I wish I had turned around to see that look on his face with my own eyes. When I see my legs tremble and start to give out, I remember why I wasn’t turned around looking. It was damn hard to hold myself up at that moment.
The orgasm count was ridiculous by then.
A really stupid grin curves my lips.
After starting the coffee, I pull up the hidden hatch door, and jog down the stairs into the room that is brightly lit by artificial sun lamps. Humming to myself, I pick a few oranges to give Vance when he stops by later.
Damn teenage girl butterflies.
Wiping away my extremely embarrassing grin, and enjoying one of the rare, fun-monster moments, I make myself a cup of coffee.
Then…I turn around and scream a little, before dropping my freshly filled coffee mug.
Dad startles as it shatters, and he gives me an apologetic grimace…as I clutch my heart and dance away from the hot coffee and broken glass.
“Sorry. Just stopping in while you’re here to tell you bye before I head out.”
“Sorry,” I say back, feeling like a jumpy idiot. “Just wasn’t expecting you to be there.”
“I was surprised to see you too. You’re not home very much, it seems. Spending a lot of time at that Arion fella’s?” he asks me, scratching his head and shifting on his feet in a way that tells me he’s uncomfortable with this topic.
Works for me, since I’m uncomfortable too.
“Sure,” I say with a shrug, deciding that’s easier than explaining any bit of my life right now.
Despite the fact he supposedly called Arion out for being a vampire, he hasn’t really said or done anything differently. I wholly doubt my father is that casual, so it makes me doubt the manipulative vampire is being honest.
Our entire meeting started with a lie. I raised him from his undead grave after he lied to me and manipulated me.
I’m not sure why I even bother being surprised now. I also doubt he’s just going to hold onto me while Idun is topside, after having loved her for this long. Because that’s a long time to love someone, and—
“He seems nice enough,” Dad goes on, cementing the belief that Arion is a loaded crock of shit.
Emit warned me not to trust him.
“So you’re heading back,” I say by way of changing the subject. “Be safe.”
“Call me on Tuesday. It’s the day after Monday,” he says as he walks away.
I sag to a chair, and hear Dad apologizing for his interruption, as Tiara makes a telling, dirty, embarrassing moan, while the sun starts to peek through the windows.
My dad has spent days living in a houseful of really immodest and unrepentantly horny wolves…and he’s apologizing for walking in on them having sex in the living room like it’s become too common.
I two-hand palm my face as I release a tired groan.
How did this become my life?
Chapter 22
ARION
“Shera said she’s pledging to your house?” Isiah asks like he’s genuinely perplexed by this.
“She’s doing exactly as she said she would,” Vance informs everyone sourly, clearly annoyed by the fact he has to deal with this.
“She’s Isiah’s to have when I’m gone,” Emily tells me like this is her decision to make.
I should have brought Violet along to show her I am capable of mercy when I like people. Then she’d likely fear me less, and I’d be the one in a hurry to get back to, instead of watching Vance squirm and check his watch, as if there’s a window of time he has before he fucks it all up.
He squints into the sunlight and impatiently taps his foot. These are definitely not his normal twitches, so it’s not the hunt that’s driving him insane.
“She’s my beta, and quite frankly, I want to keep her. I trained her, after all. You’re already getting Isiah. Feel this as generous, sister, and stop being greedy,” I caution her, dragging this out by antagonizing her a bit.
Fuck you, Van Helsing.
“We had an agreement. I promised to wait on building my nest until Idun rises. And from what Isiah tells me, Idun is rising,” Emily says.
Now she has my full attention.
“Isiah told you?” I ask her calmly, arching my eyebrow as my hands steeple in front of my face.
I cast a look in Isiah’s direction as he lowers his eyes and tenses, his jaw grinding as Emily just tosses that out there so flippantly.
“Don’t be so surprised. You told Idun everyone’s secrets. I’m Isiah’s Idun, aside from the fact I’m saner, I don’t torture him, and I look much better,” Emily carries on, taking a seat on the end of the sofa, primly picking lint off her skirt, before leveling me with her chilliest look. “The simple matter is that we had an understanding, Arion. I wait for Idun to rise, and you give me Shera.”
