by Sammie Joyce
Rose and his brothers were all frowning at him. “Why is your mind closed?”
Mace hated lying to Rose, but he was resolute; he wouldn’t add to her stress. “Just want to work through some stuff in private. Don’t worry, I’ll open up the channels again soon enough.”
“Not acceptable, Mace. We all know how many problems have been caused by keeping secrets.” Asher was right, of course. Maybe Mace was mad to try to keep this a secret… but the thought of Rose being even more worried and frustrated than she already was wasn’t acceptable.
He turned to Rose, knowing that she was the only one who could override Asher’s order. “I just need a bit of time.”
Rose sighed. “Fine, Mace, but you’d better sort out whatever it is quickly.”
“I will, Rose.”
Mace accordingly spent the next two weeks reading up on baby development, trying to figure out when Hope would have enough control over her emotions to stop her powers exploding out at the wrong moment.
He did almost all of his reading in Hope’s presence, because he didn’t want to leave her alone for a minute. Every time she started crying, Mace picked her up and practically sprinted away, getting her away from prying eyes. When things started exploding or catching on fire, Rose and his brothers didn’t see it.
Gavin was grumbling about Mace kidnapping his daughter, and even Rose was starting to get impatient.
Mace didn’t regret his decision, though. Discussions about how to kill Hellith were ongoing, and Rose was already worried enough about that. He wasn’t going to give her more to worry about.
“How are things going?” Mace jumped as Rose stepped up behind him. He hadn’t heard her. He should have, but he was splitting his attention between reading and watching Hope. Reading was easy enough, but constantly trying to figure out from Hope’s expressions and movements when she might get upset was exhausting and consuming.
“Fine.” He leaned back into Rose’s touch, but didn’t take his eyes off Hope.
Rose sat down on the couch next to him. “You’ve been spending a lot of time with Hope, recently.”
“Of course. She’s my daughter.”
“I know, but she has other parents. You don’t have to do everything alone.”
How easy it would be to confess everything. Mace found himself making excuses as to why it would be okay to do. Rose was tough. She could handle it.
“I suppose I can’t blame you. If I wasn’t set to become coven leader, I’d probably try to skip out on those meetings too.”
“Have you made any progress?” Mace was still keeping his mind closed, so he couldn’t check on the meeting progress through his brothers’ or Rose’s thoughts anymore.
“No. It seems like we’re just going in circles.” Rose leaned forward and tucked Hope’s blankets in. “I’m just so glad I have this little angel to come back to when all the arguing is over.”
Yeah, Mace couldn’t tell her. He wasn’t going to turn her source of comfort into one of stress. He put an arm around Rose and felt her melt into him. It was nice just to sit with her. He’d had precious little time to himself recently, what with volunteering to watch Hope every waking minute.
Rose smiled as she stroked Mace’s arm. He was enjoying her touch so much that he nearly didn’t notice in time.
Hope’s eyes opened. Her little face scrunched up in an expression Mace knew all too well. She was about to cry.
“I think I’ll go take Hope for a walk.”
He leapt up and grabbed one of the bottles from the fridge before snatching Hope and running for cover, ignoring Rose’s questions.
He did well this time. She started crying not far from the mansion entrance, and he was outside before anything happened. A patch of lawn caught fire. Mace quickly stamped it out and pulled some leaves and branches over the burned ground.
Hope was still crying, but Mace needed to get her out of sight before he did anything about that. The forest was ideal for concealment, but taking Hope there was too risky. If he didn’t react quickly enough, the whole forest could catch fire.
Mace instead took her around the back of the mansion to the pool. At least that couldn’t catch fire, though he supposed surrounding objects could still explode. He carefully put Hope on the pool chair he kept out for her and shifted into his dragon form.
A bit of fire on the milk bottle warmed it up nicely. Mace had replaced all the bottles with metal ones for this reason. When Hope was crying, he didn’t have time to warm a bottle in the microwave, and plastic bottles did not react at all well to fire.
