“I appreciate that. I’ll just go downstairs and wait for him.” I had no idea if Naldo and Mazzi were having sex yet, but Naldo was a vampire, and he had to feed. Maybe they did that at night. Or first thing in the morning. Who knew.
I took my plate and hurried to the door. I opened it and was out before Mazzi could get up from the chair. I would message him later, but I truly didn’t want to interrupt anything. It might be that I was interrupting nothing, but I didn’t want to take the risk.
I took the food and went to the kitchen, setting it on the island. I could hear the others in the dining room, but I was uncomfortable eating in there without Marcello. Looking around, I saw nobody nearby, so I snuck over to the dining room. Ignoring everyone as best as I could, I went to the sideboard and poured myself another glass of juice.
“Are you all right, Abel? Do you need anything?”
I turned at the questions and found everyone staring at me. And by everyone, all five sets of eyes were looking directly at me.
“Ah, thank you. Whoever asked.” I nodded and held up my juice. “I’m good. I just wanted some juice.”
“Is that all you’re having?” Carmelo asked.
“Umm…no. My breakfast is in the kitchen,” I said, pointing to the door. I hurried out of the room and back to the kitchen. I sat at the island, and as I was taking a drink of the juice, Carmelo came out and stood on the other side of the island.
“Did we do something?”
I tilted my head in question. “What do you mean? I don’t know. Did you?”
Carmelo took a breath and pursed his lips. “No. To you. Did we do something to make you not like us? You leave the room every time we show up. You don’t join family meals. What did we do to cause you to avoid us?”
“Oh.” That. “I don’t really know you,” I told him.
“How will you get to know us if you continue to avoid us?”
“Mio angelo? Are you all right? I am getting that you are feeling uncomfortable.”
“I’m…okay. Carmelo is asking me why I avoid them. That’s all.”
“I will take care of it. We are pulling in now.”
Immediately, I relaxed. It wasn’t that I needed Marcello to take care of the rest of the coven members for me. I just wasn’texactly comfortable around them yet. There were quite a few of them, and I was me.
“I don’t mean to avoid you,” I finally said.
Carmelo scowled. “Come join us, then,” he said as he gestured to the dining room.
Movement caught my attention, and I looked over as Rio came into view.
“Hello, Abel,” he said. Carmelo glared at the doctor, which I didn’t understand even a little.
“Hi, Rio. I’m eating,” I said. “I can’t eat everything on the plate, but Mazzi said he understood that.”
Rio chuckled. “Yes, I would imagine that he would.” Rio placed a hand on my shoulder before he dropped it. “How are you feeling? Any contractions? Unusual pains?”
I shook my head. “Nope. I’m good. Getting to that tired-all-of-the-time stage.”
“Yes. You are due in three weeks. I need for you to come see me in the next day or two. I wish to discuss your birth plan with you.” I nodded. Rio glanced over at Carmelo. “Are you keeping Abel company?”
There was talking from the other direction, and I squeaked and slid off the stool when I saw Marcello come into view. I waddled—yes, that is what you did when you weighed a hundred and fifteen pounds before you became pregnant with twins and were due soon—my way toward my mate and sighed in relief when his arms wrapped around me. I heard chuckling, but I didn’t care. My mate was back, and I just felt more relaxed around him.
“Did you eat?” Marcello asked.
“Some,” I said as we walked back over to the island.
“Did you wish to take your breakfast out to the gardens? It’s beautiful outside this morning.”
I looked over at the plate and shook my head. “No. I’m good. I ate enough,” I said. I took my plate and scraped it into the trash, then placed it in the sink. I did grab my juice, though, and took that with me. Marcello was talking to the others in Italian, and I thought again that I really needed to hurry up and learn the language. They’d been speaking it their entire lives though, and I’d just started learning the language.
