A Ribbon Strand: Raised Hackura

I Won't Hurt My Family Pt.3

         Eric smiled, “Is you getting your wings a possibility, Angel?” I couldn’t stop the intense pain that barreled into our bond. All my brothers, Eric and my dad turned to me in concern. Arion said, “Sister….” I turned to him, “I don’t want them, Arion.” Arion said, “Of course you don’t.” Eric asked, “What’s going on?” I whispered, “Something very bad would have to happen for me to get my wings. I don’t want them. I’m not like them. I can't just get mad enough for mine, and I don’t want them.” Eric frowned and rubbed his hand in circles on my back.  Arion told Eric, “Most likely you, or one of them” He pointed at my Hackura family and continued, “Or myself or Aiden would have to be seriously hurt. Dying even…. which you are not allowed to do because that would kill our sister. So….no dying for you. Or I’ll find a way to bring you back to life and kill you again.” Eric rolled my eyes. Aiden whispered, “If she saw anyone, she loved seriously hurt….it could happen. She will never want that. If Gunner had taken a more serious knife wound….” I shivered at the thought. My dad grabbed me from Eric's arms. 

            He held me as Aiden, Arion and Eric whispered to each other. I was the only one who couldn’t hear them. I didn’t get enhanced hearing like my Hackura family. My dad said, “Princess…. please do not do that again. My heart stopped.” I smiled, “Don’t worry daddy. I had my dagger in my shoe. I can’t leave without one on my person. Bjourn’s orders.” My dad held me tight. Bjourn ripped me out of his arms, “A signal to us would’ve been nice about Gunner being in danger. We are in your territory for a reason, little one.” I said, “We weren’t in the same place. You wouldn’t have heard me yell.” Marcus took me in his arms next, “A pop. Pop to us, then pop to Gunner.” Drake held me tight, “You are amazing, little sister. Truly. We would’ve rescued him.” Evin said, “Amazing and headstrong. No popping into the middle of a fight. You have no idea the type of things they want to use you for.” Tears filled my eyes and I looked at Bjourn.

             I popped back into his arms much to his surprise. I whispered, “numquam nocere possent ego vos fratrem. Te amo (I could never hurt you brother. I love you.) Bjourn held me tight, “Scio te non nocuerunt mihi. Non intelligis te, et cor tuum. Non telum. Tu lumen ipsum (I know you would never hurt me. They don't understand you or your heart. You are not a weapon. You are light itself).” I whispered, “I will never hurt you, Bjourn. I promise.” The magic flowing between us eased my worry.” Bjourn squeezed me tight, “That is a promise I did not need little sister. I know you. Even if they did the things, they wanted to…. even if you had no clue who I was…. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt you would never hurt me.” I whispered, “Now I can’t. I promise never to hurt my family.” My dad rubbed my back as the magic took hold. I wanted to cry in relief. Now even my fairy brothers were protected too. I would not harm them no matter what.

        Arion pulled me away from Bjourn the second he let me go. Bjourn took off. He was going to check the perimeter. Arion hugged me tight, “Could you just be slightly selfish? You know I think if I ever witness you having a selfish moment...I’ll throw a parade in Faerie. You’ll have to sit on the main float. I’ll even let our wolf in our realm.” I laughed, “You’d throw a parade?” Arion said, “OH I WILL throw a parade. I’ll get you to be selfish. I’ll pop to you and your wolf’s territory more often. I will spend so much time with just a smidgen of my selfishness will rub off. For god’s sake, even when you fought the queen of the bitches…. you still thought of others. You made sure Emmaline got to meet her wolf. It wouldn’t even have been selfish not to think of that, but of course….my sister and her bleeding heart…. did.” I said, “Arion….” Arion said, “I just need a little bit of selfishness. Just the smallest bit, and parties will be thrown in Faerie.” I slapped him lightly on the arm.

