Bound to the Fae (Fae Mates Book 2), page 1
BOUND TO THE FAE
FAE MATES
BOOK TWO
ZOE CHANT
CONTENTS
Pronunciation Guide
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Epilogue
A note from Zoe Chant
Glossary
Also by Zoe Chant
PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
Some of the fae names and terms used in this story are based on traditional Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and/or Old English words, and thus use spellings that may be unfamiliar to many readers. As a rough guide, these are pronounced:
Aodhan — AY-den
Cuan — COO-an
Kelpie — KEL-pee
Neifion — Neh-FEE-on
Phouka — POO-ka
Sidhe — SHEE
Sidhean — SHEE-an
A glossary can be found at the back of the book.
CHAPTER 1
Sometimes, Cathy wondered just when her sweet, happy little boy had been replaced by a grunting, surly stranger.
He’s still your son, she reminded herself as she excavated what felt like the thousandth dirty sock that week from under Kevin’s bed. Kids can’t stay little forever. He’s growing up, that’s all.
With a sigh, she straightened, tossing the sock into the already overflowing laundry basket. Brushing lint off her knees, she surveyed Kevin’s bedroom. It really needed a two-day deep clean—and possibly an exorcism—but at least it was possible to see some of the floor now. It would have to do.
Balancing a teetering stack of sticky cups, she went downstairs. Her heart sank as she entered the kitchen. She’d cleaned it barely half an hour ago, yet there were already trails of crumbs along the floor. A mangled loaf of bread lay on the work surface like a murder victim, next to a packet of cheese slices that appeared to have been chewed open by a starving wolverine.
Cathy took a deep breath, counting to ten in her head. Then she called, “Kevin? Could you come in here, please?”
The only response was a crackle of simulated gunshots, followed by a computerized scream. Kevin probably could hear her over the sounds of his game, but it was just loud enough that he could plausibly claim he hadn’t.
Pick your battles, Cathy decided. That was what all the parenting books said. You couldn’t have a calm, reasonable conversation with your kid if you got upset at every little thing.
Putting on a carefully neutral expression, she headed for the living room. She paused at the door for a moment, studying her son.
In the past, she would have most likely found him engrossed in drawing detailed maps of some imaginary world, or draped across a chair with his nose in a book. Now she couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him voluntarily do anything other than sprawl in front of the TV. It was like some switch in his head had flipped from ‘kid’ to ‘teenager-in-training.’
But he is just a kid, her heart cried. For all his newfound attitude and enormous attitude, Kevin hadn’t changed physically. He was still slight and agile, sandy hair flopping over childish features. He looked so much like he always had that part of her still expected him to bounce over with a gap-toothed smile, thrusting out his latest masterpiece for her to admire.
Instead, Kevin stayed slumped on the sofa, controller gripped in his hands. A half-eaten sandwich lay discarded on the cushion next to him.
Cathy pressed her lips together. She counted to ten again, and then back down to zero. Kevin didn’t ask what she wanted. He stayed glued to his game, thumbs hammering buttons.
“Kevin,” Cathy said. And then, louder, “Kevin. Could you pause that, please?”
He made an annoyed grunt, attention never leaving the screen. “No. I’m online. It’s a ranking match.”
“Well, when you’re done, I need you to help clear up. Tamsin will be here soon. I’m going out tonight, remember? She’s coming round to keep you company while I’m gone.”
His lip curled. “I’m not a little kid. I don’t need a babysitter.”
“If you want to prove that, cleaning up the mess you left in the kitchen would be a good start,” Cathy said, shooting for a tough-but-fair tone. “You have to show me that you can be sensible and responsible before I can leave you alone for a whole evening.”
He grunted again. “Whatever.”
And he’s only twelve. Cathy contemplated the years ahead, like staring down the barrel of a gun. Not even properly a teenager yet. God help me when puberty kicks in.
“Cop on to yourself, you scunner!” Kevin yelled at the screen as his character exploded. He threw down his controller in fury. “The head on you, and a price of cabbage!”
Whatever that meant. Kevin had been coming out with weirder and weirder slang over the past few months. Sometimes it felt like he was talking a different language entirely.
It was all part of growing up, she supposed. Learning things from his peers rather than her, finding his independence Yet it seemed only yesterday that they’d shared a secret language, built up from baby babble and endearing mispronunciations. When ‘lemonade’ had been ‘melonade’ and gloves had been ‘glub glubs’, and shoes had inexplicably become ‘grippergrops.’ Cathy could only imagine the incredulous look she’d get now if she asked Kevin to put on his grippergrops.
Cathy pushed down the twinge of longing for those sweet, simple years. They hadn’t seemed so sweet or simple when she’d been on her knees with exhaustion, struggling to cope with the constant grind of single parenthood. There had definitely been times when she would have loved a surly grunt instead of a constant stream of “Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mom!”
