~ Chapter Six ~
Two years later (Ivy and Theo are 18yrs old)
Ivy was about to receive the best birthday present ever. Her first kiss, from Adam Menken no less. Well...her first kiss in her opinion-the other one didn't count. She smiled up at the tall panther in front of her and blushed when he reached out to cup her right cheek in his palm.
"Happy Birthday, Ivy," Adam murmured. She let her eyes slowly drift shut as he moved closer and sent up a quick prayer of thanks for her amazing parents. Raine and Noelle had reached out into the community to other werepanthers, hoping to unite them as a strong front to the demons, harpies and Hunters that were aggressively pursuing them. As a result, Ivy met Adam along with many other werepanther kids who didn't care that she and Theo were supposedly fated to be good and evil. They hadn't grown up under Theo's influence and by the time they had arrived on the estate, Theo had pretty much given up on harassing Ivy. In fact, Ivy had noticed that he seemed preoccupied with something else. Like something or someone else was bothering him.
Right now, though, she couldn't be bothered with any of that nonsense. Right now, she just wanted to be kissed by Adam Menken. Ivy felt his warm puff of breath as his lips drew closer to hers. Just before their lips touched, though, a dark husky voice whispered through her mind, "Not so fast, little girl."
Ivy jumped back with a yelp, looking at Adam with fear in her eyes.
"Ivy, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly, wondering if he had done something to scare her. "Did I scare you? I'm sorry, I really wanted to kiss you and I thought-"
"No," she choked out on a whisper, "it wasn't that. Did you say something or hear something a second ago?"
Adam gave her a worried look as he shook his head. "No, it's only us out here, Ivy. I didn't hear anything and I certainly didn't say anything."
Fear slithered down her spine as she closed her eyes and thought, "Please gods, no."
She heard the same voice chuckle again and say, "I'm not a god, but it is your eighteenth birthday, love. Don't you remember what I told you?"
"Noooo," Ivy moaned aloud, clutching her head.
"Ivy," Adam asked, unsure about what to do. "Are you...what's wrong?"
"Get my dad," she told him. "Tell him he's back." When Adam didn't move, she glared at him and motioned for him to go. "Go, Adam. Please!"
"What, you're going to run to your daddy?" Zeke teased smugly.
He was enjoying torturing Ivy, knowing soon enough she would snap at him. He loved her fiery spirit and her quick wit. It had amused him to watch her over the past two years, to see her grow and mature. He had watched Adam too, seeing the way he looked at Ivy, seeing the desire in his eyes. Zeke had felt a foreign emotion, realizing that he was jealous and wanted to rip Adam's eyes out for even daring to look at Ivy. Adam had to right to look at Ivy that way. No one did. Not even Zeke, although he would admit that he would love to be the only one allowed to look at her, to take care of and protect her.
"Show yourself!" Ivy demanded, wondering where the hell he was hiding.
"I can't, cupcake," he said nonchalantly, "I'm in your head, not hiding behind a bush."
Ivy bared her teeth and growled angrily, wanting to have the satisfaction of punching Zeke in the face. However, with him not in the vicinity, it put a little crimp in her plans. "Coward," she hissed. "Too scared to actually see me face to face. You think you're all bad ass when you're in the demon realm, but I know you're actually scared of my dad. Coward."
