He gives no reaction other than a nod. “Most people just call me Tom,” he adds, appearing oblivious.
Shera’s lips wiggle with restrained amusement.
“What do you think of the little pathetic girls living with Violet?” Shera muses.
“Seem like nice girls. Little loud at night,” he says, adding the last part with those red cheeks he keeps so often. “Walls in that house are a little thin,” he goes on, tugging at his collar as his face grows redder. “They never really explained how they know Violet or how they came to live with her.”
“They’re clingy and needy, and she scooped them right in,” Shera states dryly. “And the phrase you’re looking for is obnoxiously horny. They like each other more than they truly like men, including Emit.”
“Emit?” Thomas asks like he’s confused.
Shera shuts the hell right up and excuses herself, leaving us alone.
“Violet is a bit soft. Softer than any living creature I’ve seen in too long,” I tell him, causing his brow to crease.
“She’s got it in her to be mean if she has to be,” he says with a careless shrug. “I worry about her more than I need to, but someone has to.”
“If you worry so much, why run off on her gypsy birthday?” I ask, causing him to quickly shift his attention to me in surprise.
He blinks out of the surprise. “She told you about her thirteenth birthday?”
“She turned into a gypsy, had a run-in with the cult that was thwarted, and you ran off to go be a cunt somewhere. That’s my summarized version of it.”
He frowns at me. Like a full on pouty-sad frown.
“Marta had that covered. Gypsy stuff was her expertise. I was just in the way and going to get her killed. Violet told you about the cult?”
“The cult is common knowledge to gypsies,” I say in deflection.
He just looks over me and away, slightly more tense. “She never wanted to be normal, and I didn’t know how to be anything else. I was in the way,” he says again. “Then Marta died. Someone has to look after her, even though Marta would be very angry at me for being here right now.”
I lean forward, putting my elbows on the table.
“Why’s that?” I ask him.
“Because I’m pretty certain, based on what I’ve noticed and observed so far, that I’m sitting in a private bar full of vampires, and my daughter is here with their alpha.”
He says the words so casually, as though he’s been slowly piecing things together the entire time with a rock-solid poker face.
A dark smile slowly curves my lips as he cuts his gaze back to me, visibly gulping. “Only ever heard of one Arion. I’m just not sure how you’re here right now, and why you’re here with her.”
He sounds so composed, but his heartbeat is steadily climbing, giving away the nervousness ratcheting up inside him.
“Tell me, Thomas, why is it you know of me?” I muse, enjoying the growing fear in his eyes.
“Because you slaughtered my girl’s ancestors to become what you are. She doesn’t know that,” he tells me very seriously.
“She does now,” I inform him, causing his brow to furrow in more surprise. “Why keep it from her?”
He clams up, looking away. “I think I’d like to go back now,” he tells me very quietly. “And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t try to kill my daughter. She’s tougher than she looks on the outside, but she’s more fragile than it seems on the inside.”
Shera walks back to the table, but I wave her off. I know it’s important when she shakes her head.
My eyes narrow until she says, “Emily has just returned home to see her brother.”
Ah, so my sister finally wants to see me.
“Tell her I’m busy,” I say dismissively.
“That’s fine. Like I said, I’d like to be getting back now. I told Lemon I’d build some new shelves for the shop, since Violet’s got more product than shelf space.”
My jaw grinds as I look back at Shera, but for once, I’m not her primary concern.
Her eyes are vacant as she stares away, and I grudgingly stand.
That’s when I hear some atrocious singing, as Violet and the group of omegas sing some sort of ridiculous song that makes no sense at all, laughing as they do some foot-in and foot-out thing. I’m not entirely sure what’s going on right now.
She notices her father leaving, and her smile evaporates. I’ll get Shera’s opinion on what killing him would do to this new phase of our relationship.
The group turns their attention away, when I arch my eyebrow at them for begging her to stay. They stop begging real damn fast, and Violet makes her way toward me.
I wish skirts were still the primary clothing choice for women. Those damn buttons on those jeans make my life hell.
She’s too skittish for me to merely rip them off. Although, next time I may just try it and see.
They do show off her very incredibly tempting body, which is another reason I hate them. More people are watching her walk away than I’m comfortable with.
People feared/fear Idun. They never checked out her ass on the way out.
I shoot a look toward Shera, but she still seems too distracted to guide me toward what is or isn’t acceptable to the more delicate nature of Violet. I’d like to tear out their eyeballs, but instead, I opt to walk out.
My hand immediately lands on Violet’s ass, and since her father is in front of us, she just sighs without really commenting.
The second we’re seated in the car, Shera starts driving us back toward Violet’s.
Violet leans over to my ear. “If you make my father meet your sister, it will not be okay,” she says in a very firm but quiet tone.
“I’m not even taking you to meet her,” I say with a shudder. “She’s insane.”
Violet gives me a wry look that I don’t particularly understand.
“It’d be nice to have an invite so I could come slip into bed with you, in the event her stay is longer than a few hours,” I continue, easing my hand up her cheek.
She stops thinking so much when I touch her.
“Absolutely not.” Apparently, she’s still thinking right now.
“Do you really not trust me with your wolves?” I ask her very quietly.
“Hell no,” she says like I’m an idiot.
“I’d never be unfaith—”
She covers my mouth with her hand, giving me a much sterner look that I do understand, as she gestures to how close her father is. Then she leans up to my ear.
I get sick of this, so I drag her into my lap. She makes an annoyed sound, but ends up straddling me instead of arguing.
Well, this is nice. I enjoy feeling her so soundly on my lap, just like she was while tending to my wounds.
My head dips to her neck, and I start kissing her there, desperately wishing I could have just a small taste, but not desperate enough to wonder what Portocale blood will do to me all these many centuries later.
She slaps at my chest, likely hurting herself, and I ease back, wondering what new hurdle I need to leap to keep her in the damn moment.
She gives me an exasperated look before her lips brush my ear, and my hands go across her perfectly generous ass to pull her closer.
“I meant I don’t trust you with their lives. Not that I don’t trust you won’t have sex with them. You’re impossible,” she bites out.
“You’re unreasonably resistant,” I say against her ear. “You didn’t make this nearly as hard for Damien or Emit, and especially not for Vance.”
“Keep talking like that,” she murmurs, her own lips sliding against my jaw, “and I’m going to knee you in the nuts again,” she finishes, causing my lips to curl in a grin.
“We’re here,” Shera states flatly as the car jerks to a halt.
Thomas is the first one out, leading the charge like he’s evacuating a sinking ship.
Violet shakes her head as she quickly follows. I’m out of the car right behind her, arms coming around her waist and pulling her back.
“Your father knows you live in a town full of monsters,” I tell her next to her ear, causing her to go rigid as her father walks on into the house. “Careful, Violet. He’s still shielding secrets.”
She turns and faces me abruptly, and her eyes flick to mine. “If you’re trying to damage our relationship, that’s shitty. If you’re telling me this because you think I should know, then thank you.”
“That’s it? I tell you your father knows the big secret you’re hiding, and you shrug a shoulder?” I ask, grinning, but she’s…not happy right now.
My smile immediately flattens.
“I think I’m just finally catching up, figuring out the key points of this elaborate story. I don’t expect my father to be of much help right now, when he hasn’t bothered to offer help before now. The less I know he knows, the better I feel and can carry on. This new hill seems a little endless, and I’m just starting to pick up steam, Arion.”
I’m not entirely sure what any of that means.
The door shuts behind her before she can even go in, when Lemon closes it like she’s presumably ensuring Violet remembers they certainly don’t want me gaining entry.