by L. L. Ash
“He has now.”
We had a stare off with each other for a full minute before I turned and headed to Calix’s office without a look back.
I didn’t want to talk about Chrys losing his virginity or the wild, crazy sex he probably had all night and into the morning. It was information sisters could do without.
I found that the lock on Calix’s office was fixed when I pressed my fingertips against the wood to open it. But when I didn’t feel the tension in my gut like every time he was near, I knew he wasn’t inside.
“Where is Calix?” I asked the two guards following me.
“His brother Leon has arrived. They are likely dining now.”
I led the way to the dining room and sure enough, just like the night before, people were milling about, this time men and women both in white slave uniforms were waiting, flanking the room to feed the vampires.
As I slipped into the room, not daring to make another entrance like I had the night before. But Calix still sensed me and turned to me, his face breaking out in a devastating smile.
“Here she is. Leon, my mate Lily.”
The man Calix was standing next to turned and a broad grin broke out over his face. Bright white teeth glimmered prominently against his face, but it was the bright red hair that stole the attention away from everything else. Coppery waves adorned his head and added to the pleasant charm he exuded.
I liked the guy already.
“Finally I meet you,” he said in a booming, demanding voice. “God, you are beautiful. Cali has been bragging about you the past four hours since we arrived and he painted you out to be a goddess. I must say, I am not disappointed,”
Calix laughed and slapped his brother on the shoulder before slipping his arm around me.
“She’s mine, Leo. Go find one of your three and we’ll talk again.”
“You’re not getting rid of me that easily. It’s been a hundred years since I’ve seen you. I’ve been stuck in Europe with Bion and Alexandra for so long, I almost forgot that I like my family.”
The men laughed together again and clasped arms, squeezing and shaking.
The lilt in Leon’s voice left nothing to be guessed about his lineage. The bright hair and ringing vowels screamed Irish blatantly.
“McKara,” Leon called and a woman turned toward us.
She had dusty blond hair and a heart-shaped face. Her lips turned to a smile as she locked eyes with me.
“Be this the woman Cali won’t shut up about?” she asked with a flirtatious sing-song intonation in her voice.
Somehow her accent was even thicker than Leon’s.
“Aye, my love. Finally he has found one to make him truly happy as you have made me.”
She rolled her eyes.
“Enough. Ya already know I like ya, Leo. Stop tryin’ to polish me up.”
She looked toward me, crystal eyes sparkling with life.
“Tell me about ya, sweetheart. Has Cali been treatin’ ya right? I’ll knock him if he 'asn’t.”
“Your mate is formidable,” Calix told Leo but he winked at McKara.
“This be my second mate,” Leo told me. “And God do I love her. Maia was mighty jealous when I found her. Weren’t you darling?”
A small, slender woman turned and winked at him.
“I don’t mind anymore. I’ve our children to keep me company.”
“Aw, are you insinuating you get no attention from me?”
“Oh, my darling, I get more than enough. I’m happy to let McKara deal with your neverending wit and fiery temper.”
“Just don’t make them like me in Greece,” he called to her and she chuckled.
“No darling,” she agreed and turned to talk to the young boy in front of her.
“She tolerates me,” Leo said good naturedly. “Has her own lovers now-a-days. Bampás wasn’t thinking when he insisted I find a Greek mate first. Irish and Greek? More like oil and water.”
I bit my lip, trying not to make a noise of distaste. Who could talk about their mate like that?
“They don’t call it greek fire for nothing, brother.” Calix patted him on the back. “You burn bright and fast then move on. We burn slow and long and remember everything.”
“I’ll never understand.” Leon shrugged before kissing McKara on the lips.
“And the children? Are they sleeping?” he asked her.
“Betha is dealin' with the children,” she told him.
Leon turned to me before pointing around the room at the others wandering about, some eating, some drinking blood.
“My children. The three oldest are all turned now, McKara’s lot are teenagers, God bless us. And Betha’s are four, nine and twelve.”
“And has Betha been turned then?” Calix asked him. “I have yet to meet her. I somehow missed her upon your arrival.”
Leon frowned for the first time.
“Betha insists she would like the chance to grow old, stay human, as such. Woman is stubborn as a bull. She’ll be forty soon.”
“Leo...” Calix said quietly but Leon shrugged.
“It be her choice, brother. Maybe if she was the loved one it would be different. As it is, she never wanted this life. She gave me her children and she desires to live her life with them now.”
“How soon before you find your fourth? You’re only three hundred and already have your own little brood. Bampás would be proud.”
Leon sighed.
“We saw him when Betha joined the family. It was the last time, actually. Mama enjoyed the visit the most though, I think. She hadn’t seen him in years.”
Leon pointed to the wild red-head in the corner talking to another woman with similar features. Both identical to Leon himself.
“Mama couldn’t bear to leave the motherland, so when Bampás gave her permission, she came back to Ireland with Breanne and me.”
“Breanne is our sister,” Calix added for my benefit. “And their Mitéra is the fourth mate.”
