Extending Family (House of Garner Book 5)

by Erin R Flynn

  “I don’t know that I can,” she whispered. “You just bailed, Darius. You didn’t like what I did so you bailed. I don’t trust you not to do it again.” She sighed. “That’s why he said to give you the chance I did him. I’m afraid to let you in or trust you, like I was him.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if that would work the same this time.”

  “I’m okay with what you did,” I blurted before she ramped up. “It was sexy. Really sexy. I wanted it. I’ve never had a woman suck me and all I could picture was you giving me that, my wife loving me that much, she would give me that.”

  She slowly met my gaze, blinking at me as fresh tears form. “You’re such an idiot if that’s true. You made this so much worse.”

  “I know. I spun out.” I tried to think of what to say when she flinched, knowing she could spin out too. “It’s different than when you did. I mean, the traumas were there with what happened, but it was different. Not sleeping made it worse, and I’m fucking exhausted all the time, but at first people kept telling me to leave you alone again and… I’m a fucking moron. I’m sorry.”

  She stared down at her food and my chest ached as tears fell. “I don’t know how to fix this. I’m scared I’ll do something you don’t like and you’ll just leave. You could abandon me again.”

  “I won’t,” I swore to her, thinking back to her issues with Kristof. “Time will show you. I’m not asking you to just forgive me and we move on like it didn’t happen.”

  “You’re not?” she whispered, wiping her eyes. “You said you wanted me back?”

  “I do, but I have no right to have you back like we were. I have to work for that.” I mentally crossed my fingers, relieved when she nodded. “Let’s start over and—”

  “Start over?” she choked out, giving me a hurt look. “So not married?”

  “No, no, I didn’t mean like that,” I promised, reaching for her, but she shrugged me off. “Let me re-earn your trust. I want to work back to being together. Let me show you I won’t leave.”

  “How?”

  Well wasn’t that just the sixty-four million dollar question?

  “I don’t know, but I want to try. Will you let me try?”

  She closed up the container and put what she used back in the basket before getting to her feet and finishing her drink. She added it and then gave me a look that was worse than any punch or hit I’d ever taken.

  “I don’t know—will you walk away if I don’t say or do the right thing? I don’t think I want to be burned by that stove again.”

  I tried to remember how to breathe as she walked towards her guards, muttering she wanted to be anywhere but there. It was like another hit in the gut when they gave me pitying looks before they carried her off.

  No, we couldn’t end like this. I wouldn’t let this be the end. It took me two months to lose what we had, but I didn’t care if it took twenty years; I would get it back. I would get her back.

  I just had to figure out where to start. It hit me when I looked out at the lake where she’d shot me and I’d fallen for her. I needed to take a page from Inez’s book.

  Or look for books that had the answers really. I quickly redressed and packed everything up, knowing I had to get it back to Nick before heading to the nearest bookstore. There had to be a way to mend the hurt and damage I had done. There had to be or at least ideas on where to start.

  Otherwise I wasn’t sure I could go on living. I couldn’t live without her, and if she didn’t want me anymore, I would wither and die. Dramatic sounding, but it was the truth.

  2

  My head, heart, and stomach hurt after my “picnic” with Darius. I knew it seemed like I was coming off as a bratty bitch, but I couldn’t think about letting him in again. I’d spent two months mourning what I thought was the end, and then he just announces he wants his wife back like it took two of us to get here. I didn’t walk away, he did.

  “There you are, love,” Cerdic greeted, smiling widely at me. “I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

  I did my best to try and hide what I was feeling, wanting the comfort when he opened his arms to me, but warning bells went off. In the next moment one of the daggers I was wearing was in my hand… And pressed against his stomach.

  “Princess?” Vitor asked, his voice tense as shock flashed in Cerdic’s eyes.

  Except it wasn’t Cerdic.

  “Meet Cerdic’s evil twin,” I purred.

  His gaze filled with amusement. “How did you know?”

