TWENTY-FIFTH BIRTHDAY
Amelia sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the empty spot where a black envelope should be, confused because Nick hadn’t missed her birthday in almost twelve years.
Jumping up, she searched the entire room for a letter, gift, or anything suggesting he’d been there.
Against her better judgement, she’d fallen in love with him through his letters. At least she thought she had, but how could you love someone you’d never met?
He made her laugh, made her feel wanted, angry, and even horny to the point of pain. Luckily, his gifts last year helped tremendously, especially since she dared not touch another man after what happened a few years ago. It was scary to think of what he might have done to the nice man who used to own Amelia’s favorite bookstore, but somehow, Nick’s possessiveness gave her a thrill. If that meant she was as fucked in the head as he was, then so be it. After all, according to him, their souls were
connected.
She was not without possessiveness of her own, especially when it came to Ora. It was laughable to think he and his friend had not slept together. It would explain Ora’s need to sabotage Amelia’s birthday presents year after year. She could only hope that they’d not slept together recently.
A tryst as teenagers she could handle, but if he’d touched Ora in the last three years, she didn’t know what she’d do. Commit a crime of violence, perhaps.
She opened her closet door and glanced at the odd gifts he’d sent over the years. Almost every one neatly lined the back wall, including the doll.
Even the books he sent were awful, ranging from war stories to a guide to making soap, but she’d kept them anyway. The only thing she threw away were the chocolate slugs.
She shuddered at the memory.
Her hand strayed to the trout pendant around her neck. As ugly as it was, it meant something to them both. Take that, Ora.
“Happy birthday to me,” she whispered into the empty room and shivered. The red lace undergarment set she wore did nothing to stave off the cold, but she’d worn it for Nick, knowing he’d bring a letter for her birthday.
Except this year, it seemed.
After getting dressed, she trudged to the kitchen for breakfast and scowled at the empty chair where Clover normally sat. They’d moved into the same boardinghouse after aging out of the orphanage, and just as they had since childhood, they ate breakfast and dinner together and shared a reading lantern at night.
Running back upstairs, she knocked on Clover’s door several times with no response. A quick internal pep talk that everything was fine calmed her enough to go back downstairs, grab a banana from the fruit bowl, and hurry toward the door. With her coat in hand, she stepped outside and looked around with a wide smile that promptly dropped at the sight of the empty porch.
Eddy hadn’t wanted to stay inside last night, something he did from time to time, but he almost always waited on the steps for her the next morning. Occasionally, he’d be gone for a few days, but those times were rare. The first time he did it, she’d cried for two days, thinking he’d been hurt. She’d searched the woods for him, nearly freezing to death. Then he showed up on the third day like nothing happened.
“Eddy,” she called out as she threaded her arms through her coat and tromped down the snow-covered steps. “Eddy!”
Her eyes searched for his large ears that were easier to spot than his little body, but the snowy ground remained undisturbed. Her shoulders sagged.
This was officially the worst birthday she’d ever had.
Heaving a sigh, she started toward the library, feeling sorry for herself and hoping for everyone’s safety. It was glaringly obvious how few people
she had in her life when only one of the three most important was a person she could see and touch—the others being a fox and an invisible man.
Her steps slowed as a tingling sense of awareness settled deep within her bones, but a deep, silky voice stopped them completely.
“Hello, Love.”
It couldn’t be. Heart pounding, she turned around and froze.
Two men stood on the other side of the street wearing leather pants and fitted shirts with fitted leather coats like those the queen’s guard wore.
One was severely beautiful with a tall, broad frame and piercing light eyes that stood out against his dark hair and lightly tanned skin. He was the largest man she’d ever seen. The five o’clock shadow did nothing to hide his strong jaw or the dimple in his cheek accompanying his gorgeous smile.
But it was the man beside him who had her eyes widening and the world around her fading away.
Nick.
He was exactly as she’d last seen him. His strong arms were crossed over his chest and his short blond hair stood out against his dark golden- brown skin and eyes. He wasn’t as tall as his companion, but he was taller than she was, and that was good enough for her.
Her eyes flicked to the men’s pointed ears with surprise. She’d expected fae ears to be long with sharp points, but they weren’t much larger than hers, just pointed.
Trying to keep the tremble from her voice, she whispered, “Nick?”
 |
Stunning did not do Amelia justice, and while Rennick had seen her through his familiar’s eyes, this was different. He’d arrived in Friya as soon as he could, having forced his father to do the king’s coronation at midnight.
His mate’s eyes lit with recognition, which struck him as odd. Had she figured out who he was despite him giving nothing away?
Protective instinct kicked in when she sprinted toward them across the icy street. He moved toward her, afraid she would slip and fall, but everything dropped from under him when she passed him and threw her arms around Finn, crying into his neck.
Finn’s eyes went wide, and he tried to pull out of her grasp, but he wasn’t fast enough. Rennick grabbed him by the neck and threw him back with an animalistic snarl. He heard his best friend hit the ground with a grunt, but he didn’t care. All he cared about was his mate’s terrified scream.
He reached for her, but she jumped away and moved toward Finn. “Stay back!” Finn yelled as he scrambled backward.
“Don’t fucking yell at her,” Rennick bellowed, taking a menacing step forward.
Finn moved farther away and said to Amelia, “Don’t touch me or your mate will rip me in half.”
Amelia stopped in her tracks, looking between the two men. “What?” The confusion in her eyes had Rennick advancing toward her, but she held out her hand to ward him off. “Stop,” she begged, and he hated the fear in her voice.
She is scared of me. He could feel it through the bond, and the realization gutted him. “I won’t hurt you,” he said gruffly, unsure why she thought he would.
Her arms went limp, falling to her sides. “You are Nick?”
The disappointment in her voice stung. Her hazel eyes slid to Finn again, and a low growl rumbled from Rennick’s chest.
“I don’t understand,” she said, more to herself than them. Shaking her head, she turned to Finn. “I know it was you. I saw you.” Her eyes hardened as they moved to Rennick. “You’re lying.”
Rennick would kill someone today, and at the moment, that person was Finn. Pressing his lips in a flat line, he turned to his friend, who still lay on the ground. “What did you tell her?”
“I never spoke to her,” Finn swore. “I don’t know how she saw through the glamour.”
“What the fuck is going on?” Amelia demanded, as her fear and confusion gave way to anger.
“Finn, take your shirt off,” Rennick commanded, removing his own coat.
Finn muttered under his breath as he stood and yanked off his coat and shirt.
Rennick grabbed the collar of his own and ripped it down the middle.
Amelia’s brow lowered in confusion as she looked between them. Then realization shuddered across her face when her eyes landed on the tattoo
covering half of Rennick’s chest and neck.
He smirked when her eyes trailed hungrily over his bare torso with desire.
“Do you like what you see, little mate?” he drawled, closing the distance between them. Ever so slowly, he reached for her, and when she didn’t cower from his touch, he gently lifted her chin to run his thumb over her soft bottom lip. “My name is Rennick, and you are mine, love, not his.”
