Chapter 11: Headlines and Blessings

DIEGO

It had been a couple of days since the ball. We all sat in Father’s conference room and watched him pace.

By ~we~, I mean Mom, Gianna, Kol, me, and of course, the twins. I looked at them sitting in the corner, their heads buried in books.

They’d always struck me as odd, but then there was an age gap between them and me and Gianna, so I shrugged it off.

My eyes went back to Father pacing. He looked insanely furious, like he was going to have an aneurysm furious.

Mother spoke first. She was always the one to break the tension.

“Raphy, darling, please calm down. I’m sure they both have a reasonable explanation for what happened.”

Father froze mid-pace and looked at her, his eyes positively dancing with rage.

“REASONABLE EXPLANATION, FRIEDA? REASONABLE?! OKAY THEN, GREAT!! EXPLAIN THIS TO ME, GIANNA, PLEASE!”

He glared, throwing a paper onto the table between us. I leaned forward to read the headline.

^~Wild Child Gianna Gray Finds Her Mate, but Did They Wed in Secret?!~^

~Shit.~

~Fuck, Gia. This is bad.~

I looked up at Gia. Her face was white with fear. We had never seen Father like this.

“EXPLAIN YOURSELF, GIANNA!! NOW!!!”

She jumped as Father roared across the table at her. That was when I spotted Kol’s expression changing.

His eyes glazed over with rage, the same look I’d seen when I attacked him in our hall about a month ago.

He stood up, his hands balled into fists.

“~With all due respect sir, what the fuck is your problem~?!” he spat, closing the gap between him and Father.

My eyes darted to Father. He looked perplexed, also slightly amused. No one had ever spoken to him like this, not even his own children.

“Kol, don’t do this,” Gianna muttered from the end of the table

~“No, G, this isn’t right. He can’t speak to you like this. You are his goddamn daughter, not some employee he can bark orders at. NOW I’M WAITING, YOUR HIGHNESS, FOR A FUCKING ANSWER!”~

My mouth fell open as he screamed the last part into my father’s face. ~That’s it. The boy is dead. Which is a pity, really, because I wanted to be the one to do it.~

My mother placed a hand on Kol.

“Maybe you should take a couple of deep breaths, darling. We are all very stressed right now.”

I could see it from my seat. My mother was lifting the crazy fog, and the realization of what he had done, who he had just screamed at, was starting to sink in. He gulped and looked down.

“Sir, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rude. I couldn’t control myself,” he stuttered out.

~Shit.~

I almost felt bad for the guy. I looked at Father, trying to gauge his reaction.

~What~

~the~

~fuck?!~

~He’s—~

~He’s—~

~Smiling?~

He held out his hand to Kol, and Kol glanced at me wide-eyed as if to ask me what he should do. I shrugged in response. ~I dunno, man. It beats me.~ He took Father’s hand nervously and shook it.

“Welcome to the family, son.” Father clapped him on the back.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Daddy, I’m sorry. I forgot about the acceptance ceremony.”

I jumped. In all this drama, I’d forgotten Gia was even here. She looked up at him.

“~What do we do~?” she asked with panic in her voice. She must have been thinking of the headlines.

“Well, we will continue with the ceremony,” Mother offered up happily. I rolled my eyes. She loved ceremonies.

“Acceptance ceremony?” Kol asked, looking confused. Mother nodded. “Yes, darling. It comes before a mating ceremony, and you vow to accept Gianna and her wolf in all its glory.”

Kol nodded in agreement. “Okay, great. Let’s do it. I’m ready.” He looked at Gia, and they smiled at each other.

“That’s wonderful, Frieda, it really is, but there’s the little matter of the press?!” Father muttered, stroking his forehead. He looked like he’d have a stroke any second. We all looked at our hands, waiting for someone to offer up a solution, anyone.

A cough from the corner startled us all. Wide-eyed, we looked over at the twins.

“Why don’t you release a statement, Father, explaining that they had a blessing ceremony privately with our family and that the invitations for the mating ceremony will be released to the public shortly?” Levi spoke up, while Lucas nodded in agreement.

I honestly had forgotten they even knew how to speak.

“Yes, it sounds reasonable, Father, honestly. We are royalty. The public doesn’t know all our customs,” Lucas chimed in, shrugging as if it were common sense, like we should have thought of it.

We all stared at them openmouthed, not knowing what was more shocking, the fact that they still had the ability to actually speak or that what they had said made sense.

RAPHAEL

I looked over at my boys, baffled by what they had said. Of course it made sense. I cursed myself for not having thought of it.

I cleared my throat. “Yes, of course, absolutely. Frieda, darling, why don’t you fine-tune the arrangements? We will have the ceremony at sunset tomorrow,” I said matter-of-factly.

My wife’s eyes lit up; she loved ceremonies. “Ooo, great! Gianna, darling, let’s go. We have much to plan!” she squealed, grabbing our daughter’s hand and dragging her out of the room.

I walked around to my desk. “Boys,” I started, “could you give me a moment alone, please, with Kol?” I watched the panic spread across his face.

The twins picked up their books and left without a word. Diego sat there looking at me. “But father—” he started.

I held up a hand to stop him. “Alone, Diego,” I said firmly.

He nodded and left quietly.

“Please, Kol, take a seat.” I motioned to the chair in front of my desk. He did so silently.

“So, let me get this straight,” I began, sinking into my chair and clasping my hands on my desk.

“In the last four weeks, you have partially stripped and humped my daughter on my grounds; you have fought with my oldest son—not once, but twice, giving him both a black eye and broken ribs.

“Yet tonight, you decided to put a cherry on top of an already loaded cake by not only questioning how I have raised my children, but also challenging my authority in front of my family,” I said firmly.

He stared down at his lap, not speaking. I continued, “Now tell me, are you actually trying to get yourself killed, or can you not control that berserk streak in you?”

His head snapped up, eyes wide in shock. “How did you know?” he breathed.

I smiled at him grimly.

“Actually, son, I suspected something the moment I saw you crack my son’s ribs, but you confirmed it for me tonight when you went into a rage protecting Gianna.”

He looked down again, playing with his hands. “I’m sorry, sir. Sometimes I find it hard to control myself, but Gia, she—she really soothes me; she makes me feel—”

“Normal?”

He nodded, continuing, “Yes sir, with her I’m calm. I’d never hurt her, sir, I can promise you that.” He looked at me, not as a challenge, but as a boy looking for forgiveness.

“I know you won’t, son. That was never a concern. I can very clearly see Gianna has the same effect on you as my wife does on me.”

He looked at me with confusion in his eyes. “You? You mean—” He stopped mid-question.

I nodded at him. “Yes, son, I also have a berserk streak in me.”

His mouth fell open in shock.