of Fates. He told Ezra he was going to have seven. Thea and Cassius are going to have three sets of twins.” He began laughing when my eyes widened.

“And us?” I whispered.

Haden gave me a sweet smile as his hands came and rested on my hips, pulling me to him.

“Four.”

When I had my vision of mine and Haden’s future, I had seen children, but I had not been able to tell how many or if they were girls or boys.

“Thea asked Abe to share something else because it was interesting, and he told us that one of their children and one of ours will be fated mates. That is why Ezra said that.”

My chest squeezed tightly.

“That makes me very happy to hear,” I whispered as emotions strangled me.

“We will become one big, happy family. I mean, we already are, but you know what I mean.”

I leaned forward and kissed him, then laughed.

“What?”

“Can you imagine seven little Ezras running around—heavens help us.”

Haden leaned forward and kissed me. His hands glided up my body until he was gripping my face on both sides. He tilted my face and kissed me deeply again. He pulled back and smiled.

“We should go to Crimson before I say something crazy like, ‘let me put a baby in you’.” His eyes gauged my reaction and darkened when my face heated. Gods, I didn’t think I would like the sound of that.

Haden looked at me and smiled. “You look like you might want me to say that to you, Storm.”

“Having mini-Hadens running around sounds nice,” I confessed.

His eyes flashed red as he stood up and pulled me to him. He stared down at me before giving me a bright smile.

“It doesn’t sound bad to me either, but I am a selfish man, Della. I am not ready to share your time with anyone but me. So, let's be greedy and selfish for a few years first, and then we can put our focus on having our kids and giving them everything we can.”

“That sounds perfect to me.” I smiled. “We should go to Crimson so we can meet the twins when they get here.”

“Unless you want to have kids now.” He looked over my face. “If you do, I will not object.”

My face was on fire. “No, I want you to myself for a while. I am also greedy, Haden, and I like the thought of just us. We haven’t had enough time to just be together.”

He grabbed me and pulled me to him, kissing me deeply.

“I think Thea and Cassius will be okay if we don’t show up for ten more minutes,” he whispered as his hand reached out and grabbed my jaw tightly, yanking me to him. “What do you think, Storm?”

“I will need more than ten minutes,” I whispered, and Haden smiled when I pushed up against him.

“Gods, Storm, you have always been a tease.”

“You love it.”

His eyes flashed white. “Yes, I fucking do.”

I would never have enough of this. He pulled me forward and whispered in my ear.

“Be a good girl and keep quiet.” He kissed my neck softly. “You know I love you?”

“Yes, of course.”

"Then hold on to that… because in the next ten minutes, I’m going to ruin you—and you’ll thank me for it."

That sounds like fucking heaven.