“Here you are, baby girl. Please don’t make this blow up in my face, there’s a good girl.”
To his relief, Hope took the bottle without a fuss and fell asleep shortly afterward. One more disaster averted. Only about a thousand more to go.
From everything he’d read, Mace suspected that it would be years before Hope gained sufficient control of her emotions to stop things exploding and catching fire around her. There was no way he could keep this up for years, but he could at least do this for Rose until the problem of Hellith was ended.
“Mace, there you are!” Gavin strode over, scowling at him. “Bring Hope back to the basement.”
“I was just taking her for a walk—”
“She’s been for enough walks, Mace! You’re not her only parent. She needs to be fed by her mother, not by a bottle.”
“You also feed her with a bottle,” Mace muttered.
“Only when Rose is resting. I don’t know what kind of shit you’re trying to sort out, but you’d better hurry it up. Give her to me.”
“I don’t think—”
“Give her to me now, Mace, or so help me, I will call Asher and have him order you to open your mind.”
Mace couldn’t have that. He slowly handed Hope over to Gavin. Gavin gave him one last scowl before stalking off with Hope. Mace followed. It wasn’t like he had a choice. If Hope woke up and started crying, he’d need to find some way to get her away from him.
Not for the first time, he thought of enlisting one of his brothers in his mission to keep Hope’s problems from Rose. It would certainly be easier with two of them to do the work. In many ways, Gavin would be a good choice. He was almost as protective of Rose as Asher, but with none of Asher’s sensible leadership strategies thrown in.
But Gavin also knew how badly things went wrong when they kept secrets from each other. The last time Gavin had kept a secret from his mates, he had died. Mace didn’t think he’d exactly be keen to do it again.
Rose was still sitting on the sofa when they returned. She looked upset, and didn’t meet Mace’s eyes when he and Gavin walked in. Gavin handed Hope to Rose and turned on Mace. He didn’t say anything, but the meaning of his gaze was clear. Back off.
Mace couldn’t back off, though. He sat back down next to Rose.
“Gavin, could you give us a minute? I need to talk to Mace.” Rose’s voice was trembling, and Gavin looked like he would like to talk to Mace with his fist, but he nodded.
Rose still wasn’t looking at Mace when she spoke. “Do you… do you think I’m a bad mother?”
“What? Of course not!” Mace was aghast. How could she even think that?
“Then why are you trying to keep my baby away from me?”
Crap. He should have realized what it looked like. “I swear, it’s not because I think you’re a bad mother. I’m only trying to help you. I know you’re struggling with trying to come up with a strategy to kill Hellith, not to mention stopping the coven from constantly biting each other’s heads off over it. I’m just trying to take some of the load off you.”
“I appreciate that, Mace, I do, but don’t you think you’d be of better use coming to some of those meetings? We’re all perfectly capable of looking after Hope, but you and Asher are the strategic ones. We could really use your input.”
It was a good point, and not one Mace could refute without giving Rose all of his reasons for what he was doing.
> “Maybe I’ll bring Hope with me. She’s too young to understand what’s going on. All she’ll hear is voices. That way, I can participate.”
“Or you could leave her here with Jagger. He hates those meetings, and if he derails another one with his jokes, I think Asher might take his head off. You’d be doing us all a favor.”
“I—I’ll think about it.”
Rose nodded, but she still looked miserable. Mace wondered if she believed him when he said he wasn’t questioning her parenting skills. She couldn’t see into his mind to find the truth behind his words.
“You okay?” It was a stupid question. Of course she wasn’t okay, and Mace was partially to thank for that.
Rose shrugged. “I’m just worried. What if there isn’t any way to kill Hellith? What if we try and fail, and it just ends up making her angrier?”
“We’ll find a way, I promise. What about the protective enchantments for Hope?”
“Maria and I have assigned a team to it. Some of the witches who won’t be fighting Hellith are using existing enchantments and combining them to create something much stronger. When we go, Hope will be safe, we can guarantee that much.”