“Oh my God. My brain is fried. I like you guys and everything, but there’s a lot of you.”
Leon winked at me.
“We can’t seem to stop with the mating, lass. You’ll be expecting a babe soon, as well. We look forward to meeting Calix’s offspring. Feisty, stoic little things they be.”
I laughed. He was probably right.
“By God’s teeth! Why are you all smiling and laughing?” A voice suddenly boomed through the room. “We come here to mourn together the loss of our family and instead you visit and cluck about like hens!”
Bion stood at the end of the room, hands propped on his hips and a scowl on his face, dampening his natural beauty.
“Fire down, Bion.” Calix called back. “We haven’t seen each other in one hundred years. Bampás would want us to acquaint ourselves.”
“To putter around when we should be planning their vengeance?” Bion looked offended. “When I am king I will finally be able to put you in your place, Calix. Your privilege as eldest will finally come to an end.”
“So you battle me for the crown?” Calix asked, his hand fisting behind my back, pulling my sweater into a clump in his hand.
“It has always been us.” Bion glared again before spinning and stomping out of the room in a strangely graceful way.
“Fucker will end the war alright,” Leon grated under his breath. “And get us all killed in the process.”
“Our sisters ultimately decide,” Calix reminded him but Leon just shrugged.
“At least you know Nyx and Breanna are yours. Then there is Alexandra. She will be on Bion’s side.”
“Has it truely come down to a decision of three?” Calix breathed longingly. “I...I miss them already.”
Leon’s face turned to a frown and sadness masked his previously smiling face.
“I miss them too, Calix. This will not be an easy decision and it will not be an easy reign. None but you could do justice, and most of us know that. I've talked to Heron recently and even he agreed. Our sisters
were already discussing the decision before this all happened. When you found a mate the decision had been all but made. Still though, you retain majority favor. Your remaining brothers back you completely.”
“Thank you, brother,” Calix took his arm again and they shared an ancient sort of embrace; clasping forearms then gripping biceps with the other.
“Heron arrives today. He is...not well. His mates and all but his two traveling children were killed in the attack. He was on business at the time.”
“Even Luli?” Leon asked breathlessly.
“Even her.”
Leon sighed and rubbed one flame colored eyebrow.
“The man loved her more than life. How will he tolerate losing her?”
“With Revenge,” Calix said passionately.
“Aye. My apologies. Sometimes I forget that you had Andy for a short time.”
“Only a couple of years.” Calix nodded slowly before looking down at me, his eyes haunted.
It took a grand total of two seconds before Calix masked over the emotions and spoke again, no semblance of sadness invading his voice.
“My apologies brother. Here I've compromised all your time and you've not yet had a chance to eat.”
“Eh, there's always time to eat later. Though I think I'll have a little bite before checking with Betha. Poor woman struggles even with her own children.”
Calix chuckled at his brothers outrageous words as we watched Leon and McKara walk away toward the line of waiting blood slaves.
“You should eat too.” I nudged him with my elbow.
“Are you volunteering?” He nuzzled my hair.
“Only if you share yours too. It’s freaking fantastic.”
“No more for you for a while,” he murmured. “As much as I hate the idea of not tasting you for a couple of days… I don’t want you to become addicted or dependent.”
“Fine.” I sighed. “But will you still do me?”
Calix grinned.
“I vividly remember you saying that you want my cock.”
My eyes shot open.
“No! I wouldn’t say that! I’ve never said that word in my life!”
He burst into laughter.
“You did, Lily. Last night you laid there and you begged me for my cock.”
My cheeks burned hot as fire.
“You’re adorable,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. “But you’re right. I need to eat. Would you prefer I go elsewhere with my meal?”
“Why would you leave?”
“Sometimes it’s hard for humans to watch us eat. It’s understandable if you’d prefer not to see.”
“You’re kidding right? How else will I know if you kept your fingers off her?”
“Who said it was a she?”
He lifted an eyebrow at me and my stomach got all squirmy and warm all over again.
Taking my hand, he led me to the line of feeders.
“Pick one for me,” he whispered into my ear and motioned me forward.
The eyes of the humans were downcast in submission as they stood there. I walked slowly, thinking about what it would be like to eat like that myself. One of the men’s eyes lifted, catching mine and he gave me a little smile before looking down again.
Flirty and bold and strong. I had to see it.
“Him,” I touched the man’s arm and he looked back up at me and smiled again, bigger this time.
“Fine.” Calix nodded and waved his hand. “Come.”
The man followed us over to the lounge chairs and eased down on the edge as Calix settled into the deep cushions. Extending his hand toward the man, he took his arm, brought the man’s wrist to his lips and bit.
I watched the man flinch for a moment then he opened his eyes again and stared at me unwaveringly. A few moments later I managed to break eye contact to watch as Calix fed, wondering if this man tasted as good as me.
The man’s other arm lifted and his fingers touched my chin, raising it so I was looking at him again. He grinned and tugged me forward a little, as if trying to start something.
I reeled back but felt Calix’s arm slip around me, hand splayed over my back as if in encouragement.
