Gift (Enchanted Ardor #2)

Chapter Sixteen

Nick cast a final glance over his shoulder at his brother, lingering at the door, and distantly noted Olivia’s tight expression as she stepped out of the cottage to follow him.

Guilt tightened his gut further.

Something isn’t right.

But he couldn’t allow himself to close the distance he was trying to put between Olivia and himself.

He couldn’t—wouldn’t keep her.

Everyone’s treating her like a Christmas puppy under the tree.

She had to go back.

Olivia didn’t belong in this place. She belonged in the living world, not this in-between place.

His heart swelled at the notion that his crew conspired to find him someone special, having reached out to one of the Fates for help.

I can’t.

I don’t deserve it.

She doesn’t deserve this existence.

But fate had indeed put someone in front of him, sent her stumbling into him that very night.

And she is perfect.

All the more reason to figure out how to get her safely home.

Safe.

What were those sulfuric things? Who would send them? Surely they’re connected to the events that O’Clery’s sister had warned them against.

A bid to infect the grove?

It had gone after Olivia.

Infect her, infiltrate the grove and ruin them?

Or hurt her to impede Nick’s ability to do the work?

“Odin’s teeth!” He growled, increasing his pace.

“Nick?” Olivia’s voice drew him back.

He spun around to see her rushing to keep up with his much longer strides.

She stopped short when her gaze landed on his face. She swallowed.

“I’m sorry.”

“What the hell for?”

Her shoulders rose, palms up. “For… this. All of this. Me being here. My presence is disrupting things when you all have so much to do. I would go back, Nick. Just help me do that.”

“I can’t.” His shoulders dropped as he realized his tension was putting her on edge. “And don’t be sorry, none of this is any fault of yours.”

“Sure.” Heavy with disbelief, her voice fell flat, as she shrugged, turning her gaze to the trees. “Where do we start?”

“Through here.” He led her to a cart waiting in the middle of a small clearing.

He ignored the tug on his chest as he caught the wonder returning to her lovely features when she turned her blue gaze up to the lights dancing over their heads. The wavering blues and greens made her eyes sparkle with such delight that it only enhanced her beauty.

“It’s so beautiful,” she whispered.

Nick had been long immune to the sight of the Aurora Borealis pollinating the grove. He’d forgotten his own reactions to it from those distant early days. The sky could be blue, grey, brown—it no longer mattered.

Until now. Somehow, Olivia made it matter. She renewed the sense of wonder, like she peeled away the layers of film that had grown over his awareness. The deeply mundane repetition of their days, that weren’t even really days.

They cycled through sectors of time in this place that operated differently from earthly time. They still behaved as though their bodies required the sleep and sustenance of humanoid life, existing as ‘other’.

“There is a basket in the corner of the cart for seed collection.” He retrieved the basket, looping its leather strap over her shoulder so that the reed weave would rest against her hip. Leading her toward the trees, he scanned for which looked ready for their collection. “Here, see how the upper branches droop. It’s ready for us.”

He hesitated before reaching out to grasp her delicate fingers. The contact sent a gentle surge up through him. Resisting the ever-present desire to pull her into his arms, he allowed himself the simpler act of sliding his fingers between hers as he pressed her palm to the tree’s trunk. Standing behind her, he smoothed his other hand along her wrist, turning her palm up, cradled within his. He murmured next to her ear, inhaling the scent of her hair. “Just be still.”

She stood, silent, face upturned to the crown, watching the branches sway over head.

Nick closed his eyes against the need to kiss her, to close his fingers over hers and pull her into his chest while he buried his face in her hair and the crook of her delicate neck.

He smiled when she gasped and slowly opened his eyes, knowing what she saw.

“It’s so vibrant!”

A single speck of blue light drift down from the tangle of branches and leaves, floating toward her palm. It surged, expanding its aura as it came into contact with Olivia’s palm before settling in the valley of her fingers, where it pulsed like a purring kitten.

“I’ve never seen one do that before.” He guided her hand to the basket, allowing it to settle with a small tumble into the milkweed fluff lining the bottom.

“Everyone does this?”

“Not everyone. Dolph never touches the seeds, so he tends to other jobs. Some of the other dwellers also prefer other tasks.

Dolph hadn’t tried to harvest since that first time a seed touched his palm and withered. To Nick’s knowledge, he hadn’t tried again.

“There are more coming,” Olivia’s breath hitched as she drew their still-linked hands up to catch the yellow, green and pink seeds descending toward them. She tucked them into the basket with the blue one. “They’re so warm and soft.”

He remained at her back as more fell toward her palm. The pure delight in her gasps and the glow of her face stretched his heart. When she leaned back into him he was nearly undone.

A flash of what could be.

Here, with her in his arms, collecting the seeds as he reveled in her delight. And he knew that delight would be eternal. She would never allow such a thing to become mundane and would cherish every touch of the sacred grove as though it were the first.

It was her way.

Maybe she was meant to be here too? With him? Or to succeed him so that he could move on?

But the idea of moving on no longer interested him, where remaining here, with Olivia did.

