Chapter Twenty-One
“Moooommy!”
Kat let out a laugh that was equal parts fond and exhausted. “Gods,” she muttered under her breath, rubbing at her temple, “Celeste is going to be the end of me.”
She turned back toward Anabelle, amusement softening her features. “Come on. I think we’ve been gone long enough. The boys are probably pacing holes in the floor by now.”
Anabelle smiled despite everything, a quiet, almost disbelieving sound leaving her as she followed Kat out of the kitchen. For a split second, it felt… normal. Domestic. Like this was just another home, another family, and not the epicentre of everything she’d learned over the last few days.
The illusion shattered the moment they stepped into the living room.
Celeste came flying down the hallway like a comet, wings fluttering wildly as she ran straight for Katarina, arms thrown high in the air.
“Mommy, pleeease!”
Kat froze mid-step, eyes widening. “Gods, sweetie,” she said quickly, glancing down at her daughter, “you’re five now. Mommy can’t always pick you up anymore.” She crouched slightly, lowering her voice conspiratorially. “Why don’t you ask fancy daddy?”
Celeste spun on her heel instantly. “Daddy Ezeeeek!”
He appeared almost immediately, moving with supernatural speed. As he reached down to scoop Celeste up, she squealed with delight and threw her arms around his neck. In the movement, her shirt rode up exposing her hip. Just enough.
Causing Emmett to see the same mark he’s seen all his life: a symmetrical symbol formed by a central point with four rounded loops extending outward, all interconnected. Emmett’s breath hitched.
“Sissy,” he whispered urgently, fingers tightening around Anabelle’s hand. “Sissy, look.”
Anabelle frowned, confused. “What, Em—”
“It’s the same mark,” he said, eyes wide with awe. “It’s the same.”
Her heart dropped into her stomach. “What the hell...”
Kat’s hand flew up to cover her mouth, her smile vanishing in an instant as her eyes locked onto Emmett’s face and the words he just spoke rang in her ears.
The room went utterly silent. Not the comfortable, lived-in quiet from earlier, but the sharp, suffocating kind that presses against your ears and makes your skin prickle.
Every adult in the room turned toward Emmett at once.
Alastair rose slowly from the floor, the playful warmth he’d had moments earlier draining from his face. He approached carefully, deliberately making himself smaller as he crouched in front of Emmett.
“Hey, big guy,” he said gently, hands raised in a calming gesture. “Can you tell me what mark you’re talking about?”
Emmett nodded, encouraged. He pointed first toward Celeste, now partially shielded as Ezekiel adjusted his grip, her shirt already fixed when he had grabbed unto her.
“This one,” he said proudly, pointing to the exact same symmetrical symbol on the skin above his heart.
“My birthmark.” He grinned, clearly pleased with himself.
“I think it’s really cool we have matching ones.
I’ve never met anyone with fancy birthmarks before.
” He paused, then added thoughtfully, “Well… maybe sissy, but hers is different. It’s like… on her leg.”
The silence deepened. Then a chorus rang out:
“Shit,” Alastair breathed.
“Fuck,” Lennox said, dragging a hand through his hair.
“Fucking Hell,” Ezekiel whispered, horror dawning in his eyes.
Celeste frowned, her wings twitching. “Daddies,” she scolded, “you said a bad word.”
Lennox looked like he might actually be ill. “No. No, no, no. I’m not ready for this,” he muttered. “This is not happening.”
Ezekiel tightened his hold on Celeste, voice rough. “Gods above, Kat, she’s five. Five. We were supposed to approach this later. Much later.”
Alastair opened his mouth...
“Enough.” Kat’s voice cracked through the room like a whip, sharp and commanding. “Mind your language in front of the children,” she snapped. “We will discuss this later.”
She turned immediately to Emmett, her tone softening as if she hadn’t just silenced some of the most powerful beings in existence.
“That’s a really cool birthmark, sweetie. Why don’t you go play outside with Celie? She can show you her treehouse, it’s really cool.”
Emmett brightened instantly. “Oh! Can I, Sissy?”
Anabelle swallowed hard, her pulse thundering in her ears. “Yes, Emmett,” she said, forcing steadiness into her voice. “Yes. Go play.”
“I’ll watch them,” Alastair said quickly, already moving.
Ezekiel carefully set Celeste back down, and she immediately grabbed Emmett’s hand, tugging him toward the doors with infectious excitement.
“Come on! I know the best spot in all the treehouses!”
Their laughter echoed faintly as they disappeared outside, two small figures hand in hand, utterly unaware that they had just shifted the axis of everyone else’s world.
The adults remained frozen in the living room, staring after them.
The weight of what had been revealed settled heavily in the air: unspoken, undeniable, and impossible to ignore.
When the doors closed behind the children and Alastair, the house seemed to exhale, and then fall into a silence so heavy it pressed against Anabelle’s chest. It wasn’t empty silence. It was the kind that followed a revelation too big to ignore.
Kat stood perfectly still for a long moment, staring at the space where Celeste and Emmett had disappeared. Then she dragged a hand down her face, the weight of the afternoon finally catching up to her.
She turned slowly to Lennox and Ezekiel.
“Could you both go find Kael and Marek,” she said, voice tired but steady. “Tell them what just happened.” A pause. Her jaw tightened. “I’m… not really up to delivering that particular news myself.”
They didn’t question her. Lennox nodded once, grim and tight-lipped. Ezekiel stepped forward, kissed Kat gently on the temple, then leaned in to whisper something only she could hear. Whatever it was, her shoulders eased just a fraction.
“We’ll handle it,” Ezekiel said softly.
And then they were gone, the door closing behind them with a final, ominous click.
Anabelle couldn’t stay quiet any longer. Her heart was pounding, her thoughts tripping over each other, every instinct screaming that something monumental had just happened...and that it involved her brother.
“What just happened?” she demanded, voice shaking despite her best efforts. “Why does your daughter have the same birthmark as my brother?”
Kat turned back to her.
For a moment, she didn’t answer. Instead, her gaze slid past Anabelle to the four males still seated on the couch: Dominik, Joshua, Cameron, and Rian, who looked like the world had just tilted off its axis.
Their expressions were stunned, disbelieving, and tightly controlled in the way only men used to chaos could manage.
Kat met their eyes, and shook her head, a barely there movement. They all exhaled in unison, as if bracing themselves, and nodded. Understanding.
Kat sighed and gestured for Anabelle to sit, but a shake of her head told her, she preferred to stand.
When she spoke again, her voice was gentler, carefully measured.
“Ani… I’ve thrown a lot at you today. More than most people would ever have to process in a lifetime.
” She hesitated, then continued quietly.
“There’s more. So much more. But please believe me when I say, if there are things I’m not telling you right now, it’s not because I’m hiding them from you. ”
Anabelle folded her arms tightly over her chest, listening.
“It’s because I don’t want to overwhelm you,” Kat said honestly. “My hope is that after your training, when you’re stronger, steadier, more grounded, you’ll come back here. And then I’ll tell you absolutely everything. I’ll help you navigate it all.”
Anabelle swallowed.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “That’s… fine. And I appreciate you looking out for me.” Her eyes hardened with resolve. “Whatever involves me can wait. But what doesn’t wait is my brother.” She took a step forward. “You need to tell me what that was.”
Kat studied her for a long moment, really looked at her, before nodding.
“All right,” she said quietly. “Then I’ll start there.”