Chapter 28
Jack
“Would you stop fidgeting?” I told Tate for the fifth time in twenty minutes. “You’re acting like you’re going to an execution and not dinner with my parents.”
“I mean, aren’t we?” Tate grinned down at me, pulling his lip ring between his teeth, giving away the nerves that were likely pouring through him.
“Look, it’ll be fine.” I smoothed my hands down his arms. “They just want to meet the men in my life.” When that didn’t stop Tate from shifting from side to side, I gestured at Kyren. “He’s not freaking out, and he has a lot more reason to be than you do.”
Julian snorted. “That’s because he has the emotional range of a cabbage.”
I shot him a disapproving look. “No fighting, I mean it. We want my parents to feel confident in your ability to keep me safe and happy, not that I’m dating a bunch of toddlers.”
“Alright, fine.” Julian stepped up next to me, placing his hands on my hips before kissing my forehead. “I’ll keep it together if he will.”
“Kyren?” I arched a brow at the vampire who had been quiet until now.
“Very well.” Then he cocked his head to the side, adjusting his cufflinks. “Have any interesting dreams lately?”
“Fuck you,” Julian growled. “You know, next time I get shot, if it means having to dream about this asshole, just let me die.”
I sighed, rubbing my temples.
“Jack?” Darren called out, standing in the entry to the dining room. “Are you ready?”
“Thank God,” I blew out, stalking forward.
Tate caught up to me, offering me his elbow. “M’lady.”
Shaking my head, unable to help but smile, I looped my arm through his and let him lead me into the dining room.
My parents had to upgrade their dining room table a long time ago with all the council meetings and gatherings they hosted over the years.
Now, a twelve-person table filled the room, my dads sitting on one side with Antoine at the head of the table and my mom at the other end.
That left us to sit on one side next to an empty chair that was for Darren, though it was doubtful that he’d sit in it.
He had a habit of wanting to take care of everyone else’s needs before his own.
“Here.” I gestured for Tate to sit next to my mom, the lesser of two evils. I feared what would happen to Tate if he had to stare down Antoine.
Kyren took a seat next to Tate without being told to and then Julian pulled the next chair out for me, opting to sit nearest to my dad.
“Wine?” Darren offered and then asked Kyren. “Would you like wine? We also have several different blood types, all recently donated.”
Kyren stared at Darren as if he’d just asked him to take his clothes off and dance naked on the table. I supposed he didn’t expect to be treated like any other vampire guest, given my family’s shared history with his sire.
“B negative,” Tate answered for him, placing a hand on top of Kyren’s. “He likes B negative.”
“Very good.” Darren inclined his head and disappeared into the kitchen where smells of dinner wafted out to us. My stomach twisted into knots, unsure if it would be able to eat anything with all the tension in the room.
“So…” I cleared my throat, taking a drink of my wine before continuing. “This is nice, isn’t it?” Then I pointedly looked at my mom. “Right, mom?”
My mom glanced away from my guys, her brow raising. “Oh, yes. Nice. It sure is.” She picked up her glass, an amused twinkle in her eyes.
Of course, she was loving this. If there was chaos, there was my mother, smack dab in the middle of it.
My dads, on the other hand, did not seem to be enjoying themselves. They glared at the three men around me, as if they would snatch me up and ravish me right here on the table in front of them or worse.
Rayne cleared his throat, silent laughter on his face.
I made a face at him before turning to mom again. “Uh, Tate’s from Utah, did you know that, mom?”
“Oh really?” My mom turned her gaze to the werewolf, who hadn’t taken one drink of his glass. “How’s the weather over there? Does everyone have multiple wives?”
Drake snort-laughed. “I think you have that backward, babe. I think he’s one of the wives in this scenario.”
I narrowed my eyes at Drake. “Stop it.”
Tate lifted his glass to his lips, choosing to drink versus answering the questions. Not that I blamed him.
Then Julian, God bless Julian, turned to Antoine. “Have you heard they think they’re close to learning how to break a vampire-human servant bond? I think it would come in handy in certain situations.”
Antoine watched Julian with an unreadable expression before answering.
“Yes, I believe our mutual witch friend, Tabitha, is assisting with that endeavor. I have to say that it would be most helpful in these kinds of situations. Too many times have I seen humans forced into bonds without their consent.”
