Chapter 7
CHAPTER SEVEN
Michel
“I’d like to talk to you before everyone gets here,” I say to her as I pat the couch next to me.
“Are you okay?” she asks as she sits with me on the couch.
“I’m good. I just wanted to talk to you about us.”
“Us?” She smiles.
“Yes, us,” I say as I pull her closer to me.
She laughs as I lean down and kiss her.
“I want it to be clear that you’re mine. I told you I’d take this as slow as you want and I’m not going back on that. I just want to make sure you know where I stand.”
“I’m yours? So does that mean you’re mine, too?”
“Yes. From now until forever.”
“Thank you for saving me. And thank you for making sure I’m safe here.”
I lean down and kiss her, pulling her onto my lap. I continue kissing her as I lay her back. Just as I’m sliding my hand up her body, there’s a knock at the door. Fuck me. I look at my watch and it’s five-fifty.
I sigh. “Family’s here.”
She giggles as I kiss her one more time. I go over and open the door, the first one I see is Eros.
“You have such awesome timing. And you’re early.”
“Well, I’m hungry and we need to order dinner,” Apollo says from the side.
“Of course you are.” I laugh and move aside so they can all come in.
Every one of them take up the entire doorway as they walk in. When it’s time to tell Genevieve about the Athanasious and Nikolaidises, it’s going to be fun. I remember when I found out they were shifters, I swore I was hallucinating. Even after I saw them shift, I still didn’t believe it.
My parents and siblings are the last ones through the door. I grab Genevieve’s hand and lead her over to them.
“Papa, Maman, this is my Genevieve. These are my parents, Reynaud and Juliette Rousseau.”
“It’s nice to meet you, thank you so much for the dinner you made me the first night I was here. It reminded me so much of home.”
My maman pulls her into a hug.
“We’re so happy to meet you and we’re very excited to meet your family,” Maman says to her.
“Thank you, I really appreciate all you’ve done for me.”
“My mon loup says that your family is from Beblenheim?” Maman asks her.
“Oui, we own Mon Véritable Amour Chateau.”
“Oh my goodness! We’ve been there, in fact, we were just there a few months ago. We took my parents there for a wine and cheese tasting.”
“I miss those! We have one every other month. We showcase the local cheeses when we do them and the most popular cheeses are the ones we stock for the next six months.”
“That’s such a wonderful idea. We loved all of it, especially the wines. Your winery has my favorite Moscato wines. I make sure to bring home a case of my favorites.”
I love that my maman is so excited as she talks to my Genevieve.
I can see the happiness in my girl’s eyes while she talks to my maman.
It’s a relief that they get along right from the start.
Because my maman isn’t a forgiving person.
If you make her angry? It takes a long time for her to forgive you if you aren’t family.
We all order our dinners and talk while we wait. I know the way Enea likes to do things and he’ll wait till we’ve all eaten before he starts our talk.
Growing up in my family, I was never lonely.
There was always someone to hang out with.
But now that we have the Lake Renegade family?
Our family feels complete. They help us when there’s something we can’t do.
Like when Hunter came into our lives, we needed help and our Lake Renegade family came in to help us.
And also when I called Sebastiano, he didn’t even hesitate.
Now they’re all here in Storyville, helping me make sure my girl is safe.
“I’d like to start by saying that we’re all very happy that Michel has met Genevieve. And Genevieve? Because you’re now part of the Rousseau family, that means you’re part of our family. And our family comes with secrets that stay in our family.”
“Wow. That doesn’t sound cryptic and scary.” Sebastiano chuckles at his papa.
We all laugh.
“I don’t mean to sound so serious, but there are some things that we have to trust you with. Michel has said that you’re the one he wants to be with, so we’re trusting you. The first thing you need to know is our family, the Mancinis are the Chicago Mafia.”
“And the Bastianini family is the Cimaruta MC,” Giacomo adds.
“What’s an MC?” Genevieve asks.
“Motorcycle Club.”
“I think I’ve heard of the Cimaruta MC in France.”
“We have chapters in different places.” He smiles at her.
“And we are shifters,” Zeus says to her.
Genevieve giggles. “I know my first language isn’t English. But shifters? Come on.”
All the shifters in the room turn to look at Seraphina.
“Seriously?” she sighs.
“Well, we’re too big to shift in this room. You’re the smallest one,” Eros says to her.
“I knew I should’ve pushed Sakura to come with us,” Seraphina grumbles as she goes into one of the bedrooms. Apollo goes with her.
Everyone is watching Genevieve, I can’t wait to see her face when Apollo comes out with Seraphina.
She’s a Taipan snake, they’re the deadliest snakes in the world.
I only wish one of the Athanasious or Nikolaidises could shift in here.
The Athanasious are polar bear shifters and the Nikolaidises are white tigers. One day soon she’ll see their animals.
Apollo comes out with Seraphina wrapped around him.
“Holy crap. Is that a snake? Where did it come from?” Genevieve asks as she backs up into me.
“Don’t worry, love. That’s Seraphina.”
“What do you mean that’s Seraphina? That’s a snake! And snakes bite!”
