Chapter Thirteen
Seb
A ilin was going to bring the elves home with us, I just knew it.
When my viramore turned back to me, I could already see the question in his eyes, so I spoke before he could. “No. Absolutely not.”
“But, Seb, what if the bastard comes for them? Who’s going to protect them?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “What if the bastard forces them to attack us in our sleep?”
“I don’t think he can control them from afar like that, especially through our wards. I think he has to give them a vocal command.”
“And I think that you don’t know that for sure, so they could attack us. Or, you know, anyone in our family.”
He fully faced me, crossing his arms over his chest and mirroring my stance. “Then we put them in our shed with blankets and air mattresses or whatever, and we can build a shield around the entire building. They won’t be able to escape our shield, no matter what compulsions they’re under.”
“Ailin.”
“Sebastian.”
I glared at him, then turned to look down at the little elves. Most of them were watching our exchange, looking afraid and vulnerable. And cute. And sweet. Those little button noses were adorable. They were so tiny, it sorta made me want to pick one up and carry it around in my pocket or something.
Dammit!
I turned back to my viramore and blew out a long, slow breath. “ Fine . But they’re not coming in my car, Ailin. I mean it!”
He smirked at me and leaned in to brush a kiss across my jaw. “Whatever you say, baby.”
“Asshole,” I muttered under my breath.
I glanced in my rearview mirror and sighed. There were probably twenty elves in my backseat right now and several sitting on Ailin’s lap beside me.
The rest were in Alec’s car behind us.
Because of course my asshole viramore had won that argument too. Of fucking course he had.
Had Ailin ever not been able to convince me of something?
Nope. Not a once.
“You’re such an asshole.”
I was facing forward, but I saw him turn toward me. “Me? That was so random. What did I do?”
My eyebrows shot up into my hairline. “Really? You really have no clue what you’ve done?”
“Uh, no.”
“Ailin! Are you fucking kidding me? What the hell? Take a look in the fucking backseat, you asshat!”
He started laughing and reached over to pat my thigh. “I’m joking, baby. Relax.”
I grunted and murmured under my breath, “How the hell am I supposed to relax with a fucking elf party going on in the backseat?”
But I did take a deep breath, trying to bring on the calm. At least they weren’t as bad as the damn beasties he made me drive around a couple of months ago. I swore it felt like he had me drive creatures around every few weeks. Why I even bothered to tell him they weren’t coming into my car, I didn’t know.
As if he’d suddenly start listening to me now after fifty years, I had no idea.
I’d gone through several cars in that time, and every single one of them had suffered the same fate—becoming a supernatural taxi service.
Ailin chatted with the elves on his lap, and the ones in the back spoke quietly to one another. Sera was in the middle of the backseat with a bunch of them crawling all over her. Zamm decided she wanted nothing to do with them and curled up around my neck. I suppose we were the sourpuss twins at the moment.
With that in mind, I did my best to let go of my annoyance. It wasn’t the elves’ fault they were in this situation, and if I was being honest, I wouldn’t want them to be anywhere else since I knew we could keep them safe.
By the time we got to the border of our coven land—where our wards started—I was much calmer. I slowed the vehicle down to a stop, then looked over at Ailin, who shot me a small smile.
“Alright, guys,” he said in Fae’lee. “I need to add you to my wards so you can cross over into our territory.”
For some animal-like species, our wards allowed them free range, but it seemed that the elves were a little too high on the magic scale for them to cross without our aid.
Ailin called on his magic, and I watched the green swirl around the car, encompassing each and every elf. His magic swirled through the windows and out the back toward Alec’s car where I knew it was wrapping around the rest of the elves.
Then I watched it race forward and hit an invisible wall. The green crashed into it, and because I was now good at wards, thanks to Ailin, and because I was connected to this particular ward, I could see a sort of ripple go through it.
From right in front of us, the ripple shot out, flying to either side of us and up and up and up. Our wards went high into the sky, giving our dragons and other flying beasties plenty of room to stretch their wings without worry of an attack.
I would’ve thought the whole thing excessive except for the fact that we’d been attacked so many times throughout our lives that I’d lost count, and we’d been in a few wars and lots of battles as well. Knowing what kind of monsters were out there made me appreciate our wards more than Ailin knew.
I didn’t think we could be too careful when it came to protecting our homes and family members.
Ailin recalled his magic and opened his eyes. “Done.”
I gave him a nod, then slowly pulled forward into our long driveway. I felt the moment we crossed over. It was like moving through jello. It was hard to breathe because the air was so damn thick with magic, but the sensation was over after only a few seconds.
The elves all made sounds of surprise as they passed through, but no one had any trouble, so I knew Ailin’s magic had done its job.
