Page 44

Mila

“I can hear a car pulling into the driveway,” Carter said, obviously unhappy. Getting out of bed, he peeked through the curtain. Mila enjoyed the view his naked body presented. “I don’t recognize the car.”

It was late afternoon and Mila, Carter, and Gio were all snuggled in their bed. It’d been two days after the kidnapping. James wasn’t severely injured, but his lungs were in bad shape. The doctor didn’t want to say anything definitive but urged James to see a pulmonologist.

Everyone had been released from the hospital at five in the morning. That had given them just enough time to drop Barb and James at the hotel and rush back home before sunrise.

Gio had already bought them tickets to return home and gave them strict instructions not to miss their flight. Mila could tell her parents were taking his instructions seriously, even though he wasn’t using thrall.

Things hadn’t gone smoothly when they’d gotten home.

There’d been a confrontation in the driveway because of Danzig.

He’d followed them from the hospital and wanted to stay at the house.

Bec said absolutely not. Gio and Carter were forced to make Danzig leave, but Mila suspected he was lurking close by.

When they’d walked in the house, Bec had mumbled something none of them could understand and shut herself in the first-floor bathroom. Mila, Gio, and Carter had gone to bed. They’d talked for a long time before Mila drifted off to sleep. Carter’s announcement about the car’s arrival woke her up.

“Is it Danzig?” Mila asked.

“I’m sure he didn’t leave,” Gio grumbled, confirming Mila’s guess. “But it might be Marduk. If Bec is serious about keeping the twins away, then I’m going to have to buy some powerful wards. There aren’t many that can hold up against world serpents.”

“No,” Carter moaned, still looking through a slit in the curtain. “Not them.”

“Who is it?” Mila asked. She was curious but not enough to leave the bed and Gio’s arms.

Carter turned, his expression grim. “Your parents.”

Mila ducked her head under the blanket. “Nooooo! Aren’t they supposed to be on their way to the airport?”

“Yes,” Gio said, sounding grim.

“Don’t answer the door, they’ll go away.” Mila burrowed even deeper until Gio’s gorgeous half hard cock was in front of her face. She sucked him into her mouth, making him gasp.

“I don’t know,” Carter said. “They both have really determined looks on their faces.”

No sooner did he say those words than the doorbell rang repeatedly along with loud, insistent knocking.

“ Bellezza ,” Gio said, his voice unsteady. “I don’t want you to stop, but you’ll feel guilty if you don’t go down and talk to them.”

Mila pulled off Gio’s dick with a pop. “Can we come back to this later?”

“Fuck yes!” Carter said, then pulled the covers off both of them. “It’ll be dark soon. That means Gio can feed, and you two can exchange souls. After that we can party !”

Carter’s exaggeration of the word party made Mila laugh.

She was nervous about the soul exchange, but she still wanted it. She already felt connected to Gio and Carter, making it stronger was something she wanted badly.

The doorbell and knocking abruptly stopped, confusing Mila for a moment. She didn’t hear anything, but Carter winced.

“We need to hurry,” he said, grabbing the nearest pair of pants. “Bec opened the door, and she’s pissed.”

The thought of Bec and her parents getting into a fight made Mila scramble out of bed and throw on her robe. Gio got up also and winced when he tugged his pants over his half hard cock.

“I’ll take care of that as soon as they’re gone,” she promised with a cheeky grin.

He gave her a sour look, making her laugh as she rushed out of the room. Her movement woke up Babette, who wiggled out of her covered bed and raced after her, little toenails clicking on the floor.

She couldn’t hear Bec and her parents until she was almost to the top of the stairs. Predictably, they were fighting.

“The audacity of you two!” Bec said, her voice carrying nicely in the foyer and up the stairs. It was a testament to the soundproofing in the bedroom that only Carter could hear what was going on.

“Bec, we need to talk to Mila,” James said, his voice was insistent but not confrontational.

“She doesn’t need to talk to either of you,” Bec answered, her tone dripping with contempt.

