Page 35

Chapter 35

Andy

I couldn’t stop crying.

It was stupid, really. There was no reason to be crying right now and feeling all these stupid feelings . It was just how things had to be. The cleaners had given us a couple weeks to get our shit together. And this was part of getting our shit together.

“Mo—Andy?” Moon asked, her little shoulders square, but her voice wobbling. “Is it our fault?”

I turned, surprised to see her standing in the doorway to the kitchen, holding her brother’s hand. “What?” I asked as I hurried to wipe away my tears and pretend I hadn’t been blubbering into the oven. “Is what your fault, honey?”

She looked at her brother, then lifted her chin to look up at me, always the strong one. Always their spokesperson, while Sky observed, taking in all the details. “Did we do something wrong? Is that why you’re sending us away?”

Oh. My fucking heart. “Oh, baby, no! No.” I went over and crouched down in front of them, reaching out to ruffle Sky’s hair and touch Moon’s sweet little cheek. They looked so much better, healthier and stronger…happier, even after such a short time. “Of course you didn’t do anything wrong,” I told Moon earnestly. “It’s just that… well, you don’t belong to me. To us. The Alliance says that you have a great uncle out there somewhere. He’s your family. We can’t just keep you from him. It wouldn’t be right.”

“And besides,” I said softly, knowing most kids wouldn’t understand this. But the twins were different. They’d seen things that other kids hadn’t. “It’s not exactly safe around here, you know? The house eats people. Aahil sets things on fire. Ambrose causes bad dreams. And sometimes we have to go kick people in the butts to make sure they behave. You deserve to live somewhere safe.”

“We don’t want to go,” Sky said softly. “We wanna stay here.”

Moon put her arm around her brother and glared at me. “We won’t go. We won’t live with some old man we’ve never met. You can’t make us!”

I blinked back more tears. “I appreciate the sentiment, kid,” I told her sadly. “But unfortunately, I can make you. And I have to. I’m sorry.”

She stared at me for a long moment, her gaze narrowing even further. I felt her magic surge up inside her, unstable with rage, but she was too good at controlling it for it to be a problem. She didn’t hurl a spell or blast me with a discharge of angry magic. No, instead, she went right for where it would hurt most. “I hate you.” she snapped. “I hate you!”

Then she spun and ran away. Her brother gave me a disappointed look for making his sister cry. Then he ran off too.

I sighed and stood.

“They don’t hate you,” Hasumi said as they materialized into the room, wrapping their arms around my waist and resting their chin on my shoulder. “They’re just hurting.”

“I know,” I said softly. “And they’re right to be mad. I hate it, too. But it’s the right thing to do. You know that don’t you?” I asked, twisting slightly to meet their turquoise eyes. “We’ll be moving soon. It won’t be safe for them here. They have a family , Hasumi.”

We’d been over it all before. We’d had a family meeting about this just yesterday. I knew Hasumi, River, and Zhong wanted to keep the kids. But it just wasn’t practical, responsible, or legal.

Hasumi kissed the tip of my nose. “Perhaps they would rather choose their family than be delivered into the hands of a man they’ve never met before.”

I groaned and pulled away. “Not again. Look. We’ve talked. The decision has been made. And the SA wants the kids returned to their blood relative. End of story.”

I packed up the cookies I’d just finished baking and headed out to the entryway to add them to the small pile of stuff the kids would be taking with them. They had only been with us for a few weeks, but somehow they had accumulated a mountain of belongings, mostly pilfered from around the house, with the odd handmade item or toy that someone had ventured out into the real world to purchase.

Almost everyone else was there, waiting for the scheduled time for Jacki and the child welfare person to come get the kids. But now we were missing the stars of the show. And Dyre and Aahil, as well…

A little “knock” at the shields let me know that our guests had arrived. I opened up a portal to Magea, allowing Jacki and a tall, thin woman with gray hair and kind eyes to step through.

“Hello, Lovell,” Jacki said with a curt nod. She was okay people. She just had a lot on her plate, since I’d threatened her into fixing the entire Supernatural Alliance and keeping order in the two realms.

“Heya, Jacks,” I said, as if I wasn’t missing a couple of kids. “How’s it hangin’?”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “What’s wrong now?” She scanned the pile of belongings and noted the glaring lack of red-headed children. “Where are they?”

“Uh,” I said intelligently. “Oh! There they are,” I said, spotting Dyre and Aahil coming from the back of the house, each carrying a runaway. “Of course.”

“Hello, little ones,” the tall lady said with a soft smile as the guys approached with the twins. “I’m Celeste. I’m going to take you back home and make sure you’re well cared for with your uncle. He’s so excited to meet you.”

“No.”

I raised my eyebrows at the ringing tone of finality in Dyre’s deep voice. That was his necromancer voice. The one that commanded undead armies and revenant angels. The same voice that always fiercely protected the kids from literally everything around them.

His violet eyes met mine for a moment and I saw a flash of desperation there before he hardened his gaze and returned to glaring at Jacki and her friend Celeste. Oh. Oh goddess, how could I have been so blind?

