Chapter 2
Jamie was once again lost in thought and jumped when he heard Max.
“Hey, Jamie.”
Jamie gave a rueful smile. “Sorry, I was miles away.”
“Anywhere good?”
Jamie shook his head. “Somewhere impossible.”
Max stared at him for a moment. “Jamie, is everything alright?”
Jamie sighed.
“How about you make us both coffees, and you come and sit with me, and we can chat,” he suggested.
Jamie shook his head again. “We’re not supposed to do that.”
Max snorted. “Like I care. We’re not busy.”
“Okay,” and with that, Jamie made them both drinks and brought them to the table where Max now sat.
“So, what’s up?” Max prodded gently.
“My landlord has decided to sell the house me and the others are renting. They have all found different places to live, mostly with their partners, but I can’t find anything I can afford. I have to leave town and move back home.” Jamie wrapped his hands around his mug, his shoulders slumping.
“I take it by the way you said that, that’s the last thing you want to do.”
“I would rather stick pins in my eyes. My dad is abusive, and my mum drinks to block everything out. I was hoping I’d have enough money to get my younger brother and sister away from them, but I don’t make much working here; it all goes on rent and bills.”
“Does your father abuse your siblings?” Max asked with concern.
“They say just verbally, which is bad enough. I literally have no idea what I’m going to do. I need to help them, but I’m also not strong enough to take my father on. He’s large and mean, me not so much.”
“Did you tell any of this to Ivan?” Max asked, sipping his drink.
Jamie shook his head again. “How could I? I’ve only just met him? Mind you, he does have that, stand in my way, and I’ll kill you vibe.”
Max grinned. “He does, as do some of the others that have been in recently.”
“You’re talking about Dave’s new boyfriend?”
Max nodded.
“Don’t laugh, but more than once I’ve pictured him and Ivan turning into vampires or shifters and helping me rescue my siblings,” Jamie told him with a grin.
“That would be scary,” Max said softly.
“Only for someone who stood in their way. Can you imagine if vampires were real? Or even the shifters I’ve read about. How cool would that be to turn into an animal, or be friends with one?”
“It’s a strange world.”
“It would be a super cool world. When is Dave back?”
Max laughed at the quick topic change. “He’s not coming back; he handed in his notice. Just as I have.”
Jamie gasped. “You’re both leaving?”
Max nodded. “I handed my notice in this morning. Sorry.”
“Looks like the three of us will be leaving then. What are you going to do?”
“Dave’s boyfriend has a massive private library with one-of-a-kind books, manuscripts, you name it, it has it. But there is no organisation to it. We’ll both be working there, bringing order to the chaos and preserving everything.”
“The dream of every librarian, I should imagine. I know it was my dream once.”
“Really?” Max asked in surprise.
“Oh yeah. I love history and thought one day I would be a history librarian somewhere, or even curator of a museum. I have a couple of degrees, but most places want a Master's or a Doctorate. I gave up that dream, and instead I ended up working here, as a barista.”
“You’re still young, maybe one day your dream can come true.”
Jamie gave a sad laugh. “Yeah, one day a vampire is going to come in and sweep me off my feet, help me rescue my siblings, offer us a safe place to live, and I’ll achieve my dream of dealing with old manuscripts and artefacts.”
Max picked up his coffee mug. “Here’s to dreams coming true.”
Jamie touched his mug to Max’s and wished really hard.
Lunch at the vampire coven was fun, even though there weren’t a lot of people at the kitchen table.
“Where are the women?” Ivan asked as they sat down, noting it was an all-male affair.
“Over at the wolf pack, playing with puppies. Adrian went with them,” Seth answered. “They’re also trying to persuade Lissa to move closer.”
“It will be good if she does, then the women can support each other, have shopping trips, and form their own gang,” Dave added, grinning.
The others laughed.
“AJ, how are you getting on with fixing the wall?” Seth asked.
The hall wall was damaged when super-enhanced witches tried to breach the house and kill the witch, Kayden.
“I’ve cleared up all the rubble and started taking the loose bricks from the wall. Once that’s done, I can start fixing the damage. Thankfully, that isn’t a load-bearing wall.”
“That’s good. Do you need any help? I’m sure Jack and Spencer can be your apprentices,” Seth said, looking at the two boys.
“We can help if you want,” Jack replied, smiling at AJ.
“Excellent. After we finished eating, I can teach you both how to fix a wall.”
“Thanks, AJ. Who knows, we might find the secret library behind that wall,” Spencer said and grinned at Jack.
“Have you heard from the others at all?” Ivan asked.
Before he could answer, a man stomped in. “What the hell happened to my garden and the hall wall, and what’s with the guards?”
“Royston,” Seth said. “Welcome back. A lot has happened since you’ve been away. Sit and eat, and I can introduce you to our new family and friends and give you a quick overview.”
Royston looked around the table, looking stunned. “We don’t get new members,” he replied, sitting down next to Ivan.
Bruno and Diablo walked over to him.
“The coven has dogs?” he asked, stroking them. “I’ve only been gone for three weeks.”
“Three long weeks,” Ivan said. “Did you not read any emails or texts while you were away?”
Royston shook his head. “No, I turned my phone off when I finished my assignment and went to stay with my parents. I’ve not turned it back on yet.”
“Well, let me start with the introduction,” Seth replied.
“Dave, here is David’s mate. This is AJ, Hunter’s father.
Hunter is a tattooist and is mated to Gavin.
Hunter’s best friend and fellow tattooist, Taha, is mated to Owen.
Mathis is mated to Gabriel Augusta, head of the Southern Witches.
Raz is mated to Thiago, a Demon. Cairo has found his mate with Troy Nettles.
AJ is a builder who is helping fix the wall,” Seth told a still stunned Royston.
“This is Gio and my adopted son, Jack and Spencer has been adopted by the King and Queen. Bruno is Dave’s dog, and the puppy, Diablo, is Thomaz’s dog. ”
“Not the mercenary, Troy Nettles?” he groaned.
Most of the table laughed.
“Yep, that one,” Ivan replied.
“I don’t know if I should go away more often or not,” Royston commented. “Thomaz, I’m stealing Diablo,” Royston said, putting the puppy on his lap, while stroking Bruno. “Wait, Thomaz, you’re scared of dogs.”
Thomaz laughed. “I was until I met Bruno, but he’s too loveable for me to be scared of, and so I decided Bruno needed a cousin, so Diablo joined the family.”
“Hold on, Seth, you and Gio adopted Jack?”
Seth laughed and nodded. “We did, I’ll give you the full version of everything after lunch.”
“Okay, but how did the garden get destroyed? Do you have any idea how long it took me to design and create that garden?”
“Oh, of course we do. We helped you when you asked,” Seth said, shaking his head. “We were attacked by some super witches, a battle ensured and the garden got trashed. Well, not all of it, but the main bit anyway.”
“Well, more than that,” Ivan added. “Don’t forget the soldiers camping out there as well.”
Royston shook his head. “I really should have checked my messages.”
“You should,” Seth agreed. “But eat your lunch, then we can go and have the catch-up. We’re slammed with work.”
“Okay,” Royston said, as dishes were passed to him.