“Another alpha nest would have helped me out a lot. I told you this centuries ago, and you led me to believe Emily wasn’t ready to take her own nest, and have held strong on that every century since,” Vance cuts in, staring at me as though he’s pondering whether or not to stab me a few dozen times.
“Your added misery wasn’t a formal motivation for the delay, but it was a fringe benefit,” I assure him.
He stands abruptly and moves toward the liquor cabinet, muttering something about working harder so he can put my head through a wall. I’m not really sure what all that’s about.
“I know it’s a loss,” Isiah starts, grating on my nerves with his constant interjection, “but Idun will never allow a female beta to live under your roof, and you give her a lot of influence. It’s best for everyone, and especially Shera.”
“I guess you forgot to mention that when I asked if there was anything else I needed to know before passing my ruling,” Vance says in an annoyed tone, cutting his eyes to me and downing his whiskey.
“Idun broke my rules,” I respond with barely restrained ire, terribly tired of repeating it. “So Idun may be rising, but she won’t have any influence whatsoever in my House. Shera’s untouchable.”
Emily makes a sound of amusement that I don’t appreciate.
“I’m afraid people seem to question my word of protection too much. Shera is untouchable from both Idun and from you,” I say more seriously.
Emily’s amusement fades real damn quick.
“This was always to be Shera’s choice. Idun was coming home, and I’d warned her how loose the reins are that I kept on the ruthless woman. But those reins will tighten on day one, in light of recent events.”
“You think you have any control over Idun?” she asks me in a surprised tone, quickly coughing on a laugh.
“I think I know all of Idun’s weaknesses. She doesn’t want me for an enemy, and I think I know, that unless you’re challenging me for Head of House, you’ll kiss my cheek, tell me thank you for my time, and carry on. I have more pressing matters to deal with.”
I rap my fingers on the table in front of me, as she studies me like she can’t believe what I’m saying.
“So in other words, I just need to wait until this Portocale gypsy is out of your life before I can actually start my own House. And that’s if you don’t find another substitute for Idun,” she says very seriously, and I flick a gaze in Isiah’s direction again.
He’s chattier than I remember.
His eyes don’t meet mine.
Returning my attention to Emily, I give her a smile. “Idun won’t have say in my House ever again. It’s part of her punishment for breaking my rules. I was all she had left. She’ll take me seriously, and she won’t push me like she pushes everyone else. She knows better.”
Vance is studying me, but I pretend not to notice. Just like I pretend not to notice the tightly balled fists Isiah isn’t even trying to hide. I’ll stab his hands later for that, but not in front of Emily. She’s very melodramatic.
“She was supposed to be mine. I need her to run the House when I’m gone.”
“Funny. I need her to run mine when I’m home and when I’m gone,” I say with a shrug and a larger smile. “Guess that means I need her more.”
Isiah stands, bows to me, and turns to stalk out. Emily waits until the door slams behind him before she speaks again.
“If he chooses to stay for her and leave me, who will run my House?”
“I thought you were his Idun,” Vance states dryly.
“I thought that meant something different until my devotedly loyal brother, who has only ever touched one woman in his life, suddenly decides Idun no longer has any place in his House,” Emily states, eyes warily on me as the muscle jumps along the side of her jaw.
“You could always put in the time and energy to train your own beta,” I dutifully suggest.
“You’ve only ever trained one,” she says as if I’m no better.
“And you’re not getting her, so let’s wrap this up, shall we? Vance clearly has a pressing date, since he can’t stop looking at his watch, and I have a date to plan. It’s going to take me some time to figure out how to be believably pathetic between now and tomorrow evening,” I say dismissively.
Emily stands without another word and leaves, shutting the door quietly behind her.
“Shera also led me to believe that holding off on a new nest was Emily’s decision,” Vance says as he pours himself another glass.