and knelt between her spread thighs, his hand curling around her ankle, turning his head to rub his mouth over her skin, searching for any hint of scar tissue or injury.
Considering the complete lack of any evidence to say she'd been hurt at all, something worse must have happened to him. Something that took him away from Ivy while she'd healed.
The thought of that left him cold, and not even the utterly gorgeous sight of Ivy lying naked in front of him or the delicious scent she was putting off could distract him.
“I remember charging at your dad. Fighting with him, and since there's not much after that, I'm guessing he kicked my ass. Was I in a coma or something?”
The amorous light in her eyes faded—which was a travesty—but if he'd failed her and she'd been here, needing him, he had to know. She reached up to smooth her palms across his chest, her fingertips swirling in circles here and there, her lips quivering briefly before her jaw clenched.
“No, you weren't in a coma. The short version is you almost died, and the stuff we used to save you made you forget.”
With his heart pounding unsteadily, Uriah searched her face, seeing pain etched behind the relief to have him back with her. “Forget what?”
“I took the same thing to heal my leg and was fine, but for you, it made you forget the last two years of your life. Including me.”
Mouth dry, stomach churning, he folded his hands over hers, a hollow settled in his stomach to imagine what that must have been like. “How long has it been?”
“It doesn't matter—”
“It does,” he insisted. “It really does. How long, Ivy?”
She scrunched her nose up like a rabbit, in a way he'd always found adorable, but it told him she wasn't keen on answering the question.
“Almost a month.” The sound he made in answer was strangled, making her hurry to continue, “You came to and recognized me as your mate almost immediately. You were beyond sweet, and aside from the fact that you didn't remember things like having built the house for me, or coming to my rescue the day at the garden shop with lunch, it was still you.
“You took care of me, you got pissed off when my stomach grumbled, you cooked for me, and you told me stories about how you dreamed of owning your own business someday to build beautiful homes for people who wanted to go green.
“The look on your face when I introduced you to your own crew and Warren said it was payroll day… priceless. You insisted on helping build little off the grid cabins for my brother and the warriors who stayed behind with him—”
“Your brother is still here?” Uriah interrupted hotly, furious he'd clearly lost his fuckin’ mind in helping that sly bastard stick around. And with men loyal to him to help do only Goddess knew what to Ivy, or the other women?
What the hell was wrong with him?
Either version of himself should have known better than to allow someone with his own army anywhere near his mate, but instead he was helping them build homes?
“And Rowena is okay with that? You're okay with that?”
Ivy sat up and laced her fingers behind his neck. “Yes. My brother helped us, Uriah. He's the reason you're still alive, and I was wrong. We're going to need the long version of events.”
She settled in and told him a fantastical tale of how her brother had played what sounded like a double agent to assist in a coup.
Uriah had no idea what the hell a Wild Hunt was, but if it was powerful enough to come through, behead an immortal, and turn him into a tree? Uriah was all for it.
The rest sounded convenient as hell. Getting him out of the way to ensure Ilex had all the time in the world with Ivy that he wanted to fool her into believing—
“Babe, I can see your wheels turning in there, and as sexy as it is to see it again, I promise you, we've put Ilex through every verbal wringer there is.
“He and his crew even let Rowena place a binding spell on each of them that would prevent them from physically harming us in any way, or colluding with someone else to hurt the coven, ad infinitum. And, knowing what I know now about the Wild Hunt, I get why the Fae are so diligent about keeping their word.”
Uriah struggled to believe it