Chapter Twenty-One
Keryth
G iddiness wasn’t something I would’ve thought I’d feel when it came to the ancient and sometimes super serious Anton Orsova, but that was exactly what was bubbling in my chest at the moment.
I was so excited to spend some real time with him. I couldn’t wait to talk without worrying about our kids, and I really couldn’t wait to kiss him again.
I’d never been kissed like that before, like I was someone’s sole focus, like all they wanted to do was make me feel good. It was a heady feeling and something I was starting to crave.
And I was also hoping for some more cuddles. Maybe even sleeping in the same bed again, even if all we did was make out.
He hadn’t come into my room again since the night of Jed’s injury, but I hoped for it every time I went to bed.
I was just going to have to suck it up and either go to him myself or ask him to come to me. I needed to be more forthcoming with my feelings. I knew that. It was just… hard, especially when I was concentrating so much on settling my kids in here—my kids, including Trayben. He was definitely mine too, for much longer than I truly realized. As awful as everything that happened was, I was beyond happy to have him here with us, in this new home, making a big, new family.
I was also hoping I could talk to Anton about why he seemed to be getting paler and losing weight. I didn’t even know vampires could lose weight, but apparently, they could because he looked very thin, and his clothes were starting to hang off of him. I’d seen him drink blood bags, so I knew he was eating, but maybe he needed to increase his intake, especially now that the two of us were supplying blood to Tray.
Hopefully he wouldn’t be upset with me when I brought it up.
But if there was something I could do to help him, I wanted to.
I wanted to… take care of him. So badly.
It was like a compulsion under my skin, and if I didn’t figure out how to help him soon, I was going to go out of my mind.
I cleared my throat, shaking away those thoughts, and focused on Trayben. He was finishing up his last problem, and I was sure he had a handle on it now that we’d gone over it together, so we were nearly done.
Without conscious thought, I started rubbing his back. I’d noticed lately that he seemed… maybe a little lonely or lost, and whenever one of us offered some affection, he leaned into it immediately. Maybe he was a little touch starved, the poor baby.
He was also sad about his parents and possibly worried about his place here. I couldn’t blame him for that since I still hadn’t gotten rid of my apartment. Although I… was almost ready to. I knew, deep down, that Anton would never let anything happen to my kids or me, so I wasn’t sure what was holding me back.
Except that maybe… that apartment had been where the girls and I lived with our mom, and it felt strange, and a little sad, to let that go completely.
That was a worry for another day. Right now, I needed to concentrate on my cute fledgling—it was kinda fun using that word since I never, ever thought I’d be able to.
As soon as he finished his last problem, I leaned in and kissed his hair, hugging him to my side. “You know you’ll always have me, right? And the girls?”
He sort of startled before facing me and taking in my expression for a few seconds. He sagged into my side. It was a long time before he whispered in a small voice, “You promise?”
Oh, my heart. “Of course I promise, sweetie. You’re a part of our family, and you always will be.” I kissed the top of his head. “Always, Tray. I promise.” Being fae, he would understand how much a promise truly meant. We didn’t make them lightly, but I had zero problem promising that to him.
He sagged even further, and I held him for a while.
“Are you hungry?”
“I’m good. Anton let me feed earlier.”
“You’ll let me know if you need more, yes?” It was more of a command than a question, but he didn’t seem to mind.
“I will.”
“Good.” I gave him a squeeze.
When he pulled away, he sent me a smile, then cleaned up his books.
“Need anything else?”
“Nope. I’m good. Thanks for helping.”
“Anytime.” I stood and stretched as he packed his books away.
On my way out the door, I patted his shoulder, and he said, “Have fun on your date.”
He sounded teasing and no longer upset, so I rolled my eyes at him and waved him off. “Oh, shut it, you.”
He giggled as I shut the door behind myself with a smile.
Then I rushed into my room and quickly changed into something nice. I found a purple blouse that hung off one shoulder and showed a good amount of collarbone—and as long as it hung off my right shoulder, the scar on my chest didn’t show—and a pair of black pants that showed off my ass. I switched out one of my earrings to match the blouse, fixed my hair, and stared at myself in the mirror for a few moments before snapping a picture of myself and sending it to Oakley.
