Chapter Eight #2
He didn’t like keeping things from his little shifter.
That was a worry for another time. First Mitch had to deal with his father.
As soon as Mitch had portaled to his home realm, the summons from his sire had come. He set Sami to work as he went to try to hold his father off a little longer. His sire was determined.
“Your mate has returned to you,” Micitian said.
“He has,” Mitch agreed.
“I expected you to bring your mates to me by now.” Micitian was obviously not pleased.
“It’s only been a few days,” Mitch explained. “He needs time—”
“I demand you bring me your mates!”
The fire behind him roared as Micitian threw his temper tantrum. Mitch didn’t show any reaction. He was used to his sire’s anger. All he needed to do was protect his mates. Theo wasn’t ready to deal with hell quite yet.
“I will bring my mates at the soonest opportunity. When it is safe to do so,” Mitch stated clearly. “We have an unseelie king after him. Preparations are being made to keep my mates safe.”
“I’m warning you now,” Micitian declared. “I am at the end of my patience.”
Mitch bowed his head. “Yes, sire.”
“Out!” Micitian ordered. “Get out of my sight.”
Mitch portaled himself back to his house. Sami glanced up from where he was dumping a drawer into a box.
Mitch snorted. “That’s how you pack?”
His best friend grinned, flashing some fang. “I’m helping.” He dumped another drawer.
Shaking his head, Mitch crossed the room to pull open the closet doors.
“You still want to follow the plan with the remodel?” Sami questioned.
“Yeah, especially with my sire pushing to meet my mates. We’re going to have to spend time in the realm as we perform our duties being the chosen anyway. My father is not going to wait that long. Alek offered the use of his family house here but—”
“But you want to show off what you built,” Sami finished for him.
“Yes.” Mitch was proud of his position within the community that he’d been raised in.
Nothing had been handed to him. As the offspring of one of the most powerful demons ruling over hell, Mitch had to work twice as hard as his peers.
His sire had tested Mitch every step of the way, wanting his namesake to be the best. Mitch was.
“I’ve met all but your shifter mate. I can already tell you that your mates will love this place,” Sami offered.
“Theo and Wylder are the ones that concern me,” Mitch confessed. “Alek has spent time here and Dario has worked with demons in the past. Theo and Wylder have no experience with our kind.”
“And yet it is Wylder that you forged a golden sword for,” Sami reminded him. “That hasn’t been done in over a hundred years.”
“He deserved it,” Mitch replied sincerely. “It wasn’t even his enhancements that impressed me. It is Wylder’s heart. He stood shoulder to shoulder with his mates, facing the unseelie without question. He would have given his life for us.”
“As a mate should,” Sami said.
“I think I still held prejudice in my heart about humans even though I hadn’t recognized it,” Mitch shared. “Wylder is as loyal if not more than anyone I’ve ever seen.”
“And Theo?” Sami asked. “You think your home realm will frighten him.”
Mitch sent the clothing on hangers via portal to his new closet as he thought about his answer.
“I’m actually not as worried about that as I had been.
Theo proved that he can take care of himself when he survived the summoning.
And he keeps encouraging me to remain in my natural form. He’s never been afraid of me.”
“Except for that one time he climbed a tree to get away from you,” Sami teased.
Mitch smiled and laughed. “He actually climbed it to get away from the dark elves. I just couldn’t talk my cat out of the tree.
” It was Mitch’s fondest memory. Theo backtalking him in feline form and Wylder rushing to Theo’s rescue like a little whirlwind.
Mitch should have known then that Wylder had true warrior blood running through his veins.
He kept sending items until the closet was empty. He closed the door and turned.
Sami had finished his task of emptying the dresser.
“Thanks for the help,” Mitch said sincerely.
“Happy to help. And I’ll make sure the remodel gets done. The demons you hired will arrive in the morning,” Sami said. “We’ll make this place a perfect retreat for when you all need to be here.”
Mitch nodded. “How do you feel about getting new neighbors?”
“Eh.” Sami shrugged. “Has to be better than the last guy. He always drank all my dwarf mead.”
Mitch grabbed a sock from the box beside his knee. “Do not offer Wylder dwarf mead. The realm might never recover.”
Sami rubbed his hands together. “It would be something to see.”
Now Mitch was even more worried about when his mates came down to his home. Sami was the worst influence and he needed to keep an eye on his best friend and his human mate. Mitch wouldn’t put it past them from taking over if given the opportunity.