“I think going to her ex and arranging to have her kidnapped says enough about your intentions. You guys wanted to have her declared incompetent! Are you kidding me, your own daughter? All of it because she didn’t want to move back and wait on you hand and foot. ”

Mila made it down the stairs in time to see Barb jerk back like she’d been hit, and James shake his head sadly at Bec’s harsh words. Babette was concerned and rushed ahead of her to join in the yelling. She barked ferociously at Barb and James but stayed close to Bec’s feet.

James glanced down at the little dog, then dismissed her and refocused on Bec.

“We thought we were doing the best for Mila,” Barb said. “We see differently now.”

“You see differently?” Bec yelled. “Differently! Is that because you almost got everyone killed? Thanks, but fuck off with your apologies. They’re worthless!”

Barb and James saw her rushing up behind Bec and looked relieved. “Mila!” they said in unison.

Mila wasn’t sure how she felt about seeing her parents. She stepped up behind Bec and wrapped her arms around the smaller woman. “It’s okay, I’ll take care of this.”

Bec made a grumbly sound. “I won’t let them bully you.”

“They can’t,” Mila said with confidence, tightening her arms before letting go of Bec. “Go back to bed.”

“If they’re still here when I wake up, I’m going to murder someone,” Bec muttered. She gave Mila one last look before stomping off. They all watched her disappear into the room and slam the door shut.

Just before it closed, Mila could’ve sworn she saw a hint of green slither back under the bed. Danzig was playing with fire!

Mila faced her parents. She deliberately didn’t invite them in. “I’m not going back to South Dakota. I’m not leaving Gio and Carter.”

She expected an argument.

Instead, her parents exchanged a look before Barb started speaking. “We’re here to ask for your forgiveness.”

Mila’s jaw dropped. “What?”

“We were idiots,” James said. He looked ashamed, and his voice was quiet as if he was afraid to say anything too loud.

“We couldn't see how good this move was for you, all we…all I…saw was how inconvenienced I was without you. You did everything and never complained. I’m horrified by how we treated you.”

“What?” Mila repeated. She had to be dreaming, this couldn’t be real. Her parents never admitted to being wrong.

Realizing that no one was being attacked, Babette made a grumpy sound and left.

Apparently, it had been a stressful few days.

While they’d been at the hospital, Titan had come by to care for Babette and reported that the anxious dog refused to calm down.

By the time they’d gotten home, Babette was as exhausted as they were!

No one spared the little dog a second glance as she tippy-tapped her way back upstairs.

“Is that all so unbelievable?” Barb asked, looking sadly amused. “After everything we witnessed in that hangar?”

Mila didn’t pull punches anymore. “Yes, it is. I almost figured out Gio was a vampire after living here for a little while. But I would never place a bet on either of you saying these things.”

“I’m sorry for that,” Barb said. “You turned out amazing, despite us, not because of us. I’m ashamed to look back and think of all the times we leaned on you, even while you were a child yourself. It became a habit, and we never stopped depending on you.”

They were saying all the things she’d longed to hear and it was hard for Mila to process. “You don’t want me back?”

“We’d love for you to come back,” James said fervently. “But only if you wanted to.”

“We held you back,” Barb said. “When you decided against college, we didn’t push. When you never moved out, we thought it was because you didn’t want to go. But that’s not true. We made it impossible for you to leave. I never understood the power of guilt and obligation until…”

Her words trailed off, and Mila could tell she was thinking about shooting Brad. She’d killed a man to keep her husband and child safe. Not only had she taken a life, but the entire situation had happened because she and James decided to take drastic action against Mila.

There was no going back to the way things were.

“I can’t keep thinking of you in the same way,” Barb continued after James wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders. “I realize now you’re probably the bravest and strongest person I know. You left everything familiar and traveled thousands of miles, all on your own.”

“I did it for a dumb reason,” Mila admitted.

“I only told you guys that Brad and I broke up.

I didn't tell you it was all a scam. He stole all the money I had, maxed out all my credit cards, and was keeping the money I gave him instead of handing it over to the rental agency. Until I met Carter and Gio, I was homeless and jobless.”