No.

She needs to go back. The world needs her kindness from within. Trapped here, she would never be able to do that.

His thumb stroked the back of her hand before he released her, stepping away.

Every time he was too near, he was unable to resist the draw and found himself grasping for her.

Distance.

“When this one is done, the next will be waiting for you.”

“Where are you going?” She watched as he shed his jacket and shirt, draping both over the side of the cart before retrieving an ax.

“There is an oak nearby that is actively dying. We prune the dead branches to ease its strain until it is done. After that, we will remove it to make room for its offspring to rise.”

Nick didn’t miss the slide of her gaze over his bare chest, or the sudden blush that made her cheeks glow as bright as the pink seeds.

He had to work her out of his system before he gave in to his need for her and pulled her back to him.

“Mind the seeds, I’ll be back soon.” He nodded to the purple one drifting toward her palm.

As soon as she turned to catch it, Nick ducked away, a smile tugging at his lips.

With Nick’s warm chest at her back, Olivia’s heart had bloomed with every tiny fluff of light that touched her palm. Each a gentle caress of energy in which she felt its potential, its excitement to be .

They were living things.

The seeds of a special type of magic, fostered here.

Are there other places like this? Is it the only one in all the universe? Surely not?

And then Nick was gone again.

Though the seedlings continued to shine just as bright, they didn’t seem to trill on her palm the way they had when Nick touched her—or them. Whichever it was. They seemed to react to his presence and so too, to his absence.

She glanced over her shoulder as he divested himself of his coat and shirt, muscles taut as he drew an ax from the cart.

Olivia’s mouth went dry at the sight.

His fist gripped the haft just below the intricately etched ax head. The soft lights from the sky and trees wavered across the tattoos adorning his muscled chest and arms. Her gaze dropped to his pants, slung low on his trim hips. He deftly spun the ax in his hand, adjusting his grasp. An unconscious thing to do—an effortless habit.

Oh, my.

She swallowed. Dimly, his words sank in and she returned her attention to the falling seedlings.

When she glanced back again, he was gone. Clenching her eyes tight, she drew a deep breath, desperate to purge herself of the sudden surge of desire at the sight of him.

Focus, Liv.

She bit her lip, watching the progress of the tumbling specks of light, her thoughts returning to Nick. After a while she gave up trying to keep him out and just allowed her mind free rein.

Nick, bare chested with the ax. Nick cooking breakfast. Awakening to Nick’s scent in his bedroom, the hotel room, the guest room at Quinn’s manor.

The feel of his hands on her body that made her feel worshipped and precious. Safe. The taste of his lips and tongue, the warmth of his body against hers, sliding over her—into her.

His hard body and soft touch. The twinkle in his eye when he let go of the intensity of his gaze.

The way he looked at her. Sometimes heated, sometimes with longing that made her ache all the more for him.

Her breath hitched as her body flushed with need. Her heart clenched, knowing that it wasn’t going to be.

They’d had two magical nights.

But she wanted more. So much more.

Greedy, Liv.

This is it. Once I go home, this will be the last I see of him.

There wouldn’t be the yearly reunion that they’d playfully planned. She knew it deep down to her toes.

It wasn’t just the desire. She found comfort in his proximity. Being close to him made her tummy flutter at the same time it gave her peace.

Being wrapped in his arms felt… right.

This is it.

Returning her attention to the task before her, she watched the tree’s branches lift as the seeds detached. After a time, they stopped coming, with the rest content to remain as they were.

She moved on to the next tree, a pine, testing. Its branches didn’t droop and nothing descended. On to the next giant, a banyan with sagging limbs, the seeds tumbled faster than she expected, drawing her full attention. The heat emanating from the seeds and trees warmed her so that she unbuttoned her coat and eventually removed it.

Finally, when she could barely keep the seeds balanced so that they didn’t overflow the basket, she carefully placed it in the cart where Nick had been back to add fallen dead wood and cut logs.

Even now, divested of the basket, her body buzzed from the continued contact with the tiny bundles of energy, lightening her heart and her step, giving her the sense she could take on the world.

Anything was possible.

She just had to decide where to focus her potential.

Nick?

She blinked.

No.

Home.

Olivia bit her lip.

The buzz faded.

If he wouldn’t let her just leave, Olivia would help Nick and his folks prepare for the big night, first. The world’s children were far more important than any of her worries.

She smiled as excitement shivered through her.

I’ve never been part of something so important before!

Then she would figure out how to get home, and deal with her own problems.

How?

The memory of the blackened, wispy creature that had chased them shuddered through her, dragging her smile away. The oily shadow that had overlaid Mr. Anderson’s features in the nightmare she’d woken from that morning.

From out of nowhere, Nick had appeared, to stop Mr. Anderson from hurting her—from possibly killing her.

Now, with time alone to think, the memories played out and the shock finally began to settle in.

He nearly did kill me.

Still, the acceptance that Mr. Anderson would willingly do something so drastic remained slippery.

