Page 29 of The Maestro's Mates
“I can?”
“Of course!” Anthony’s eyes sparkled with humor, andJustin had a sudden premonition he’d been trapped for the second time that day.
Sebastian let out a loud laugh. “Well-played. That’ll push my mother off balance.”
“Why would you want to do that?” Justin asked. “Wasn’t her home just attacked?”
“You haven’t made her acquaintance yet.” Sebastian wiggled his fingers like a cartoon magician. “She’s not easily fazed. Her force of will is strong. Having her as a mother was a constant struggle as a baby chaos witch. She was so hard to catch off-guard.”
“I don’t understand.”
Sebastian smiled wide, making him appear both extraordinarily handsome and like a velociraptor waiting to strike.
“Oh, you will.”
Chapter 12
Sebastian
It had been a year since Sebastian had visited his mother in Bayonne, and a wave of melancholy-tinged nostalgia hit him as he and Justin walked from the bus station to her house.
Mansion, really. The dwelling was one of the oldest in the suburb, nestled back from Broadway, one of the few in the packed New Jersey city to have any land attached to it at all.
As Sebastian led the way, he took in the shops and tree-lined streets of his youth. It all seemed so long ago now. After high school, he’d announced he wanted space from the Circle, to his mother’s horror. To forge his own way. Visits home since then had been few and far between.
Not that this was home. It wasn’t, not anymore.
But it did bring back memories, and there was something strange about escorting Justin through them. He had no doubt the vampire would come around to being mates—Justin’s protective wall was crumbling already—but the process unnerved him. Sebastian was navigating these menand their sensibilities like he was balancing a tower of ceramic dishes on his head. He was on high alert, waiting for it all to come crashing down.
On the other hand, his magic and his chaos spirits loved it. They swirled around him, happy he’d come back and even happier his love life was so precarious.
It wasn’t as much fun when the chaos feeding them was his own.
Justin took in a breath as they rounded a curve, revealing the grounds of the mansion. Sebastian had been lucky to grow up there—there was a decent amount of land. Not much, by most people’s standards, but for a close suburb of New York City it was positively luxurious.
“It’s so big!” Justin’s eyes went wide. “That old tree is beautiful! And the hedge…”
Itwasbeautiful, although maybe not as enticing as when Sebastian was a kid. Still, Justin was right. The sun filtered through the leaves of the ancient maple, the intricate designs of shadow and light shifting against the front of the house with the breeze. The beige-and-brown paint job was new. When Sebastian was young, it had been a stark, uniform white.
“Come on.” Sebastian grabbed Justin’s hand and pulled him toward the break in the hedge where the front walk began. He’d made the move without thinking, and although Justin looked shocked, he hadn’t let go.
When they stepped off the sidewalk, the air shifted, weighing down on them like the pressure of the deep ocean, and Justin grasped Sebastian’s hand tightly.
“It’s okay,” Sebastian said, squeezing back. “It’s the wards. It will take the defensive spirits a moment to recognize me, and then they’ll let up.”
He led Justin a few steps toward the front door, and sure enough, the pressure decreased.
“Wow,” Justin said. “That’s intense.”
“I’m used to it,” Sebastian replied. “Although the defenses have been strengthened since the attack. It packs more of a punch than I remember.”
As they reached the front porch, Justin let out a quiet, surprised gasp. Sebastian wasn’t sure why.
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s so…dark.” Justin swallowed. “The windows, everything is pitch black. It doesn’t seem like shades or blinds or anything…”
Sebastian looked up. The dark wooden shutters were positively sunny next to the unnatural darkness of the windows. He opened his senses, sensing the flow of spirits and energy.
