22. Leonardo
Leonardo
“So that’s what a porcupine looks like?” I said to Abel and Mazzi as we stood in the gardens, watching the prickly-looking thing sniff around the flowers.
“I mean, I guess?” Abel said. He looked at me with wide eyes.
“I’ve never actually seen one in that form, and there are several different types of actual porcupines.
I’m not sure if there is only one type of shifter porcupine or not.
” He shrugged. “I know the created porcupine is on Treasure Ridge, but I honestly couldn’t tell you if I ever met him or not or if he looks like that when shifted. ”
“Fair enough.” We all watched as Dr. Higginson went over to the flowers, sniffed them, and then started eating them. “Umm…do you think Master Vincent is going to be happy if the new doctor eats all of his flowers?” I said to neither one in particular.
“Probably not,” Mazzi said. “I can fix them, but still. One would think that the doctor would know not to eat the coven master’s flowers.”
Just then, Dr. Higginson looked directly at us, his mouth halting the chewing motion for a moment before he went back to chewing the flower.
“Have you met him yet?” I asked.
“I haven’t,” Mazzi answered, “but he just arrived last night.”
“I haven’t met him, but I’ve seen him,” Abel answered.
“I was with Marcello when he arrived, and of course, Marcello needed to be there to greet him. I wasn’t introduced or anything, but I didn’t want to be.
I saw the guy with Rio, then I left. I figured if I needed to be introduced, Marcello would have. ”
I tugged on Abel and Mazzi, pulling them in the opposite direction of the new doctor. It wasn’t that I was afraid of him, really. But I didn’t know him, and right now, he looked very prickly, and I didn’t know if he would be friendly and open to visitors while in his shifted form.
“So, you’re due in two weeks,” Mazzi said after we sat near one of the fountains. “Are you excited?”
I nodded. One of the great things about having a warlock for a friend in the coven was the fact that Mazzi could and would magick a super-soft and comfortable lounger here near the fountain for us.
It couldn’t remain out here all the time because it would get wet, especially this time of year, when it rained.
But right now, the skies were sunny, even if the temperatures had cooled considerably.
I placed my hand on my quite rounded stomach. “We have everything we need for the baby, I think. I was trying to be sensible and not order everything I saw that was cute, and I did okay, but I failed a few times, and there are a few things that will probably get minimal use.”
“Eh,” Abel said. “Don’t think I didn’t put a rather large balance on Marcello’s card when I started ordering things for the twins.
” Abel snorted, then started laughing. “Actually, I still do. He doesn’t even blink when the bill comes.
Never has.” Abel’s grin turned playful. “In fact, he can get really…ahem…attentive when I spend his money.”
I shook my head. “I don’t understand that.”
“How not? My mate likes it when I spend his money. He shows how much he likes it by fucking me in the shower. Or while we’re having dinner in our suite.”
I laughed. I did not need to know that about Abel and Marcello. Sure, they had sex. They had twins. But still. Did we all need to know that they liked to go at it while eating? Really?
Movement caught my attention, and I looked over at Dr. Higginson. He was sort of…well, for lack of a better term, waddling over toward us. He walked right up to us and stopped.
“Uh, hi, Dr. Higginson. It’s nice to meet you,” I said. “Well, sort of meet you?” I looked over at Mazzi and Abel for help.
“Are you liking it here?” Abel asked. “I can shift, and we can hang out together, but we can’t communicate because we’re not mates.” Abel made a face. “Actually, maybe that isn’t a good idea.”
“Did you need something, Dr. Higginson?” Mazzi asked.
Dr. Higginson made some squeaking noises but then walked away.
“What do you think that was?” I asked.
“Not sure. Maybe he was trying to say hello?” Mazzi suggested.
“Or he was saying something else, and we’ll never know,” Abel added.
All were possibilities. The breeze picked up, and when I looked up to the sky, my mood soured.
“It’s going to rain. The sky is getting dark over there.
” That meant we would be forced to go inside.
That or Mazzi would have to do his magic and put a cover over us.
But Marcello would have a fit if Abel was out here and not inside when the rain was pelting down on us.
“How is the nanny working out?” I asked him.
Abel made a face. “The twins are inside because they’re with Marcello.
I told him I wanted thirty minutes, and then I’d be back.
I set a timer on my phone so I wouldn’t stay out here too long.
” He sighed. “She’s okay. I mean, she’s been here only a few days.
It’s odd having someone else help with the twins.
