Chapter 11
Marcello
“How is Abel doing?” Vincent asked.
I smiled at my friend and coven master. “It’s…a work in progress.” I offered. “Physically, he’s fine. He wasn’t expecting twins but seems happy about them. He—”
“He. What about you?” Vincent asked, interrupting me.
“I’m just thrilled to have my beloved. The twins we will be welcoming soon are a bonus.”
Vincent stared at me for a moment before nodding slowly. “And how is he adjusting? We haven’t seen him but the once. Is he contacting his friends in Montana?”
I tilted my head to the side. “I…” I tried to think about that. I hadn’t seen Abel with his phone. “I don’t think he has.”
“Why not? That must be difficult for him. I understand it is my doing that he’s here, but I never meant for him to become completely isolated.
Is he not willing to join the others for meals?
What about Mazzi? They are both pregnant, and although Mazzi has been with the coven a bit longer, he could use a friend. Or even Rio.”
I furrowed my brow. “What is up with him?” I asked. “And do you have any news on Sandro?”
“Rio has asked to stay permanently. I’ve granted his request because I cannot see any issue with having another warlock in the family. As for Sandro, we’re still looking. His phone is still off, which makes things all the more difficult.”
I was worried about Sandro. I knew Vincent was as well. Vittorio’s death had been difficult on him, and despite the help we had tried to offer, he’d put up walls and pushed us away.
“We can discuss Sandro more in a bit. I really wish to talk about your beloved.”
“What about him? He’s in the room reading the book Rio gave us about omega pregnancies.”
“Not what I meant. I want to know how he’s really doing? I have no doubt that he’s happy with having his mate, but he has had to leave everyone behind in doing so.”
“What are you implying?” Abel had said he was happy to choose me over returning to Montana. Had I missed something?
“I’m saying that despite the fact that your beloved is happy being with you, he still left everyone. Has he had the chance to talk to any of them in any way?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t seen him call anyone if that’s what you’re asking.”
Vincent looked up at the ceiling. “Marcello, you are one of my oldest friends, but you are not normally this obtuse.”
I glared. “That’s rude.”
“It’s true,” Vincent shot back. “Your beloved’s phone does not work here. Have you gotten him one that does? Or given him a tablet so he can be in contact with his friends? I know for a fact he had some with him the night that Mazzi and Naldo grabbed him.”
I froze. It hadn’t even occurred to me to check with him to see if he had called someone or even wanted to. We’d been so wrapped up in one another, I’d just assumed…
I stood. “I need to go,” I said absently.
Vincent didn’t say anything as I left his office and hurried toward the staircase.
I didn’t even pause once I reached the base of them; I rushed upward toward my beloved.
It wasn’t such a dire situation that I needed to use my vampire speed, but I did feel the undeniable urge to get back to my beloved.
I opened the door to our room without a thought, and Abel jumped. Immediately, I felt terrible that I’d startled my beloved.
“I apologize,” I said as I held up my hands. “I would never harm you,” I said without a thought.
Abel closed the book and set it beside him on the sofa. “I know that. I wasn’t expecting you back anytime soon. That’s all.”
I nodded. “I realize that. I have to ask something though,” I said as I crossed the room and knelt in front of my beloved.
I reached for hands and gently cradled them in mine.
“Mio angelo.” Abel grinned. “You are here in Italy with me,” I said.
“You have been here just over two weeks. It has been an intense, short time, but one I cherish.”
Abel’s smile started to fall. “What’s wrong? Are you kicking me out or something?” Abel asked, completely throwing me off. Why would he think such a thing? “It’s because of the twins, isn’t it? I warned you that fox shifters often have multiples. I can’t change that.”
“What? No. Where is this coming from?”
“I know you’re not happy about the pregnancy. Well, maybe a little, but I know you’re upset about something.”
Any thoughts I had about asking him if he wanted to call his friends back in Montana went out the window at that comment. “Why would you think I’m upset about you carrying my children? I’m ecstatic that you are pregnant with our twins.”
Abel blinked at me several times. “But you…when we were in Rio’s office, you didn’t seem overly excited about things. And you kept glaring at him. And when I smiled up at you, it didn’t seem as if you were overly happy about any of it.”