The man touched my chin with a couple fingers, slid them down and around my jaw before bringing his face towards mine. Again Calix’s nudging against my back so I leaned forward and let the man brush his lips against mine. The brush eased into gentle, steady pressure, then to soft pawing of his lips against mine. He dipped his hand around the back of my neck and eased further into the kiss as Calix drank. At first taste of his tongue I reeled back a little and Calix’s hand tightened around me just as the man jerked in pain. I opened my eyes to see Calix glaring at the man blatantly before going back to feeding.
Did he hurt him? Did Calix hurt him because of the way I reacted?
Likely.
Cowed, the man came forward again with a gentle approach, only stroking his lips lightly across mine until Calix was finished.
He gave the man a bloodied finger before pushing him off the chair, inviting me closer.
“How was that, Agápi Mou?” he asked in a husky voice.
“It was ok,” I admitted, touching his cheek.
“Was he too rough?” Calix asked, concerned.
“No. He was gentle. I was just surprised is all. I wasn’t expecting him to...”
Calix leaned forward and kissed me just where the other man had. The knowledge of having kissed two men in five minutes was a little shocking in and of itself.
“If you didn’t want to kiss him, you shouldn’t have. He’s only there to make you happy, Agápi Mou.”
“You’re not jealous? That someone else kissed me?”
“He is a slave. Why should I be jealous?”
“You were jealous about Ariston.”
“I was a little jealous,” he admitted, “But I was mostly hurt. You had promised one thing then did another. I didn’t know you then and you didn’t know me. And all that aside, my brother is a royal, not a slave.”
“So, you don’t care if I find myself a lover?” I asked him, testing him.
He mulled my words over for a minute, thinking over his words.
“I would care.” He looked at me straight in the eyes.
The warmth in his ice eyes was captivating.
“But I wouldn’t stop you. If you were another… If you were another of my mates I wouldn’t care at all. But I love you, and I wish to have you all to myself.”
“But I won’t have you all to myself. You’ll sleep in other women’s beds and you’ll...touch them the way you touch me.”
“You’re wrong.” He touched my hand, clasping it between his. “It’s your bed I’ll come back to every morning. It’s you who I desire. Whether I enjoy them physically or not, it’s you who I crave. You who owns my still heart.”
“Until the next woman comes and you fall in love with her, too.”
“You think me so fickle?”
He looked almost affronted.
“No. I think that as much as you like to point out that you’re not human, you still have human thoughts, human emotions, and you love like a human. People get married all the time then divorce 'cause they find someone else they love better. As you’re sitting with me here, now, you do love me best. You can’t guarantee how you’ll feel about me in the future.”
“You still do not understand...” He sighed before lifting his hand and catching Leon’s attention.
Leon put up a finger, finishing his conversation with Maia before strolling toward us.
“You’ve need of me, brother?” he asked, eyes flicking between the two of us.
“I’ve need of your thoughts for a moment. Lily seems to think that loved mates change according to the wind, as human love shifts.”
Leon hummed, put his finger to his lip and nodded.
“I see how that could be a conundrum.”
“Any thoughts on how I can enlighten her on how our family works? She doesn’t seem to believ
e my word.”
“Well sure. You’re a smart, logical woman, aren’t you now?” he sort of asked/told me.
I just nodded.
“Well then. Take into account all my brothers and some of my sisters. Take into account our father who has been with his first mate for one thousand years.”
I nodded again.
“Now, I promise ya—” Leon crouched in his expensive suit, getting eye level with me. “Our father died with Mitéra Xeno in his arms. She was the love of his life, much to the consternation of the rest of his mates, including me own mother.”
Leon looked over his shoulder for a moment to where his mother still sat with her daughter, them both chatting away on the lounges across the room.
“Our father was a loyal man, and he expected nothing less than the same from his sons. Your man here, Calix, he is a replica of our father in almost every way. If there is one vampire who could love only one for his entire immortal life, it would be him. And if he says such, then it is so. You’d better get used to the fact.”
“Is that truly what you think of me?” Calix asked his brother with almost a look of awe on his face.
“Truly. Bampás spoke of you with such affection. It never bothered me so much as it did Bion, but I could see the truth of his love for you. I hold a similar love for you. You are the one brother I can count on and I hope you feel the same.”
“Wow…” Calix looked lost for words. “I’m...astonished, and humbled. Thank you, Leon. I do think of you as one of my closest friends. When I heard you and your family were safe, I breathed just a little easier.”
“As did I. You and Nyx were the first siblings McKara asked about after everything happened.”
Calix nodded and pressed his palm against my thigh, squeezing a little, though I doubt he was conscious of the fact.
“Is there anything else you need help clearing up for Lily? I know multiple mates is not an easy thing to accept, especially to a woman in this day and age. Betha wouldn’t mind a conversation if you were up to it.”
“I’ll consider it. Thank you,” I murmured.
“Aye. I’ll be here all night.”
He winked at me before heading off, out of the room.
“Does that ease any of your thoughts, my love?” Calix asked after another moment of silence.