Chapter 73
Chapter Seventy-Three
Mal
Look who's coming to dinner
It’s the next Monday evening before Sam comes over for dinner.
Apparently, the adult refugees begged him to take a couple of days off, because he was spending his days working at the pack school before going to the rec hall every evening and teaching until pre-dawn hours, barely getting three or four hours of sleep a night, and it was taking its toll on him.
He spent most of Sunday sleeping and yet still he stopped by the rec hall after leaving the school today to check on the kids and answer any questions they had. According to Todd and Shawn and everyone else, the refugees all adore him, kids and adults.
I’ve never met a heron shifter and I’m nervous for a whole host of reasons.
Ironically, one of them isn’t of jealousy, because I’m not jealous. I know Todd loves me.
Besides, ethical non-monogamy doesn’t bother me, as long as I know our relationship is secure and there is communication and strict boundaries. Which, helllooo, we have that. He’s my mate, and I literally feel how eager Todd is for me to meet someone he considers a dear friend.
It’s adorable.
Still doesn’t eliminate my nerves. I’ve spent my entire life up until now having to tightly control every emotion and reaction for fear of being scolded at best, or angrily reprimanded at worst.
The only time I’ve ever felt I can be myself is when I’m nowhere near my father or people who know him.
When I spot headlights sweep up the driveway, Todd pulls me in for a kiss, smiling down at me. “Relax, baby. He’ll love you. Just remember to let him ease his way into knowing you. Don’t take it personally if he acts standoffish at first.”
I nervously nod.
He drives an older Chevy SUV and tonight is wearing jeans and a light blue Oxford shirt, long-sleeved but rolled up his forearms, and loafers.
He’s a lot taller and thinner than I’d expected, maybe 6’1”, and while his shirt looks loose on him, the closer he gets the more I can tell it hides leanly layered muscles. I can almost see his shifted self.
He’s carrying a thermal bag and smiles nervously as he steps onto the porch. He wears his light brown hair cut in a short, nameless, business-appropriate style, and his grey-blue eyes are watchful.
“Hey,” Todd says. “Mal, this is Sam DiMarco. Sam, this is Mal, my mate.” I don’t feel slighted that he doesn’t say my last name.
Frankly, I don’t want him telling people my last name.
Not until I officially share his last name, that is.
Todd opens his arms for a hug. I notice he doesn’t swoop in, and I don’t know if that’s a Sam thing or Todd not wanting to trigger a jealous reaction in me.
Sam steps in for the briefest of hugs with Todd before stepping back and offering me a nervous smile. “Hi, Mal. It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“Glad to finally meet you, too.” I follow Todd’s lead and offer Sam a hug exactly the way he did. Sam steps in and gives me the same brief hug in return, and I’m already starting to understand what Todd meant about him.
He holds up the thermal bag. “I brought ice cream.”
Behind him, Todd grins and gives me a subtle thumbs-up, so I guess this is a good thing?
“Thank you,” I say. “Please, come on in.”
It turns out the ice cream is homemade, and he has it in a special plastic thermal container that he puts in the freezer.
Then he turns, his cheeks now full of pink. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if it was okay to put it in there.”
Oooh, yeah. I absolutely get it now, what Todd meant.
I smile. “Hey, you’ve spent more time in this house than I have. Seriously, please, it’s okay.” I opt to just go for the jugular. “Todd was telling me you know a lot about butterflies…”
Two hours later, we’ve finished our steaks, Sam helped us clean up the kitchen, and we’re now sitting in the living room eating literally the best fucking ice cream I’ve ever had in my life—strawberry cheesecake, if you were wondering…
And yes, now I know more than I thought was possible about butterflies.
Every time Sam’s back is to Todd, Todd’s giving me happy grins and smiles, and I don’t want him to silently speak to me right now because I don’t want to do anything to make Sam think I’m not listening or that I’m getting bored.
I mean, I am kind of tuning out some of the butterfly stuff, but it’s fun watching him talk about them.
If he’s a fraction of this much fun to listen to while he’s teaching, I can completely understand why he’s the school’s most-loved teacher.
And, also yes, letting him info-dump all over me spares me from starting uncomfortable conversations about their past together, it means I don’t have to uncomfortably dodge talking about myself and my past, and it keeps me from being tempted to dive right into making it very uncomfortable for all three of us by openly begging him to please fuck my mate so I stop feeling… guilty.
I mean, hell, I’d do him if I was allowed to. He’s not solid and beefy like Todd, Jax, and Shawn, but there’s a delicate strength about him that hints to me that when he’s into sex, he’s really all-in and is probably incredible in that way, too.
But I get absolutely zero sexually interested vibes from him right now.
We’ve hit a natural lull in the conversation, and his cheeks go pink again. “Sorry,” he says. “I didn’t mean to talk all evening.”
“No!” I assure him. “I’m glad you feel comfortable around me. I know this is probably…complex.”
