A Touch of Fae

by J. M. Madden

  Violet could have cried at the sound of Rory’s voice. “Your father is here and I don’t think he likes me. He’s asking me about my parents and Grandad.”

  Rory cursed with a viciousness she’d never heard from him before. “Hang tight. I’m not far away. Alessandro is closer. He should be there any minute. No matter what he says remember that we are perfect together. And that I love you.”

  She nodded her head even though he couldn’t see her. Tears choked her throat. “I know you do. And I love you, too. Now drive.”

  She hung up on his chuckle. Drawing in a heavy breath, she tried to calm her racing heart as she walked back into the room. The elder was staring at the doorway, just waiting for her to enter. He had that eagle-eyed look like Rory did.

  “What did Keegan tell you about the Fae?”

  Violet frowned at the intonation in his deep voice. It was a little… not very nice. As if he had something against her grandad. “Nothing, actually. He told me we’d had family of Irish descent but that we’d come to the States generations ago. I think it was his grandmother who was the first emigrating Irish citizen.”

  The elder nodded. “You are correct on that small detail.”

  As if she wasn’t correct on anything else.

  Violet crossed her arms over her breasts, unwilling to get into an argument about family she’d never met. “That’s all I remember.”

  Rory’s father narrowed his cold green eyes on her. She didn’t care if he believed her or not. His sanctimonious attitude rubbed her the wrong way.

  Braeden seemed to sense that she had withdrawn. He held out his hands palm up, as if expecting her to take them. Violet sat in her chair, unmoved. “We are merely trying to complete long disorganized records. Your parents are one of those holes. We knew about you long before Rory made contact.”

  Violet frowned. Braeden made it sound like Rory had been told to contact her, which couldn’t be right. “I don’t know anything more about my parents.”

  A car pulled into the drive just then and she heard the whine of the garage door as it trundled up. Alessandro walked into the room moments later looking a little wind-blown. There was also an angry spark in his wide eyes that told her he had spoken with Rory. Alessandro looked ready to do battle. With barely a glance at their visitors he crossed the room to Violet and dropped a kiss to her lips. “Ciao, bella.”

  She couldn’t help but laugh at his spirit. “Hello, Alessandro. Sorry I didn’t meet you at the door like I normally do. We have visitors.”

  With a bored expression he turned to the other men, but he didn’t offer his hand which she thought was curious. “Welcome to our home, gentlemen. I would have been home sooner if we had known you were granting us an audience.”

  Violet looked at him curiously.

  Braeden gave Alessandro a mock bow. “And we would have notified you had your presence been required.”

  Violet gripped Alessandro’s arm before he could move. When she looked up, the elder looked at her hand pointedly. She refused to move it though, just because he didn’t approve.

  “If you’re not going to control yourselves,” she snapped, “you can leave. I haven’t lived here very long but I consider this my home now. And this is my lover in the truest sense of the word. If you can’t treat him with respect you can leave immediately, do you understand?”

  Tilting his head, Braeden gave her a long, considering look, then a single nod. He sat back against the couch and lifted an ankle to the opposite knee, then clasped his hands around it. He looked very calm, but something in his pale eyes made her think he wasn’t. Were they trying to start an argument?

  The elder stared at her as if she were a bug on a leaf. Pissed off with feeling defensive, she tugged Alessandro out of the room to the foyer, regardless of how rude it appeared.

  “I think we should stay out here so we don’t kill anyone.”

  Alessandro snorted and ran a finger down her cheek. “Our protective mama bear has claws.”

  She lifted a brow at him and cocked her head. “Yes, I do.”

  He pulled her into his arms and held her to him. “I appreciate that. Rory’s father has never been a fan of mine. Our relationship has always been a hot topic. He said he has plans for Rory that do not include me.”

  Violet snorted and rocked her head against his chest. “I think somebody’s been entitled a little too long.”

  Laughing, he rocked her to him as he rubbed her back. “Agreed.”

  Rory burst in through the front door just then. Violet hadn’t even heard him pull into the driveway. He looked at the two of them and scowled. “What did they do?”

  His raspy voice vibrated with fury, as if he knew.

  Violet shook her head. “I think they were testing me or something. They had a bunch of questions about my family and my grandfather, but they were being rude so I stopped answering. Then Sandro got home and they turned even more rude. I kind of smarted off to them.”

