Chapter 18

Nix’s POV

“This is Jen.” Christina tells me, looking at the hawk that has just landed on her arm and eating the mouse she is holding. I walk over and stroke its head while it’s eating. A bird of prey, it’s so hard to believe. I have never been this close to one before. They are amazing creatures and from this close, I can see its killer claws and beak. Fortunately, I am not in the way of its food.

“I found her a few months ago. She couldn’t fly or catch food, she was starving to death. I fed and cared for her. She was scared of me at first. It took time and patience until she trusted me. Now she is back to full health and doesn’t want to leave me.” I just looked at her. Maybe that’s what Christina needs as well. Time and patience. But she gets neither in this pack nor at home being Dylan’s full-time carer.

We sat and had the picnic Stella prepared, Jen flying round overhead. I opened up and unloaded on her. I told her about my life at Blackwood Farm, where I grew up, about