As a rule, I tried not to pry too much into my lovers’ hearts and minds using our newly strengthened bonds. But now, I let the link to Dyre open more than usual, let his emotions and his thoughts flow through me. His violet eyes met mine again when he felt the connection widen, and I saw what he had been feeling all this time. Fuck.

Not just protectiveness. Yearning. A fierce, desperate longing. This cold, scarred, dark-magic wielding man had been completely enthralled by the twins since the moment he laid eyes on them. Orphaned. Used by their fellow witches for their uniquely powerful magic. Sweet little red-heads just like him. Like the baby he never had the chance to know.

He had met them, held them in his arms, heard their laughter, been their protector… he loved them for who they were, of course. But he also loved them, needed them fiercely, for what they represented—a second chance at the life he’d had ripped away from him so long ago. The chance to be a father—something he’d longed for once, but never thought would ever be possible.

“What was that?” Jacki snapped.

“I said no,” Dyre repeated, returning his attention back to the SA agent and the child welfare person, dampening the link between us as he did. “They aren’t going with you. They belong with us.”

Damn it, I could see Hasumi smirking out of the corner of my eye. The water weaver had known something like this was going to happen. That was probably why they hadn’t argued more about keeping the kids. Because they knew there was no way in hell we would be able to give them back, in the end.

“You can’t just keep someone else’s relatives,” Celeste said, her voice still kind, but starting to tip over into offended.

Aahil jiggled Moon up a little higher on his hip, and brushed her hair back out of her face casually before looking at the woman before him. “Do you want to go with them?” he asked Moon in a calm, easy voice.

She shook her head fiercely. “No! We want to stay here!”

He smiled, soft and sweet for Moon, then slow and unpleasant for Celeste. “You heard her,” he said in that soft, silky tone of voice that said someone was going to die if they stepped out of line. “They stay.”

“Andy,” Jacki started, looking at me.

I held up my hands. “Look, I tried. I really did. But it looks like the kids are staying here.”

“They belong here,” Hasumi said easily, sending a wave of calm and agreeability toward our guests. The cheater.

“Clan is more than blood,” Niamh piped up from behind me. “They have claimed us. You cannot take them from us.”

Zhong had moved up behind Dyre and Aahil, and now he spread his wings threateningly as he towered over them, offering up his support.

Ambrose materialized beside Jacki, making her start and mutter “ fuck !” under her breath. “Good to see you again, field agent,” he drawled. “Or, I suppose that is Arch Mage in Command now?”

She eyed him warily. A boogeyman didn’t really need to say anything to issue a threat. His simple presence could cause mind-rending terror, if he wanted it to. Especially since the power boost.

River stood beside me, ready to shift. And Elijah stepped in, his hands and his glowing wings spread in a gesture of peace. “I would suggest you honor the children’s wishes in this case,” the revenant angel said with a beautiful smile.

Jacki shook her head, already resigned to defeat. But the child welfare woman was all puffed up now, looking to the SA commander for support. “I must insist you hand over the children immediately! Keeping them from their rightful family is kidnapping. There will be legal consequences!”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. Legal consequences? For fuck’s sake, we lived in an unreachable pocket world—at least for another day or so. And we were capable of obliterating half the population of Magea without breaking a sweat. Who the fuck did she think she was talking to?

Yes, very Lovell of me, but… honestly? It was true. There wasn’t anyone who could make me do something I didn’t want to do. Not anymore.

“Well,” I said with a smile. “It was nice of you to visit. Time to leave, though.”

The Celeste woman took a step forward, but Aahil clucked his tongue at her in disappointment and set the hem of her skirt on fire. “Your one and only warning,” he drawled. Moon giggled as the woman hastily put out the fire with a spell before it could spread.

Aahil allowed the flame to be extinguished. This time.

I knew it, by the way. I knew he didn’t really hate the kids. If he did, he would have just tossed them through the portal the second it opened, so he could be done with the whole hassle. Instead he was here with Dyre, insisting that they stay. What a softie.

“Time for you to leave,” I repeated, adding a little push with my magic that sent both women stumbling toward the portal. “But tell the supposed uncle that if he’s really that vested in the kids’ wellbeing he can come visit them some time once we’re all settled.”

I hated making the offer. But I supposed there was a small chance he’d turn out to be someone the kids actually wanted to know. Maybe.

Jacki shook her head at me, then grabbed Celeste by the arm and dragged the protesting woman through the portal. The pair of them reminded me of a hunting dog who had managed grab hold of a madly honking goose.

The portal closed with a snap, and everyone let out a collective breath.

“So… does this mean we can stay?” Sky asked into the silence.

Dyre kissed the top of his curly red head, smiling ear to ear in a way I had rarely ever witnessed before. “Yes, this means you can stay.” His smile faded and he forced a grave expression to take its place. But only if you promise to stop feeding your brussels sprouts to the basement stairs.”