9. Well, this is awkward
Archer
Well, this was fucking awkward.
My father stood in the doorway. His hair was cut short, his crimson skin peeking out from under a nice button-down shirt. His onyx eyes were wide with shock, but only for a moment, and then he was glowering. “Oh good. You’re alive.”
What in the hell is happening?
“Wh-what the fuck are you doing here?” I demanded.
This was not the time to be interrupted by a family member. This was literally a nightmare.
Leni’s claw scratched over my shoulder, and the pain pulled me back from my impending panic.
“We need to talk,” my father growled, crossing his arms.
Leni said nothing as she unclipped my collar, her glare pinned to my incubus dad who waited on the doorstep impatiently.
I felt like I was going to die right here and now.
“You cannot be mated to my child,” he scoffed. “Maybe the Barista made a mistake. He’s been a little off lately.”
“Archer is my mate, Dante. You can fuck right off with that nonsense.”
He bared his sharp teeth, and it made me realize—there was definitely something wrong here. Oh gods, did they dislike each other? Hadn’t Leni mentioned something about him?
Before the two of them could start arguing, I raised my hands. “Okay, okay. Please don’t argue.” I turned to Leni. “I’m going to go talk to him, and then I’ll be back inside. Okay?”
Leni growled, he growled back, but neither said a word. Anger rolled through me as I took a sip of water, inhaled deeply, then stepped out the front door.
“Let me know if you’d like me to toss him into a portal.”
“As if you could—”
“Stop it,” I hissed at him, shutting the door behind me.
My father scowled. His tail flicked behind him angrily, his onyx eyes still on the door, heat radiating off him in waves.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked.
That got his attention. “Why have you not answered us? We’ve been messaging you and you didn’t respond. I thought you were in danger.”
I scoffed as I trudged down the path, leading him away from the little house so that if we got into it, Leni didn’t overhear. I couldn’t fucking believe he’d shown up here in the middle of nowhere. This was too far.
“Why would the Barista match me with someone who might harm me?” I asked, spinning to look at him.
He winced. “I just—”
“You’re being overbearing,” I growled. “Again.”
“We hadn’t heard from you!” he exclaimed.
“I’m an adult!” I yelled.
“You’re still my child.”
I rolled my eyes and continued down the path until we made it to the beach.
“I don’t even know how you found me,” I muttered, kicking a rock. It rolled a couple feet away from me as I sat down in the sand, scowling at the waves that lapped at the shore.
My dad was quiet for a moment, but then settled next to me. “Of course I found you. Do you really think you or your sister are ever somewhere without me knowing? I’m always keeping an eye out for both of you.”
I scowled as he ran his fingers through his hair, his horns gleaming.
He had a little patch of gray now that had only gotten brighter with each passing year.
I remembered once when we were little, Inferna and I had snuck into his room overnight and dyed it pink.
It turned out he was awake the whole time, but we’d laughed and giggled, thinking we were being so sneaky.
“You look old,” I muttered.
He gasped. “My gods, no need to be cruel.”
“You have more gray now.”
“Being a father does that,” he sighed, but then he made a face again.
“I . . .” he trailed off. “I am sorry. I think that I owe you a lot of things, Archer. I showed up here because you weren’t answering our messages, and while I know Leni is good, I still cannot stand the idea of something happening to one of my children.
Peter told me at least twenty times to let it go, but I just . . .”
“You’ve always been so overprotective. Too overprotective. Why didn’t you listen to Dad? Would you have wanted your father to show up during your first weekend with him?”
He winced. “No . . . I’m sorry. I know I can be overbearing at times, and I’m sorry for whatever I’ve just interrupted. I don’t even want to know, as long as you’re being safe.”
“I am,” I snorted. “Of course I am.”
“Good.” He looked over at me, and finally, I looked back. “You are angry with me.”
“Furious, actually,” I said. For some reason, him showing up had dragged so many feelings up to the surface that I’d been dancing around for so long.
“I just don’t understand why you’ve always treated me differently than Inferna.
With her mates, you were not like this. You didn’t show up on her doorstep to interfere.
Is it because of what happened? Do you still think I’m so awful? ”
“No,” he breathed out, his eyes widening.
“Gods, no. Of course not. What happened then . . . I didn’t handle well.
And I regret that. I just . . . I waited for Peter for centuries.
Centuries of thinking I would never find the one.
But when I met him, everything in my life changed.
And when you swore that human was your mate, I knew he wasn’t. I just didn’t know how to explain it.”