I drove up to the house and couldn’t help but smile at the awed sounds coming from the little guys. I could understand the amazement. The first time I saw Ailin’s house, I thought I’d hit my head and fallen into a fairytale. I mean, who in the world would’ve thought that someone could ask the trees to form into a house like that… and that the trees would remain living. Living and happy, if Ailin had anything to say about it, and he did.
Our home was beautiful and looked like something out of a dream. It was literally a few gigantic trees that Ailin had asked to grow into a house with rooms, doors, and windows. There were branches coming off it that had gorgeous green leaves in the spring and summer, but right now, they were bare. It honestly looked like someone had built it to look like a real tree, but no. It was living because Ailin’s magic was amazing.
I parked the car at the top of the driveway, unlocked the doors, and got out, then opened the back door for the elves. They tumbled out, taking everything in with wide eyes on their little faces.
Alec parked his car behind ours—he’d have to drive it out of the driveaway, go down the road, and pull into his and Aspen’s own driveway later—and the elves from his car looked much the same—in awe.
Ailin said, “The shed is this way. We don’t really use it much, except to store chairs, tables, and our movie projector, so hopefully, there’ll be enough room for you guys.”
“Ailin?”
He stopped in his tracks to face me. “Yeah?”
“I’m going to go find all our air mattresses and extra blankets and pillows.”
“I can help after I show them the shed.”
I waved him off. “It’s fine, sweetheart.”
He nodded, but I could tell he was hiding a small smile. “Thank you.”
After the kids moved out, we started using all their old closets as storage space, and since we had a million kids and grandkids, we needed all the pillows and blankets we could get for any impromptu sleepovers.
I went inside and headed up the stairs to one of the spare rooms where we kept our air mattresses. We had at least three or four of them, but I didn’t think more than two would fit in the shed. Two might be pushing it.
As I hauled the second one out, Alec showed up in the doorway, saying, “I’ll take those if you want to find the blankets and whatever else you guys are giving them.”
“Thanks, Alec.”
He smiled and picked up the heavy-ass things as if he was picking up feathers, showing off his werewolf strength. Either that or I was a lot weaker than I thought. Which was… definitely a possibility.
I went into yet another spare bedroom for the sheets and blankets, then another one for the pillows. By the time I was heading outside, I had a giant mountain of fluffy things in my arms. It was so high, it was taller than my head, so I was walking as carefully as I possibly could.
“Mother of All, Seb, why didn’t you call me or make two trips?” Ailin asked as he rushed over and took some of my load from me.
“I was fine.”
He snorted. “Looks real fine to me. You’re walking like two inches per step.”
“I’ll show you two inches.”
He leaned in and waggled his eyebrows. “Oh yeah? I think I’d like more than two inches, if you’re willing.”
I laughed and elbowed him, shaking my head. “I swear you’re like a twelve-year-old.” I felt Ailin’s magic move around me as I walked through the shield he’d already placed over the top of the shed. Since he was my viramore, and we were connected in every way, I could walk through his shields, and he mine, without us having to open them or allow passage like he’d had to do for the elves with the property ward. One of the many benefits of being soulmates.
“It made you laugh, so I guess that makes us both twelve.”
“Nah. I’m at least thirteen.”
He snorted at that and opened the shed door. When I walked in, I stopped mid-step, and my eyes widened.
I didn’t know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn’t Alec bent over, trying to get the air mattress air pump to work with three elves on his back, another elf swinging from the rafters in the short ceiling, four elves stacked on top of each other’s shoulders, trying to reach a shelf, at least seven elves jumping on the air mattress that was already blown up, and five or six of them running around in a circle in the middle of the room, screaming like banshees.
“What in the fuck is happening?” I asked.
“No idea. They weren’t like this when I left, and I was only gone for like one minute tops.”
I grunted.
“How… how did they do all of this in that short amount of time?”
I shared a wide-eyed stare with Ailin before I set my bundle on the air mattress that was already blown up and slowly backed toward the door.
“I’m… gonna go make dinner. I’ll bring out some food for”—I waved in the general direction of… the entire elven troupe—“everyone when it’s done.” No idea what the hell I was going to make that would feed this many people, but I’d figure it out.
“Don’t leave me,” Ailin said.
“You’ll be fine.”
He glared. “Just gimme a second, and I’ll come with you.”
“Just come in when you’re done.”
“Please wait for me.” His face was so grumpy it was cute.
I sighed. “Fine.”
Ailin loudly yelled in Fae’lee, “Everyone! Seb and I are going to make you some dinner. We’ll be back in a little while. Do you need anything else before we leave?”
The female from earlier—Nimeroni—stood up straight from where she perched on Alec’s back. “We’re okay, sir. Thank you.”
“Alright.” Ailin gave her a long look. “Please don’t hurt yourselves. Or Alec.”
