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“Zach,” I whisper my son’s name and instinctively take a step toward him.
“Hi, Da—” Before he can finish the word, Antonia stomps a foot toward him. He flinches before correcting himself. “Hi, Loukas.”
Tears mist my eyes, but not because he has stopped calling me dad. I hadn’t heard his sweet voice in so long, I was having a hard time remembering what it sounded like. It’s been too long. His young voice has grown deeper. He doesn’t sound like a teenager yet, but he doesn’t have a child’s voice anymore either.
“Peanut?” My mom, Rita, calls, not bothering to hide the shake in her voice. She hasn’t seen her grandson in years. Ihold out my arm to keep her back when she reaches me. Zach lurches forward at the sight of her only to be slapped backward by Antonia’s magic.
“Hi, Miss Rita,” Zach says, clearing his throat and searching the crowd. I see when he finds her, some of the sadness that was floating in his eyes disappears. “Hi, Melia.”
“Amelia,” Antonia corrects.
“Sorry. Hi, Amelia.”
“Hi,” she says from behind me. I can feel that she is vibrating with the need to rush to her big brother, but she knows better. Just another thing to add to the growing list of things that she should not have to suffer through at six years old.
“My love,” I call out, passing Amelia’s hand to my mother and stepping forward. “I thought you and I might reminisce for a little while since you’re here.”
“What do you have in mind?” She purrs, placing her hand on my chest.
I lean over and whisper dirty things in her ear. Things I know she wants to hear. Things that will get her away from here and allow our children to visit without her watchful eye.
She nods, allowing me to lead her through the crevice in the stone. I glance back just in time to see Zach launching himself at my mother. As they fall to the ground, I see my mother peppering his head with kisses. I may not be able to do much to protect my children from their mother, but I can give them this little bit of time. Whatever I have to go through to make that possible doesn’t matter.
For the next few hours, I keep Antonia busy, her thoughts full of nothing but what our two bodies can do. I haven’t even finished dressing when she speaks.
“I’m taking a mate,” she announces simply.
I stand there dumbfounded, my shorts not quite all the way up. I cannot process how she wants me to respond, and I cannothelp but fear where this change will leave me in her schemes. I know she didn’t take me as a mate already because I am a shifter and she is expected to mate with another witch to strengthen her bloodline, but it’s been years since she spoke of it.
“Are you jealous, my pet?” she asks playfully, reaching over and rubbing a long red fingernail down my chest. “Don’t worry, I will still make time for you. Zach will, understandably, need to spend more time with him.”
“Him? You want this mate of yours to replace me as Zach’s father?” The words slip out of my mouth before I’m able to stop them. Despite knowing I’ll pay for them later, I don’t care. How dare she?
“Zach has magic. He’s not yours; he’s mine. I can choose whomever I want to be his father.”
“But…”
“Loukas. You are a pet. No more. No less. You’re lucky I let you have the freedom you do.”
She gets up and begins to dress, her body visibly shaking with rage. Shit.
I want to yell and scream at her. If I’m just a pet, why didn’t she just leave me here in peace? Why did she need to kill my father? Why keep me for eleven years? Why did she make me give her children? Did she only want to break my heart again when she took them from me?
Despite all this, I keep my voice calm.
“I’m sorry, my love. You caught me off guard, and I don’t want to share you.” I reach for her hand, hoping to allay some of her anger before we return to our children. “I was jealous, and I lashed out.”
“I knew you would be.” She giggles and turns to me with a devious smile. “But don’t worry, you’ll still have me.”
“But so willhe,” I growl, pulling her closer and kissing her hard, hoping that she mistakes the anger of my kiss for passion.
By the time we make it back to the village, it’s getting dark. I hope I’ve given the kids and my mother enough time together. It’s going to have to be enough because I don’t have any more reasons to keep Antonia away.
I whistle a tune on the way back, making sure it is loud enough for those in the village to hear our approach. When we slip through the crevice, I smile.
Zach and Amelia are standing near the place the portal opened, looking like they haven’t moved an inch while we were gone. My mother stands closer to her home, tears streaming down her face.
Thank the goddess, they heard my whistling and knew what to do. Despite knowing they are tears of joy, I hate to see tears on my mother’s cheeks. They are useful now, though, as I hope Antonia mistakes them for grief and anger. It makes it look like Amelia and Zach obeyed their mother the entire time.