James huffed. “Even with all that, you didn’t ask us for a ticket home. You stuck it out. That’s a level of stubbornness I can admire.”

Mila felt tears gather in her eyes. After all these years, she couldn’t believe her parents were saying all this. Of course it took some extreme circumstances to get to this point, but a win was a win!

“Does that mean you’ll be attending the Alighting Ceremony?" Gio asked. She looked over her shoulder to see Gio and Carter standing at the bottom of the stairs. Her love for them swelled.

Gio winced and squinted his eyes. “We love you also, bellezza .”

Her aura must’ve gotten super bright.

She grinned at them and held out a hand. They both walked up, taking a place on either side of her and pressing close. This would never get old.

James’s question returned her attention to her parents. “What’s an Alighting Ceremony? Is that when you turn Mila into a vampire?” James looked scared but determined to face Mila’s new life head on.

“No, I’d never turn Mila,” Gio said with a shake of his head. “She’ll remain human but bound to us.”

“It’s your version of a wedding?” Barb asked, nodding her head rapidly. She kept talking before Gio could answer her. “It doesn’t matter. Yes, we’ll come back for the wedding, uh, Alighting Ceremony. Thank you!”

“The whole family will want to come down for it,” James said. “And probably a good percentage of Tea and Sioux Falls.”

Gio chuckled. “I’ll see about renting a large space.”

“You’re also welcome to visit us,” Barb said. “We have plenty of horses we can draw blood from if, uh, you need to eat.”

Mila burst out laughing at Gio’s expression of distaste.

“That won’t be necessary,” he said.

“We have access to pigs and cows if you prefer that blood,” Barb continued, undaunted. “Or we can get the family together and ask for donations. They don’t need to know why, they’ve helped us before when we’ve done blood drives.”

That was such a Barb comment that it delighted Mila. This was the mom she knew, jumping in with both feet and taking charge of a situation.

“That’s all in the future,” Gio said.

“Yes, you’re right,” James said. “We have plenty of time to build you a safe room. We can board up Mila’s old room and move a bigger bed in there.”

“Oh, the sun!” Barb said. “I hadn’t thought of that. We can’t simply put boards on the windows, we need to pull the whole window out and rebuild that wall. We should also put together an evacuation plan if there’s a fire during the day. We could get Wendy to build a light-proof box.”

“Mom!” Mila said with a laugh. “Ease back or you might scare the guys!”

Reaching out, she pulled her parents into a hug. It felt good to know they were aware of everything and still loved her.

That they respected her.

That they valued her.

“You’re not dumb,” Barb whispered, hugging her tightly. “I regret every mean comment I made because I was frustrated and lashing out at you.”

“Someone has been reading psychology books,” Mila teased.

“Both of us have,” James admitted. “At first, it was to understand why you would throw away your life.”

“When we were in the hospital, we started talking about all we’d read,” Barb continued. “And now we see all the things we should’ve done differently. Things we’ll do differently from now on.”

Mila was so happy she wanted to cry. They stood in a hugging huddle until Gio cleared his throat. “If you don’t leave soon, you’ll miss your flight.”

They all pulled away with wet eyes and sniffing.

“We’ll talk on the phone,” Barb said.

“And make plans to come back,” James said.

It took a lot of goodbyes and a few more hugs, but James and Barb finally got back to the car service patiently waiting for them. Mila stayed in the house, watching from the open door. She didn’t want to be out of touching distance from Gio and there was still a bit of sun over the horizon.

She waved as they drove away, her parents looking out the back window, their expressions both sad and excited. It made her think of kids being sent away to boarding school.

In a way, she had been a parent to them. Now she got to be their daughter.

“I never thought that would happen,” Mila whispered as Carter closed the door.

“Are you happy though?” Carter asked, turning to face her. Gio wrapped his arms around her from behind. She grabbed Carter by the waist of his pants and pulled him close.

There was only one answer to give. “Ecstatic!”