by R. E. Butler
“I am,” he said. He ran his hand over his hair and said, “I believe I can counter the witch glass and enchant the people going into the club. But it’s entirely possible it won’t work, and they’ll die painfully on the steps of the club.”
There was a time when Jason didn’t care if the minions died. That’s what they were for, right? Cannon fodder and the like. But personnel resources in Ohio were running low because the bloodsuckers kept taking them out. Hell, he had a half dozen good men in jail right now. Sighing in frustration, Jason said, “That’s fine. If we must sacrifice them, then we will.”
Once this first plan worked, then Pamela would be sent in. She’d be the one to take down the coven. He was sure of it.
“How long before you can counteract the glass thing?” Jason asked.
“I need a week or so for reconnaissance, and then with the enchantment...give me ten days.”
“Payment will be sent once the people are inside the club,” Jason said.
The blonde put her hand on her brother’s chest, her eyes flashing a weird amber color. “No.”
“Excuse me?” Jason asked with a growl.
“Lahn’s risking a hell of a lot here by scouting the club. Payment arrangements are seventy percent upfront before we leave the building.”
“That’s outrageous!” Jason said.
“We could just tell the coven where we are,” she sneered. “Don’t think that the blindfolds your brother put on us were in any way effective in preventing us from knowing our exact location.”
Jason was livid. He wanted to reach through the screen and strangle the bitch!
He glared at Sean instead. He should’ve known better than to bring clearly volatile people to the Cleveland branch's home base.
Idiot!
“Fine,” Jason said. He opened a payment app on his phone and directed the funds to the wizard’s account. “You better be worth it, wizard.”
“I am.” Lahn smiled. He looked at his phone when it beeped and tilted the screen to his sister, who nodded.
The two left the room. Jason said, “Brother, we need to talk.”
Sean looked bleak. “Shit.”
Chapter Ten
Aeryn woke slowly, swimming up from a deep sleep.
“Hey, love,” Merrix said.
She lifted her head and smiled at her mate. “Hey, yourself.”
He brushed his lips over hers and settled back on the pillow. She was snuggled up against him with her head on his chest.
“Did you know that would happen?” she asked.
“The memory sharing?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“I knew it happened with beloveds, but I thought we were just truemates. Aside from the family members who’ve recently found their beloveds, it’s not something that’s happened too often in the past. A lot of vampires think beloveds are more myth than truth. Brone was the first one to find a beloved in maybe centuries, and he’s over a thousand years old.”
She sat up, her mind rolling over what she’d seen after they shared blood. It had been his life on fast-forward. The images were overwhelming, and her head had ached, but now she felt like she could access any of his memories at any time.
“I feel like I’ve known you forever,” she said.
“Me too. That’s what the beloved bond does.”
“Why weren’t vampires finding their beloveds if it’s something that’s existed? Why was Brone the first one?”
Merrix shrugged. “The general thought is that a vampire could wait for millennia and never find their beloved, so they stopped waiting. If you think about it, Brone was alive for centuries before Arissa was even born, and the same goes for Mishka, Cella, Vex and Rage, and Traz. If you’d tell your average vampire they’d need to wait two or three hundred years to meet their forever person, a lot of them would balk at the idea. So, you have people like my stepdad, who fell in love with my mom and turned her. He’s only been a vampire himself for thirty years. When we’re turned, we’re told that vampires have to turn humans and can become truemates with shifters or other paranormal creatures, since we can’t turn them. No one talks about beloveds. And outside of the Cleveland coven, I think most vampires wouldn’t believe it was possible to have a beloved.”
“That’s too bad,” she said. “It’s pretty amazing.”
“It is. Not that I was happy about seeing your past romantic relationships.” He grimaced, and she chuckled.
“I didn’t like seeing yours either.”
He looked thoughtful. “I thought that Cyrus wanted to wait to join with Cella until after they mated in front of the ambush? I mean, it didn’t happen because of him almost dying in the restaurant bombing, but what was he worried about?”
