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

tell you no about a summer camp, or the prestigious colleges you applied to. How do you think she paid for private school?”
    Nathan held up one hand. “Don’t tell me now all the things you paid for, and act like that made you a parent. That just makes you a cash machine.”  
    “ She was all the parent you needed, Nathan.” The hawk-shifter stared him down. “Look, I’m not cut out for parenting. I’ve never raised a child, and I’ve fathered them for millennia. There’s nothing I can say to take away the sting of that.”
    “ You think I’m angry because you weren’t a good father to me? I’m angry my mother had to work so hard for so little, while you stood in the wings. Why couldn’t you make her life easier?”
    “ Haven’t we covered this ground already? Should I have taken her hostage and held her in splendor in a locked castle? I could have. But that isn’t kindness.”
    Nathan couldn ’t speak any more. But it seemed Nemglan couldn’t take the silence.
    “ Has Tessa been kind to you?”
    “ She’s been good to me, yes.” Nathan held his father’s eyes, maybe for a second too long. Had he made it obvious there was more to the story? It felt far too intimate to speak to Nemglan about it.
    Nemglan didn’t take up the dangling thread about him and Tessa, instead changing the subject. “Nathan, I’ve received word that the other half-humans have found sanctuary at the sacred healing waters of the Well of Slaine.”
    “Yes, Mikhail said something about twins staying there with their father.”
    “You should travel there at once. We’ll have more success guarding you all if we know precisely where you are and can protect a specific area.”
    Nathan shook his head. “Not interested. I’ve only been waiting to speak to you, and for the danger to die down a little, before I return to my own world. I don’t belong here.”
    “ Not even with Tessa?” So his father had understood the subtext perfectly.
    Had this been Nemglan’s reason for bringing him to Tessa in the beginning? Nathan had a sinking feeling in his gut when he realized he’d become attached to their world just as his father had wanted. Nemglan was smart enough to take himself out of the picture, and what blame would Nathan place on someone he had no connection to, and a beautiful, amazing woman at that?
    He frowned at the old man, who appeared no older than his son. “You knew we’d sleep together?”
    “ It’s a fair bet with the Sidhe. If you place us within reach of a lover we’ve never known, it is hard to resist. Staying in her home? I thought it might happen.” 
    “ All the better for you. I’m less eager to return, that’s certain.”
    “ I only showed you that there’s much more to Tir Nan Og, to the Sidhe, than your negligent father.”
    “ I’ll still return home.”
    “ Don’t risk yourself foolishly because you’re angry with me.”
    “ I wouldn’t. I just don’t belong here.”
    “ When you return home , what will you do about Hawk?”
    The question hit Nathan like a punch in the gut. Hawk surged beneath his skin, threatening to take over, agitated at the thought of hiding , trapped, while Nathan worked and lived among humans . He hadn’t thought about that. Now that he knew Hawk, he also knew his animal side wasn’t to be resisted for long. He would need to shift, would need to fly, would need to hunt. Could he return to his work, to his studies, knowing he had to go out in the woods every few days for a good workout? Would Hawk feel the same about the forest beyond the veil? He hadn’t chosen to emerge until Nemglan showed up.
    Abruptly, Nathan shoved those doubts to the back of his mind. He ’d consider them when he wasn’t face to face with Nemglan. He also decided then and there not to tell Tessa that Nemglan had told him to go to the Well of Slaine. She was sure to agree with his father, and he wasn’t going to let them control his decisions. He had to maintain some sense of