“Since your game is over, could you clean this up, please?” she asked, indicating the wrappers strewn across the living room. “I want the house tidy before Tamsin gets here.”
Kevin eyed her suspiciously. “Why? It’s not like she hasn’t seen it before.”
“No, but she might be bringing someone. Her new…” Cathy hesitated, much too long. “Um, friend.”
“Her new… umfriend,” Kevin mimicked, with withering sarcasm. “You mean a boyfriend?”
“Sort of. He’s a bit more than that. He…”
Cathy trailed off. There really wasn’t a child-friendly way to explain that your best friend had been sacrificed to psychopathic fairies by an evil wizard, and had returned from the fae realm with a magic tattoo and a newfound ability to talk to animals. Not to mention a fae warrior—sometimes a horse, sometimes a wolf, but most of the time an extremely well-muscled man—who claimed that he was bound to Tamsin by some deep, spiritual connection.
Cathy still wasn’t sure she believed in the whole ‘fated mate’ thing. But regardless of whether soulmates were real or not, Cuan certainly looked at Tamsin as though she’d hung the moon and stars. Cathy had never seen her oldest friend so happy.
“It’s complicated,” she finished lamely. “But I think it’s serious. He’s moved in with Tamsin, anyway.”
Kevin wrinkled his nose. “But she’s old.”
“She’s barely in her forties, Kevin. Only a few years older than me.”
Her son treated her to an expressive look.
“Anyway,” Cathy soldiered on, as every bone in her body spontaneously crumbled into dust, “If she does bring him round, I want you to be polite and say hi rather than ignoring him. You never know, you might actually have fun. He’s, um, not from around here, and he’s very interested in learning about our culture. You could show him your video games.”
Kevin’s eye-roll eloquently conveyed what he thought of that suggestion. “Where are you going tonight, anyway?”
“I’ve told you, Kevin. At least three times. I’m going out with Daisy.”
He looked her up and down. “Dressed like that?”
Cathy tugged self-consciously at the neckline of her green dress. It was hardly club wear, but it was a big step up from her usual mom jeans and baggy tops. From Kevin’s tone, though, she might as well have strutted out in thigh-high latex boots and a catsuit.
“We’re going to an, um, event,” she said. “At a nice bar. It’s kind of like a party, where you dress up and meet new people.”
Kevin’s eyes narrowed. “What kind of people?”
Cathy could feel her face heating. “Just… people.”
“Are some of these people men?”
“Er… about half, I expect. Look, Tamsin will be here any minute, so—”
“Single men?”
Cathy gave up. “All right, Sherlock, you got me. Yes, it’s a speed dating event. But it’s not what you think. I’m only doing it for Daisy. She didn’t want to go alone, and badgered me into agreeing to accompany her.”
“Oh.” Kevin considered this for a moment, then shrugged. “I’m out of snacks. Get more on the way back.”
“I’m not getting anything without a ‘please.’ And anyway, you’ve already had half your body weight in sugar today.” Cathy hesitated. “Listen, do you want to talk about this? Me going to the dating event, that is.”
He flopped onto the couch, scooping up his controller. “What’s there to talk about?”
“Well…” Cathy sat down next to him, wincing at the rustle of empty candy wrappers. “I haven’t done anything like this before. It’s been just the two of us for a long time. Not that I’m actually intending to date anyone, but… I just wanted to reassure you that your feelings matter to me. If you’re worried, or unhappy about anything, you just have to tell me, okay?”
Kevin’s attention was fixed on the game again. “Whatever.”
“I mean it.” God, she wanted to give him a hug, but she knew he’d only push her away. “No matter what, you’ll always be the most important person in my life. You know that, right?”
“Of course I do.” In the harsh, flickering light of the TV, his childish features looked older, and oddly unfamiliar. “I’ll always be the only person in your life. It’s not like anyone’s going to fall in love with you.”
The sharp, biting words caught her by surprise, slicing across her throat. It took every ounce of her willpower not to show how badly he’d hurt her. She stared at Kevin, trying to convince herself that he hadn’t spoken out of malice. He was just a child, innocent and self-centered, sometimes thoughtless but never cruel…
His gaze slid toward her, sly and mocking. And she knew that he had meant it. Every word.
She looked at him, her son, the person that she’d created from her own body, and thought: I don’t know you.
Cathy shot to her feet, stumbling for the door. Behind her, underneath the sounds of explosions and screams, she heard a soft, childish laugh.
Safely out of sight in the hallway, Cathy collapsed against the wall. She pressed her palms against her eyesockets, hard, trying to blot out that sense of wrongness.
No. No. This can’t be happening. Not now. Not again.
Cathy dropped her hands. She focused on the framed photos lining the hallway, scanning from picture to picture. Kevin, wrapped up like a burrito, only two days old. Kevin pulling himself up on chubby, wobbly legs, beaming his gummy smile. Kevin racing down the beach, screaming with joy. All different; all her son.