* * * * *
Alek
“I appreciate you coming, Pa.” Alek opened the door to the apartment to allow Seb and Mah entry.
“Of course we came,” Mah said, kissing his cheek.
“How are you feeling, son?” Seb asked.
“Theo had a panic attack at school today. His eyes were glowing. Luckily Wylder was there to calm him down,” Alek shared.
“Most unseelie begin their magical training before they start school, or stay in the fae realm until they master it. We’ll get Theo there. It will just take time,” Seb assured him.
Time was the one thing that they didn’t have. “He’s waiting downstairs in the gym.”
“I’ll go down now,” Seb told him. “Have some tea with your Mah.”
Alek shook his head. He didn’t need tea. And he’d been planning on helping Theo.
“Come.” Mah grabbed his arm. “Show me to the kitchen.”
“I was going to—” Alek started.
“Show me to the kitchen,” Mah ordered gently.
Seb was already walking away.
“Theo doesn’t need you hovering over him when he’s already nervous. Trust your Pa to handle this,” Mah said.
“This way.” He led Mah toward the back of the apartment. Dario, Wylder, and Mitch were at the new house with their newest members of the family, leaving Alek and Theo in the apartment.
Alek had called his family in to help for a reason. There was no one that he trusted more.
“Dario has a proper tea set up. You’ll love it,” Alek said as they reached the kitchen.
“This is a nice apartment,” Mah said, moving around the kitchen as if he’d been there numerous times.
Sliding onto one of the stools, Alek let his Mah take over. If Seb didn’t want Alek downstairs, then he wasn’t going to be able to do anything about it. “It’s nice but the house is bigger. Gives us more space.”
“And is protected,” Mah pointed out, filling the kettle.
“Yes. Plus Evian and Ethan are a few houses away.”
“I’m pleased to add Ethan to the family. Although he seems a little jumpy around Vadir,” Mah said with mirth.
Alek snorted. “Not like he is intimidating or anything.”
“Your father is a pussy cat,” Mah teased.
“Jeez.” Alek laughed loudly as days’ worth of stress and tension seemed to lift off his shoulders.
Growing up as one of the chosen offspring had been filled with responsibilities.
Even before Alek realized that there was a one in five chance that he’d be his generation’s chosen, their house had often been filled with visits from diplomats from other realms.
Formal dinners and travel had come with being raised by his fathers. He had been taught how to dress, talk, and even which fork to use. But it was the time that it was just family that the house had been filled with laughter.
Alek had never doubted the love that his fathers had for him or his siblings.
Evian had been his shadow growing up and Alek’s best friend for his entire life.
He might bitch and gripe about Thomas’s hot head or the twins’ antics but he would back his brothers through anything. They would do the same for him.
Family.
Vadir, Mahah, Seb, Tate, and Carson were the best fathers that Alek could have ever asked for. Seeing the relationships that the rest of his mates had with their parents reminded Alek how lucky he was.
Mitch was doing everything he could to keep them away from his sire.
Dario’s parents were gone. Wylder’s parents might still be alive but he was dead to them.
And then there was Theo, who had the saddest story.
Learning that his birth parents were an unseelie king and a shifter that had been killed by his own brother was a lot for Theo to have to deal with.
Alek wondered if Theo was even processing it.
“Penny for your thoughts,” Mah said, sliding a mug in front of him.
Alek shook his thoughts away, now realizing that he’d turned inward and hadn’t noticed that Mah had finished brewing two cups of tea.
“I was just thinking of growing up in our house. How good it was. And that I never questioned that you or any of my fathers loved me. I have family to share with my mates when they don’t have anyone. It makes me sad for them,” Alek replied honestly.
Mah hummed as he sipped his tea. “We put off having children for a long time because we knew that eventually one of you would take over for us. It’s hard to put that on the boys that we love.”
Alek nodded. He’d heard this before.
“But we also didn’t want to rob you of your destinies either,” Mah told him.
This was something new. “What do you mean?”
“Fate is a funny thing. Had we not had children, then we wouldn’t have fulfilled our destiny. What was meant for us. It would have also taken away you and your brothers meeting your mates. And, son, mates are our reward. I thank the fates every single day for having your fathers.”
Alek smiled. “You make it look so easy.”
Mah laughed. “That’s because you didn’t see us in the early years. We had our own struggles. Your father is a very stubborn vampire who thinks he is right more than he is wrong.”
“Yeah. That hasn’t changed.”