  I snorted. “Like I’d tell you so you’d fix it next time?” I batted my eyelashes at him as I stabbed the dagger in his gut. “That’s for betraying your twin.” I pulled it out and did it again. “That’s for pretending to be my fiancé and starting shit in my coven when you weren’t even fucking invited.”

  “Shit, love, no need to get nasty,” he groaned as I pulled it out, sinking to his knees as he held his stomach. “Just having a bit of fun.”

  “That’s not remotely me being nasty, just agitated. I shoot people when annoyed, so don’t go to that level. I’m a good shot.” I glanced at Tian. “Lock him up.” I nodded I wasn’t kidding because Tian always doubted me. “We have no alliance with his princess’s coven and I specifically said not to trade with the slut.”

  “Watch it, love,” Cerdic’s twin growled.

  I ignored him and went on. “And he was specifically not invited to the event. So lock him up, or I can keep stabbing him like he deserves for what he did to Cerdic and his family. That might be a bigger mess later but sounds like fun to me.”

  “I got him,” Tian sighed.

  It didn’t even phase me. Tian wouldn’t be Tian if he wasn’t always disapproving of me. I didn’t much care for him either so it didn’t bother me.

  “Hey, you get to be the first to use my new dungeon,” I chirped at the twin. “Aww, I wonder if there’s a prize for that? Maybe a nice torture device to break in on you?”

  His eyes flashed shock again. “Are you having a laugh? Everyone says you’re wondrous, so sweet and kind.”

  I threw back my head and laughed. “I’m also unforgiving and you fucked with someone I love. I don’t care if he’s your twin, I love him. I want to peel your skin off and send pictures of you to that slut who sent you here and hurt Cerdic too. And then I’d let you heal and do it again and again, but I like Matilda so I’m trying to rein it in for her sake.”

  Tian dragged him off, easily able to handle him, and the moment they were gone, Vitor picked me up and blurred us out of there. I had no idea where we were going, but I would guess to where Cerdic was. He set me on my feet and it took me a few moments to recover, glancing around and realizing we were at St. Louis, the dock we used for the nuclear powered merchant ship.

  “We have a problem, and she stabbed him a few times,” Vitor told a group behind me. I turned to see the confused and concerned looks on several faces. “You have an evil twin?”

  Cerdic’s eyes went wide as he focused on me. “Ceawlin’s here?”

  I nodded. “Fucker tried to pretend he was you.”

  “How did you know he wasn’t?” Vitor asked.

  I wasn’t going to answer but they needed to know. “One, he has a darker sort of mischief in his eyes than Cerdic. Two, his hair is just a tad shorter but almost exactly. Three, he didn’t smell like mint or basil, which Cerdic always does because they’re my favorites, and he jokes I might gobble him up then. This guy smelled like some sort of flowers.”

  “Are you okay?” Cerdic whispered, coming over and hugging me.

  “I’m fine. Sorry I didn’t stab him more,” I grumbled. “Tian locked him in the dungeon. Are you okay? Hasn’t it been like forever since you’ve seen him?”

  “Why is he even here?” Jacob, one of Matilda’s nobles, seethed. “His princess cannot be so stupid as to poke you like this? His mother sent a specific message saying he wasn’t invited and to not embarrass his family coven.”

  Cerdic groaned. “Which probably was all the
push he needed to come and want to start shit.”

  “Wait, I thought you knew she did that?” I sighed when he shook his head. “Everyone needs to communicate better.”

  “We need less balls in the air,” Cerdic defended, always my Zen master.

  “If I skin him alive, we won’t have to deal with him,” I offered, yelping when he pinched my butt. “Just an idea.”

  “You are so amazing,” he murmured, kissing my forehead. “Don’t let him get to you like that. What happened is the past.”

  “Yes, but he got off too easy.”

  “Agreed, but getting revenge for the past isn’t worth risking the safety of our future and all we’re building,” he reminded me, winking when I nodded. “Thank you, my soon-to-be wife.”

  “The ship should be arriving soon with your gifts,” Jacob cut in.

  “Gifts?”

