Forty-Nine

 

 

We were meeting everyone at Lysander and Evelyn’s apartment. I’d changed into my familiar jeans and t-shirt the moment we’d gotten back to our apartment, much to Alasdair’s disappointment.

“You do realise this means you’ll have to wear a suit again so I can get you back out of it…” he had purred as he watched me undress.

I gave him a smirk and pulled on my t-shirt, feeling relief at the familiar comfort of a nice black t-shirt. We headed over to the Hawke apartment a couple of hours later. The council meeting had dragged on.

Alasdair held me close to him as I tried desperately not to fidget in the elevator ride up there. They had a large apartment that took up half of the top floor in a very nice part of Vinohrady.

“They’re family,” Alasdair said gently.

I held back my comment about how awful my blood family had been.

Everyone was going to be there: Cole and Fionn, Beth and Niamh, as well as Kadrix, the alchemist elf. I’d been told that it was perfectly acceptable to tell him to fuck off if he pushed too hard. Apparently, he couldn’t help himself, his curiosity got the best of him and, my being what I am, well, that would be too much.

Lysander opened the door when we knocked. He greeted us with hugs and a broad grin. We left our shoes on the shoerack just inside the door, and Lysander led us through into the living area where everyone was.

Beth saw me, and her bright smile turned into a deep scowl.

A dark-haired man with kind eyes said, “Elizabeth, it’s not Niko’s fault the goddess chose him for Alasdair.”

Her scowl deepened as she looked me up and down before she looked back at the man that I assumed was her father. No one looked more than twenty-eight; the supernal genes and magic had been very kind to everyone. It made it difficult to figure out who were the parents and who were the offspring, though.

Beth gave me a polite smile and walked over. “Sorry about being a bitch. Do you play video games?”

“I’ve never really had the chance. I move around a lot and haven’t been able to afford a console,” I said.

“Come on, we’ll start you off on Mario Cart,” she said.

An elf emerged from the kitchen with a lilac apron around his waist. Something red had stained part of his long white-blond hair.

“Oh, he’s here! You’re here!” he said to me before he retrieved a notebook and pen from his apron.

“Kadrix…” a man who I assumed was Quin, given the resemblance to Evelyn that Lysander had pulled into his lap, said.

The elf frowned and gave the man puppy-eyes. “I was only going to ask a few questions…”

“We discussed this, Kadrix,” Alasdair said with a slight growl.

“Oh, you’re very protective over him! Is that the dire wolf side or the Guardian side? And tell me, have you consummated the bond? Was that like normal sex or…?”

I must have turned bright red. Beth covered her mouth with her hand and giggled.

“Come on, Fionn’s already in the games room, you’ll be safe in there,” she said.

I followed her past Gray, Tabs, and Niamh, who were all deep in a discussion about what sounded like which was the best type of pie. She led me into a small comfortable room with a large six-seat sofa which Fionn had managed to take up half of. He grinned up at me.

“It’s easy,” he said, handing me a controller.

“Kadrix!” came the cry from three or four people simultaneously from the other room.

“I think it’s an elf thing, they have a really high libido,” Beth explained as the cars on the screen started to move.

“What would you know about elf libidos?” Fionn asked her with a grin.

She blushed.

“You screwed him, didn’t you!? Oh, sorry, Niko, are you a virgin? Is this really weird for you?” Fionn asked.

My car crashed. I had no idea how to steer the damn thing.

“Er, no, not a virgin,” I said as I frowned at the screen.

As my car crashed for the second time, I smiled. I was finally beginning to feel like I had somewhere I belonged.