My mom choked on her wine, coughing. Wynn, who was nearest to her, reached out to help, but she waved him off with a shake of her head.
“Something funny, dear?” Antoine asked, coolly watching my mom like a hawk.
Clearing her throat, she lifted her glass once more. “Just think it’s funny that you care about consent and all when you didn’t before.”
I groaned, pressing my face into my hands. God fucking save me from this dinner. We haven’t even eaten yet, and already it’s gone from bad to worse.
“I must apologize then,” Antoine continued, though there was a hard note to his voice. “I was unaware you were unhappy with your bond. Perhaps if this goes well, then we can revisit this conversation. I’m sure you would be much happier bonded to one of the others. Marcus, perhaps?”
Rayne laughed, clapping Marcus on the shoulder. “Don’t even get in the middle of it, buddy. You do not want the whiplash that is Piper’s personality every second of every day.”
Marcus sniffed, ignoring the teasing jab.
“Darren, what about you?” Antoine asked once he reappeared with Kyren’s blood. “Are you unhappy with your bond?”
Setting the glass in front of Kyren, he focused his gaze on Antoine. “No, sir. I am not.” He then paused by my mom. “Do not tease him,” I murmured. “I wish to walk straight tomorrow.”
Whyyy? Why did I think this was a good idea? My parents couldn’t behave in the best of circumstances. Why did I think they would be nice ordinary parents to meet my boyfriends?
“Sir…?” Tate glanced between the two of them and then looked at me. “I thought they were like me and Kyren? Why is he calling him sir, like he’s some kind of servant?”
“Oh, God, Tate. Please don’t ask questions like that.” My face heated while my dads silently laughed at me from the other side of the table.
“What?” Tate asked, genuinely confused, much to my mom’s delight as she giggled into her glass. “What did I say?”
Kyren thankfully saved me from answering as I tried to imagine a hole in the floor swallowing me up. “I believe, mi lobo, it’s a dynamic they enjoy playing.” My eyes caught Kyren’s hand sliding beneath the table, his hand sitting on the thick upper thigh of Tate’s leg. “Like we do.”
Tate’s mouth fell open and then he blinked, clipping his mouth shut. I swore if his skin was lighter, he’d be beet red right then.
Not to be out done by my mom, Rayne popped into the conversation. “So, now that you’ve found yourself a vampire who is not your dad, are you going to become his human servant?”
I swallowed the wine in my mouth and scowled. “That’s not why I’m dating him, dad.” I turned my attention to Kyren. “Ignore him. He’s just trying to get a rise out of us.”
“Come on,” Rayne continued with a shit-eating grin. “You must have thought about it. What about you, hunter? Are you going to bond to Kyren?”
“Fuck no.” Julian shot Kyren a nasty look that had my dad cackling.
“Oh, Jack, you have your hands full with these two. How do you keep them from killing each other?”
“By not antagonizing them,” I shot back and then smiled prettily at Allister. “Please help me show them not all my dads are completely assholes.”
“What did I do?” Wynn complained, placing a hand on his chest. “I have been nothing but pleasant this night.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re just biding your time,” I shot back as Allister turned to Julian.
“Do you think that you’ll be able to keep Jackie from hunting long enough to give us grandchildren?”
“Whaaat?” My head whipped toward Allister as my mom focused on Tate.
“So, tell me about your piercings. Don’t those hurt?”
There were too many conversations now going on at once, and it was all completely overwhelming. I didn’t know which person to respond to or who to chastise for stepping over bound until all I could do was shout.
“Silence!”
The whole room quieted in an instance, except for Antoine who slow-clapped.
“Very good, Jaquelynn. That was quite a few more people than you have been able to control at once. You are improving.” He lifted his glass to the air. “Aren’t we all proud of our girl?”
Everyone else stared at me in disbelief, but mostly annoyance from my family. They’d been on the other end of Antoine’s powers many times before, so it wasn’t a strange occurrence to them. I swallowed half my wine glass and let out a nervous chuckle.
“Oops, my bad.”
Just then Darren walked into the room, his arms holding a large tray of his famous spaghetti. His brows lifted at the quiet table.
“Did I miss something?”
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