He sighed, skimming a long index finger over his jawline. “Your fae half smelled extremely powerful. I think that’s why my brother, in his dying moments, sent you to me. He knew only an Elder Fae could train you.”
“Train me!” I snapped, and then it turned into maniacal laughter. The look on Artemis’ face cut the laughter from my throat.
Iwastrained. I’d trained formonthswith Maddy and Castiel and Natalie. I wasn’t doing it again with fae powers if that’s what he was getting at.
Wait, he said faehalf. Wasn’t I only a quarter?
“My brother probably had intentions to train you but…” he trailed off.
I started to pace the barn. “Train me how? In what? Fae magic?! You saidhalfjust now but before you said I was less.”
Artemis swallowed hard. “I was processing everything the day I met you. My beloved brother had just died, then you walk in smelling so powerful. I was putting it all together, I didn’t really know—”
“What are you talking about?” I screamed.
“I’m your father!” Artemis snapped, and the entire room swam as dizziness washed over me.
“What?” I staggered backward in shock.
The Elder Fae sighed, looking at me intently. “I knew you were half fae when I met you. I suspected maybe my brother’s child since I smelled my own lineage on you, but it wasn’t until I did some research into who your mother was that… and by then you were gone and I couldn’t find you.”
It hit me in that moment that he was suggesting he’d slept with my mother twenty years ago. I stumbled backward until my knees hit the couch and then I sank into it.
“Father?” My mom told me my dad was a one-night stand and she never saw him again. Realization dawned on me. “You had a one-night stand with my mom!” I shot up into a standing position and started pacing the space. “This is so gross.”
A slight grin pulled at his lips, but the second I shot him a glare he wiped it from his face. “I used to like coming to Earth to drink away my troubles. Your mom was in Miami for a funeral and very distraught.”
Oh my. Gross.My mom screwed Artemis after her mom’s funeral? Grandma Patty lived in Miami. It had to be her. Breathing became hard then.
“This is a lot to take in.”
His cheeks turned pink and he cleared his throat. “I didn’t think much about that night until I looked up who your mother was, saw a picture and… well, the memory flooded back.”
I sat back down.
Artemis was my dad? The Elder Fae was mydad.
“You abandoned us!” I said angrily, suddenly feeling cheated by not knowing him the last twenty years.
“I didn’t even know you existed!” he shot back. “I was so drunk I barely remember the night with your mother.”
I sank into the couch. “Fair enough.”
A moment of silence stretched between us and then he awkwardly came to sit next to me. “Sorry for… missing stuff,” he fumbled.
This was so weird. Beyond weird. “Only twenty years of my life.” Why was I angry? I just needed someone to yell at.
“Fate brought us together again.” He shrugged. “Can’t promise I’ll be a good father because I have no idea what that entails, but I do promise to protect you from harm, provide whatever your needs are, and kill anyone who double-crosses you.”
I chuckled then, my heart softening. “That’s basically the rules of being a parent.”
This was weird. So freaking weird and yet kind of nice. I’d always liked Artemis, and he’d been nothing but helpful to Brayden and I.
“Does Brayden know?” I finally asked.
He shrugged. “I told him you were more of a powerful fae than I let on, but I wanted you to be the first to hear about our familial connection.”
What did I do with this information? What did it mean? “So I’m a part Elder Fae and part Greywolf? Good combo?” I prayed it was a good combo and not a scary one.