I pressed my lips together and pulled my knees to my chest, resting my chin on them. “I was very determined to not listen. We always argue. I swear sometimes you’re just so abrasive, and even if you mean well, it hurts. It hurts my feelings. And it makes me not want to be around you.”
Ouch. Even I felt the sting of my own words. He sucked in a breath as if I’d punched him. But, it was the truth. At this point, I only saw him around the holidays.
A few moments of silence passed, but then he leaned forward, catching my gaze again. “I am abrasive,” he finally said. “I am too abrasive. It is something that I still need to work on. I just wish you would tell me when I am being too much instead of shutting me out—”
“I did, Dad,” I whispered. “For a very long time. I tried. I tried really hard. But you didn’t listen.”
“I am listening now.” His eyes watered with tears. “Is it too late?”
That was for me to decide, wasn’t it?
It was such a difficult question. I loved my dad, even when he was harsh. And I knew how much he loved me, my sister, and my father. He loved us more than anything else in the entire world. Our personalities were just like oil and water at times.
But if we could communicate better, maybe it didn’t have to be so tough.
“More than anything, I want to make amends,” he said. “And I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to feel like you need to stay away from me.”
“I don’t feel that way,” I said. “I think I have continued to carry shame from what happened with that person for years, and I just assume everyone thinks less of me.”
He shook his head. “No one thinks that. Archer, if you knew the amount of terrible things I’ve done in my life, I think you’d possibly never want to speak to me again.”
“Okay, but you are an incubus.”
He snorted. “And you aren’t?”
“I mean, I certainly look human.”
“Yes, and have you never walked into a sex club and had everyone throw themselves at you like you were a god?”
Well . . .
Okay, yeah. That had happened a few times.
My cheeks turned red.
“Just because you don’t have horns and a tail doesn’t mean you’re not an incubus or a demon. And certainly, Eleni, of all creatures, could not be mated to a regular human.”
I raised a brow. “Please don’t tell me the two of you have history.”
He waved his hand. “Doesn’t matter.”
It actually mattered so much. Oh gods. “You didn’t sleep—”
“No,” he hissed. “Absolutely not. We just fought over . . . You know what? No. Ask her about this.”
I wasn’t sure if I actually wanted to ask, but I was at least relieved for the moment. “Fucking old monsters. Does fate not care about age gaps?”
“Apparently not,” he said seriously. “I think your father and I have a thousand-year gap or something like that. Who knows.”
“Ancient.”
“Well, you can’t throw that at me now that you’re with Eleni, she would probably shred you to pieces.”
“She would.” I bit my tongue before I told him I’d like her to. He definitely did not need to know that.
The corner of his mouth tugged and then I smiled, and then we both started laughing. Tears blurred my vision and I wiped them away, sighing as I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.
He leaned over and pulled me into a hug. “I love you. I am going to leave so that you can continue doing whatever I interrupted, but you should visit soon, and bring her too.”
“I’d like that,” I said. “And we can . . . talk more about everything.”
“Yes,” he said as he got to his feet, his tail dusting sand off his clothing. “Anytime you want to.”
“Okay,” I said, smiling up at him. “I love you. Thank you for checking on me. Please go now.”
He was already walking down the beach. “I will have her portal me away, given she’s my daughter-in-law now.”
“She might kill you.”
His laugh carried with the breeze and I sighed as he left. Despite everything, I did feel better.
Something nudged my back and I turned, gasping as the black cat I’d seen the other day rubbed up against me. “Hi,” I whispered. “Look at you. You’re so cute. Oh my gods.”
For the first time in a long time, a wave of peace settled over me. The sun started to set over the water and I sat like that for about thirty minutes, before a shadow danced above me and Leni landed next to me.
“Your father has improved much since being mated,” she said. “He’s tolerable company. He apologized to me, for interrupting and several other things, and I don’t despise him now.”
I shook my head. “Do I even want to know why?”
“We fought over a submissive once,” she said with a shrug. “Once or twice.”
“And he won?”
“No.” She smirked, her fang showing. “Really, you think I’d ever lose to a man?”
I laughed as her wing swept behind me and she pulled me into her lap. I straddled her thighs and lifted my arms around her neck.
“So,” she whispered. “Are you okay?”
“I am,” I said. “I feel good, actually. We talked and I feel better. I think . . . I think I needed that. I wish he wouldn’t have interrupted us though. That was awkward.”
“Yes, well, I assure you, he has seen worse.”