She scrambled out her side. “It’s yours. I know why you would wonder, but it is, I swear.”
He froze, every muscle going still. “How?”
“You’re my Chosen. That makes you, um, different in more ways than we expected.” She gave a faint, apologetic smile. “I hope you don’t mind. I wasn’t really expecting it, either. It’s not like we were, um, taking precautions.”
Alessandro began to walk around the car toward her, giving himself the half dozen steps to process the information. Irrelevant thoughts flew through his head. There was rain in the wind. He’d left the upstairs light on. The cat would be hungry. His brain was ducking the issue.
Six centuries of existence, and he hadn’t seen that one coming. Trust Holly to come up with the impossible. He stopped in front of her, looking down into her eyes. She looked so uncertain, it broke his heart.
She was still only a young woman. Vulnerable. She worked so hard, and now she was adding a family to her already-full plate. I’ll
“That’s the best news I’ve ever had,” he said, and meant it.
She took his hands, gripping them hard. “Thank you.”
He raised her fingers to his lips. Grateful, but confused. He cleared his throat. “I don’t know what...”
She smiled, heartbreakingly happy. “I’m just guessing, but it’s probably going to be a witch like me. I mean, your DNA is still basically human, right?”
That made a nicer picture than a baby with fangs and a pint-sized sword. Still, that wasn’t what he’d meant to ask.
She reached up, kissing him, giving herself entirely.
He kept his question to himself. He would be the best father in the world.
Because that’s what her eyes told him he would be.
“This is Errata at CSUP at the University of Fairview with a quick public service notice. Are you interested in an exciting career in law enforcement with a difference? Are you stimulated by the opportunity to work with a variety of nonhuman species in a challenging teamwork environment? If so, please apply with resume addressed to Conall Macmillan, care of the Empire Hotel.”
Mac had guessed right about the new job. It kept him busier than a vampire at a blood drive, and he loved it.
He sat at the kitchen table doodling on his notepad— making lists, crossing things out. Troll fences. New mattresses for the guardsmen. Grow lights for the garden some of the kobolds wanted. And signage—everything needed signs in this place!
And that was just the caretaker stuff.
There were also problems like Miru-kai. The Prince had vanished the moment the battle had begun. There had been very few sightings of him since. That didn’t mean they’d heard the last of old M.K. Top-notch villains didn’t give up that easily.
Before Mac tackled the warlords—so far he’d counted eight that amounted to any real threat—he had to rebuild his forces. He was trying to recruit new guardsmen—with plenty of improvements to their conditions of employment—and find ways to help the old ones. There were discipline issues, policy and procedures, and that whole intangible element of institutional culture. It was a lot to fix, but he had to start somewhere. He’d start with the fence.
Connie sat across from him, reading
Mac didn’t get the attraction of the literary brood fests like
It was almost working.
Most recently, Mac had bought Sylvius and Lore ticets to Sedona to see his old friends there. He was hoping Sylvius would stay for a while. He knew the New Agers wouldn’t lead a first-time human too far astray.
Besides, they’d always wanted an angel. Sylvius had lost his win but he was still a better candidate than Mac.
He hoped the kid liked tofu.
“Mac,” Connie said, breaking his concentration.
He looked up from his list. “Yeah?”
“How do you feel about throwing a dinner party? It’s something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. We could invite Holly and Alessandro and Reynard and that nice young werewolf Perry Baker and, well, whoever else you’d like.”
“We can do that.”That meant he’d be doing the cooking, but that had always been a hobby of his, so that was okay.
She reached across the table, touching his hand. “Thanks.”
“Happy to oblige.” Mac smiled, turning back to his list. She went back to her book.
“Not sure what to do about you vamps, though,” he said. “It always feels weird with half the guests not eating.”
She blushed faintly. She was still shy about the whole feeding issue. A few times a week she had to head into Fair-view for a proper meal. All neatly arranged, of course, by her protective sire. “For us, it’s the company that matters.”
“More for the rest of us, I guess.”
She looked over the top of her book, one eyebrow raised. “Are you going to work all night?”
He put down his pencil. “I’m done.”
“What are you working on?”
“Just some wishful thinking.”
“What about?”
He waved dismissively at the page. “Just goofing around.”
“Let me see.” Vampire-quick, she snatched the notepad to her side of the table and set Emily Bronte aside. “What is this?”
He chuckled. “Well, there’re so many rules in a place like this, it would be a lot easier if they could be boiled down into a few simple principles. Short and sweet.”
She giggled, a girlish sound he liked. “Oh, this is good. One: Don’t frighten the humans. Two: Don’t annoy the dragon. Three: Don’t annoy Mac. Are you sure you don’t want to put the last one on top?”
“Am I that hard to live with?”
She leaned over the table, bracing herself on her elbows. He glanced down a moment, well aware of the drape of her V-necked shirt.
“There should be a number four,” she said, giving him that Mona Lisa smile.
He leaned forward, meeting her lips. “What’s that?”
“Come to bed when I say so.”
“Are you sure that one shouldn’t be on top?”
“We can take turns being on top.”
He felt the smile in her kiss, the laugh trembling on her tongue, and he knew who really ruled the Castle—or at least who really ruled him.
