Flight (Children of the Sidhe) by J.R. Pearse Nelson

went for a short hunt, and a longer walk. I’ve had a lot to think about.”
    His hostile tone confirmed her fear. He was angry with her. She just didn’t know why. “Do you want to fill me in?”
    “Season was here. And she filled me in.”
    “What do you mean? News from the Morrigan? Is everything okay, Nathan?” Tessa couldn’t help the string of questions. His near silence was making her nervous.
    “Tessa, you need to come clean with me. Season says she saw you with Abarta, and it was apparent the two of you know each other. She thinks you’ve been meeting with him – the assassin – the whole time I’ve been in Tir Nan Og. It’s not true, is it?”
    Oh, no. This was not the way she wanted him to find out. “She made it sound simple, did she? It is true, Nathan. Abarta blackmailed me – I’m supposed to provide information on the half-humans, including you. Except that he found out we’ve grown close, and gave me an ultimatum. That’s why we’re out here.” Tessa covered her face with her hands.
    “Blackmail? Why? What does he have on you?”
    Tessa stiffened. She couldn’t divulge Mikhail’s secret, even if Nathan needed to know. She could only hope he would understand. “I can’t tell you the specifics, only that it’s a family secret. I’ve done everything I can to make sure it doesn’t ruin us.”
    “And that meant lying to me the entire time I stayed with you, as you came and went with the assassin who is hunting me ?”
    “Yes. I’m sorry. I know it looks bad, but please believe me. I have prioritized your safety as well. I told him no, and now the secret may get out anyway,” her voice cracked.
    He stared her down. “Season warned me. She told me you’d had trouble, that you were on the wrong side of the Blood Wars. You were wronged, but still, your heart wasn’t in the right place. I wouldn’t believe her. You’d shown me none of that. And now I find you exactly as she said. Cunning. Heartless.”
    Tessa was silent. He was right, of course. When she’d welcomed him into her home, she still hadn’t decided if she would hand him over to meet his death. Then she took him as a lover, despite her unresolved feelings about his presence in her world. Nothing could justify her actions, and right now, she wouldn’t dare.
    “You will not trust me with the truth?” Nathan scowled, but his words were soft, as if he still wanted to believe she was the woman he’d thought she was.
    “I can’t,” she whispered. It wasn’t her secret to tell.
    Nathan promptly turned his back, and shifted in the next heartbeat. His hawk winged its way into the forest, disappearing into the shadows.
     
     
    Nineteen
     
    Hawk spotted prey, branches moving far below him. Nathan knew it for a rabbit, and swooped down for the kill. The killing felt righ t, the quick and brutal crunch of the creature’s neck between his talons, sating his hunger with fresh blood and flesh.
    Later, Hawk sat, restful, on a high limb. As the wind buffeted the evergreen forest, he swayed with the tree and let the motion lull him nearly to sleep. A part of him knew he was avoiding his humanity, gaining a blissful respite from worries like Tessa. He flapped his wings in agitation at the thought of her, and dropped down out of the tree to change on the forest floor.
    Nathan rose and brushed himself off. Next, he waved a hand and was dressed in faded jeans and a black t-shirt, with a black pair of his customary hiking boots. Black seemed key today. Dark as his mood.
    He was as angry with himself as he was with Tessa. When had he decided to trust her? He’d had no reason to. She’d never given assurances of her honor or intent. When he looked back, he realized he was as much to blame as she – he’d pressed her for sex when they’d become lovers. His own intentions hadn’t been honorable. She was a beautiful, exotic creature, and he’d only just found the part of himself that he saw in her. He’d taken his first Sidhe