When Ivy confessed her feelings of fear and uncertainty with her newly unleashed magic, Ilex immediately set out to help her.
He met with her each day and answered her questions, no matter how embarrassing or stupid they were, working with her in her garden as she expanded the Blossom Shrine and made room for other projects.
He was a patient teacher, diligent, and firm when Ivy doubted herself or shared her feelings of shame.
According to him, those unsatisfied moments she'd felt after claiming her ground using Uriah to fuel her was normal. Ilex told her at one point he was surprised by her restraint, as such a ritual usually would have been performed with hundreds of couples around her to 'feed' off of and sate whatever sexual hunger she had.
That she hadn't climbed off Uriah and gone in search of the next available male, or summoned one using the power of an unsatisfied fertility goddess, only told him she'd been too inexperienced to accomplish a true claiming.
Not keen for another chance to get it right, Ivy made it clear she had no plans to claim any more ground. Ilex shrugged and went on to educate her regardless, just in case, and lectured her in the many ways a Green Man, or Green Woman in her case, used sex to do more than just magically stake a claim on some dirt.
Apparently, she could see to it that an entire football stadium full of people got pregnant during a ritual, or do like their father wanted and replenish the soil to make it fertile and rich for growing crops.
Or, she could take in the sexual energy of that football stadium full of people to create forests in the desert or islands in the middle of the ocean.
The life and death stuff? Ivy wasn't ready to go there anytime soon, and Ilex seemed relieved by her refusal to learn any of what it took to suck the life out of someone for her own gain.
On the upside, every single lion in Tynan's pride now thought she was the end all be all, and offered an alliance with the coven that Rowena graciously accepted.
“I look forward to being an uncle,” Ilex said with a content smile, looking at her in confusion when Ivy laughed.
“You'll be great at it, I'm sure,” she hurried to tell him, not wanting him to get the wrong idea about why she was laughing. “Uriah and I talked about it briefly before, but we don't have any solid plans to increase the family any time soon.”
Ilex gave a slow, thoughtful sound, his brows pulling together in a frown that reminded Ivy so much of their mom; it made a pang of sadness twist through her. “You recall what I said about being conceived and born on solstice days?”
“Boy do I.” Ivy huffed, waving at her mate when Uriah looked to her with a wide bear grin.
“And you are clear on what it means to be the offspring of a forest god?”
Her big hairy bear snapped up another fish and went for a swim in the deeper part of the stream. Summer was in full swing, and even in the shade, she was hot. A nice swim sounded awesome right about now.
“Crystal clear. I doubled up on Rowena's birth control charms as soon as I met Uriah.” Ivy held up her hand to show Ilex the ring and the bracelet she wore, wiggling her fingers to show off the way the emeralds sparkled in the sun.
“There won't be any babies unless he and I verbally decide to get started on a family. What? Why are you looking at me like that?”
Amusement sparkled in her brother's glass green eyes, his lips twitching with the effort it took not to laugh. “Such charms are no doubt extremely useful for witches, but will have little—if any—effect on someone like you, especially after having performed not one, but two fertility rituals in the space of a week.”
Ivy made a rude noise, spluttering indignantly, floundering to string along the simplest of words. “I'm not pregnant. There's no way! I mean... Rowena's charms are... they're the best. I have two of them!”
“I see that,” Ilex told her gravely, but she could feel him shaking with silent laughter.
“I'm NOT!” she insisted hotly, trying to recall the last time she'd had her monthly. It was a hideous week usually, as she'd long since been on the same schedule with her coven sisters.
The six of them were perfectly in sync. At school, they’d all started their first period on the same day despite their age differences. There was nothing but wine, chocolate, salty snacks, salty tempers, TV binges, hot water bottles, and blood for five days.
It hadn’t happened recently, and Ivy yanked her phone out of her pocket, checking the calendar because she couldn't remember.
She hadn't even gotten the app pulled up before Astrid shot her a text. Don't freak out.
Ivy slid a nasty glance at her brother, but it didn't dim his wide, knowing grin by so much as a spark. Her phone chimed again with a loud ping.
You're not getting out of attending Hell Week.
PING! I got a case of ginger-ale just for you.
PING! The new season of Wynonna is out.
PING! You should probably take off the ring and the bracelet, just to be safe.
The last message Astrid sent was some link, and after clicking it, Ivy was glad she was already sitting down. The photo was of some really yummy looking poppyseed muffins, and the caption read, 'Week Four: Congratulations, your baby is the size of a poppyseed!'
Ivy stared at her phone in shock, and all she managed to say was, “Well, shit.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Dread unlike anything he'd ever known consumed him. Uriah woke up with the certainty that something horrible was happening to his mate. She was hurt, in pain, that fucker with the horns was dragging her away.
He could smell her blood, her screams of pain echoed across the meadow...
Why was it dark?
How much time had passed?
Had he failed to get to her in time?
Uriah struggled to sit up, the panic he felt increasing when he realized he was tangled up in something, but his thrashing only made it worse.
His claws came out to shred the material binding him, fighting with it until he was able to throw himself free, hitting the hard surface of the floor with a grunt.
“IVY! Ivy, where are you!”
Uriah heard a loud bang come from somewhere, followed by the pounding of feet. Light flooded the room, enough for him to realize he was home, in their bedroom. She was there, wide-eyed with worry, hair piled up in a mess on her head, wearing nothing but one of his shirts and a pair of fuzzy socks.
“What? What's the matter? What the hell happened to the bed? Are you okay?” she demanded, skidding across the floor to where he was still on his ass.
Uriah reached up for her when she got close, running his hand over her leg. Her smooth, perfectly unblemished leg. How was that possible? He'd heard the bones snap, and her screams as she was dragged away from him.
“Uriah?”
Ivy went to her knees, straddling his hips, her hands sliding into his hair. She searched his face while he smoothed his palms over every inch of her skin. “Ivy, how did we get here? Is everyone okay? What happened in the meadow?”
Ivy choked out a little sob, hope and tears filling her eyes. “What was I wearing the first time you saw me?”
“What?”
“It's important, please,” she whispered urgently, her hands kneading at his shoulders now.
“A skirt with little sunflowers on it and a gray tank that showed off your belly. Ivy, what—”