Chapter 16
Abel
Tulio was the absolute chunkiest baby I had ever been around.
He was so sweet, and I just couldn’t stop snuggling him.
Mazzi knew right away that something was up when I knocked on the door to their suite.
I had messaged him before just dropping in—he did have a One and a new baby, after all, but he’d insisted that company would be quite welcome, and I’d headed that way.
It wasn’t as if it were a far walk. Their room was about thirty seconds away from ours.
“All right,” Mazzi said as I rubbed my cheek against Tulio’s fuzzy hair. “American pancakes, bacon, strawberry compote, vanilla yogurt, and orange juice. You have a very filling breakfast. Spill the tea. Has Marcello been an asshole again?”
I couldn’t help it; I started laughing. Naldo came and gently took Tulio to the other side of the table and sat with him. It was time for a bottle, apparently. I sat there and watched Naldo for a moment and had to wonder if Marcello would be as attentive with our children as Naldo was with Tulio.
“I know he’s cute, and the vampire is sexy, but hello,” Mazzi said as a small burst of light exploded in front of me. I flinched and looked over at my friend.
“The baby is very cute, and I have my own sexy vampire. Who, no, he’s not been an ass again. At least not as far as I know.” I sighed. “He went to kill my father today.”
That grabbed both Naldo and Mazzi’s attention. Naldo immediately stood and left the room with the baby while Mazzi stared at me with wide eyes.
“All right. I need more than just that because why would you be so okay with your beloved killing your father?”
I shrugged. “He wasn’t a nice man. He used to abuse me growing up.
My mom never hit me, but she didn’t stop him either.
He was so disappointed that I was born an omega and broke his perfect record of producing only alphas.
” I rolled my eyes. I spread the yogurt on top of the pancakes and looked up at Mazzi when he made a noise. “It’s really good,” I told him.
“I’ll take your word for it. To me, it seems incredibly heavy.”
I shrugged. “I’m a shifter. I might be one of the smaller ones, but I still burn a lot of energy to shift.”
“All right, so Marcello is going to go kill your dad. But there has to be more of a reason other than you being abused. I’m not discounting what you went through.”
I looked at Mazzi with wide eyes. “You don’t know that it was my dad that sold me to sex traffickers?
” I didn’t know that someone’s eyes could get that big.
But apparently, Mazzi’s could. “Yeah. I was there, obviously. He took me outside, shoved me into the trunk of his car, drove somewhere, and pulled me out of the trunk. When we got wherever, there were several other alphas waiting. They started grabbing at me, and then it was lights-out. I woke up in a cage.”
“No,” Mazzi said quietly.
I nodded and took another bite of food. I quickly chewed and sighed.
“Like I said, he wasn’t a nice man. I never made it to the compound I was supposed to be sent to.
I was at some holding compound, but the guys there beat, drugged, and raped us.
It was pure luck we were rescued by the council when we were. ”
“I’m sorry, Abel. I didn’t know. Marcello did, obviously, but your story hasn’t been shared with the coven.”
I shrugged again. “It’s okay. I mean, it’s not exactly a happy story to tell.” I picked up a strip of bacon and had it gone in three bites. I moaned and closed my eyes at the deliciousness of it. It wasn’t too crispy, but not soggy either.
“Why didn’t the council do something about your father?”
“I was always told he went into hiding. I’m not sure how Marcello found him, but I guess he did.”
Mazzi snorted. “This coven can find people. It might take some time, and it sometimes has negative consequences, but Master Vincent is incredible at finding people.”
I nodded. Marcello had told me about Sandro’s brother, Vittorio. That was right after he’d scented me. Then they’d lost one of their own, and it hit them all hard.
“I’m sorry about Vittorio,” I said.
“I didn’t know him either. I do know Sandro, and before he left, he did try his best to help me. He loved his little brother very much, and he’s fighting demons that we can’t help him fight.”
I nodded in understanding. “I wish the council was more understanding. I mean, I get it. This coven doesn’t exactly obey rules, and they do some not-so-legal things.
But the council has four really great psychologists that help us.
All of the omegas, and sometimes alphas, that are rescued are offered therapy, and it really helped me.
I had zero issues with things happening between me and Marcello.
” I made a face. “Well, except for the fact that he’s in a mafia family. There was that issue.”
Mazzi laughed. “I understand. My family had issues with that as well.” He sighed. “It’s why I have nothing to do with them anymore and never will. You aren’t supposed to come between fated mates or Ones, and they tried.”