  Rory dropped a hard kiss to her lips, then turned and gripped Sandro by the neck. He tugged him in for a kiss as well. “I’m sorry you had to deal with them. I didn’t know they were coming.”

  Sandro chuckled. “I think that was the point.”

  Rory scowled, straightened his immaculate suit and tie and walked into the den. Violet and Alessandro followed along behind. She held Alessandro’s hand, both for her own peace of mind and to aggravate their visitors.

  “Father. If I had known you were coming for a visit I would have been here to receive you.”

  The elder stood but waved a hand negligently. “Your presence was of no bearing.”

  Violet winced. Rory hadn’t seen his father in years and the first thing out of the older man’s mouth was that he didn’t care. Damn.

  “The situation you are in is irresponsible. There are females of immaculate breeding waiting for you to return to Ireland. Ora waits for word from you.”

  Rory huffed out a breath. “Then she’s going to be waiting for a long time because I have no interest in returning. I’ve created a life for myself here. I’ve been in the States since I was a child. Why would you think I would return now? Just because you suggest I mate with someone it doesn’t mean I’m going to take your pick.”

  The elder looked around the house. “It is obvious you are struggling here.”

  Violet snorted and shook her head. Seriously?

  The man narrowed his blazing, cold green eyes on her.

  “And it is obvious you have settled for the meager blood you have found. I was willing to overlook your dalliance with that,” he waved a hand at a bristling Alessandro, “because it wasn’t going anywhere, but you will not stay with the mixed blood.”

  Before she could grab his arm Rory had lunged for his father. Braeden leapt to intercept him and they clashed hard. Braeden had put his all into holding him back but Rory’s gaze was trained on his father. His fair skin had reddened with fury.

  “You have ridiculed my life for years and I’m tired of it. I’m not coming back to meet the women that you’ve chosen for me. I’m not coming back ever. My life is here. And while you don’t appreciate where I live and who I live with, I don’t give a damn anymore.”

  Elder Kendrick crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes blazed with a cold anger. “You have been on the run for too long, Rorick. It’s time you settled down and live up to your responsibilities.”

  Rory shook his head in a daze. Braeden continued to brace against his heavy chest but Violet had a feeling that if Rory actually wanted to get at his father he could do it.

  Violet wished she could help him out, but this seemed to have been brewing for a while. She clutched at Alessandro’s hand.

  “I haven’t been on the run at all, Father,” Rory snapped. “I’ve been right here living my life. Meeting my responsibilities to those I love and appreciate. And do you know what’s crazy? Both of those people love me,” he pointed a broad finger behind him at Violet and Alessandro. “Not because of who I am or how pure
my blood is, but because I am me. They don’t care that I am royalty or have more money than I’ll ever spend. They love me because I don’t put stock in any of that.”

  She forced her leaping heart to stay in her chest. Had he just said royalty?

  Elder Kendrick’s face turned colder if that was even possible. “You are turning your back on the Fae and the Goddess will spurn you. What will you do cut off from all magic?”

  Rory barked out a laugh and pulled away from Braeden, folding his arms over his heavy chest. “She will spurn me, huh?” For the briefest moment he glanced behind him and met Violet’s eyes, then Alessandro’s. “Believe it or not, Elder Kendrick, she has blessed the three of us together many times over. I do not believe she would be so harsh as to turn her back on us just because you told her to.”

  Violet cringed at Rory’s use of his father’s formal name, but she wouldn’t disagree with what he said. Several times while making love at the spring the little blossoms had fallen. Once she had looked up and pairs of animals had ringed the edge of the water, watching them love. At first it had been strange, then heartwarming.

  Rory planted his feet and squared off with his father. “Have you not felt the power beneath your feet? We’re not even at the node and you can still feel the echo of her blessing.”

  The elder’s eyes narrowed and turned thoughtful, but before he could say anything Rory held a hand out to the entryway. “It’s time for you to leave. We don’t have anything else to say to each other.”

  Braeden started to argue, but the elder held up a hand. “Fine, Rorick. We will leave for now. And when you realize the mistake you have made I will accept your apology and welcome you home.”