It’s nice around mealtime, but otherwise, it’s just… it feels off.”
“If you don’t feel as if she’s a good fit, then say something to Marcello and find another nanny. She’s been here only a few days. It’s not like your children have bonded to her yet,” Mazzi said.
That might not have been the best thing to say because Abel suddenly had a horrified look on his face, and he was up and off the lounger in a blink. He ran across the garden and out of sight.
“Yeah, so that upset him.”
“That wasn’t my intent,” Mazzi said.
“I know that. You know that. And I’m sure Abel realizes that. But will Marcello?”
Mazzi groaned. “I’m going to go get Tulio and pop back to Florence.”
“How is the search going? Anything new? You haven’t really said much about any of it.”
Mazzi shrugged. “There isn’t a whole lot to say.
The council sent an entire team. I know of the warlock on the team.
He’s not from my birth coven, but he’s from basically the warlock coven in Spain.
He’s super nice though. His One is also a warlock, and he’s from Venice, I guess.
But There’s also a gargoyle, a lion shifter, and a fae.
I think they’re actually getting close to finding Franco and Pietro. ”
The breeze picked up again, but this time, it didn’t let up. I sighed and got up from the lounger. It was comfortable, but with my stomach as large as it was, I struggled at times to get up off low things. We hurried back into the villa, and just as we made it to the terrazza, it started raining.
I sighed once inside, and I grinned at Mazzi. “Have fun in Florence. I hope they find them. I still can’t believe they or someone in the pride told my grandfather where I am. But I really shouldn’t be surprised. It’s definitely something they would do.”
“I’m sorry, Leo. I know the desire to leave here and venture out into town can be a lot at times, but soon enough, you’ll be able to.”
I looked down at my rounded stomach. Gone were my legs and feet. They were still there, of course, but all I saw was pregnant belly.
“I’m not upset about not leaving the villa,” I said. “I’ve rearranged the baby’s space probably half a dozen times now, and I’ll probably do it again before he arrives.”
Mazzi grinned. “If you need any help, let me know. I get bored in the hotel with Tulio while the guys are out following leads.”
“Florence is a big city,” I said. “Not as large as Rome, but still big. Too bad they can’t use something of Franco’s to find his aura or something,” I said absently.
“What did you just say?” Mazzi asked.
“About what? Florence? Or Alpha Franco?”
“Franco. That was…I have to go,” Mazzi said, suddenly in a hurry. He disappeared in a blink, something that wasn’t necessarily out of the ordinary for Mazzi. Or Rio, really. They were warlocks, and they had the ability to do that.
I shrugged and went to find my mate. He was here somewhere. “Sandro?”
“I am in the office with Rio and Andrew.”
Oh. Well, never mind about that, then. “All right. I won’t interrupt. I’ll just go to our suite and find something to do.”
“I thought you were with Mazzi and Abel?”
“Mazzi has gone back to Naldo in Florence, and Abel is with Marcello somewhere. I’ll be in our suite, organizing the baby’s things.”
I started that way, but when I got to the bottom of the stairs, I heard one of the babies crying down the hallway that had both Marcello’s and Master Vincent’s offices. I peeked down the hallway at the same time Master Vincent’s head poked out of his office door.
“Ah. Leo. I could use your input,” he said and then disappeared.
I wanted to kick myself for peeking down the hallway because of the crying baby.
He or she was with both of their parents and possibly the nanny, even.
They didn’t need my help. But because of my natural instinct to soothe a crying child, the coven master caught me.
I slowly made my way down the hallway, and when I was in front of Marcello’s almost closed door, I heard Abel and Marcello talking. The baby was no longer fussing, so that was a positive thing. I took the final few steps toward Master Vincent’s office and knocked on the doorframe.
“You wanted to see me, Master?” I didn’t know exactly what input I could contribute, but if he had a question for me, I was going to try and answer.
I had nothing against the coven master. I thought he was amazing.
He’d accepted me into the coven without any hesitation, and he’d been nothing but kind to me since.
“Yes. Please sit down. I wanted someone’s input, and yours is perfect as you are mated and are about to have a baby.”
“Umm…okay. I don’t know what I can do to help, but I’ll try.”
Master Vincent smiled again, and then he spun his laptop around to show me whatever it was he’d been working on.
“I’d like your input on these new apartments.”
I glanced at the laptop but quickly looked up at Master Vincent. “New apartments? What are they for?”