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Zaq took my hand and slid a worked-gold band onto my ring finger, then I slid one on his. That was for me; I’d wanted us to wear wedding rings, even if they weren’t traditional for vampire matings.
We descended the steps of the gazebo and were immediately surrounded by Zaq’s family—his mom and father, his brothers and their mates. My father was there too, and a few of Zaq’s friends, including Xavier.
Zaq’s mom engulfed me in a tight hug. Rosemarie Kral was wonderful, a combination of warmth and practicality. I’d expected our first meeting to be awkward, even though Zaq assured me she didn’t know I’d kidnapped him—or that he’d even been kidnapped. The cool way she assessed me made me wonder if he was right.
Now she said, “Welcome to the family, Renata.”
I hugged her back. “Thank you.”
“And I want you to call me Mom. If you want to, of course.”
Something prickly pressed against the back of my throat. “I’d like that,” I rasped. I cleared my throat and finished, “Mom.”
The jazz quartet we’d hired for the occasion launched into a song. Zaq took my hand and we danced, and then Leo de Froulay asked for a dance.
We’d asked people to dress for a garden party—no suits or formal dresses—and Leo looked gorgeous as ever in a black button-up shirt dotted with tiny crescent moons. But over the past couple of months, I’d spent enough time with him to learn to see past his inhumanly beautiful exterior to the man beneath.
A man who wanted to claim me as his daughter, and not because I was the only offspring he’d sired. No, he wanted to claim me because he’d loved my mother.
It was Karoly Kral of all people who’d helped me see that.
“Leo let your mother go,” he’d said one night a few weeks ago when we’d somehow ended up alone after a late dinner in New York with him and Rosemarie. “He’ll never tell you this, but Charlotte didn’t want to be changed into a vampire or a dhampir, and she didn’t want to live as his thrall. So he let her go. For a vampire, especially a primus, there’s no greater way to show love. We’re damn possessive.”
“Congratulations,” Leo said now. “It was a lovely ceremony.”
“Thank you.” I waited until he’d steered me through a turn with an easy grace. When we faced each other again, I smiled up at him. “I’m so glad you came.”
A muscle worked in his cheek. His grip on me tightened ever so slightly. “So am I.”
We danced in silence for a minute. Then he said, “You’ll call me if you ever need anything.”
I nodded. “But I won’t need anything.”
I glanced over his shoulder at where Zaq stood with his brothers, the three men sipping whiskey and harassing each other in a joking way.
Leo’s gaze followed mine. “Still, the offer will always be open. Anything I can do for you, anything I can give you—it’s yours.”
“I won’t need anything,” I said again, “except a father.”
His gaze snapped to mine. “A father?”
“Yeah.” I gave him a crooked smile. “Someone to stay with when we’re in Paris. Someone to talk with about books, and help me with my French. Someone I can go to for advice. Not that I’ll always take it, but I promise I’ll at least listen.”
His cheek creased. “I’d like that. Very much.”
The song ended and he took me back to Zaq. We stayed another couple of hours, and then Zaq took my hand and drew me deeper into the garden. Before I knew it, we walking on a path through the woods.
“Where are we going?”
His mouth tugged up at the corner. “Quiet, woman. This is me kidnapping you.”
I blinked, then shot him a grin. “Shouldn’t we say goodbye?”
“No way. I don’t trust my brothers not to play a prank on us.”
“So where are we going?”
“Gabriel has a little house in the woods about a quarter-mile away, and I asked to borrow it. Mom had her people clean it and leave us snacks—wine, chocolate, etcetera. There’s even a hot tub.”
