Page 50 of Daddy Frost

As strange as it had been to see the delivery method in which the baby was born, Delta couldn’t deny how beautiful it had been to see a life brought into the world.

Now daughter and fathers were resting, and Delta sat there, too afraid to go into the kitchen to get something to drink.

Every time he stood, convinced he could do it, he sat back down. Delta knew it was all in his head, but it felt like the kitchen was mocking him, daring him to enter so it could reveal the horrors trapped in its walls.

His leg started to bounce as he chewed his lower lip and wondered if he’d ever be able to step foot in there again. But good memories were trapped in there too. Like making out with Kalen while the food burned, and…that was it, but still.

“Three months later and I still have nightmares.” Raidh sat down next to Delta and clasped his hands between his legs. He poked his tongue into the inside of his mouth, causing his cheek to bulge. “My father paid vampires to kill me.”

Delta’s leg stilled.

Raidh let out a small huff of humorless laughter. “Almost succeeded.” Staring off into some past memory, he brushed his fingers over his forearm for some reason. It seemed the kitchen wasn’t the only place where bad memories were stored. “One took me down, ripped my neck open.”

Delta couldn’t decide which would be worse. Getting shot in the stomach or having his neck ripped open. Both sounded terrifying and resulted in the same possibly fatal outcome. One just seemed less… evil? Was that the word he was looking for? Maybe gruesome?

“Now I live with two vampires.” Raidh looked at him, his eyes haunted. “How ironic is that?”

Whoa. Pump the freaking brakes. Vampires? Delta’s mind was definitely scattered because Raidh had mentioned vampires four or five thoughts ago, and it was just now registering.

Even so, for a brief moment, he was too stunned to speak. The small guy was opening up and sharing a painful experience, and Delta wanted to tread lightly. But he couldn’t think of a polite enough way to ask how Raidh had survived such a brutal attack.

Now Delta was inwardly panicking that vampires were actually real. He was still trying to process the fact that demons, shifters, and fairies, shit, fae existed. Now vampires? What next? Bigfoot? Aliens? The Grim Reaper?

If those were real, Delta didn’t want to know.

“Oh god.” Raidh’s expression turned apologetic. “You had no idea vampires existed, did you?”

Delta shrugged. “At this point, I don’t think anything can surprise me.” His gaze flicked toward the kitchen doorway before glancing away. His nightmare, not ten feet away, lived in the same house too. “Who are the vampires?”

“Arion and Damon.”

“Okay, I stand corrected.” Delta snapped his head around to stare wide-eyed at Raidh. “Somehow, I’m not shocked that Arion is one. He has this intense look about him. But Damon? He’s Kalen’s son. How is he a vampire and not a wolf shifter like his dad?”

Leaning forward, Raidh rubbed the shin area of his pant legs. “I’m sorry, but that’s not my story to tell.”

It was the one Kalen had promised to explain to Delta. “I just wanted something to drink.” He curled his arms around his midsection then started to chew on his bottom lip again.

“Damon, really?” Yep. He was still stuck on that.

Raidh grinned, his smile as soft and pretty as freshly fallen snow. “You have so much to catch up on, Daddy Frost.”

“Don’t.” Delta groaned and tilted his head back. “How would you feel if you found out you’re a grandpa while you were in your twenties? Us young’uns have to stick together.”

The guy’s chuckle was even better, making Delta think of the soft tinkling of wind chimes. “I hate to break it to you, but I’m 1,217 years old. But I don’t feel a day over 500.”

Delta gave his head a little shake, listening for anything that might be rattling around in there, like his marbles. Apparently, his hearing was on the fritz as well, because he could have sworn he’d heard an astronomical number that couldn’t be real. Then again, Kalen was over three hundred, so why the hell not?

Raidh poked Delta’s leg. “Did I break you?”

“I was already broken.” Even before his mom had passed, Delta had allowed her to make all the decisions for him. Practically letting her become his brain. Anything she’d said, Delta had just gone along with, never giving it a second thought.

Maybe if he’d taken control of his own life, he wouldn’t have fallen victim to Leo. Sure, the guy stalked his house, but Delta could’ve easily called the cops on him.

And his gut—not a great body part to reference right now—told him his uncle was behind the shooting, not Whichello. Leo had Delta’s phone number. The demon did not.

But he could be wrong. First, what did he know about demons? Diddly squat. He was gullible enough to think Whichello was charming. His own judgment was not something he would eagerly rely on. And second, for all he knew, a demon could possess the power to snatch phone numbers out of thin air, even from a different realm.

His money was still riding on Leo, though.

---