Irish Mist (7 page)

Blushing, Hannah nodded and reached up to play with her hair. “Yeah, I am, huh?”

Caelum nodded and put his head back on the couch. “Give me a minute. I’m going to let my family know what’s going on.” They were instantly quiet and he closed his eyes, allowing himself to drift into a dream.

“Caelum, good to see you. Didn’t think you’d be sleeping so soon.” His uncle gave him a lewd wink and laughed at his own joke.

Ignoring his uncle’s implications, Caelum got to the point. “Phillip isn’t well without being around people like him. It’s a long story and I don’t have much time to explain it, but once we’re in America I’ll visit with you again. I need you to come back to the house and I’ll let our neighbor know to look after it until you get here. I know I said that you’d have a few months, but Phillip can’t be away from them and we have to go back. Right now.”

Understandably, his uncle looked upset by this. He didn’t say anything, merely gave Caelum a bit of a wave, and then turned away from him.

“What’d they say?” Hannah asked him as soon as he was awake again. She was practically in his lap as well, and though it was nice to have both her and Ippy so close, the couch absolutely was not wide enough for them all to be like this.

“He’s not happy, but I think he’ll come.” He dug out his phone, sent a quick text to the neighbor letting him know that he had to leave on an emergency and could he please watch the house until his family got back. It didn’t take his neighbor long to text back that he would. With that squared away, Caelum unwound himself from them and started getting his things together.

Hannah left to go get a shower and Caelum turned to look at Ippy.

“Hey. I wanted to say something to you before we go to the states.”

Ippy looked up at him, the questions obvious in his bright blue eyes. Caelum loved that color, somewhere between ice and the color of the sea right before dawn.

Hi
, he weakly managed. He sounded nervous, even inside Caelum’s mind.

Caelum sat down next to Ippy and took his hands between his own. Ippy looked down at them. “I know we talked about this when your dad found out about me and you went to live with Hannah and her dads for a few years. But I wanted to say, again, how much I wish I could have been there for you.”

Ippy smiled at him and gave his hands a squeeze.
You were, though. All the time. Hannah was with me during the day and you were there for me at night.

“It’s not quite the same thing, and I wish I could have done more for you. I should have been there to protect you from your dad. I knew you were crying at night and I couldn’t do much more than talk to you. It wasn’t enough.”

Why are you crying?
Ippy pulled his hands out of Caelum’s and brought them up to Caelum’s cheeks to wipe away his tears.

“Because I’m sorry.”

Don’t be.

“Ippy—”

Ippy shook his head and Caelum went quiet.
I never doubted you. Or Hannah. You both took care of me. I couldn’t have done this without you two.

“I wish I could have done more.”

Ippy smiled at him and Caelum ducked his head to give him a quick kiss before Hannah came into the room and joined them on the bed.

“All right, both my guys look sad. What’d I miss?” She sounded like she was scolding them, but Caelum saw the worry marring her soft features when he lifted his head away from Ippy’s.

“Nothing, we’re good.” Caelum wiped at his cheeks to get rid of any lingering tears and Ippy nodded.

Hannah frowned at them both, but didn’t push.

They were packed up and ready to go a few hours later when Ippy suddenly sat up from his relaxed position on the couch between Hannah and Caelum where they waited, surrounded by their luggage. “What is it?” Caelum said, resting his hand on the back of Ippy’s shoulder as Hannah got up to look out the windows that looked over the fields behind the house.

“There’s someone out there,” she called to them. The guys got up and moved behind her, flanking her on either side, as she pressed her hand against the glass and looked out at a man in a sweatshirt and jeans kneeling in the tall grass.

“It’s Isaac. We’re leaving. What more could he want?” Caelum said. He was angry that the werewolf was here and wished he’d never have to see the alpha again. Ippy took his hand and Hannah reached behind herself to grab their hands as well. He smiled at her, even though she couldn’t see it because she wasn’t looking at him.

The man stood up and started coming toward them. They didn’t move, instead choosing as one to watch him walk up to the glass across from them. He was intimidating and even bigger than Samson, who was nearly a giant to any of them. But with Hannah and Ippy with him, Caelum wasn’t afraid of Isaac. He might have been a werewolf, but he wasn’t scary.

“What are you doing here?” Hannah asked him through the glass.

