Page 10 of The Reluctant Heir

“Thank you for the invitation, Michael.”

“Call me Dad, please,” he says.

Dad… it’s so weird to even think it in my head. But he is my dad. I would’ve been raised calling him that if my mother hadn’t hidden me away.

I nod. “Okay. I will call you Dad.”

His grin widens. “Will you pack a bag and come with me on my jet tonight?”

“Tonight?” I look around my apartment. “But my stuff.”

“I will pay somebody to pack your things for you. You can choose what you want to keep with you in my home and what you’d like to put in storage,” Michael—Dad—says. “Just pack clothes for now.”

“Okay,” I say, agreeing.

Am I doing this? Am I really about to move in with mydad?

I pause before standing to head to my room. “I am going with you to learn more about the vampire side of me, but if things don’t work out with the whole heir thing, I still want to be family.”

Dad puts his hand on my shoulder. “No matter what, you will always have a place in my home. I promise you that.”

His promise is exactly what I needed. My entire body relaxes and I find myself leaning into his side, hugging him. “Thanks, Dad.”

I get up and head to my room, but not before seeing the smile on my dad’s face. He is happy to have me join him.

4

THE INFAMOUS LOVE CHILD

The airplane lands at daybreak. It was warm when we left home—a nice seventy degrees. When I step off the plane, I’m surprised to seesnowcoming down in large white flakes.

I rub my bare arms in an attempt to warm myself.

My father glances at me, an eyebrow cocked. “The cold affects you?”

I nod. “Not as badly as most succubi, but more than a vampire.”

Vampires aren’t affected by extreme temperatures. Unfortunately, it’s not a trait that got passed to me, though I suspect it might have something to do with drinking blood.

He frowns. “I can have my driver dig out a jacket for you from your suitcase.”

“I didn’t bring a jacket. I didn’t even think about it being winter,” I admit. And why would I? We so rarely have temperatures below sixty at home. “I don’t even own a winter coat.”

“I’ll buy you a coat—as many as you want. I’ll send out somebody to purchase something for you until you can go shopping.” He tugs me close to his side as we approach a waitingSUV. When he opens the door, I can feel the warmth coming from inside the vehicle. I slide inside and he shuts the door behind me.

I’ve never had anybody open the door for me—at least not like this. There were always humans that would open the door as I was walking inside a coffee shop behind them. I lived in the south, people are nice like that. But no supernatural has ever held the door open for me. I nearly laugh at the thought of an incubus going out of his way to open the door.

Incubi are selfish, vain creatures. They think they exist to be looked at and admired. It’s part of the reason why I’m twenty three and have never had a boyfriend.

My dad gets in the back with me as the driver takes off.

We talked a lot on the plane ride, mostly about my job working for my grandfather. He seemed appalled when I told him what my duties were—he called it grunt work. Way beneath a princess. But I didn’t mind it so much. The only thing I minded was my cousins’ attitudes toward me, but that would’ve been a problem no matter what position I held. Being a hybrid put me at a severe disadvantage.

“We didn’t talk about your personal life,” Dad says, as the car pulls onto the main road. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

I snort. “You’re joking, right?”

He lifts an eyebrow. “I’m failing to see what is funny about my question.”

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