Page 39 of Arthur

“Will do.”

Dante gave me a curt nod, then left with Fenwick. This morning was turning out to be a bit more than expected. I picked the phone back up and replied to Father.

Me: Thank you for the heads-up. Dante is here. He’s settling into a suite now, like the others are. I’ll keep you updated if anything happens.

Father read the message almost immediately, but then when no reply came, I tossed the phone back onto the desk.

“You seem frustrated. Is something wrong?”

I grinned.

“No, my love. Everything is how it should be. The Amherst coven is now five more warlocks and one hellhound larger in numbers.”

“A hellhound?”

I chuckled.“Yes. He’s here for extra protection. Every place that accepted members from Venice is getting a bit of extra protection for the time being. I’m not sure how long he willbe here, but he’s here for at least a week or two. Most likely longer.”

I didn’t know how the rotations for enforcers worked. I knew of the council, obviously, and the mission, but I didn’t have the inside scoop on the inner workings. It was Father’s thing, as was his right as the created warlock. I was more than happy with my position here at Amherst.

“Well, that might not be a bad thing, right?”

“Not at all. How is your morning going? Enjoying your time with Alistair and River?”

It might have been wrong of me, but when I knew the newest members were going to arrive, Patrick and I agreed that he and Edric would head out to Montana for the day, if not a couple of days.

“It’s been amazing. Edric is loving spending time with everyone out here. It’s only a temporary solution, but he’s happy at the moment.”

I loved Edric, but he was an eight-year-old child. He couldn’t dictate where we lived, and we were going to have to find a solution to whatever was going on with our youngest son. I’d put out some feelers for a professional to talk to, but so far, we’d not heard anything. There had to be someone somewhere; we simply hadn’t been able to locate them as of yet. We would, though, because having a child who was so moody simply because he was upset with having no siblings in the house with him wasn’t acceptable. Had we spoiled him too much? Possibly. But I was sure it was a bit more than just that.

“Give it another day or two, and I’ll reach out to Father again and see if he has any additional information about someone that might be able to help us. He’s incredibly busy at the moment, and I know getting these coven members situated and secured is his top priority at the moment.”

“There’s no rush,”Patrick said.“I know that sounds terrible to say, but he’s happy at the moment, and it’s not as if he’s violent. Just…moody. We have to figure out how to get him to talk to us. And, well, maybe be able to tell us what is going on because every time we ask him, he can’t answer. He’s eight. We’re recognizing there is an issue; we just have to figure out how to communicate on his level.”

None of that was incorrect. All those centuries ago, Patrick and I had first talked about family and how many children we wanted. We had been hoping for four or five, leaning more toward five. Fate had decided we were to have three, and we were happy with that. When Patrick had become pregnant with Edric, we were both elated and wondered if we were going to be like many others and have a second set of children. It seemed as if not, though, as Patrick had only had a few fertile periods since he’d had Edric, and he’d not caught. We’d accepted that, but our son seemed to be struggling with that fact. We couldn’t figure out why though.

“What exciting plans do you have for today?”I asked Patrick.

“Well, the kids are all going up to Treasure Ridge in a couple of hours after they finish their schooling for the day. Konrad, Egon, and I think Chin? I’m trying to remember who the third one was.”I grinned at my One. He was so adorable.“Anyway, they’re going to shift and take turns taking the children for a flight. Then the plan is for them to play in the snow village that someone made for the kids back behind the council building. I was told it was by the childcare center.”

I chuckled and shook my head.“It’s no wonder that Edric is moody when he’s here at home. When he’s there, he gets flights on dragons and snow villages,”I said. I wanted Edric to have a well-rounded childhood. There were already things that hecouldn’t do simply because of who he was, but perhaps we were overcompensating because of that.

“Yes, but we have to worry about humans where we live. We can’t have dragons flying around. We could probably do a few snow houses, but from the sounds of it, this one is an entire village, and there are multiple structures.”

I chuckled. That definitely sounded like the warlocks from the council. I knew that there were several fox shifters there, and with how playful they were in their shifted forms, I was certain that the village wasn’t erected just for the children who belonged to those in the council.

“Arthur, do you have a moment?”

I looked up and nodded at the sound of Costas’s voice.

“I’ll check back in with you in a bit, my love. I’m having a meeting with Costas.”

“Tell him hello for me.”

“I will. Have fun out there.”

“Patrick says to tell you hello,” I said as Costas came in and sat down.

“Is he having fun in Montana?”

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