Chapter 35
ROYAL
brOTHERLY LOVE
“Royal,” Mom growls. “Don’t make a mess.”
I look at the area next to the sink where I’m cleaning up breakfast dishes. “I’ll clean it up.”
“Not what I meant,” Mom whispers. “You and Leticia?”
“We’re both well aware she’s someone else’s bride. In the meantime, it’s just fun.” I shrug and run the rag over the counter for good measure to wipe up.
“You’re going to get hurt.” She wraps an arm around me and squeezes me to her. “I hate seeing my babies hurt, and Valor is hurting enough for the both of you.”
I snuggle against her. “I know.”
“As long as you know.” Mom lets me go and steps away. “Can you and Leticia handle making dinner and watching Kerrianne? Your father and I are going to be at a meeting with a mercenary and his family until late, and I don’t want to eat at ten p.m. because I have to come home and cook.”
“Absolutely, I shall order takeout.” I salute her.
“Oh, absolutely not. I taught you how to make one meal so you can impress a woman. Dust off that skill set.” Mom smacks my arm before walking away. She calls over her shoulder, “You missed a spot.”
I wipe the counter again to do a more thorough job and re-examine the last twenty-four hours.
From picking up Leticia in Gold Coast to bringing her here, sex, cuddles, having her sleep in my arms, and breakfast in bed, there is quite literally nothing I can think of that would make the last day better.
Footfalls make their way upstairs, and slowly, slightly damp, fresh out of the shower, Leticia comes up the stairs.
“Hello, gorgeous.” I smile at her, admiring the soft blue sweater she’s wearing over a pair of tight leggings. Looking to the living room, I make sure no little eyes are watching before I run my hand along her side and cup her ass.
There’s a soft squeak, and Leticia covers her mouth with her hands. With a little more composure, she answers, “Hello, handsome.”
“The parents are leaving me in charge this afternoon. I have the pleasure of cooking you and Kerrianne dinner this evening.” I smile down at her.
Leticia quirks an eyebrow. “You, cook?”
“I do, in fact, possess the acumen and knowledge of how to cook at least one meal.” I nod with proud definition.
“Mmhmm.” Leticia nods along with me. “And that meal is?”
“Spaghetti.” I smile at her.
“No.” Leticia shakes her head, jaw dropping and eyes wide. “Absolutely not.”
You upset our mate. Fix it. My wolf urges.
“What’s wrong? Do you not like it?” I reach for my phone. Cooking is just following a user guide. I can do that.
“I’m not eating ‘spaghetti’ made by the next generation’s suburban dad and pretending it’s passable. Especially since ‘spaghetti’ is pasta and I’m not sure if you mean bolognese or not.” Leticia shoots me down with accuracy.
I hang my head. “Yeah, that’s fair.”
“But I would be glad to help you make it.” She tips my chin up with her finger to meet her gaze. She has this mirthful glint and a crack of a smile.
My wolf rises to the surface. Wagging his tail, he pressures me to lean into her touch.
I do, and her smile brightens. She doesn’t know it’s an answer, so I verbalize. “Then I’ll be the greatest sous chef ever.”
“Excellent, now show me the pantry. I’ll need a full inventory.” Leticia gestures broadly to the kitchen around us.
Our mood is soured by phones vibrating.
Leticia looks at hers and groans. “It’s stupid Berto. He wants an update for Dad. But he wants to call.”
“You can call.” I nod and gesture toward the back screened-in porch, away from where Kerrianne is reading in the living room.
“What do I tell him?” Leticia whispers, her eyes wide as she holds the phone out to me. “I don’t know anything.”
“That’s exactly what you tell him, you don’t know anything.
The only time we talked about my work, it was more about security and that we can see all of our territory with ease.
Let them know my parents have a meeting tonight, but you don’t know what it’s about.
Just that you’re helping me cook because you don’t want to eat suburban dad spaghetti. ” I rattle off ideas for her.
Leticia nods along in understanding.
We step out onto the screened-in porch, and Leticia shivers.
You should have grabbed her a sweater. She doesn’t have fur. My wolf scolds me.
But it’s too late for me to go back.
Leticia makes an exaggerated movement, tapping the Call button. “Berto.”
Her phone volume is loud enough that I can hear without her having to put it on speaker.
Berto talks fast at Leticia rather than having a conversation. “Leticia, what is going on? What have you learned? Dad is six shades of pissed that your updates are so insignificant.”
They don’t appreciate her like we do, my wolf growls.
“That’s because I’m not learning anything.
They don’t talk about work. We’ve spent more time talking about movies and watching his parents play with robot vacuums. You knew it wasn’t likely they were going to just tell me things.
” Leticia handles her brother’s demanding tone like a champion.
“All I know this morning is that Royal said they can see all sorts of their territory with a push of a single button.”
“Interesting, they’re certainly focused on video surveillance. Why are they so watchful?” Berto muses, but again, the question isn’t really directed at Leticia. “What else? Do they go anywhere? Do anything? Are there people coming to the house?”
“No one comes to the house, but Mrs. and Mr. Cavanagh are going out tonight. Some sort of meeting. Royal wasn’t invited. We’re staying back with Kerrianne and having food. Save me, Berto. They tried to make me eat boxed spaghetti.”
“That’s abhorrent.” Berto scoffs but refocuses. “Where were they going? Who are they meeting?”
