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Dating?! What alternate universe have I stepped into?
“This is Remus we’re talking about!” I pull away from her touch. “Psychopathic murderer? Does no one remember?”
But Kharon only steps forward, brows furrowed. “We all have a past, brother. Even you.”
“Exactly,” I say heatedly. “Which is why we need to keep her,” I wrench my head so fervently in Lo-Ren’s direction that it almost snaps, “away from us.”
Kharon’s eyes are full of compassion, and I want to let loose and punch him. Especially when he says, “We are no longer the monsters we once were.”
Instead, I just laugh, a cackle that I know only from my memories. My brother’s manic cackle. “You think people change?” I say accusingly, pulling back from all of them. “You think you’ve all become so civilized because you put on these stiff clothes and play happy family?”
Baby Raven has flown down to perch on the back of Ksenia’s chair. All of them are watching me like I’m the crazy one. I’m the only one speaking any sense.
“We’re monsters!” I shout. “We were born cursed, and we’ll die cursed.”
My words ring out, echoing off the stone floor and walls.
And then Lo-Ren steps forward. “You know, I used a quick-rise yeast for the bread I started downstairs, and I bet it’s the perfect time to pop it in the oven.” She smiles winningly at Abaddon. “Some fresh-baked bread would go fabulously with steak.”
“I can make some rosemary potatoes and salad that will round out the perfect meal,” Hannah says. She puts an arm around Lo-Ren, and together, they start toward the stairs. Everyone joins them.
I’m left alone in my righteous indignation.
The last one to go is the baby, who flies in my direction, shakes her head at me like she’s disappointed, sticks her thumb in her mouth, and flies away to follow her parents.
Chapter Sixteen
LAUREN
I take a long nap for most of the day and excitedly rejoin the family for dinner. It’s delicious, and it’s easy enough to ignore Romulus, who’s still sulking. He sits quietly like a stone statue at the other end of the table, barely eating.
Meanwhile, the rest of the family is so fun and engaging. I understand why Remus spoke so warmly about them. Each one of them is such a character.
Abaddon is the gruff head of the family. But then he absolutely melts and becomes a teddy bear whenever it comes to his wife or daughter. Like right now. Baby Raven is perched on his shoulders, grabbing his horns like she’s riding him.
Hannah keeps trying to get her to eat bites of food, but Abaddon is more intent on swinging his head around to make Raven giggle as she rides him. The baby is the size of a toddler, even though they said she’s not even one year old and seems to have the dexterity of a toddler, too. She doesn’t speak yet, but she seems wickedly intelligent.
Kharon is constantly doting on his partner, the very pregnant Ksenia, whom I shared some pleasant words with earlier on the way down the stairs. She seems understandably tired. They said she’s only six months pregnant, but apparently, that’s when Hannah popped. These special hybrid pregnancies work differently.
Which makes me frown. Uh. . . I’m usually so good about using protection, but I didn’t think about it this time, things getting so hot and heavy so quickly between me and Remus. But I’m not exactly ready to be a mommy as cute as Raven is.
Layden spends most of the dinner looking at his phone. He’s the most—I cringe away from the word normal even when I think it—and try to replace it with human-looking of the brothers. It seems that that’s due to some horrific trauma of his wings getting cut off by their father? Jesus. I don’t know the whole story, but I guess after the whole buried-alive thing, he went off and lived among humans for a long time, too?
Anyway, while Hannah bustles off to get dessert from downstairs, I sidle up to Layden. I try to speak low because I can feel Romulus’s eyes on us. “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Layden’s blue eyes look up at me, startled. “Uh. Sure.”
I nod my head toward the fireplace sitting area, feeling Romulus’s eyes but not wanting to acknowledge him.
“Now?” Layden asks, and I nod.
We leave the table and head toward the couches. “What’s up?” he asks.
“Well, you seem like the guy who knows stuff. And you’ve been around humans more. So you know both worlds.”
He nods, and I feel my cheeks go a little pink. “I noticed there’s a lot of babies around here, and uh—” I wave a hand, feeling embarrassed but also determined to power through. “That’s not really my thing. I don’t suppose there’s some sort of. . . like. . . supernatural birth control?” I whisper the last part.
To his credit, his eyes only widen the smallest bit before he nods. “Yeah. I know something. Come on. My bag’s in my room.”