He nods, staring at the bowl in his lap. The tip of his tongue swipes across his lips and then focuses on me, his gaze firmly on my chin. I’ve noticed that about him, too, that his eye contact is fleeting and obviously forced. He’ll look at my forehead or chin, but rarely right in my eyes.
“I’m really happy for both of you,” he says. “I mean, I just met you, but you seem like a nice guy, and Todd looks happier than I think I’ve ever seen him. I’m sure this was all a shock to you, but your baby is lucky to have the two of you as its parents.”
We did tell him we’re expecting, but I want to hold back telling anyone else her gender yet. I don’t know why, except it’s what I feel I want to do, and Alizée told me to trust my gut.
“That’s very kind of you, thank you.” Then I decide to do it, since the opening’s there. “I want you to know I’m not jealous of you, seriously. And unless I’m like in active labor, or we already have plans, I’m perfectly okay with you and Todd still seeing each other.”
The pink flush darkens in his cheeks. “Thank you. I appreciate it, but right now my focus is completely on the kids.” His gaze dips to his lap.
“Todd can tell you I don’t get angry easily, but this whole situation makes me wish I could go help kill that fucker, Sterling.
” Then horror fills his face, and he makes eye contact with me.
“Oh my god, I’m so sorry! I shouldn’t have said that! ”
I can’t help but laugh. “Sam, seriously, it’s okay.
Trust me, if I thought Todd would let me, I’d gladly help kill him, too.
” My smile fades. “I had a shitty childhood. I knew he was an evil asshole, but I had no idea how evil he was until now. He’s a literal monster and needs to be put down for the sake of everyone.
I’d pull the trigger myself if I had the chance. ”
He still stares at me, as if he can’t believe I’m not upset.
“The poor kids,” he whispers. “The refugees. They’re opening up to me, starting to talk about things.
I don’t ask or push, I just listen.” His gaze drops again, and I watch his throat bob as he swallows.
“One of the girls was on the phone with her mother when it started. She was on her lunch period, and her mother was one of the vampires. They always talked during her lunch period, because her parents usually worked nights. Her father was human.”
He’s trembling, and I realize it’s rage washing off him. I haven’t heard any of this, about the kids, and I’m reasonably certain I don’t want to. But even more, I do not want to cut him off when I sense Todd is his safe place.
He softly continues. “Her mom apparently dropped the phone, or it was knocked out of her hand, but the call was still live, and she heard it happening, heard her parents fighting, heard her mother screaming when her father was injured. The kids all attended the same private school, and three of the familiars worked there as teaching assistants, helped transport the kids, and kept an eye on them. One of them, one of the women who arrived with the first group, rushed over when she heard the girl crying and hustled her out of the lunchroom as she tried to figure out what was happening.”
He looks up. Tears roll down his cheeks.
“She and the other two familiars gathered all of the nest’s children and younglings into one of the teacher meeting rooms while they tried to find out what was going on.
One of them ended up racing back to the nest in her personal car, which she usually drove to work, and made it there minutes after the battle ended and the attackers fled.
Her own mate, one of the male vampires, was dying. He died in her arms.”
Without realizing it, I’ve reached out to Todd, tightly squeezing his hand because Sam’s heartbreak is palpable.
“The other two familiars had the oldest kids help them get all the younger ones into the minibus they used to drive them to school, and they took them to the house of one of the familiars’ cousins.
It was the only place they could think of where they could keep them all together without anyone asking questions, or where they couldn’t be found.
The cousin runs a horse farm, I guess, and used to be a familiar before she got married and had children of her own.
They hid in the main barn, the kids not knowing what happened beyond there was an attack, until Bruce made emergency arrangements to move them someplace else late that night.
Nearly all of the nest’s children were at the school.
The only reason the littlest kids survived, the babies and toddlers too young for school who were at the nest when the attack happened, is that one of the vampires helped her human wife scoop them up when the attack started.
There were six of them, from babies to small toddlers.
They raced out through a secret entrance, jumped into her wife’s car, and she drove. ”
He blinks, wiping at his eyes. “But she didn’t have time to grab a cape or any of the clothes they use to protect themselves in daylight.
She was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, but it wasn’t enough.
Despite her wife begging her to stop and get in the trunk to protect her, she wouldn’t stop driving until they were several miles away and she knew they weren’t followed and the children were safe.
But by then she was too severely burned to survive, including her eyes.
She laid down her life to make sure none of the babies died. ”
He looks up at me again. “I didn’t mean to trauma-dump on you, I’m sorry.
” He sniffles. “Maybe at some point I will take you up on your very kind and generous offer, but right now my focus is on those children. I’ve already told the adults if they decide to buy land and settle anywhere close by, I’d be happy to be a teacher for them, there, too. ”
He sniffles again. “I love kids, love teaching, but I don’t want any kids of my own.
Teaching is my life. The joy I feel when I see one of them light up when they solve a problem or I know they’re completely engaged by the lesson is nearly as good as sex, to me.
” He looks at Todd. “Sorry, but you know what I mean.”
Todd kindly smiles and nods. “I’m not offended in the least, buddy.”