Me: How do I look? Anton and I are doing a date night at home.
They only took a few seconds to respond.
Oakley: You look beautiful. Anton’s going to eat you up.
Me: I hope so.
They sent me back a vampire emoji with a yummy-licking-its-lips emoji that made me laugh. I sent them back a bunch of hearts before nodding at my reflection and heading out.
Anton was already in the kitchen when I arrived, and I couldn’t help but smile at him. He was so damn handsome, even with the weight he’d lost. He was wearing slacks and a white dress shirt, and I honestly really did want to eat him up. He looked good enough to lick.
Mother of All, how was this man so sexy?
And how in the world was he all mine?
His smile turned into a sort of smirk, and for some reason, I felt like he maybe heard my thoughts.
I mean, I was thinking them pretty loudly.
The embarrassment I expected to come never did, probably because of the look of pure hunger on Anton’s face.
He obviously wanted me as much as I wanted him.
Anton stalked toward me, and I swallowed hard, then stepped forward and straight into his arms. I leaned up, silently asking for a kiss, and he answered, capturing my mouth with his and taking my breath away.
He mumbled against my lips, “Let’s go to your plant room and lock the door.”
I laughed and backed up since we had an audience. “Okay. Dinner’s taken care of?”
From the kitchen, Beshiro called over, “I’m making eggplant lasagna, garlic bread, and salad. I promise I’ll make sure the girls eat.”
“Thank you, Shiro.”
“Anytime… Pops.”
“Not you too.”
He laughed, and Anton shook his head, clearly amused.
He mumbled to me, “They’ve been doing this to me for centuries. Nice to see them teasing someone else for once.”
I snorted and grabbed his hand. “Come on, vamp. Let’s get this date goin’.”
He laughed and let me drag him through the house—the giant mansion—to the room where most of my plants were. I still had some in my bedroom and a few in the kitchen as well, but this room had become something of a sanctuary for me. And for the girls. They tended to come in here after school to do their homework and sometimes to watch TV.
As soon as we were inside, I stopped in my tracks. Right in the center of the room, there was a small table that hadn’t been there before. It had a tablecloth on it, place settings, and a centerpiece that was… I reached out with my magic. Ah. It was a live plant. A new plant.
“You got me a plant.”
“I did.”
I couldn’t look away from the pretty pink flowers. “You set this up.”
“I did.”
I finally looked at him, and a big smile spread over my face. “You planned a real date.”
He looked—and felt, because I could feel his emotion in my chest—amused. Amused but happy. “I told you I wanted to court you. I meant it.”
A thrill shot through my chest, and I couldn’t help but bounce on my toes a little before giving Anton a side-hug. He smiled at me, seeming quite pleased with himself—but he should be. This was incredibly sweet.
We started to head for the table before he said, “Oh!” And he turned around to shut and lock the door. If there was an emergency, we’d still hear the kids out there, but there were enough adults to watch over the little ones.
The fact that I was trusting Anton’s adult children with my kids made me take a pause for a few seconds to really think about it. And yeah… I really did trust them. I had no doubt in my mind that all four of the vampires would watch over Tray and the girls, that they’d keep them safe, no matter what.
Thinking about it sort of settled some lingering worry I had, and I was able to turn my full attention to my viramore. We needed this time together without worrying about anything else.
He took my hand and led me over to the table, pulled out my chair, and pushed it in as I sat. Then he took the seat across from me.
I couldn’t help but reach out to the plant and brush my fingers over one of its big green leaves. The plant reached back for me, and I smiled when I felt its happiness over having fae magic so near. I gave it a little boost, and if it could, it would’ve been dancing with excitement. As it was, it grew a little taller and fuller, and a new flower bloomed. It was beautiful.
“It likes you,” Anton said with a smile. “I knew it would.”
“It’s so pretty and really happy to be here. I’ve never seen this type of plant before. What’s it called?”
His smile grew. “It’s a scarlet ladio. It naturally grows in the Bellburgh Territory. It’s pretty rare and not easy to find anywhere else.”
“How did you get it?”
“I called an old friend and asked them to send it to me.”
My eyebrows rose. “The Bellburgh Territory is the vampire and hunter place, right? I heard that the major cities there are really dangerous.”