He says a representative from Pine Hollow told him to come here. He’s expecting a reward of some type. And he says that he will not talk to a seal or a hunter. Those are his words, not mine.

“Of course they’re not,” Caelum said as he narrowed his gaze at the man.

Hannah shook her head. “Even if I was a hunter, your head wouldn’t be good enough for my wall,” she snarled at Isaac. Hannah lifted her chin, defying him even as Caelum whispered at her not to pick a fight.

“I’m not,” she told Caelum without turning around, but he didn’t believe her. She had a wild, stubborn streak that came out when she got protective. It was one of the things he loved about her. “And who the hell would give him a reward? And for what?”

Caelum heard a vehicle pull up to the gravel driveway in front of the house and turned his head to listen as someone got out of the car and shut the door. He expected a knock on the door, but instead he watched as Evangeline came around the side of the house. She was dressed in a tight black dress and wore heels so high he wondered how she could even stand up.

“Aunt Eva?” Hannah called to her, the confusion plain all over her face when Caelum looked back at her and caught her reflection in the window in front of them.

I don’t like this.
Ippy’s words were loud in his mind.

Caelum shook his head. He agreed with Ippy. From what he could tell, Evangeline had come alone. And Isaac put his arm up to lean against the window, looking completely relaxed and like he wasn’t bothered at all about her being there.

“We should go out there and help her,” Hannah whispered.

Caelum put his arm quickly around Hannah’s middle, holding her close, and Ippy moved closer beside her. Together they’d boxed her in. “Nope. You’re staying right here where you’re safe.”

She struggled a bit and Caelum put his other arm around her. “Let me go. Guys! C’mon. I gotta go out there. What if he’s an ass to her?”

Caelum could tell by the way Isaac scowled at them that he’d been able to hear Hannah. He let go of her briefly to flip the werewolf off which only made his expression darken, but he could hear Ippy chuckling in his mind.

“Hello, Isaac,” Evangeline said when she got close, then stopped nearby.

“You from Pine Hollow?” He straightened up.

Evangeline nodded. “I am. Name’s Evangeline. I’m sure you’ve met my brother, Samson.”

Isaac shrugged. “Briefly, maybe. The guy on the phone said there would be a reward for keeping an eye on the werewolf.”

“Phillip.”

“What?” Isaac asked her.

Evangeline shook out her hair. “Phillip. The boy’s name is Phillip. Or, if you’re lucky enough to call him a friend, he also goes by Ippy. But I’m thinking he’d tell you his name is
kiss my ass
.”

Isaac growled at her and Caelum stiffened, not sure what he was supposed to do. Like Hannah, part of him wanted to run out there and defend Evangeline. But he knew he’d never stand up to Isaac. Caelum wasn’t small himself, but he wasn’t nearly as big and bulky as the werewolf on the other side of a thin pane of glass.

“You’ve got some mouth on you.”

Evangeline giggled. “Yeah. That’s what they all say. So…let’s get down to it. These kids just wanted to come live here, on this freezing little island, and make a life for themselves. And you, and your pack, had to upset them. See, most kids I don’t really care about. They’re not my thing. They’re not very fun and you have to be responsible for them and you can’t take them drinking or to R rated movies or anything enjoyable like that. But these kids, they’re decent. Sure, one of them can see my wolf and one doesn’t talk much and the other can hold his breath under water longer than anyone has a right to be able to. Despite all of that though, they’re my kids. And you upset them, which is an issue for me.”

“So?” Isaac demanded, but he didn’t sound as sure of himself now, at least from where Caelum was standing.

Evangleine shook her head and started kicking off her heels. “So, darling, you messed up. There’s no reward. There’s no pat on the back for screwing with my babies. There’s you, and then there’s me. And I haven’t had coffee in ten hours and my chocolate melted on the plane. So I’m a bit pissy at the moment.”

Isaac laughed at her and Hannah moved forward to put her hands on the glass in front of her. “Aunt Eva! Be careful! He’s mean and—”

“Baby girl, he’s just a little yappy dog compared to me,” Evangeline shot back to her with a wide grin.

Caelum wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t want to get on Evangeline’s bad side by doubting her in case he was wrong. Which, when it came to Pine Hollow’s second in command, he usually was. She was a pretty woman in a dress, but she was much more than that, too, and he knew not to test her.