I sighed. “Yeah, that’s what Master Edison and Master Ambrosius tried too. I mean, I get it. They were trying to protect me, and they didn’t know I was fated to Marcello.”
“I’m sorry about that,” Mazzi said. “We shouldn’t have taken you like we did.”
I shrugged. “Eh, it’s all good. It worked out, and I know you were trying to help Marcello. I appreciate it.” I reached down and pressed on my stomach, where one of the twins was pushing outward. I was due in three weeks, and the babies were already out of room.
“Are you all right?” Mazzi asked, suddenly concerned.
“I’m good.” I took a deep breath when the baby finally stopped stretching. “One of the twins is stretching or something because he or she is very much trying to press on my diaphragm and my bladder at the same time.”
Mazzi winced. “I know what that’s like, but at least I only had the one.”
I nodded. “Knowing my luck, I’ll end up always having twins.” I sighed. Not that that would be terrible. That would mean two pregnancies, and I’d be good. I only wanted three or four babies anyway. That was a good number. But then again, so was two. One for each daddy. Even numbers.
I took another strip of bacon and ate it.
“Mio angelo? I will be home soon,” Marcello said suddenly through our bond.
He’d been quiet for a while now, and my emotions were all very confusing.
I loved Marcello. And my father absolutely wasn’t a good man.
Marcello had described him perfectly. Uriah Barns was a rotten soul, and really, Carla Barns wasn’t much better.
She had let my father and brothers abuse me for years.
“Marcello is on his way back to the villa,” I told Mazzi. “I guess that means it’s done.”
Mazzi placed his hand on my arm. “Are you all right?”
I looked at the warlock and smiled. “I am. Really. Any love I would have ever felt for my dad was dead long before he shoved me in that trunk. There might have been a little bit of hope, but yeah, I’m okay.”
Naldo returned to the room, but Tulio wasn’t with him. I assumed that meant the little guy was sleeping after his bottle, but that was expected. He was only three weeks old.
I glanced between the two and suddenly felt like I was intruding. “I should go,” I said as I started to stand.
“But you haven’t finished eating,” Mazzi said.
I picked up the plate. “I’ll take it with me and leave the plate and silverware in the kitchen. That’s where it came from, right? It looks like the same set.”
“Yes, but don’t feel like you have to leave.”
“I don’t. But I also don’t want to interrupt any alone time the two of you have.
I know it’s precious when you have a newborn, and you probably could use a nap or…
something.” I leaned down and gave Mazzi a one-armed hug.
“Thank you for breakfast. It’s perfect and delicious, and way better than what I had the other day from the kitchen.
” I was still trying to get used to the differences in cuisine, but it was slow going.
“You’re welcome. You are more than welcome to stay and wait here for Marcello.”
“I appreciate that. I’ll just go downstairs and wait for him.” I had no idea if Naldo and Mazzi were having sex yet, but Naldo was a vampire, and he had to feed. Maybe they did that at night. Or first thing in the morning. Who knew.
I took my plate and hurried to the door. I opened it and was out before Mazzi could get up from the chair. I would message him later, but I truly didn’t want to interrupt anything. It might be that I was interrupting nothing, but I didn’t want to take the risk.
I took the food and went to the kitchen, setting it on the island.
I could hear the others in the dining room, but I was uncomfortable eating in there without Marcello.
Looking around, I saw nobody nearby, so I snuck over to the dining room.
Ignoring everyone as best as I could, I went to the sideboard and poured myself another glass of juice.
“Are you all right, Abel? Do you need anything?”
I turned at the questions and found everyone staring at me. And by everyone, all five sets of eyes were looking directly at me.
“Ah, thank you. Whoever asked.” I nodded and held up my juice. “I’m good. I just wanted some juice.”
“Is that all you’re having?” Carmelo asked.
“Umm…no. My breakfast is in the kitchen,” I said, pointing to the door. I hurried out of the room and back to the kitchen. I sat at the island, and as I was taking a drink of the juice, Carmelo came out and stood on the other side of the island.
“Did we do something?”
I tilted my head in question. “What do you mean? I don’t know. Did you?”
Carmelo took a breath and pursed his lips. “No. To you. Did we do something to make you not like us? You leave the room every time we show up. You don’t join family meals. What did we do to cause you to avoid us?”
“Oh.” That. “I don’t really know you,” I told him.