He nodded his head. “They can be, yes. I wouldn’t recommend ever traveling there if you can avoid it. But they do have some really pretty fauna.”
“You’ve spent time there?”
He dipped his head. “I have. My children and I traveled there a long time ago. Actually, we chased down the original Legion of Light there, and after we took them out, we stuck around for a few years. It was nice being around so many vampires after… well, after. Although I did… lose my humanity for a little while because of everything that happened. But my family helped bring me back, thank the gods above and below.”
I wasn’t sure I wanted to touch that loss of humanity thing right now. That sounded… rough. So I opened my mouth and said, “You mean after you… lost your other children?” I cringed. Why the hell did I bring that up? Shit .
“Yes.”
I didn’t know what to say to that, so I said, “Sorry. I shouldn’t have—”
“You never have to apologize about that. My life is an open book to you, my darling.”
“Thank you, Anton.” I cleared my throat. “This is beautiful and really thoughtful.”
“I’m glad you like it.” He smiled and reached over to take my hand, rubbing his thumb over my skin. “I can tell you about the children I lost, if you’d like, but I… don’t want to dampen the mood. Tonight’s meant to be fun and relaxing, but if you would like to—”
“You don’t have to talk about it right now, hun. It’s really okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Like you said, tonight’s meant to be fun and relaxing. That’s exactly what the both of us need.”
He tilted his head to the side. “Alright. We’ll save that topic for a day when we’re ready for a good cry.”
I couldn’t help but snort. “Sounds like a plan, Annie.”
He jerked back, then wrinkled his nose. “Did you… did you just call me Annie?”
I snickered. “I did. I’m sorry. I was tryin’ out a nickname. It didn’t go well.”
He laughed and shook his head. “No, it really didn’t.”
“I could always go back to calling you Antiochus. That’s your real name, isn’t it?”
“Legally, I’m Anton now, but Antiochus Orsovias was the name I was given at birth. Throughout the years, I’ve had to make changes to my name to help keep humans in the dark about us before they were told about the magical world. I changed both my first and last name to something a little more modern, although I suppose that was… a long time ago now.”
I nodded. “That’s what I thought. I like your names—both of them.”
He smiled softly. “Thank you.”
“Buuuut… I think you maybe need a nickname.”
He raised a brow, making me snicker.
“I could call you Anty. Or Chus. Or—”
“You could simply call me yours.”
I sucked in a breath and met his gaze. “You are mine, Anton.”
He stared for a long minute before a slow smile grew on his face. “And you’re mine.”
“I am.” I squeezed his hand. “You still need a nickname, though.”
He laughed, and we settled in to talking about mundane stuff and about the kids for a long time before there was a knock on the door.
Anton used his vampire speed to beat me to the door—he was such a cheater—and he found Tray standing there with two heaping plates that my viramore quickly took from him.
“Thank you, my child.”
“You’re welcome. Good night!” Tray rushed away before either of us could respond.
Anton shrugged at me, then shut the door and relocked it before bringing the food over. He set one giant plate in front of me before taking his seat again with the other plate in front of him.
“This is a lot of food.”
He nodded. “It is. But you have to keep your calories up since you’re feeding Tray. You’ve been drinking the tonics daily, correct?”
“Yes.” I took a bite of food to give myself a minute to figure out what I wanted to ask.
Anton ate a bite of his food, probably to make me more comfortable so he wasn’t simply staring at me. But it wasn’t like the food did anything for him nutritionally, so it wouldn’t help his… issue, whatever it was.
“You alright, my darling?”
Mentally cringing, I finally said, “I, um, noticed that you seem to be… losing weight. And you’re paler than usual. Sorry if that was blunt, I just… I’m worried about you. Are you not eating enough? Especially with needing to keep Tray fed?”
He set his fork down, finishing chewing a bite before he finally looked at me. “I… well, I… are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes.” I didn’t hesitate because of course I wanted to know what was wrong with him. For fuck’s sake, I needed to know.
He hesitated for long enough that I started to worry this was far more serious than I’d initially thought. Was it possible for a vampire to get sick? Like… terminally?
I winced. I couldn’t go through that again.
Not after. Not after my mom.
I couldn’t stand around and watch someone I loved slowly die. I just… I couldn’t.