        Aiden hugged me, “I love you sister. Please be more careful.” I frowned, “HEY! I came to save Gunner WITH Blade. I even called on you this time. These weren’t even fairies.” Blade said, “Pop away. Bad Princess.” I sighed, “You wouldn’t have let them tackle me.” Blade said, “No. Is job.” I threw my arms up in the air. That was KEY to my ENTIRE plan. I said, “Hence the problem. Hence popping away to solve the problem, Blade.” Blade raised an eyebrow at me. Bjourn jogged back over to us, “No Goblins are left besides those three Drake took home for Harper.” My dad declared, “No one goes alone on missions alone from now on. If we have to delay, we delay. That includes you Princess. If you and Lexi go out, you’ll be with another one of ours. I will not hear a word of protest from you about it either. They wouldn't have attacked Gunner if he wasn’t alone.” I frowned, “How do you know that dad?” 

        My brothers laughed. My dad smiled at me, “Because the you we met would’ve warned us. Gunner wasn’t taken and tortured or…. anything else in her realm or she would’ve told us. She quite liked him. Called him Harper’s boytoy lover. We weren’t sure who she was talking about, but...we figured it out.” I laughed, “I call him that sometimes too.” Arion smiled, “Of course you do. I think I will call him that for the rest of time.” Marcus said, “Unless he doesn’t want you too. Then that would be unwise. Gunner is the best tech we have but he’s deadly. He could be in our army if he wanted.” I laughed again, “But he likes it when I call him that.” Marcus said, “Yes, when YOU call him that. Arion is decidedly not you.”

        Harper and Gunner joined us. Harper was wrapped possessively around him. His eyes were hard and glaring all around him for any sign of a threat. Gunner hugged me, “I didn’t get a chance to say this earlier, but thank you Hales.” Harper said, “You might need a new keyboard Gunner.” Gunner frowned, “What did you do to my baby?” Harper yelled, “It wasn’t my fault! The stupid thing WASN’T WORKING FAST ENOUGH! I started out being nice to it!” Gunner and I both started laughing. Harper hated technology, just as much as Gunner loved it. Gunner kissed him, “God, I love you. Even though You have no respect for technology or my babies.” Harper said, “I respect technology. It just works to slow when my mate and my sister are in danger. What did you want me to do? Sweet talk it? I prefer to hit things. It got me results. We got here, didn’t we?” Gunner kissed him again, “That’s so you Harper.” Harper sighed, “You can use my card to buy whatever keyboard you want. Get a few extras. I don’t care…. get one that can make your damn computer work faster.”

        Gunner laughed. My dad said, “Let’s go home boys. We have goblins to interrogate.” Aiden and Arion said, “Goodbye sister.” They popped away. My dad kissed my head, “Call me later Princess.” I smiled, “Ok daddy.” My dad looked at Eric, “Take good care of my Princess. Marcus and Bjourn will be back in your territory shortly.” Eric nodded. Blade walked over to us, and I grabbed Caleb and Eric’s hands. I popped to the middle of Eric’s yard. Jackson, Darrin, and Harold were pacing. Eric said, “We are gone.” Jackson sighed in relief, “Thank the moon goddess.” Marshall said, “What the hell is going on?” I said, “The witches and warlocks gave up Scarlett as an accomplice to knowing our Luna’s movements. The warlock spilled that Gunner was in danger. Haley popped to him; Harper tracked them down. Aiden has wings now...We killed goblins. Everyone is all caught up now. Angel, Pop us to our room.” I giggled. I knew he was upset with me, but I was happy he called it our room. I popped into his arms, “You called it our room.” Eric nodded but said nothing. I popped us upstairs. I asked him, “You want me to move in here? I mean...that’s what calling it our room means right?” Eric raised an eyebrow, “Was that not obvious? I never want to be apart from you. Yes, Hales. I want you to move in. What’s mine is yours.” I smiled. I knew we were about to talk about other things, but it felt really nice that this was what he wanted. Eric continued, “On a different topic….do not ever do that again.” I frowned, “Which thing?” I’d done a few things he couldn’t possibly have liked. Eric hissed, “Any of it. Popping without me into danger when I’m standing right f*****g there beside you. Letting someone who wants to kill you take a free shot.” I winced. I should’ve taken him with me. I said, “I’m sorry. You’re right. You were right there. I should’ve grabbed you. They didn’t want to kill me. Gunner took that dagger to the arm because he was distracted trying to calm me down. To be fair, he was also enraged when they said they’d wipe my memories and have me kill Aiden. They said they’d have me kill Bjourn for fun.” 