“You’re making some pretty big threats there,” Isaac said, taunting her.

Evangeline shrugged and crouched down. “Kids, mind closing your eyes for a moment?”

Caelum was quick to shut his, even before Hannah turned around and put her hand over his face and Ippy’s. He heard growling and the noises of someone in pain before something heavy hit the window. There were whimpers and he reached blindly for Hannah. He found her hand and then Ippy’s rougher fingers covered his. The noises continued, but as much as he wanted to push her hand away and be able to see for himself what was going on, he didn’t, because he really didn’t want to see Evangeline getting hurt. He had no doubt that she would win out against Isaac, but he didn’t want to see her hurting for them either.

Hannah only dropped her hand away from their faces when the noises of pain and fighting had been replaced with silence and, a few moments later, a knock at the front door. They went to open it as one and Caelum was glad to see Evangeline standing there in the doorway with her dress in tatters and hanging loosely on her body, but he was saddened by the long cut that went from her temple to her chin.

He reached for her, but she pushed his hand away.

“You kids ready to go?” she asked them.

“Yeah,” Hannah said, sounding small as she clung to Caelum’s hand.

Evangeline gave them a smile before she turned to spit out a bit of blood in the grass beside the front walkway. “Good. Let’s get in the car before Isaac’s pack sees how badly I beat him up and decides to come after us.”

“Thank you,” Caelum said as Ippy and Hannah went to grab their things. He was only taking a duffle bag, which would be easy enough to grab after he’d said what he needed to.

“Of course. Get your stuff.” She’d said it dismissively.

Caelum shook his head. “I mean it. I get why you came to take care of Hannah and Ippy. You saw them grow up. But it means a lot that you included me when you were talking.”

Evangeline frowned at him. “Why wouldn’t I? You’re a selkie, but you’re still part of my pack. You have been since Hannah and Ippy rescued you. Being different doesn’t mean you’re not one of us. Everyone is looking forward to having you back in the states. Liam wants to take you shopping, Samson wants to get you self-defense lessons, and my guys are working out how to build a salt water pool. It’ll be good. You’ll see.”

Caelum nodded and didn’t really know what to say. So he hugged her, not too tight because he heard her make a noise of pain when he squeezed her at first, but he hugged her all the same. She hugged him back and he knew things really would be okay in Pine Hollow with his new family and the two people he loved most in this world.

5 Years Later

Caelum lifted himself onto the island and bit into an apple while he watched Ippy cook dinner on the stove. They’d gotten a late start to the meal, probably because they’d spent too much time hanging out in the backyard, but Ippy was busily whisking away at some sauce he’d promised would be ready before Hannah got home from work.

It’d been about a month since she’d started working for Samson, doing his budgets and organizing his files just like her dad had been doing for years. She said she liked doing it because she got to be near the kids and Samson could be fun to work for. Caelum was just glad she’d found something she wanted to do so soon after finishing college.

“How’s the sauce coming?” Caelum asked Ippy before taking another bite of his apple.

Ippy turned around an
d offered him a spoon to lick, which he instantly took after he’d swallowed the bit of apple in his mouth.

Good?
Ippy asked, his dark eyebrows going up as he waited for Caelum’s answer.

Caelum was too busy licking the spoon though to do much more than nod enthusiastically. “Sure you don’t want to have a restaurant of your own? You did go to college for it.” And Ippy was more than good enough to make it, in even that tough business.

Ippy smiled at him.
I’m sure. I just like being able to cook for you two.

“And cater whenever the pack has a function,” Caelum reminded him. It was a common enough request, and Ippy was doing a wedding in just a few weeks for two women that weren’t much older than they were. Caelum had volunteered to taste test the new cupcake recipes Ippy wanted to try out. They were lucky enough to each be able to pursue the careers they wanted, Ippy with his cooking and Caelum with his painting.

Ippy gave him a little shrug and turned back to the stove. Hannah was a little late, but not by much. Caelum figured she’d probably stopped by her dads’ house before coming home. They lived on the edge of Pine Hollow in a little ranch home that was probably the cheapest house in the community, since it wasn’t grand and didn’t come with acres of land, but he liked it and was grateful to her dads for financing them. It wasn’t a free house—none of them would have taken that kind of gift, even though Liam wanted to give it to them outright, but it was at a pretty decent saving over what it could have been.