“He wasn’t sure if joining with Cella would make him want to ally with Mishka over Midas. For the ambush, the alpha tiger has to be the lion's boss in the mating ceremony. Cyrus thought that becoming truemates with Cella would mean that he’d feel an allegiance to Mishka because of Cella’s ties to him as her maker, and if that were the case, Midas’s cat would’ve refused to do the ceremony.”
“You weren’t worried about that?”
“No, because Cyrus feels joint fealty to Midas and Mishka. And Cyrus is way more traditional than I am. If I lost my fealty to Midas because we mated and I couldn’t do the mating ceremony with the ambush, I’d be bummed, but it wouldn’t be a breaking point for me.”
He gave her a worried look. “You still feel like being with the ambush, right? I don’t want to take you from that.”
“I promise I do,” she said. She leaned in and kissed him. “I feel like both Midas and Mishka are alphas for me. Midas won’t have a problem with the ceremony, assuming, of course, that my parents aren’t butts about the whole thing and try to stop it from happening.”
He let out a low laugh. “I hope they don’t try to stop us either.” His smile fell, and she could feel his worry.
“What?” she asked, putting her hand on his cheek.
“I never thought my mate’s parents might not like me.”
“It’s not about you. Well, I mean it is, but it’s more about their prejudices. They just need time to think things over. I don’t believe they’ll choose to lose me because I mated you. They can’t stop us from being mated because—hello—we already are. But even if they shut me out of their lives, I still get you, and that means the world to me.”
He pressed his palm against hers and held her hand tighter to his face. “I don’t want you to lose anything. Not family, not anything.”
“I know. I wouldn’t choose it, and I’ll hope that they come around in time, but I can’t change their thoughts about me and you. So put it from your mind.”
“I’ll try, but I did just watch your whole interaction with them when we shared memories, you know. I kind of feel like my own parents rejected me.”
“Aw!” She gave him a tight hug.
“I’m just teasing,” he said, hugging her back. “Kind of. It does feel like they’re my parents now, which they would be my in-laws anyway because we’re mates, but with the memory sharing, it feels deeper than that. Oh no.”
“What?”
“I just realized that makes Gavin my brother.”
She swatted his shoulder with a laugh. “Hey, live with the man and then talk to me.”
* * *
Once they were showered and dressed, she and Merrix made a few calls to alert the people in their lives who needed to know they were now mated, starting with their parents and then their bosses.
“Let’s talk to your parents first,” she said.
“Chicken.”
She didn’t answer because he was right.
He texted his parents and asked if they were available for a video call. They answered swiftly that they were.
“Ready, love?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“They’re going to love you,” he said, bumping her shoulder with his own. “I promise.”
; “Well, I am amazing.”
“Indeed.”
He pecked her cheek and then pressed the button to video call them. His parents appeared. His dad looked to be in his late twenties, and his mom looked to be in her forties, but even though they were clearly different ages, there was something youthful and timeless about them too.
“Hey, guys,” Merrix said. “Thanks for taking the call.”
“Anytime,” his mom said, her eyes crinkling at the corners as she smiled.
“I wanted to share some great news. This beautiful female next to me is Aeryn, and she’s my beloved.”
There was only the briefest pause, and then they both cheered and clapped. “Oh yay!” his mom said. “I’m so happy for you! I wish we were there right now so I could give you a big hug. Both of you.”
Aeryn smiled at how excited they were.
Merrix introduced them as Denise and Gennaro Fellows. “Aeryn’s a tiger shifter. Her ambush lives in Whisper Creek. She works for Mishka at the restaurant.”
“Oh?” Denise asked. “What do you do?”
“I’m the head pastry chef. Have you eaten at the restaurant?”
“Just once after it opened,” Gennaro said. “We stopped in for a drink after a show.”