  “It is a great honor to invite a court to the joining of a noble to a princess’s court,” Jacob explained. “It shows a level of trust and alliance most shy away from stating. In recent centuries, most invited a representative to witness or join in the celebration. Plus, the way you’re doing it is intimate and during the blessed time of your bleeding.”

  “I thought Sebastian explained this to you?” Cerdic worried.

  “Yeah, I mean, sort of,” I muttered. “I get embarrassed when my father-in-law talks about my period and so did he. It’s the openness thing that says we might have a baby one day. I know that.”

  “Yes, but also that your court is still open to be added to,” Vitor told me, sighing almost like Tian when I blinked at him. “Your blood sings to those who would be a good fit for you. To invite courts or covens during the time you bleed says you’re open to being courted.”

  “Mother fucker,” I groaned. “Of all the things people have been telling me—warning me I’m waving a big sign saying I’m open for business sounds like something to make sure I get.”

  “You haven’t been all that open to listening,” Cerdic said gently.

  I flinched. That was fair. I also hadn’t been as interested in it all as most brides-to-be given I basically only had one husband left from the first duo. Horrible to think of, but true. I still thought all of this was way too fast, but everyone else said waiting too long was a sign it was never going to happen.

  To me, vampires were stupid and moved too fast to secure a union when the bonds were forever. To them, locking in the alliance was more important. Who needed feelings?

  “It’s also a time to shine in front of others,” Jacob added. “You’ve been extremely generous and covens have the same chance now to show off what they have. It’s a lot of posturing because there are lots of courts coming, but it won’t have the flare it would have had before the apocalypse. These sorts of events were the way to make other connections.”

  That sounded oddly specific while being vague. “Like?”

  “Like you have several of the most powerful, unattached nobles alive in your coven or staying with your coven,” he answered. “Many will want them, and while you made it clear there is no ordering of being fed, be ready for all of them to try and take them as you have not accepted their attentions.”

  “They haven’t offered,” I drawled, holding up my hands in surrender when I got some looks like I was splitting hairs. “I’ve not been open to it. I know. I’ve explained I’m not blowing anyone off or not interested in them, but I have a limit to what I can handle. Everyone gets it as courts are built over years and decades before they even think of taking over. I’m not in the same spot.”

  “If someone values you and understands you’re worth earning a place at your side, they will be willing to work for it and your favor, especially as you do not view any of us as pawns or only our power,” Vitor said as he stared out in the distance, always diligently checking for any threats.

  It was really sweet of him to say that, and it was the comments like that which helped me fear him less over the past couple of months. It was still there, and while I admired his looks, I had a very, very full plate.

  “We can ask Mother tonight what to do about Ceawlin,” Cerdic grumbled, frowning when I did a double take. “Mother, Nora, and Hanna are coming early as your in-laws.”

  “Oh, yeah, I totally remembered that,” I lied, rolling my eyes when Vitor snorted. “Yeah, cool, so today and tomorrow with them and everyone else is coming Friday? The big plane was picking them all up or something?”

  “Yes, the ‘rehearsal’ dinner is Friday night,” Cerdic reminded me, looking amused. “Saturday is our ceremony and Sunday is yours with Kristof if everything works out. That still sounds right, yes?”

  “Yeah, I’m PMSing and if my boobs are sensitive tomorrow, we should be good, which is something I’m fairly certain no bride has ever said ever.”

  “Probably not,” Cerdic agreed, leaning down and giving me a quick kiss. “We’ll talk about it tonight when Mother arrives.”

  “Cool, I’ve got the thing with Texas. I need to actually get going. Kristof tried to fit in something and then Ceawlin so, yeah, gotta go.”

  Cerdic winced. “Today? Can’t that—”

  “We keep pushing it off and it’s time,” I cut in. “If we’re going to have problems, it’s better to know it now instead of later. We need to handle it either way.” I stood on my toes and kissed his cheek. “Besides, I’d rather deal with another potentially crazy remainder of the US government instead of going back to New Orleans, but that’s being the princess.”

  “Be safe.”

  “Go with her, we have this,” Jacob told him.