  Rory laughed, his heavy baritone rasping. “Yeah, right. You’ve never welcomed me anywhere. Don’t hold your breath, Elder Kendrick.”

  The two interlopers left, Elder Kendrick with his head held high and Braeden glaring daggers at them at the insult. As soon as they stepped outside the door the tension in her chest eased. Moving forward blindly, she wrapped her arms around Rory’s waist. Sandro was right there as well, holding the three of them together. Violet felt Rory drop a kiss to her head. “Thank you for sticking around,” he told her.

  Violet laughed and gave him a look. “As if I’d be anywhere else. We would have stomped his elder ass.”

  Rory looked stunned at first, then barked out another laugh. “I have a feeling you would have.”

  Alessandro clasped him on the shoulder. “I would have been right there with her. Braeden looks big but I could have taken him.”

  They all fell into laughter, then each other’s arms. And if they all clung a little tighter, a little longer, nobody complained.

  Epilogue

  ‡

  AS THEY SAT around the small breakfast nook finishing dinner, Violet couldn’t hold off her questions any longer. “Were you going to tell us you were royalty?”

  Rory winced and sat back in the chair, heavy oak creaking. “Eventually. It’s one of those things I don’t think about much. My mother left Ireland and my father years ago and settled us here in the States. I was seven or eight when we came over.” He ran a broad hand over the wood of the table as his eyes took on a faraway expression. “A few years after we got here she met a man, Fae, and disappeared just like your parents did. We don’t know where they went. Drove my father nuts. He kept expecting her to come crawling back. It’s why he was asking you about your parents.”

  Violet sat back in her own chair. “What do you think happens to them if they disappear like that?”

  Rory shrugged his heavy shoulders. “Not sure. Nobody knows.”

  She glanced at Alessandro and could see the same concern in his eyes. “Is there any chance we’ll disappear like that?”

  After a heavy beat of silence Rory shrugged again. “We can only hope that the couples that do disappear are in the depths of Faery somewhere. The only facts that tie all the missing couples together is that they were all apparently deeply in love with each other.” He gave them a narrow-eyed look. “But I want you to know this. I could die tomorrow and I would be content. Being with the two of you has made me happier than anything else.”

  Violet felt tears fill her eyes at the vehemence of his tone and she nodded her head.

  “And me as well,” Alessandro whispered.

  The three of them clasped hands around the table, then moved as if of one mind to embrace each other. Violet and Alessandro each took half of Rory’s chest to cuddle against, while Rory buried his face in their hair, and Violet couldn’t imagine being anywhere more spectacular.

  “You know,” she murmured, “the night before you guys came to the shop the first time I had griped to the empty apartment that I wish I could find a couple of decent men. I think Faerie may have been conspiring even then because that next morning you walked in my door. No matter what Faerie does to me I will always be thankful to have had this time with you.”

  They kissed away her tears and carried her to their bedroom, where they cuddled and played for the rest of the night. Violet thanked her stars for her blessings.

  The End

  If you would like to read about the ‘combat modified’ veterans of the Lost and Found Investigative Service, check out these books:

  The Embattled Road (FREE prequel)

  Embattled Hearts – Book 1

  Embattled Minds – Book 2

  Embattled Home – Book 3

  Embattled SEAL – Book 4 Coming Soon!!!

  Her Forever Hero

  Other books by J.M. Madden

  Second Time Around

  A Needful Heart

  Wet Dream

  Love On the Line – Book 1

  Love On the Line – Book 2

  The Awakening Society – FREE!

  Tempt Me – Book 2 of the Awakening Society

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  About the Author

  NY Times and USA Today Bestselling author J.M. Madden writes compelling romances between ‘combat modified’ military men and the women who love them. J.M. Madden loves any and all good love stories, most particularly her own. She has two beautiful children and a husband who always keeps her on her toes.

  J.M. was a Deputy Sheriff in Ohio for nine years, until hubby moved the clan to Kentucky. When not chasing the family around, she’s at the computer, reading and writing, perfecting her craft. She occasionally takes breaks to feed her animal horde and is trying to control her office-supply addiction, but both tasks are uphill battles. Happily, she is writing full-time and always has several projects in the works. She also dearly loves to hear from readers! So, drop her a line. She’ll respond.