“I make SyBl desserts and also regular desserts for the non-vampire patrons.”
“Fun!” Denise said. “We’ll have to come by and try one of them. Now, did Merrix tell you the good news about babies?”
Aeryn looked at him in confusion. “What babies?”
“Mom, seriously? We just mated last night.”
“Oh, come on, you should definitely tell her, so she knows. You have to share that kind of information with females, otherwise they get angry.”
“She’s not wrong, son,” Gennaro said.
“I’m only five years into being a vampire,” Merrix said, looking at Aeryn. “Vampires can usually have kids for about ten years after they’re turned.”
Aeryn’s eyes went wide. They could have kids? She’d entirely written it off once she’d known her mate was a vampire. The idea of kids was not even on her radar.
“I... um...”
“It’s all right, love,” Merrix said, “we can talk about it later. I was going to tell you tonight.”
“Oh, okay,” she said. “Well, that’s good news then, I think. I’d love to have a cub.”
“Well, they’ll be something other than a tiger,” Denise said. “Right, Gen?”
“I’m not sure,” he said. “A human and vampire child is a Valkyrie. But a vampire-shifter child? I don’t know.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Merrix said. “I promise. But what matters now is that we’re mated, and you’ve got the daughter you always wanted, Mom.”
“I’m very happy for myself,” Denise said with a wink. “And doubly happy for you both. I’m so glad you found each other.”
“Have you spoken to Mishka?” Gennaro asked.
“Not yet. We’re going to talk to Aeryn’s parents and then go to the club to meet with him and Harmony. I need to talk to Cyrus about taking off a few days to enjoy our mating.”
“Absolutely,” Denise said. “We’d love to meet you. We could have dinner, maybe at Bistro Claret.”
“How about Thursday night?” Merrix asked.
“I’ll make the reservations,” Denise said.
“Sounds perfect,” Aeryn chimed in. “I’m looking forward to meeting you both.”
“Us too,” Gennaro said.
“Welcome to the family,” Denise said.
They said goodbye, and Aeryn flopped back onto the couch with a relieved sigh. “That went great.”
“It did. I told you they’d love you.”
She went up onto one elbow and looked at him. “I might be pregnant right now?”
“It’s possible. I’m sorry, I hope you’re not upset with me. It honestly slipped my mind, which is weird because my mom is constantly asking me if I’m going to make her a grandma anytime soon.”
“I’m not upset. I didn’t think we could have kids because you’re a vampire, so I just put the thought out of my mind. I would’ve asked if I’d known it was a possibility.” She looked at her phone and then at him. “I don’t want to tell my parents about that right now. Maybe once their tempers have cooled. I mean, unless they’ve changed their minds since yesterday.”
“You don’t think they did though.”
“I honestly don’t know.” She sent a text to her mom, asking if she could video chat with her. She responded a few minutes later. Aeryn pulled up the program and let her finger hover over the call button. “Are you ready?”
“You bet. Don’t worry about me, love. I’m not made of glass. If they don’t like me simply because of what I am, then that’s their loss, right? I also happen to be amazing.”
She chuckled. “You definitely are.”
Pressing the button, she waited for her parents to answer and held her breath. She kept telling herself that no matter what happened, she still had Merrix, but the truth was that she didn’t want there to be a rift between her and her parents.
Their faces came into view. “Hi,” she said.
“Hello,” her mother said. Both their gazes went right to Merrix and then slowly returned to her.
“I know we didn’t leave things on the best of terms yesterday,” Aeryn started.
“Because you walked out,” her father said.
She opened her mouth to offer a snarky retort, but instead, she took a beat before she answered. “I wanted to introduce you to Merrix. As of last night, we’re officially mated, and I wanted you to know.”
The pause was significant, the silence stretching around them as they stared at each other through the phone. Her hand started to shake as she waited for a response from them—any response at all. Merrix brought his hand up to support hers.