  Even better. I let Cerdic carry me over to where we were meeting the others. I swallowed my shock when Darius was there as he’d been missing the group stuff, but given our last dealings with the US government at Fort Knox, it made sense he would be here for this one.

  James and several of the officers from his ship were there and he nodded we were ready. We jumped into the vehicles that had been driven down from the coven and headed to the huge settlement at what used to be Corpus Christi, or a bit south of it to start., Or maybe it had formed after some of the dust settled? I wasn’t sure and no one had paid attention in all the other chaos.

  What we did know was Houston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and northern San Antonio, along with Austin, were hit hard with bombs. The only nuclear one hit the Dallas area and the state was so big, they could live on the other side of it and not glow funny colors.

  And again, we were supposedly immune to it, but I told them to stuff it, I wasn’t trying that.

  “That’s a lot of guns,” James chuckled from the driver’s seat.

  I leaned in and saw they’d heard us coming—which was part of the plan of using vehicles—and a huge group was lined up at their first row of fencing. They had multiple rows of fencing like I’d seen in prisons in movies.

  Smart. Probably why they survived when other settlements didn’t. They might have been on the water, but they had three other sides they could get corrupted from.

  “Last chance to bail, sexy bite,” he said as he pulled to a stop about eighty feet away from the gate.

  “Let’s just get it done,” I sighed, unbuckling my belt and getting out. I put my hands up after I closed the door and walked towards them.

  “No outsiders,” someone called over.

  “Yeah, that’s cool, we’re not here to come in,” I promised. “We’ve got a settlement northwest of here and some friends who want to move into New Orleans, so we just want to talk as neighbors and not piss you off with umm…” I glanced at James.

  “Loud music, parking on the lawn, and late nights of killing corrupted in Houston,” James filled in for me. “I’m Admiral James Begley, United States Navy. We were told there was some remaining government here, but you guys were pretty much the new country Texas So Kiss My Ass. That’s cool, we just want to make sure we’re not needlessly worrying each other.”

  “We’re the ones armed, so we’re not worried,” one drawled.
<
br />   “Right, we thought bringing the guns was a bad first impression, but we have a destroyer and aircraft carrier, so we’re not exactly worried about your rifles,” I threw right back.

  “Maybe not what I would have said,” James muttered, looking like he was trying not to laugh.

  I snorted, giving him a wry look. “Yeah, right. You would have told them to hold on and gone for a fighter jet.”

  “There’s no way you have a fighter jet,” someone snapped. “We get you’re in charge of a settlement, but—”

  “I’m not; she is,” James clarified. “I’m just her backup as people don’t take her seriously.”

  “Yeah, because she’s a little young thing. She’s not in charge,” he argued.

  “I am.” I shrugged. “I got the power back on.” I gestured to our vehicles. “Electric. We have electricity from fixed solar panels.” That shut them up quick. “So can the boss come to the door because I burn, like ridiculously burn, and apparently my in-laws are flying in earlier than I thought and I have to deal with that.”

  “Go get Chris,” one of the guys said.

  “Well, I guess shocking the shit out of them was one way to get to the good stuff,” Trisha muttered behind us.

  “Shit, this sun is ridiculous,” I grumbled, rubbing my arms.

  “Turn one of the vehicles around so she can hide under the lift gates,” Vitor suggested.

  “Oh, that’s a good idea,” I agreed, smiling at Wolfe and nodding quickly.

  “Only because you whine if you get sunburned,” he chuckled, shaking his head at me.

  “Hey, I really got sunburnt that time,” I defended. “Not all of us are lazy cats who beautifully tan to a perfect golden. I have two shades, super white or lobster red.” I made claw gestures with my hands; amusing all of them and breaking through some of the tension was my goal.

  Wolfe hurried and turned one of the vehicles around and pulled it up to us. He opened the back and left it running.

  “Hey, I’m not that spoiled I need the AC on to cool down Texas. I’m trying not to be the color of my dresses for this weekend. That’s pretty valid to worry about.”