“We won’t, sir,” she said, just as another elf went swinging by, yelling, “Weeeeeee.” Where he got that rope, I’d never know.
I winced when the little guy let go of the rope, flipped in the air, and landed on the pile of blankets I’d set down. That was far too dangerous for my liking.
Oh boy. I needed to get out of here before I started yelling and ruined all of their fun. I was sure they wanted to celebrate being away from their tormentor, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that.
So I tugged on Ailin’s sleeve to get him moving. Luckily, he followed me, and I called over my shoulder, “Come eat dinner with us, Al. Call Aspen to join us.”
“I will,” he answered, finally getting the air pump to work.
I didn’t want to be here when he tried to get the elves off his back so he could stand up straight.
As soon as we were inside our house with the door shut tight, I said, “What the hell did you bring home this time, Ailin Talamh Ellwood?”
He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Honestly? I have no idea.”
I let out a dry laugh as I aimed for the kitchen. “Lovely. Come on, let’s figure out dinner.”
Almost as soon as I stepped into the kitchen, Ailin grabbed my hips and turned me around to face him. He stepped closer with his hands on the small of my back and pulled me in so we were hip to hip.
He met my eyes. “You’re amazing.”
I snorted. “Yeah, okay.”
He gave me a little shake. “Hey, you are amazing. You just helped me save an entire troupe of elves.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, only because you begged me to.”
“Sebastian, stop being difficult and take a damn compliment once in a while.”
I sighed and wrapped my hands around his biceps. “Fine. You think I’m amazing. Thanks.”
“Mother of All, you couldn’t be more sarcastic if you tried.”
That made me snort.
“You’re amazing and beautiful and kind and sweet and so damn perfect for me you take my breath away.”
“Okay, okay, already. If you’re trying to get into my pants later, you’ve succeeded.”
He chuckled. “That wasn’t my plan, but I’ll definitely take you up on that.”
Ailin sent me a gentle smile, one that he only reserved for me and maybe the kids, then he leaned up. I met him halfway, leaning down to meet his lips with mine. He hummed against me and opened his mouth, and I took the invitation for what it was and brushed my tongue against his. This time, it was me who hummed in appreciation. I loved the way Ailin kissed me, the way he tasted, the way he felt in my arms.
His tongue swirled around mine before he sucked my bottom lip into his mouth, making me whimper. He pulled me tighter to him, and I reached up to bury my fingers in his hair. I had no problem with deepening the kiss even further.
“Oh, come on! Every fucking time!” a voice yelled. “Get a room, Dads!”
Ailin laughed, making me chuckle against his mouth before I sighed, broke our kiss, and rested our foreheads together for a brief moment. Ailin smiled at me, winked, pecked my lips, and stepped away, facing the intruder.
He said, “We have a whole house, actually.” We ignored Basil’s fake-gagging routine. “What’s up?”
I peeked into the living room to see who all came in. Basil and Hiro were the only ones I saw. At least so far. I gave them a small wave and received smiles in return.
Basil sighed. “We haven’t been home all week, so we’re out of food. I was hoping we could come for dinner?”
“You know you’re welcome anytime, Bas.” Ailin walked over and pulled him into a dramatic bear hug. “This will always be your home, even if you don’t live here anymore.”
Bas looked a little flustered at all the emotions, so I wasn’t surprised when he quickly released Ailin and stepped away. “Thanks, you old sap.”
I chuckled at that while Ailin said with a laugh, “Little shit.”
Bas gave him a big grin.
Just as I turned to walk back into the kitchen, I heard the back door open. Jorah, Laiken, and three of their kids walked in with them. The kids ran over and gave me quick hugs before heading for Ailin, and I wasn’t surprised when he got pulled into playing a board game with them two seconds later.
Jorah moved over to me and asked, “Do you have room for more?”
I smiled at him. “Always.”
He grinned, and for some reason, it reminded me of an Ailin shit-eating grin. “Good because Thay and Tob are right behind us.”
I snorted at that. “Better get started then. I have an army to feed tonight.”
“We’ll help,” Laiken said, walking into the kitchen as he rolled up his sleeves. “What are we cooking?”
“No idea. Maybe some kind of pasta since that feeds a lot.”
“Alright, let’s figure this out.”
Laiken opened my refrigerator with pursed lips, clearly thinking, and it struck me how comfortable he, and all the kids, were in my and Ailin’s home. None of them had a problem just coming in and going through our fridge and pantry. They were as comfortable here as they were in their own homes.
That thought warmed me more than anyone could ever know.
I loved that our kids and grandkids treated our home like their own. I loved that they enjoyed spending time with us. I loved that I was always surrounded by family. That they were all so loving and accepting of me and everyone we brought into the family.
I just… loved our family so much.
“And we all love you just as much, baby,” Ailin said in my head, making me warm all over again.
“I love you too, A.”