“That’s a relief.”
“It would be, except the idea of her growing up without us isn’t exactly comforting. But unless we come up with an effective way to fight Hellith, that’s exactly what’s going to happen. And on top of everything else, there’s some stupid fight about who is leading the team of healers left behind. As if we don’t have enough to argue about. Asher and Maria are taking care of it. I think they think I’ll snap if one more thing goes wrong.”
“That’s why you have us—so that we can share the worries. You don’t need to take them all on by yourself.”
“I know.” Rose leaned into him, closing her eyes. Mace still felt terrible for lying to her, but everything he had seen and heard merely confirmed for him that he was doing the right thing.
Chapter Five
Mace was with Hope, going for another walk. Rose was beyond being suspicious at this point. She knew something was up. She just didn’t know what, but she would.
“We’ve let this go on long enough.” Gavin looked to Jagger for support.
Jagger nodded vigorously. “I agree. This is just getting stupid, and not in a funny way.”
“It’s no longer a question of whether there is something wrong with Mace, but what.” Asher was frowning, his confusion echoed on Rose’s face. It wasn’t at all like Mace to act like this.
“I think it should be just me. I’ll go to him as joint clan leader and tell him that he has to reveal what’s going on. He might be more willing to do it with me alone.”
Asher didn’t like the sound of that, but he nodded. “Try it your way, but if it doesn’t work, you and I will do it again together. This cannot be allowed to go on.”
“It won’t.” Rose kissed Asher and got to her feet. “I’ll cast a tracking spell on him. He won’t be able to get away from me.”
“You probably won’t need a tracking spell. He almost always goes out back to the pool on those walks.” Gavin’s mouth twisted as he spoke. “If he thinks he’s going to try to teach Hope to swim alone, he’s got another thing coming.”
“He’s not an idiot. He knows Hope is far too young to swim.” Not that Rose had any ideas to offer as to why Mace would spend so much time hanging around the pool.
She hurried there, hoping to catch him without needing to cast a tracking spell. Sure enough, Mace was sitting on one of the pool chairs with Hope clasped to his chest.
“Rose!” He leapt up as though she had taken a swipe at him. “What are you doing here?”
“We need to talk, Mace.”
“Actually, I was just going to bring Hope back. She’s asleep and I should probably put her to bed before she wakes again.”
“She seems to be sleeping fine in your arms. This can’t wait.”
Mace grimaced. He clearly knew exactly what was coming.
“We’ve been patient with you, Mace. We’ve given you plenty of time. This is enough. Open your mind and tell me what you are hiding.”
“I can’t, Rose.”
“Yes, you can, and you will. This is an order, Mace, from me and Asher. Do I need to get Asher here to back me up?”
“No, you don’t understand. I have to keep this secret. I promise, I’m doing it to protect you. You can get Asher to order me, but I’ll tell him the same thing.”
“Enough!” Hope shifted in her blankets, and Rose lowered the volume of her voice back to a normal level. “This is not a discussion, Mace. You will tell me. Now.”
“I can’t.”
“You mean you won’t.”
Mace shrugged. “Whichever. Basically, it needs to remain hidden.”
Rose felt hurt spreading through her chest. “I thought you trusted me.”
“I do! I trust you more than anyone, Rose. I also love you more than life itself, which is why I need to protect you.”
“If you trusted me, you would tell me.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“You do realize what you’re doing, don’t you? You’re deliberately defying a direct order from your clan leader. This is grounds for expulsion.”
Mace met her gaze steadily. “I know.”
He didn’t look worried, just sad. He knew that Rose would never expel him from the clan. Her threat was utterly empty. She couldn’t live without Mace, and he knew it. It made her feel used and manipulated. Rose would never have suspected that Mace might one day make her feel like this.
“Give me Hope.”
Mace handed her over.