If Nick hadn’t…

Were both events truly connected? Nick seemed to think so. He’d said that Mr. Anderson had smelled of sulfur, like the creature had.

Olivia hadn’t noticed, surrounded by the garbage bins, and then she was suddenly defending herself from his unexpected attack.

But why had he attacked her?

Olivia had been trying to help him find work for weeks.

Someone had told him that she was the cause of his distress. Who and why?

She sighed, rubbing her shaking hands over her face as she struggled to recount everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours.

They’d gone back inside to serve dinner to the locals that needed it, as though nothing had happened. Because, what else could she have done? Constable Greer had come and taken Mr. Anderson away.

Had he learned anything from him? Had Mr. Anderson told him why he’d resorted to violence?

And the shadows.

I hope his daughter is alright. Will she be alright? Was sending him away the right thing to do?

She blew out a breath, pushing the hair off her face as she inhaled slowly.

Gena. Would she know what this thing was, and why it suddenly appeared out of nowhere?

Thoughts shifting, she released the breath, rolling the tension from her shoulders, and decided against involving Gena. Why would she know anything? Besides, Olivia had no desire to distress Gena, especially when she was doing so well, living among the humans these last few years. Well, mostly living among the humans—when Olivia coaxed her from her apartment to go shopping instead of ordering everything on line.

Gena was delicate. Nick wouldn’t understand.

How could he?

Few knew of Gena’s existence, which was how she preferred it. Even now, centuries later, she still lived looking over her shoulder.

No. Olivia would not bring her problems to Gena.

I’ll figure this out on my own.

She dropped her head back, looking up at the sky.

Besides, if Nick’s theory is true, whoever came after me was trying to get to Nick. Once Christmas night is passed and the seeds delivered, they should lose interest in me.

She swallowed a sigh, starting at the sound of wood on wood, turning in time to see Nick placing cut logs and his ax into the cart.

“We’ll head back for lunch now.” He slid his arms into the sleeves of his shirt.

Her gaze swept his glistening torso before turning away to give the twinkling overhead lights a last consideration before joining him. “It’s so peaceful here.”

Nick grasped the cart’s handle, pulling it toward the forest path.

Singing drifted through the trees, the tune one that Olivia hadn’t heard in centuries.

A wide smile stretched Nick’s lips. He glanced at Olivia. “That’ll be Dash, coming to usher us back before lunch is ruined.”

A towering man with a shock of russet hair appeared as each party approached from around the trees, holding an impressive note in his song. As soon as he released it, he grinned at Nick.

“I know, I know, the spices are in a delicate state of balance and must be consumed before the optimal time leaves them withered and unappreciable.”

Dash laughed, hearty and bold, shaking a thick finger at Nick. “Precisely. Now quit dawdling in the bushes with your lovely lady friend before you ruin her lunch.”

Olivia couldn’t suppress her giggle as Dash grasped her hand, bending to brush his lips over the back of her fingers. “Enchanted. You’re hungry, yes? I see you are famished. Nick, you’ve worked her so hard she wilts like an exotic flower amid our weedy selves.” Dash tsked at Nick, releasing Olivia’s hand to snatch the cart handle from Nick. “Come. The others return with the Valkyries from the back lot. They have news.”

“News?”

Dash grunted. “Yes, that’s what I said. Food first, then news.” He glanced back at Olivia. “If your lady can’t keep up, you must toss her on your back. The whole thing will be congealing by now, Nicholas.”

Nick’s assessing gaze landed on Olivia.

“You’re not seriously considering that?” she gaped at him.

“Why not?” he shrugged, reaching for her hand, he bent so that she could climb on his back.

“I’m not going to ride you, Nick!” Olivia’s laugh turned into a squeal as Dash’s paws gripped her hips to hoist her onto Nick’s back.

“Him or me, somehow I think you prefer him.” Dash gave her a little pat on the back once he was certain she wouldn’t slide off, then went back for the cart handle and took off.

“Jésus, he’s fast for such a large man!” From over Nick’s shoulder, Olivia watched Dash speed away, then screamed as Nick launched into motion.

“He’s just getting a head start.” Nick sped past with Olivia’s arms locked in a death grip around his shoulders and throat.

Dash’s rich laugh floated in the distance behind them. “I know you can not resist a race, Nicholas! Lunch will be saved.”

Bouncing on Nick’s back, Olivia laughed, “you’re lunatics!”

Soon, they breached the forest edge where a small crowd waited for their emergence, laughing at the sight of Olivia clinging to Nick’s back like a stunned tarsier. She slid off the second he stopped, straightened her clothing and brushed the wind-tussled hair from her eyes.

“Praunci bet her dessert that you wouldn’t do it.” Vixen smiled up at Nick.

Nick shrugged. “Dash insisted I’d ruin Olivia’s lunch if I didn’t.”

Vixen rolled her eyes, but winked up at Olivia as Dash emerged from the tree line with the cart in tow.

“He also said there was news.”

“Aye, best come inside and settle down,” Cupid held the hall’s massive door open for everyone to file inside, now that Dash had arrived and rolled the cart into place alongside the others.