Into the Fire (The Unseelie Court Book 4) by Gwen Rivers (free ebooks romance novels .TXT) 📗

my wolf and accepts us in return. We recognize a piece of ourselves in the other.”

Gray nods with understanding. “That’s why you smell of her then?”

“Yes.” Aiden smiles. “It’s a rare bond, one I’m willing to do anything to protect.”

The threat is layered in his words. Liam growls softly at the perceived challenge.

“Do you possess any magic other than the shift?” Harmony asks to diffuse the tension.

Liam and Gray exchange a look. “No? Should we?”

Harmony extends her palm and lights her flame. After a moment, Aiden does likewise. The werewolves frown.

Aiden lets his flame go out. “We’re descended from Loki, a fire deity. As part of Fenrir’s line, you are as well.”

“I sense the spark in them,” the seer says. “But no one has shown them how to access it.”

Aiden studies the massive pack that seethes with untapped potential.

Her eyes glow brighter. “Do you know what this could mean?”

Aiden does. Draugar had to be burned or they would reanimate. And there aren’t enough fire fey to make a proper army. But if the wolves could be taught to wield their inborn flames as magic, they could fight the dead the same way he can.

“We might have enough firepower to stop Underhill.”

Dinner is even more uncomfortable than I could have imagined. Sophie loans me some of her clothes. I arrive at the table sporting a daisy yellow peasant blouse and a denim skirt. Still barefoot. Still pregnant.

All that’s missing is a gods damned minivan.

“Don’t you look nice,” Sophie chirps when I poke my head into the kitchen.

“Nice,” Chloe repeats. “Pastels suit you.”

I give her the hairy eyeball and she covers her face with her fist.

Chloe, Angrboda, and Jedda are squeezed around a round wooden table with Tate. The boys, one fey the other mortal, are playing with Avengers action figures. Iron Man and Thor, if I’m not mistaken.

I wonder if the actual Thor has seen the movies. Dude looks nothing like Chris Hemsworth.

“Need any help?” I ask Sophie who is stirring a big pot of tomato sauce on the stovetop.

“Aren’t you sweet?” She flashes me yet another sunny smile from her seemingly endless supply of them. “You can set the table. Dishes are in the cabinet to the left of the fridge. The silverware is in the drawer under the coffee pot.”

Chloe lifts Tate off her lap and sets him on the floor. “Better go clean-up, Champ.”

“Do you know him?” I murmur to my aunt as I set a plate down in front of her.

She shrugs. “Remember that veterinarian conference Addy and I attend every year?”

When I nod she adds, “Funny thing about that, there is no conference.”

I roll my eyes and turn to face the giantess. “Any news from Aiden?”

Angrboda shakes her head.

Sophie lays a hand on my arm, making me jump. “I’m sure he’ll reach out to you real soon, Nic.”

“Who’ll reach out?” Garret booms from the doorway.

“Nic’s boyfriend,” Sophie squeezes my hand once. I get the vague feeling that she’s reassuring me that she will keep my secret from her husband.

He grunts and moves toward the fridge. “Aren’t you a little young for boys?”

“Nic used to be asexual,” Chloe blurts.

I kick her under the table hard enough that she jumps.

She scowls at me. “What? You told me you thought you were before Aiden.”

“What’s asexual?” Tate asks.

Garret chokes on the soda he’d just tilted to his mouth.

“It’s somebody who doesn’t get married,” Sophie puts in swiftly and sets a giant bowl of pasta and tomato sauce on the tiny table.

Tate looks from his mother to me. “You’re not going to get married?”

“I…don’t know.” Weeks, I’d withstood Agent Hanson’s interrogation and I’m crumbling like parmesan cheese in front of a six-year-old.

Tate thinks about that a second then beams at me. “Then, I’m asexual, too!”

More choking from Garret. Sophie pounds him helpfully on the back before taking her own seat next to me.

It’s a tight fit, the table clearly meant to hold four, not seven. Garret takes up a massive amount of space. In addition to the pasta, there’s a pitcher of water, a bottle of wine and garlic bread in a basket. Total carb-fest and nary a green thing in sight. I reach for the basket when Sophie snags Tate’s hand and then takes mine. “We always start off dinner by saying grace. Would you like to say grace, Nic?”

“Ummm,” I shoot a panicked glance with Chloe and Angrboda. Grace? So not in my wheelhouse. “That is…?”

“Don’t put her on the spot, Soph.” My rescue comes unexpectedly from Garret. “It’s Tate’s turn anyhow.”

Tate bows his head. “Thank you for this food we are about to eat, for our family and for our new friends.” He speaks solemnly, as only a small child taking his task seriously, could.

“Very good.” Sophie beams at her son and I feel my throat close up. I pull my hand out of hers and reach for the water pitcher.

“This smells amazing,” Angrboda pours herself a glass of wine and then passes it to Chloe.

“I’m surprised you have any room,” Chloe shoots the giantess a sidelong glance. “What with all the snacking you did on the way here.”

Angrboda shrugs. “I have a wicked appetite.”

“So Nic,” Sophie passes me the bread. “Your aunt says you have a lot of hobbies.”

I take a huge bite and then point to my full mouth, stalling for time. Hobbies? Since when is vigilante justice and wielding fey magic a hobby?

“Nic was in a rigorous physical training program,” Chloe says. “And she knows all about ancient weapons.”

“You do?” This comes from Jedda. I’m not sure how much the miniature Seelie king knows about me or our situation, but his default setting appears to be interested observer. Smart.

I nod, unwilling to give the fey royal any further insight. He may only be a child, but Wardon was a boy once, too.

“She also reads the classics,” Chloe says. “Especially mythologies.”

“Like Greek? Roman?” Garret asks, again surprising me. “That was my major in college.”

“Really?”

He nods. “I always thought I’d be a professor in some