Ember
After Ren finally puts me down, Kodi takes my hand as we trudge towards the main house, then Ren, Jace and Bray start planning,
“Through those trees are three cabins and a barn, the barn I plan to renovate for the scary demon trio and their mate, and one of the cabins I plan to offer to the litter and their mate.” I start to point and explain my plans, Ren smiles at me, and I hope he knows he does have a voice, even if I am taking the lead right now.
“The biggest cabin here, I thought, would be good for you and your mates, Miles. It’s got eight bedrooms. I’m presuming, with the grandeur, it was for visiting Alphas, or the retired one, but it's big enough for your growing family.” He double-takes at me, and Brayden stumbles, looking at Ren, who gives him a wink,
“Xander, there are a few choices for you, either three or four bedrooms – there is a six-bed, but I want that for the housekeeper. Trent, Marcus, Calum and James, I was going to put you guys in the five-bed over there, and then when we are settled, or you find your mates, we can build you individual ones” I notice a few awestruck, mouth-open looks at me, but I carry on, pointing things out as I go,
“There are four barns over here, I thought, a workshop for Kodi, another for a med hospital kind of thing” I’m counting them on my fingers, but I get cut off by Xander, before I can finish.
“You would allow me to set up a shifter practice here?” Xander is breathless, like he’s in shock. I nod, with a frown, but when I get a smile and a kiss on the cheek, I continue.
“Pax I presume you want a garage or whatever so that was another barn taken, and we can do whatever with the fourth, I noticed a dirt-sparing ring in Jace’s notebook so we could have that in there, with some more rough workout stuff like ropes and bags, or we use as a dorm house for any extra staff we need, I don’t know” I shrug,
Bas and Timber have headed off to mark the trees on the access road, which was what they told me would be their first job.
“We checked all the structures when we came the other day, but be careful in case we missed something, you will need torches as there is no electricity, there are Post-its on doors for my ideas on what should be done and who’s room it should be etc, but feel free to tweak anything, it was an initial idea,” they all nod but nobody really moves, other than to look around from our spot,
“The huge balcony up there is already marked to be reinforced so you can land there in Dragon form, Darby, and we are going to have a landing area marked out on the ground level, too.” I start to get nervous, I’ve gone wrong, and then Miles starts talking faster than even I can keep up.
The guys laugh and tell him to make notes, and then we can sort, or he might get confused if he gives one idea to one of us and a newer one to someone else.
“You okay, Angel?” Kodi whispers in my hair,
“Just hoping this all works out and everyone is happy and all the bad is over.” I smile up at him, and he gives me the softest kiss, even when it turns a little heated.
His lips are like a soft caress against mine, a throat clearing makes us pull away in a daze, blinking at the others like we have just come out of a trance.
“As hot as this is, I need more information if I’m going to make this place fabulous,” Miles’ hands snap to his hips, and he taps his foot impatiently with an eyebrow raised. Kodi and I chuckle, the latter heading after the guys to explore.
I set up the camping tables and coolers while Miles fires off design questions at me. We settled on light natural wood and ironwork to keep the feel of the place. Obviously, the gym will have a modern feel, and the offices will be individual to each person.
Even though all will be connected, Bas recommended each cabin have their own power store and then just use the main houses if they need backup. As Bas and Timber come back, they talk about having the same energy setup for the mill, solar and hydro with some large batteries as backup.
We are just finishing up lunch when Nate, Liam and the litter rock up,
I explain to Ryland, Ajax and Cin about my plan and that they can move in once they graduate and after a lot of hugs and a few tears *cough Ryland cough* they head off with a pad to make a list of their requests, theirs won’t be a first job, as they still have a year and a bit before they graduate being the school year below us like Bram.
