AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER 8
Antoine
WHAT WAS THIS HUMANdoing in my house? Sitting at my table and eating my food. Breathing my air...well, if I needed to breathe.
Drake had informed me this man was Piper's boss from when she was masquerading as a receptionist. This handsome man with the dimple in his cheek and this too sure of himself air that made me want to sink my teeth into him.
The only thing that saved him from becoming dinner was the fact that with each member of my family that appeared at the dinner table, the more unsure of himself Jack Biggs became. Rayne was beside himself with glee, his lips twitching ever so slightly, no doubt reading the thoughts of our unwelcome guest.
"So, you are all related?" Jack asked, shifting in his seat before he forced himself to stop. I could see the internal struggle on his face. He was trying so hard to be confident and not let his discomfort show. Most humans would have made excuses to leave already. While some humans craved our presence, others knew what we were from just being near us. They knew the danger even though their rational minds told them they were being preposterous.
Jack Biggs was one of those people.
He must care for Piper a great deal.
This couldn't be.
"Yes," I answered, his eyes flicking from my brothers, all but Allister and Wynn were seated at the table. Allister had left the moment the sun went down and Wynn was still upstairs taking care of our Piper. They were almost finished now.
Jack's brows furrowed. The question he wanted to ask was there on his face, but he didn't seem to know if he should ask it or not.
Rayne saved him from his suffering. "We're adopted." Jack glanced at him, making Rayne grin. "You were wondering why we don’t look related?"
"Yes," Jack inclined his head, looking perplexed. "Your parents must have had their hands full with a house full of boys."
Drake released a boisterous laugh. "You could say that."
"Something more to drink?" Darren appeared at Jack's side, a pitcher of iced tea in his hands.
To the out-looker, it would seem that Darren was playing the perfect host. Happy to serve. Happy to be there.
To someone who knew him, they would see the tension in his shoulders. The white-knuckled grip of his fingers on the handle of the glass, just a tight squeeze away from shattering. The tightness around his eyes while his lips curled up into a pleasant smile. All signs that Darren was seething inside. He didn't care for this Jack Biggs and more than me.
"Yes, please." Jack held his glass up to Darren, oblivious to how close he was to getting his head bashed in by our usually calm butler. "Not that I'm not enjoying your company, but where's Piper? I thought she only went to clean up?"
Drake angled his head to one side and grinned. "She's just about finished. Seconds from being done."
"Yeah, she'll be coming any second now," Rayne added on, chuckling with Drake. Even Marcus made an amused sound.
Jack grinned in return, looking between us. "Am I missing something?"
"So many things." I found myself smiling at the lawyer. This seemed to unsettle him, which only caused me to smile more. "Tell me, Mr. Biggs, what brings you all the way from Seabrick? Certainly not to only check on our Piper?" I emphasized the word our pointedly. Best to remind him who she belonged to.
"Is it so hard to believe that I wanted to check on an employee?" Jack locked his eyes with mine, never wavering. It was braver than I thought.
"If you care for all your employees with such devotion, they are lucky indeed to have you for an employer." I rubbed the wine glass in front of me between my fingers, though nothing was in it. Darren had set the table for human company. Normally, Piper and Darren would eat their meals in the kitchen together. Sometimes we would all sit together at the dining table, each of us either drinking from our metal blood containers or eating what had been made for the evening meal. While the food was lost on us nutritiously, the taste was still a pleasant experience. It helped us feel human again in some ways. In others, regurgitating the food in the bathroom later, not so much.
"I try," Jack answered, taking a bite of some kind of pasta Darren had prepared for the night. I knew for a fact that Darren had prepared tonight's meal, especially for Piper. A celebration of sorts for getting through her first week of hunter training. Tonight, since Darren hadn't prepared enough for everyone, he simply placed the settings but didn't fill our plates. The fact that the imbecile before us was eating it was just salt in the wound.
"You're not eating?" Jack asked, pausing in mid-bite.
"We have dinner plans a little later," I explained with a tight smile.
"Yeah," Drake chuckled. "Wouldn't want to ruin our appetite."
Rayne covered a laugh with a cough.
Nodding his head in understanding, Jack went back to his meal. After a moment, when we didn't fill the silence, he asked, "What kind of work do you all do?" Jack shot a curious and slightly suspicious look around the table.