“That wasn’t the case at all,” I told him.
“I am unsure of Rio still. I’ve met him only once more than you have, and I cannot help but be a bit unsure of him around you and our unborn children.
It is simply how things are. You are my newly claimed beloved.
He is an unknown, and I still feel unease. ”
Abel raised his eyebrows at me. “Is that all?”
I nodded. “Yes. I apologize if you feel that I am anything but excited about our babies. I very much want you and them. One alone changes the dynamic of how things will be, but two certainly adds to that.”
Abel tilted his head. “How so?”
I gave his hands a squeeze before I stood and picked him up.
He laughed as I turned and sat down where he’d been sitting.
“It changes,” I told him after I was settled on the sofa, “because I have not only you to protect, but both of our babies as well. I will ask that you please do not leave the villa without me.”
Abel snorted. “I don’t even leave the room. That’s funny that you would think I would leave the villa.”
“You are welcome to walk about and explore the villa and the grounds freely. There is no threat here, but outside of the villa’s grounds is a very ugly and unpredictable world. Especially once it gets out that you are mine.”
Abel reached up and touched my cheeks with a huge smile on his face. “Am I still yours?” he asked. I would have thought he was teasing, except I could tell that he wasn’t.
“Tell me what’s going on. You know you will always be mine. Why would you think otherwise?”
Abel’s smile dimmed a bit, and he dropped his hands.
“You’ve been distant since I got sick. I don’t understand what’s going on because you’re not open with me.
I’ve tried to reach out through our bond, but I don’t get much of a response.
You’re pulling away a bit, and although I expected things to calm down between us, I didn’t think it would happen so soon. ”
I ran my fingers through Abel’s hair, hoping that the gesture soothed him a bit.
I knew it did me. “I did not mean for you to feel as if I am pulling away. I very much want you in my life and desire you as much now as I did over a year ago when I first scented and then saw you.” I cupped his face, hoping I was explaining myself clearly.
“You are my world. And if anything were to happen to you, I would never forgive myself because it would undoubtedly be my fault because of who I am.” I leaned in and kissed Abel gently.
“I want nothing more than to have you and our children safe. There is a lot happening, and I apologize now, but there will be times that I am needed here at the villa as well as elsewhere for certain things.”
We would deal with those things when the time came, but for now, things were quiet. Too quiet, which was why Vincent and I both believed that Sandro just wasn’t taking time to come to terms with the fact that his brother had been killed. Actually, most of the coven felt the same, I was certain.
“I don’t like that,” Abel said.
“What?”
My beloved sighed. “Your job. Your family and what they do. I know you can’t change that, and I had a choice to not become involved, and I chose to be with you anyway.
” Abel leaned against my chest and laid his head on my shoulder.
“That doesn’t mean I have to like every aspect about what it is that you do.
Or the fact that I’ve been kidnapped, and now I’m here, cut off from everything and everyone. ”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was going to talk to you about that,” I told him.
“About what?”
“You haven’t called anyone since you’ve been here. I understand we’ve been pretty wrapped up in one another, but I wondered if there was a friend that you wanted to talk to?”
I could feel Abel playing with the buttons on my shirt.
“I would like to at least message Lewis. He was there that night. We’d gotten dinner together, and he had always been so nice when I would stop in at the bakery.
” Abel sat up. “I don’t have a phone. Mine doesn’t work here, and it’s probably so dead now it won’t turn on without being charged.
” My beloved shrugged. “And I don’t have access to any of my money.
Even if my card would work here, I can’t exactly go out and get a new phone. ”
I would like to say that I would have eventually taken care of these things for my beloved in another week or two, but one never knew.
“You are welcome to use my phone anytime,” I told him.
“We will get you one that works here, but for now, you can use mine.” I pointed to the side table that was under a mirror over by the table where we ate.
“Yours is over there. It is plugged in, but no, it won’t work here.
As for cards, if you need or wish to go shopping for anything, I have cards that you can use.
” Abel would have access to everything of mine, and I would see to that this afternoon.
He was going to need, at a minimum, a few outfits that were pregnancy-friendly.
Especially since he was carrying twins because he was going to show sooner than I thought either of us realized.