        Eric asked, “How did he get the sword wound across his chest?” I looked away, “The informant slashed him as Blade, and I popped in warning him. I threw the informant…. into a tree….” Eric snorted, “The impaled man sticking out of a tree was the informant?” I winced, “I was very mad, and the earth responded to that. I might have grown a tree or five. One happened to be in the path I flung him on.” Eric asked, “How did I make the fight visible?” I smiled, “Oh, well we are twice light bound. You have some of my powers. They will manifest eventually, but you wanted to see me. The magic in you called to mine. It undid the goblin’s magic. I think the only thing that wouldn't work on is an enclosure charm, but I have no idea why anyone would use that. Plus…. Aiden’s powerful enough now that if I was in an enclosure...he could take it down. He wouldn’t have been able to if he didn’t know we were the promised siblings, but we know.” Eric’s eyes pleaded with me before he even spoke, “Please…. promise me.” I nodded, “I will promise to take you if you’re near me next time. I just…. I wasn’t thinking straight Eric. It’s ingrained in me to take Blade. If he hadn’t run fast enough, I would’ve left without him too. They were going to hurt Gunner. I couldn't….” Eric hugged her, “I know your heart, Haley Cambridge. I know that you will always go to those you care about to protect them. I am glad you called on your fairy brothers. I just want you to take me with you. We did not need you to let yourself get tackled. We would’ve taken them.” I whispered, “Someone else could’ve gotten hurt. Gunner needed to be healed. It was the fastest way to end everything.”

        Eric hugged me tighter, “You do have such a good heart Haley Con…. Cambridge.” Oh s**t. Did he just about call me Haley Conners? He did. He definitely did. Oh my god…. was he going to talk about marriage right now? Other needs were taking hold of me. I didn’t know if I could stop them. My brothers had talked about the need to connect with their mates after a fight but this…. was all consuming. Eric leaned down and kissed me. It quickly got heated. He ripped my top off. I snapped him naked. He linked her, “Your so f*****g wet.” He slid a finger inside me. My hips bucked against him. I begged him, “Please Eric…. I need you inside me. Right now.” All I could think about was him inside me. Eric smirked, “What is that Angel? This feeling that’s coming from you.” I whimpered, “After a fight Hackura f**k…. it’s what we do. I’ve never felt like this...I’ve felt it from my brothers after a battle or a fight. Eric….” My need was exploding. He slammed into me. My fingernails raked down his back. I hooked one of my legs above his butt. I said, “Hard Eric…. f**k me hard.” Eric growled and pounded into me over and over. We broke my bed. When we fell apart, we were breathing hard. 

        I looked up at the ceiling, “Just wow.” Eric chuckled, “I really could get used to this bond.” I smiled, “You will love it during my concupiscence.” Eric smirked, “You have one?” I nodded, “Doris, the OB in our realm said that once I met my mate and I was of age…. I’d have one. I’m seventeen, which is the age of fairy maturity, and now I’ve met you.” Eric said, “When is this going to happen? Do I need to get somewhere for us to be locked away? I won’t have anyone else approach you when you’re in that state. I’ve heard…. it’s quite the ordeal.” I smiled, “I could pop us to the Hackura realm. My dad gave me an island for my sixteenth birthday.” Eric laughed, “I have houses all over the country as well. I could take you to my place in Hawaii. It’s very secluded.” I clapped excitedly, “I’ve never been there.” Eric smiled, “Then when that hits...pop us there. For your next one we could go to your Hackura island.” I bit my lip, “Do you want to try for kids this concupiscence?” Eric smiled, “I can't wait to have pups with you, but I think we should wait until you're eighteen. Just to err on the side of caution since we are in the human realm.” I nodded, “I’m on birth control so that’s ok. It’s a requirement in the Hackura realm.” Eric nodded and pulled me close. 

