Page 14 of A Drink of Destiny
“Who’s watching her, though?” Mori asked, looking better than last night but he was wearing concealer to hide the bags under his eyes. He smelled too tired to be out of the house but he’d made the effort to show up.
“Arrow,” Nic said. “He’s an EMT. He knows her from her time as a cancer patient.”
“Does he know?” Mori asked.
“He knows enough. He also knows enough magic to be okay, I think,” Nic shrugged. “Someone had to watch her.”
“Are you sure it was Sharon?” Preston asked.
“Yes, I’m sure,” Beal said. “Her photograph has been everywhere.”
“Looks like you’re getting your wish to help after all,” Preston sighed.
Preston didn’t want his brother involved with Sharon Claudis at all. He wanted him home with him and the baby. I didn’t blame him for wanting to keep his twin safe but guys like Mori didn’t know how to sit on their hands. He pressed a button on his phone and a moment later a friendly face with brown eyes filled the screen.
“Ni, do you have a minute? I think you guys should hear this,” Mori said to the man on the screen.
“Teddy’s napping with the kids,” Ni yawned. “But I’m around. What’s up?”
We briefly filled the others in on what happened the night before and on Alvis’s plan. Things had changed and the stakes were higher than ever. If she could astral project and glamour herself to look like Annila anything could happen.
“You have to tell Clarence and Medwin,” Morvan said. “I don’t like them. I think they feed off the sorrow of everyone else and probably wish they could eat freewill for breakfast, but we can’t have someone who can impersonate people running around without them knowing it. What if she slips into her Annila costume and kills someone? Or wipes out her bank accounts or something? If she can hold a baby, she can probably pass a thumbprint scan.”
Nic swore under his breath and excused himself to make some calls. Baby Antonio let out a little cry and Baby Hex and Baby Andy followed suit. I reached out for my little cousin and Beal reluctantly handed him off to me. I held him against my chest and purred soft words to him. It took a few minutes, but we eventually soothed all the babies and were able to resume our conversation.
“Do you think you should ask Dern for help?” Ni’s voice came out of the phone, startling us all except for Mori.
Alvis shot me a look I couldn’t read but it didn’t seem happy.
“Maybe,” Mori said. “If he yoinks me, I’ll ask him, but I think he’s giving me space right now. He’s such a giant dick.”
“What happened?” Ni asked but Mori shook his head and told him he’d fill him in on the details later.
I wrapped my free arm around Alvis’s shoulders and pulled him into my side. He leaned against me and I reveled in his warmth. I wasn’t dumb and knew that most vampires could go out in the sunlight with some precaution but part of me still wanted to lock him up somewhere until it was dark again.
“Lock him up and do all the things to him,”my lion purred into my thoughts.
With everyone filled in on the plan, we all went our separate ways. We offered to wait with Beal and Baby Antonio until Nic finished his calls, but he waved us off saying that if Sharon Claudis showed up at Dolly’s Kettle, he’d boil her blubbery bear butt alive.
We weren’t far from where Alvis had parked the night before and having his stuff and an extra car on hand made me feel better. The place I had come to call home had been invaded without any of us knowing and now it was time to take the house back. Still, the time out of the house had done us good and we walked in feeling lighter than we had since the first time Alvis walked into Annila’s bedroom the night before.
“I think Antonio will have fun on his playdate with Andy,” Alvis said as we kicked our shoes off at the door. “It’s nice that we found a carrier and me yoga place for them. I think Preston’s been so stressed out.”
“Well, you saw how big that baby was! Probably drinks all his food as milk as soon as the poor guy eats it,” I said, trying to take the one bag of stuff Alvis brought into the house but he wouldn’t give it to me.
“Are you going to chest feed? Is that something vampires do?” I asked, feeling like a moron for not knowing.
“Uh… I’ve done it before,” he chuckled, a light blush marking his face as we made our way to the bedroom.
Sharon Claudis could listen in all she wanted to if that sort of voyeurism was her thing but if I didn’t have my hands and mouth on my naked mate soon, I might go on the hunt for her. She could be wherever she wanted to hide out at but not much kept sabercats out. I was either laying my claiming bite on the graceful, enticing curve of Alvis’s shoulder or I was going on a bear hunt.
My mate stripped out of his clothes as soon as we were inside my bedroom. Thankfully, Nic had done my laundry after Baby Antonio spit up on me the other night and my room was tidy.
“Do you need some more sleep? You’re nocturnal on your own, aren’t you?”
“I have been and I’ve been diurnal and also crepuscular,” he shrugged. “I don’t particularly love the sun and always shield up outside during the day but I’m not going to pass out any time soon, but I do have a question.”
“Yeah?” I arched my brow as he locked my bedroom door.
