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Father had been barely civil to Mila, and after she’d left, he’d called me into his study to chew me out. “You know better than this, Gabriel,” he’d said coldly. “You’re the crown prince. It’s your duty to mate with a vampire, to keep our line strong.”
My fingernails had dug into my palms. I’d been within a hairsbreadth of planting a fist in the center of his lean, tight-lipped face. “Youdidn’t.”
“You dare?” he’d hissed.
“To tell the truth straight to your face? Hell, yeah.”
His ebony eyes flashed blue, but I glared back. I was damned if I’d back down.
“That was different,” he said. “I’m a vampire. I knew my blood would breed strong sons.”
I drew a slow, shocked breath. A kick to the gut couldn’t have hurt any more. “And my blood wouldn’t?”
A wave of a long-fingered hand. “You’re not a vampire.”
My jaw hardened. “That doesn’t make me weak.”
My fangs had lengthened. If my mother hadn’t entered the study at that point, I think I would’ve either attacked my father, or walked out and never returned.
“Gabriel?” Mom asked now. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I expelled a breath. “It’s Mila. She’s back.”
“What do you mean, she’s back?”
“I mean she’s here. With me. Not in this room, but—with me.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. Gods, I sounded lame even to myself.
“I see.” A pause. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”
Hell, no.“Yeah. If you mean do I trust her, no, I’m not sure. But I’m being careful.”
“Just where is ‘here’?”
“The beach house. I figured it was the most secure place for us both while I figure out why she’s come back after all this time.”
“I see.”
I winced. That made twoI seesin a row. “I know you didn’t want me to mate with her. But this is different.”
She sighed. “It’s not that I didn’t want you to mate with her. It’s that I don’t want your kids to go through what you and your brothers did.”
I straightened up. My feet hit the floor with a thud. “What d’you mean?”
“You think I didn’t know how the vampire spawn bullied you? I hated it.” Her swallow was audible. “Just hated it. But your father refused to let me interfere. He said if we did, they’d never have any respect for you. That the only way you could survive in his world was to be tougher than them.”
My nape tightened in memory. Zaq, Rafe and me had had targets painted on our backs from day one. The worst had been the coven gatherings, where the other spawn picked on us unmercifully until we were big and strong enough to fight back.
“Jesus. He’s even more of a prick than I thought.”
“Careful.” Mom’s voice hardened. “That’s my mate you’re talking about.”
I scowled. I was damned if I’d apologize, but my quarrel wasn’t with my mom. “Look, don’t worry. I’ve got things under control.”
She inhaled. I could almost see her rubbing her forehead like she did when she was worried or upset. “You sound just like your father. He won’t like this, you know.”
“I’ll handle him. Mila’s here, and she’s staying until I figure out what the hell’s going on. She accepted my blood bond.”
“I see.” This time the pause was so long I thought she’d ended the connection.