Everyone is holding back their laughter as we listen to Genevieve.
“Why aren’t you all panicking? Why are you all so calm? That snake’s gonna kill us!”
Seraphina shifts back in the corner and Apollo hands her some clothes.
“I take a little offense to that. I only bite when annoyed and I haven’t killed anyone in a while now,” Seraphina says as she gets dressed.
“What the hell just happened?” Genevieve asks as she looks at me.
“Seraphina is a shifter like the others. They chose her because the others won’t fit in the room if they shift,” I explain to her.
“Whoa, wait a minute. Are you saying I’m fat?” Apollo gasps.
“I mean…” Adonis starts to say.
“Shush, Pudge.” Apollo squints at his brother.
“I keep having to apologize for my kids. Pretty soon I’m just going to carry a sign around that says. ‘Hi, my name is Zeus. Please ignore my children…they’re…special.’”
We all laugh as the brothers act hurt.
“You should see when they’re all together.” Sebastiano laughs.
“There’s more brothers?” Genevieve asks.
“Ares is my oldest and there’s Artemis, she’s my baby.” Zeus smiles.
“Do you really turn into polar bears?”
“We do. One day we’ll show you.”
Genevieve takes a deep breath and nods.
“I have a feeling there’s more that you need to tell me,” she says as she looks at Enea.
Enea nods and looks at Sebastiano.
“We found out some things about Julian and his brother, Randall. I’m not sure if you know any of this.
But the brothers have worked at five different sheriff’s stations in the last eight years.
And each time they left, there were unexplained deaths.
They would leave each station right after there had been a few deaths. ”
“Are you saying they were killing people?”
“That’s what it’s looking like.”
“Are you saying they would’ve killed me?” she asks as her voice shakes.
“We can’t say that for sure. None of the people that either went missing or were killed were tied to them like you were.”
“Why would you think that they had something to do with their deaths?”
“Both of them were on all the arresting paperwork. And within a few weeks, the person was missing or dead.”
I hold Genevieve as she shakes. This is why I worried about telling her. I wanted her family to be here with her.
“We’re still looking into all of this. It’s a lot to sift through, but so far we know that there’s been at least three suspicious deaths in each of the counties they worked in.
Nothing in Larimar county so far. But they’ve only been there for a year and it’s close to their home.
So I’m not sure they’ll do it so close to home, if it is them. ”
“Could they really be killers? But they’re deputies. They’re supposed to help people, not kill them.” Genevieve frowns.
“I know this is hard. This is also why we were hoping to tell you when your parents were here.”
“They’re going to force me to go back to France with them. They won’t let me stay here knowing there’s a chance Julian and Randall are killers.”
“Serial killers,” Eros says.
We all look at him.
“What? If someone kills two or more people, they’re considered serial killers.” He shrugs at us.
“Why do you know that?” Carmelo Marini asks as he shakes his head at him.
“Why don’t you know that? You’re mafia. Shouldn’t you know about serial killers?”
“Just because I’m part of a mafia family doesn’t mean I know about serial killers.” He squints and scrunches his face at Eros.
“I didn’t say YOU were a serial killer. But you must know some…”
“Seriously?” Carmelo rolls his eyes at him.
“I thought I only had to worry about my kids. Apparently I have to start apologizing for all the kids in the family.” Zeus sighs.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned about our Lake Renegade family?
It’s that no matter how serious thing are, they always find a way to bring some love and laughter into it.
It helps everyone deal with the stress of the situation.
I can feel some of the tension leave my love’s body and I kiss her head.
“Because of what we suspect about Julian and Randall, I don’t want any of you to be out alone. Eros and Adonis will stay with Genevieve. Sebastiano and Francesco will be with Amélie and Noelle. That way they can keep working while they’re with you. Carmelo, you’re with Henri—” Enea says.
“Woooo! I get the pool this time!” Carmelo and Henri cheer, giving each other high fives.
Our papa glares at Henri, who grins at him.
“Sorry. I got caught up in Carmelo’s excitement,” he says as he grins more.
Enea laughs and shakes his head.
“Apollo and Seraphina will be with Michel. I want two on each of you because if anyone’s a target, it’s the two of you.”
“Genevieve, when your parents get in, who did they think would be picking them up?” Panagiotis asks.
“They were going to take a taxi from the airport.”
“Okay, we need you to text or call them. Let them know that Enea and I will be there to pick them up. We can take two cars. You can send them our pictures, that way they know what we look like,” Zeus says.
Genevieve nods and texts her parents.
“They said okay and that you both look like really big men.” She laughs.
After a few hours, everyone leaves. Except Eros, Adonis, Apollo and Seraphina.
“I don’t want to leave you,” I say as we sit on her bed.
“I’d like it if you stayed with me. I know I have the others here, but you make me feel safe. And loved.”
I reach over and pull her to me. “I will always keep you safe. You’re my mon rêve and I do love you.”
As much as I don’t want to scare her off, I need her to know how I feel and that I’m not going anywhere. We get ready for bed and I hold her as I fall asleep.
“I love you, too. You’re my dream too,” I hear her whisper as I’m drifting off to sleep.