Page 48 of The Bonds of Nyx

My eyes foundherfirst. The woman from outside. Our soon-to-be Queen.Ivy, Grey had said her name was. Without the two assholes hiding her, it was easy to take her in. She had glossy brown hair that hung in waves down her shoulders and wide brown eyes that took everything in warily. She smiled hesitantly, gaze roaming my team before falling on me.

Usually, when women gazed at me, I felt sure and fucking proud. But her stare was nothing like that. It made me want to move from foot to foot. It was undeniable that she was beautiful—maybe not my usual type—but as she took me in, I felt naked and, well, pretty damn self-conscious.

Was it the queen thing? Yeah, probably.

I smirked when her eyes met mine, and her cute nose crinkled. “Hawk Nash, team leader,” I offered, pressing my fist to my chest. “And my team, Jessup, Corbin, Zephyr, and Konrad.”

Her eyes flickered from me to Grey. “Nice to meet you. I’m Ivy, but I guess you kind of already know that,” she said with a shrug. The large t-shirt she wore slipped down her shoulder, revealing the bite mark her shifter mate left on her.

Ivy quickly readjusted her shirt. Her cheeks flushed pink as she looked me over again before rolling her eyes in the shifter’s direction. Whatever he’d said through their bond must have annoyed her because she huffed and dropped back onto the sofa.

The woman beside her crossed her arms. I gave her a quick once over; she was cute, with blonde hair pulled into two braids, eyes that looked blue and green, and a body similar to Ivy’s—curves for days.

“Well, this isn’t awkward at all,” the blonde muttered. “I’m Thea, species unknown, and there’s leftover mac and cheese in the fridge.” She then dropped back onto the sectional as well and shared a look with Ivy, who raised her brows and cocked her head.

“Shut up, I’m being polite. The sooner we get through the introductions, the sooner I can ask someone to get us clothes thatdon’tsmell like weird men.”

Ivy snorted, shaking her head. “So, what’s the deal with the newbies?” she asked, addressing Maeve.

“Queen Greer sent us an extraction team. They’re going to help us when we make our way to the ferry. They’ll be with us until we reach Avalon.”

“All right. Sounds like fun.” Ivy crossed her arms and spared us a look of uncertainty. “Do we still have time or does Queen Greer expect us to move now?”

I cocked my head and watched her, listened to what she wasn’t asking specifically. She probably didn’t realise we knew about the situation with her mother.

The shifter, Beckham, grunted. “We’ve got time.”

The sigh of relief did something to me that made me shift uncomfortably. I turned to Grey and crossed my arms. “Would it be good if my team took a couple of hours to rest before we’re put on rotation?”

The vamp nodded. “Take some time, settle in. We may be here another week at best. Most of the rooms on this floor are free.”

I nodded to my team, who shouldered their duffels. I let my gaze flicker back to Ivy for a moment before following my guys, ignoring the strangeness of my reactions to her. I had a job to do, and I wasn’t going to let some pretty princess fuck with it.

17

IVY

THEnew team leader had regarded me in such asmarmy way that I’d almost missed the weird flare of magic in my veins. The odd pull in the pit of my stomach as his eyes dragged over my body.

I’d felt both unnerved and maybe a little alive when his eyes had been on me.

Andthatfreaked me out.

Nope, do not need any more shit before we reach Avalon. I have enough crap to deal with as is. Elias was going on rotation, which I knew he battled with internally because he wanted to be close to me—especially with the new team—but I gave him my word I’d spend the rest of the afternoon with the girls, Thea, and Kerry, rather than hang out in the kitchen.

As we all dispersed, and Elias headed out to the forest with Adrian, I grabbed Thea’s hand. We shared a quick look, and she nodded once as if understanding my need for a girl-to-girl conversation away from prying ears. I cast a quick glance over the room, barely catching Rowan’s stare, but the mage looked away before I could read too much into it. I sighed. The new people in the house would worry the kids, and I needed to let them know of these changes gently without them running intoHawk Nashand his little team of robots.

We escaped to our shared bedroom and quickly locked ourselves in. I tried to ignore the brief, longing glance Rowan had sent me as I’d passed him. What good would it do? He’dmade it clear what he wanted—and that wasn’t friendship or anything to do with me.

“At least some of them were cute,” Thea said, flopping onto the bed.

I blinked at her for a long moment, unsure how to respond immediately. But as her words sunk in, I snorted a laugh and joined her. “Of course, that’s the first thing you notice.”

She shrugged, her breath coming out as a sigh. “Look, you’re getting frequent action now—soon on two fronts. And well, I’m feeling a little unloved.”

“Oh, am I not giving you enough attention?” I asked.

She bopped me on the nose, her lips pulling up in a grin. “I just need new victims.”

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