Liam stretches out on the grass next to me, sipping out of a can of raspberry Fanta,
“I have a girl in mind to be your housekeeper, but there is a past there; her mother is the caretaker of one of my properties, the one I was at when I was your teacher, in fact. Esmeralda came into my service just after we found Lily, the house she was born to and served was attacked by mages. Back then, we fought between species a lot. Long story short, she was drugged and raped. We gave those we saved a choice: work for us or fend for themselves. They signed a blood oath to be loyal and never do harm to others when they joined our household.” I nod, having heard some of this before, for the contract to be broken, Liam and Nate need to bleed on the contract, then burn it over a blessed flame.
“We found out she and a few others were pregnant, she had Amelia, and we gave her the option to raise her, or we would find a nice home, which most chose the second.
Amelia has vampire speed, strength and our long lives, but she has earth mage powers, which is a constant reminder of what happened to her mother.
I had some work done on the gardens five years ago, and Amelia met her mate, the son of another of my staff, Flynn, a wolf shifter and Ellie May a crystal mage they have twenty children, Various combinations of their parent's abilities including a few hybrids and most are twins, triplets and quads plus a few individuals.” my eyes widen, but he chuckles and continues,
“Their eldest, Jacob, well, he prefers Jake, is Amelia's mate. He’s a wolf shifter/earth mage hybrid and can use his earth abilities in his wolf form.” Ren comes over and pulls me into his lap,
“Let me guess, mummy dearest forbids the relationship as he’s not a vampire.” My voice is cold and sharp, which makes Nate chuckle as Ren kisses my temple, feeling my annoyance.
“How’d you guess?” I smile at Nate and sink more into Ren's touch.
“Hugo, Gus, Robin and Seb were the year above me, at school, they are Jakey's youngest siblings, they were always talking about a lemon-sucking vampire denying their brother his mate and how sweet Ammy was, but they never mentioned how many siblings they actually had.” I chuckle at the memories of the pranks they told me about.
When I see the fondness in Liam and Nate's eyes, I expand,
“Dan found them playing hide and pounce in our yard and made them promise to look after me at school. Ellie was friends with Elise; they had a knit-and-natter group, which was more drinking spiked tea and eating cake, setting the world to right.” Liam and Nate seem to relax at the link to Dan and Elise.
I glance at Ren, and again, he kisses my temple, but he seems to understand my feelings,
“We would like to meet them both or even video call, are we going to have much fight with the mother?” he voices my main worry.
“No, it will be more her trying to guilt Amelia back once she finds out, if you do a blood contract with Amelia, then her mother won’t be able to, Amelia doesn’t have a proper contract with me as it's linked to her mother’s, so it is an added piece of paper in a way, but I can authorise the transfer and countersign her contract with you two,” Liam states and Nate gives me a thumbs up.
I can see Ren in thought, but I get an idea,
“Get Amelia and her mother to come here and look around, then her mother can feel like she’s part of this if we word it that Amelia is helping me set up house and home for my Alpha and helping me understand my place as Luna, blah, blah, blah from what I know of Esmeralda she will see it’s as a boost in the social ranking of her daughter helping your god-daughter set up home with a powerful Alpha, at the moment the housekeeper's rooms are still there, even though we plan to convert them into a workroom and extra storage for her and her have a cabin, but then her mother will just see what she needs to and then hopefully we can hold off on her visiting. Amelia can send photos, but if she angles it right, her mother won’t know the bedroom is in a cabin.
If we make hers and the guy's cabins the first priority, then they can move in as security, and she’s around to help with cleaning and here when we get deliveries, et cetera,” I finish, and Liam is already messaging Samson, his Butler.
“If we get Jake over before the work is done, too, he can help with the landscaping, as I know it’s not the bears' strong point. Liam could word it that he’s lending us some help, keeping it true by more than Jake coming over, Nic won’t mind housing them for now.
” Ren adds in, Bray nodding in agreement, and it all makes sense to me.
We look at Liam, who just gives us a thumbs up, fingers flying over the screen of his phone, the tip of his tongue appearing between his lips, making me smile.
He may be one of the oldest vampires still living, but he still feels closer to our age sometimes, like that fun uncle who helps you cause mischief.