        I asked, “How many kids do you want?” Eric said, “I’ve always wanted a big family.” I giggled, “Good! Me too! I want a whole house full of them, and we are going to be around forever so we could just keep sneezing out kids. Fairy goddess PLEASE let me give birth like a fairy.” Eric laughed, “How do fairies give birth?” I said, “They sneeze.” Eric gaped, “Fairies sneeze out babies? Somehow in all of my reading that was missed.” I laughed, “I didn’t read about it in a book, Lucinda told me.” Eric smiled, “How many children does Aiden have now?” I smiled, “Six.” Eric winked, “Is that close to the number you want?” I shook my head and blushed, “No.” Eric laughed, “How many do you have in mind?” I shrugged. Eric took me in his arms, “Haley…. the number doesn’t matter to me. Are you thinking of ten?” I sighed, “If you double that.” Eric laughed, “You want twenty kids?” I said, “To start out with. Maybe we start over after I turn one hundred.” Eric froze. I laughed, “Fairies live for several centuries Eric. We will be around a really long time. I just always envisioned having a really big family.” Eric kissed me, “Like I said…. I’ll give you as many children as you want. We have the money and the time. Will our children be able to pop and conjure bottles?” Haley said, “They should be able to conjure bottles. I’ll teach them how to pop when they start walking. Like Aiden taught me.”

            Eric smiled, “I can’t wait to start our family.” I smiled, “Me either, but someone wants to play by the rules in the earthly realm. I checked out relationship is fine by their standards because I’m seventeen.” Eric smiled, “That’s true. I would still like to wait for your concupiscence when you're eighteen.” I nodded, “That’s fine.” Eric said, “You have one a year, right?” I smiled “Aiden thinks I’ll have three. Some fairies have them once a season. Royal fairies tend to have more. Trixie has two, but Aiden thinks since our family is the ruling house and not just Royal…. I’ll be an exception.” Eric said, “I quite like that. I need to handle the Scarlet situation.” I nodded, “Ok Eric. Do you want my help?” Eric looked into my eyes, “I don’t want you to see me doing the things I am about to do.” I said, “Eric…” He held up his hands, “I know you’ve seen worse. I know it doesn’t bother you. I just….” I understood. He didn’t want me to see it unless it was necessary.” I nodded, “Ok, I have someone to go talk to anyway.” Eric kissed me. I snapped him clothes and popped us down to the yard. Jackson nodded to us. I began to walk away but Jackson stopped me by grabbing my arm. Eric and Jackson exchanged looks. After several moments Eric walked away. Jackson said nothing until Eric, Darrin, and Harold disappeared into the dungeon.

        I asked, “Jackson?” Jackson said, “If Eric’s not around and you need to run off into danger grab me or any one of us. Just take someone with you.” I raised an eyebrow, “I took Blade.” Jackson nodded, “Consider one of us your wolf version of Blade. Anyone in this pack could communicate with Eric, and that will help him settle.” I frowned, “You’re worried about what the warlock said…. about me being taken.” Jackson said, “We know the other reality version that popped her was taken from him. I am very worried about it, and I’m worried about what that will do to my brother. Not to mention what those people would do to you.” I studied him carefully. He was worried. I nodded, “I will try to do that. If possible. To be fair…. I rarely go anywhere without my friends.” Blade snorted, “Is true.” Jackson said, “Great. We are just going to have raging Alpha’s on the loose about their mates.” I smirked, “You all got badass mates. Deal with it Jackson.” I winked at him. He sighed, “Yeah...Don’t I know it. Thank you, Haley…. for getting Molly out of there last night and to safety. I don’t know if they would’ve cast some curse on her if they realized she was pregnant to cause a miscarriage.” I smiled, “Eric told me your rules. No pregnant women fight.” Jackson smiled, “That’s true.” he gave me a quick hug. He said, “I was worried about you.” 

            I couldn’t hide my smile. I’d talked to Jackson a lot. Eric left his phone with him the most. We were already close. I said, “I was fine.” Jackson said, “Still…. don’t make a habit of it. You can still be a good person and take five seconds to grab a friend.” I said, “Sometimes…. I panic...Gunner is practically my brother...no he is a brother to me. He’s always been with our family. I just…. when I heard he was in danger. I couldn’t let anything happen to Gunner.” Jackson nodded, “I understand. Just take a breath next time Hales. Gunner is a fierce fighter.” I smiled, “Oh, I know he is. He wouldn’t have gone down easily. Those goblins had no idea what they were up against.” Jackson nodded and said, “I’ve got to go deal with this.” I said, “I am very sorry for your loss, Jackson. I know a pack member who betrayed you cuts all of you deeply. So does doing what you have to do.” Jackson nodded tersely and walked off.