Merrix cleared his throat. “Aeryn and I are beloved mates. It means that she’s now immortal. With the beloved bond, we shared memories, so I now feel like I know you both very well. It’s nice to meet you, Theo and Lucille, and I hope that you’re willing to get past whatever you have against vampires so that we can get to know each other for real.”
Her father’s brow furrowed, and her mother frowned. “You’re mated?” Theo asked. “Really mated?”
“Yes,” Aeryn said. “We believed we were truemates, but it turns out it’s a deeper bond than that. Our immortality is tied together now, so if something were to happen to him, I’d die too.”
“Which is why we’re going to take excellent care of each other,” Merrix added hastily.
Lucille cleared her throat, and it sounded squeaky. “Well, I can’t say we’re happy, Aeryn, but what’s done is done.”
“Why can’t you be happy for me?”
“This isn’t the life we wanted for you,” Theo said. He rubbed his temple and stood, stepping out of frame. “I can’t do this right now.”
Lucille looked at him with a deep frown and then said, “I better go talk to him. Goodbye.”
The call ended, and Aeryn stared at the dark screen in shock. Merrix put his arm around her and pulled her close.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said. “That was terrible.”
“Yeah,” she said, fighting the tears that threatened.
He tipped her chin until she was looking at him. “Hey, it’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be pissed about their behavior.”
“I don’t want to cry,” she said. “They don’t deserve my tears.”
“Maybe not, but it’s okay to feel heartbroken.” He kissed her and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It’s still early. They’ve only known about me since yesterday morning. Now that we’re mated, it just got very real for them. They might still come around in time, so we can focus on that hope. Until they tell us to go to hell, we’ll hope that they’ll change their minds.”
She blinked rapidly to dispel the tears, but a few leaked from the corners of her eyes anyway. He brush
ed them tenderly from her cheeks. “I’m sorry, love,” he said. “I’m fucking sorry that they don’t like what I am.”
“Me too. I’m sorry they don’t want to get to know you.”
“Let’s just hold on to hope.”
Chapter Eleven
An hour later, they left the apartment complex and crossed the street to go into the club. They stopped at the reception desk where a pretty redhead was sitting, and a huge male with a shaved head and purple eyes was standing next to her.
Aeryn knew from Merrix’s memories that Arissa was a witch, and Brone was the coven's oldest vampire.
“Well, hey, you two,” Arissa said as she rose to her feet and came around the desk. She hugged Aeryn. “It’s so nice to meet you in person. Cyrus told us you were mates. Congratulations.”
“Thanks,” Aeryn said.
“We’re beloveds,” Merrix said. “So, while I don’t need to introduce you two, I’m going to anyway. Arissa and Brone, this is my beloved, Aeryn. Sweetheart, these two are the first couple in the coven to become beloveds.”
“Welcome to the coven,” Brone said. “You’re meeting with Mishka?”
“Yes,” Merrix said.
“Be sure to stop by on your way out,” Arissa said. “I’ll grab a protection bracelet for you, Aeryn.”
“What’s that?” she asked.
“I imbued bracelets with a protection spell for everyone in the coven. I can get you one like Merrix’s. It won’t stop a bullet or anything, but it will help keep you alert to your surroundings.”
“Cool, thanks.”
“We’ll see you guys in a bit,” Merrix said.
He led her back through a hallway, and as they passed offices, he stopped and introduced her to the family. They were a tight-knit group. Even though the only two who were blood-related were the twins, Vex and Rage, they all treated each other like actual family. Cyrus stepped out from an office.
“Hey, cuz,” he said. He hugged her and shook Merrix’s hand. “I heard the good news. Well, not that Aunt Lucille and Uncle Theo think it’s good.”
Aeryn grimaced.
Cella came to the door and embraced Aeryn. “I’m so sorry about your parents. Cyrus’s parents are trying to talk some sense into them, but I think your folks are more old-school than his, so it seems to be an uphill battle.”