The familiar snapshots still brought up bright, warm memories, like they always did. Cathy relaxed a little, panic ebbing. It had just been one bad moment, that’s all. She wasn’t slipping back into that dark, cold place. Everything was fine.
Well, maybe not everything. She definitely had to do something about Kevin’s attitude. Maybe she’d been cutting him too much slack recently. But he’d had such a bad time last year, struggling with the jump to a new, much larger school. Cathy knew all too well how hard it was to have to figure out who you were when your whole world had changed beyond recognition. It was no wonder Kevin was angry and uncertain, and taking it out on her.
Cathy straightened, resolve firming. Kevin’s cruel, hurtful words still stung, but she couldn’t let them get to her. This was just another phase, like the terrible twos or the year he’d been obsessed with Pokémon. They’d pull through this eventually. After all, they’d survived much worse.
A knock on the door derailed her train of thought. With a last regretful glance at the still messy kitchen, Cathy went to answer it.
Tamsin stood on the doorstep—and, as Cathy had suspected would be the case, Cuan loomed behind her. The pair had been inseparable ever since Tamsin had brought Cuan back from the fae realm. Cathy was relieved to see that the fae warrior had at least glamoured himself to look relatively normal. ‘Relatively’ was the right word, because even with the pointed ears and glowing tattoos hidden with magic, Cuan was still ridiculously handsome.
Which was, in Cathy’s opinion, no more than her oldest friend deserved. If anyone should have a smoking hot, magical, shapeshifting elf warrior following her around like an enormous muscled puppy, it was Tamsin.
Still, Cathy felt a slight pang as she saw them standing together. It wasn’t jealousy, exactly, since she really was thrilled for her friend. She just couldn’t help wondering what it would be like to have someone look at her the way Cuan looked at Tamsin. Especially if that someone was a tall, gorgeous fae.
She shoved the stupid thought down. There was no point dreaming about the impossible. It wasn’t like she could ever go through a portal and have magical adventures in another world.
“Hey girl!” Tamsin greeted her. Her smile widened as she took in Cathy’s outfit. “Looking good! All ready for the speed dating event?”
Cathy pulled self-consciously at her low neckline again. “You don’t think it’s too much? Daisy insisted that I buy this dress, but I feel silly. Maybe I should change.”
“Absolutely not,” Cuan said firmly. “On behalf of my entire gender, I forbid it. You are radiant, Mistress Cathy. Warriors shall swoon at your feet, heart-struck with longing.”
It was ridiculous, but Cathy felt her cheeks pink at the compliment. According to Tamsin—and Cuan himself—fae couldn’t tell a direct lie. This was, of course, not at all the same as always telling the truth, but if Cuan said she was radiant then she couldn’t be a total mess.
She smoothed the front of her dress, trying not to look flustered. “I don’t think there will be many warriors there. I’d settle for a nice middle-aged accountant.” She sighed, thinking of the grumpy stranger currently parked on her couch. “One who doesn’t mind that I’ve got a kid.”
Cuan’s forehead wrinkled. “Surely your child only makes you even more desirable, to any right-thinking male?”
“You’ve clearly never met my son,” Cathy muttered, and immediately felt guilty. She was supposed to be Kevin’s champion, even when he was being a pain in the ass.
“Speaking of which,” Tamsin interjected. “Is it okay if Cuan sticks around and babysits with me tonight?”
Cathy had been hoping that this would be the case. Still, she hesitated, wondering if Cuan knew exactly what he was getting himself into. “Are you sure you want to, Cuan?”
Cuan bowed. “It would be my very great honor, if you would permit it.”
“You’d be doing me a huge favor, actually. Kevin doesn’t really have many strong male role models in his life.” Cathy sighed. “I do the best that I can, but, well… he’s twelve, going on seventeen, apparently. The last thing he wants these days is a mom. Just a silent live-in housekeeper who dispenses snacks and cash.”
Tamsin gave her a brief, sympathetic hug. “You’re doing a great job, Cathy. It’s just a difficult age. Once his hormones stop running riot, I’m sure he’ll settle down again. He was always such a sweet kid.”
“He was,” Cathy said softly. “Now, though… sometimes I look at him, and I can’t see my baby at all anymore.”
Tamsin gave her a sharp, puzzled look, and Cathy instantly regretted the words. After Tamsin’s traumatic time in the fae realm, the last thing her friend needed was to be worrying about her.
She forced a bright smile. “Guess that’s just what happens when kids grow up. Come on in and make yourselves at home.”
As Cathy stood aside to let them pass, she noticed Cuan glance back at her front garden. The fae warrior’s gaze lingered on the straggly lawn and half-dead shrubs, a slight frown creasing his brow.
She’d won awards for her plants, once. They were up in the attic, along with her wedding photos and a collection of dusty car seats. All the things that she’d never need again.