“Until you decide to be honest, you will have no direct contact with Hope. You will not touch her. You will not be in the same room as her. You will not feed her, or do anything else with her.”
The blood drained from Mace’s face. “Rose… please, you don’t understand.”
“I think I do. I don’t want Hope being raised by someone who lies to their mate and brothers. When you decide to be the role model I know you truly are, you can spend time with her again.”
Mace looked like he was about to faint. Rose hated to see him like this, but she stiffened her resolve.
“It’s really not that difficult, Mace. You just need to be honest, and all these problems will be over.”
“Please, Rose. Don’t do this.”
Rose got up with Hope still in her arms. “I’ll leave you to think.”
“NO!”
Such was the urgency in his voice that Rose spun around, half-expecting to see Hellith swooping down on them. Instead, it was just Mace, his hands stretched desperately toward Hope.
“Rose, you can’t take her without me!”
Rose shrugged. “Then come with me. Your movements aren’t restricted, just your interactions with Hope.”
“You can’t do this! I’m her father!”
“Then be her father! Be a man she can look up to, not one who lies constantly and tries to steal her away from her other parents!”
“You don’t understand! I won’t let you take her from me!”
Mace reached for Hope, trying to grab her out of Rose’s arms. Rose leapt back, shocked. She hadn’t expected such a strong reaction from Mace. He was usually the least reactive of the brothers, and almost always remained calm in conflicts.
Hope woke up as Rose violently jerked her away from Mace. She started crying.
“No! Rose, you have to give her to me, now!”
Mace didn’t look angry anymore. He looked scared. Rose looked between him and Hope, trying to figure it out. It was just a crying baby; nothing to be afraid of. Mace had seen Hope cry plenty of times before now, and he’d never freaked out about it.
“You’re scaring her,” Rose said coldly. “Stay back.”
Mace wisely decided to follow the order, taking a few steps away from Rose. Rose rocked Hope, cooing softly to her. Eventually, she settled. Rose didn’t look back at Mace as she carried h
er baby back to the basement.
Mace followed her, but didn’t say anything. Rose was fine with that. She didn’t want to talk to him right now either.
Asher, Jagger, and Gavin were waiting in the basement. All three of them were scowling at Mace. They may not be able to hear his thoughts, but they could hear Rose’s, so they knew exactly how badly the “talk” had gone.
“Go to your room,” Asher snarled. “No, not the one we share with Rose. Your old room, from before Rose. Rose might be in the mood to be lenient with you, but I’m not. You will not go anywhere except that room or the bathroom until you decide to be honest with us. We will bring food down for you. You will not be intimate with Rose—”
“Hey! That’s not within your power, Asher. You have the right to punish Mace as clan leader, but you do not get to say what I do with my body.”
“You’re right,” Asher relented. “Sorry, I just got carried away.”
“Don’t worry—I’m not exactly in the mood to be intimate with him right now.” Rose glanced sourly at Mace. “Being lied to is a huge turn-off, in case you hadn’t realized that.”
“I get it. You can’t force me to tell you, and you can’t send me away, so you decide to make hell right here and throw me into it.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Mace. This is hardly hell.”
Mace didn’t even acknowledge that she’d spoken. He was staring off into space, his eyes unfocused. “Hell. That’s it! Of course, it makes sense.”
“Care to tell us what you’re talking about?” Asher asked tersely.
“It’s too dangerous to fight Hellith. We can’t do it.”
Rose rolled her eyes. “It’s a bit late to change your mind. I would have appreciated your vote on my side when we voted, but now that matter has been decided. We have to fight her.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. We have to defeat her, but fighting her is too dangerous. I say we defeat her without ever having to fight.”
“What do you mean?” Asher was on the edge of losing patience, and Rose could see that Jagger and Gavin weren’t far behind him. If Mace didn’t spit it out soon, Rose might try to throttle it out of him.
“We need to destroy hell.” Mace winced as he spoke, no doubt expecting outcry, and it’s exactly what he got.