Page 9 of Princess For All

Jamelle and Dad were very careful not to parent the kids that weren’t biologically theirs, so it shocked me when he lifted me up and threw me into a wall. “You made avowto love and protect her. I never knewyouwere so weak that you would give up when it was too hard. Fucking suck it up and fight for her, Jaxon. You don’t deserve her and—”

“You haven’t been here for all of the constant spiraling,” Dad cut in and patted Jamelle’s arm. “You’re not wrong. But we didn’t walk in his shoes. They’re all so young and did this without a safety net. They’realltraumatized and drowning. You’ve felt the constant panic and fear here.”

Jamelle sighed and dropped me. “Yeah, it’s…” He let out a harsh breath and gave me a disappointed look. “You’re not this man, Jaxon. What the fuck happened to you? Now I understand why Nora was so devastated.”

“That’s not helping and makes him spiral more,” Sebastian muttered. “I did the same and he did try and it epically backfired. A few times.”

“Fucking idiot,” Jamelle sighed. “Fine, so you don’t want to give him the answers, but he can’t be trusted to handle it alone with how traumatized and underwater he is. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes.” Da sounded unsure and it hurt that he didn’t have faith in me.

Though it was fair at this point.

“She likes seeing new things,” I whispered. “I want to give her new things that make her smile. That’s what I tried with the notes. I wasn’t thinking big picture about her being stalked and—she doesn’t get enough happy.” An idea hit me. “A hot air balloon ride. She loves seeing the bigger picture, and it would give her fun and a chance to see it all.”

Dad and Jamelle shared a look and my heart fell, but Dad grabbed my arm. “It’s not a bad idea. I think you’re on the right track, but you’re so desperate you grab onto anything and race off. Be smarter than that.”

I bobbed my head, but all I felt was panic.

“I see where your head was now with him,” Jamelle muttered. “You know your mate, Jaxon. Walk us through it. Walk through the potential issues. Nora isn’t a fan of heights. That’s where my head would go first.”

I snorted. “That wouldn’t bother Inez. She’s an adrenaline junky and loves the… The helicopter. That’s better.” I met Dad’s gaze. “We could learn to fly the helicopter together. I want to anyway, so—we should all be ready for different emergencies. She loved riding in it, and—the chemistry guys figured out how to add more of whatever to update the fuel.”

I didn’t understand it all, but fuel expired just like everything else. We weren’t at the point of getting refineries back online, but the people who understood all of that rigged something makeshift to start. And now it was better.

Still, we had to be careful and use it sparingly.

“Good, yes, that would be better for your lass,” Dad agreed, patting my shoulder. “Suggest a Monday/Thursday lunch and lesson so you’re both feeling better prepared with all of this uncertainty and getting back on the same page. Love it.”

“It’s unorthodox but so are the times we live,” Jamelle muttered. “But you said she likes the big picture. I would suggest you learn how to also fly drones and work—”

“Don’t give him more jobs,” Dad cut in. “He drowned under the responsibility and has been doing great in his role now that they have more help.” He waited until Jamelle nodded. “Though I do agree that it’s a smart idea. Talk to Inez about incorporating it into the security. The humans can do that without our strength and speed.”

Jamelle snorted. “It would be a huge help in mapping all of the animals and populations your princess wanted.”

I nodded, feeling a bit bad when he looked tired, but well… We all were.

Hell, we’d had vampires who could work with water collapsing left and right a few weeks ago when there were forest fires and we sent them to handle it. This world couldn’t burn anymore and not have harsh consequences.

I thanked them and went to find Inez, hopeful to have an idea and something to focus on instead of the panic that I had lost my wife. I knew we had the seed sorting and getting the greenhouse floor of her tower up and going date, but I wanted more and to show her that I cared.

More than cared and was still all in no matter how badly I’d messed up and said too much that was hurtful.

I found her receiving the last of the updates about how things were going after she took over another three covens. That hadn’t even been a week ago and she looked older even if she was perfect and flawless.

At least things were going well. Joi was amazing and had the Pinault killing corrupted in huge numbers. We had jets heading over there to be our centralized location to help Europe, and—it was all good news from what I knew.

Except she was frowning.

“What’s wrong, My Princess?” I asked when there was a moment where people weren’t focused on her.

She sighed. “There’s just never enough food. We add more and more, and—they were so underfed for so many years and then we want them to work hard and that requires food too. We’re getting it all over to Europe and that takestime.”

“I think it’s time to get more fishing ships online and let them handle more,” I told her. “Make it clear that you expect twenty-five percent of what’s caught to help this trading spot Hanna’s in charge of that’s killing corrupted to help all of us. Mother would take that deal for two or three real ships. The covens in Portugal and Italy would.”

“That’s what I was thinking too,” she sighed as she sat back and rubbed her hands over her face. “It’s just so fucking stupid that I have to do it all like breadcrumbs so no one takes advantage of me or kills us all. Then I’m the asshole gatekeeping helping the world, but… It’s just never easy.”

“No, but it’s gotten better, and you know for real now we have serious allies,” I comforted. I leaned in and kissed her hair. “And we still haven’t lost anyone. That’s amazing and it’s all because you’re an amazing leader. We all believe that.”

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