Leticia looks at me, and I shake my head. She understands perfectly. “I don’t know. They didn’t say. It didn’t sound like a large gathering though. Just that they’d be back late and for us to cook dinner.”
Berto groans, “Fine. I’ll tell Father. But this sort of update isn’t going to be enough. We need something substantial.”
“I’m doing the best I can.” Leticia argues with him.
Berto is quick to end the call with a snappy “Do better.”
With as fast as Berto hung up the phone, I’m faster to wrap Leticia into a hug, the cold porch chilling her body. “You did so well. You didn’t even need me to tell you how to do that. It was so natural. Let’s get you warmed up.”
Leticia finds enough suitable ingredients between Mom’s pantry and refrigerator to cook up a feast. She looks over at me as she arranges them on the counter. “Do you think Kerrianne would want to help with the pasta?”
“Letting that girl help you with anything is a first-class ticket to being her favorite relative.” I tap my finger against my chin. “The question is, am I ready to share being the favorite with you?”
Leticia rolls her eyes and starts rummaging through drawers, looking at the contents. “I could never steal being her favorite from you. I can’t build robots.”
“I mean, the robot we worked on this week is pretty cool.” I wish I could read her mind and tell her where to find what she’s looking for, but there’s something graceful in the way she dances around, pulling drawers and closing them behind her.
“Hey, Kerrianne?” Leticia calls to the living room.
A book gets dropped on the floor, and the light thuds of her footfalls precede Kerrianne before she peeks her head around the corner to the kitchen. “Yeah?”
“Do you think you can help me make pasta?” Leticia cocks her head to the side.
My wolf tips his. Mate knows our language?
No, she’s mimicking movements. She’s probably doing it unconsciously. I brush it off.
She’d make a good wolf.
When he says that, I freeze. The conversation between Kerrianne and Leticia turns to a silent film.
Antonella, in wolf form, raging and fighting against Valor as he put her in the cage in the back of the van so he could take her to the countryside, plays in vivid memory in my mind.
I break out in a cool sheen of sweat. There is no way I could do that to her.
I’m not built like Valor. I couldn’t hurt the woman I love like that.
Leticia is human, and I like her that way.
I like not thinking about what it would mean to turn her.
We can’t have pups like this, my wolf growls at me, highlighting how Leticia is talking with Kerrianne.
But I don’t even know if Leticia wants kids. I never thought about having them before. Why should I start now?
“Earth to Royal.” Kerrianne waves her hand, trying to get my attention.
“Come in command, this is Royal.” I shake myself out of it, focusing on my niece. Focusing on what is real.
“Space cadet.” Leticia giggles, covering her mouth with her hand.
Trying not to be embarrassed by being caught in a random thought, I attempt to pull anything from my memory of what they said.
“Grandma’s mixer with all the gadgets. Can you get it out of the closet so we can make long pastas?” Kerrianne wobbles back and forth.
Pup has energy. We should take her to let it out. My wolf warns.
I shove him down and out of my mind. He’s caused enough trouble. We don’t need to add a shifted wolf puppy and a too-close-for-comfort human to the mix.
“Absolutely.” I nod and leave the two of them, thankful for the second to collect myself.
The deep green mixer is right on its shelf in the closet, where it always is, but I lean against the doorframe and pull out my phone.
My relationship with my older brother may be a difficult one sometimes, but even when we’re going through hell, we make time for each other if we need it.
Royal:
I think I fucked up. Not as bad as you did, but bad enough that I can’t tell Mom and Dad.
I don’t expect a text back right away, but the chat bubble pops up, indicating that he’s typing.
Valor:
I don’t think that’s possible. What did you do?
Royal:
I let a stalking obsession turn into something more.
Valor:
If she/he/they are the one, then Mom and Dad will understand.
That’s one thing about Valor I never quite understood — but I appreciate nonetheless. I always thought he’d be so uncool with me not being straight, but just like with Mom and Dad, it was a moment of ‘oh’ and moving on with our lives.
Telling him this feels so much heavier.
Royal:
She’s the one. I don’t think anyone is going to understand.
Valor:
Give me a couple days. Antonella is . . . close.
Unless it’s Leticia D’Medici, then you’re fucked.
Royal:
I’m fucked.
Hope Antonella is really kicking your ass for what you did.
Valor:
You better put space between the two of you right now or it was nice knowing you.
The one or not, you can’t have Leticia D’Medici.
I mean it, Royal, the two of you can’t happen. Think of the truce.
Got to go. Time to get mauled again.
Valor has worse things on his plate than my fuckup.
I’ve thought about the truce and how we’re D’Medici and Cavanagh relationship saturated. I know it’s unlikely that the D’Medicis will want to deal with us now that we have the truce. But this isn’t fair. How am I supposed to just walk away from my fated mate?
I grab Mom’s dark green stand mixer and the bag of attachments, then walk it back to the kitchen.
Leticia pulled her hair up into a ponytail and dumped flour out on the counter. She’s teaching Kerrianne how to make a little well inside it.
Awww. Look at them. My wolf sighs. It’s all love and affection for two of his favorite people.
Seeing Leticia with Kerrianne is cute, but I’m definitely not thinking about what it’d be like if Kerrianne was our kid.
If you don’t want to have kids with someone, isn’t that a sign you’re not the right fit? I try that thought on for size, but all it does is conflict with my heart that’s screaming how much we need her in our life.