Chapter 43-Amara

In all honesty, the rest of the night was fun. After I introduced everyone, who thankfully already were briefed on the circumstances, My father didn’t contribute a whole lot of conversation, he was just observing, and if roles were reversed I would have stayed quiet too. He did talk here and there though, not enough for me to learn much about him. Nonetheless, I felt lighter having him there. I guess I didn’t realize I expected him to be nothing short of a monster. I had just shown Sophie and my father to their rooms, and now Roman and I were walking up to ours.

“So today was certainly…a day” he says

“Today was the equivalent of 4 days” I sigh

“How are you doing, feeling?” he says, taking my hand in his and kissing my knuckles, I smiled despite what was about to come out of my mouth

“I think I’m just trying to process it. It’s not like it was a shock that he showed up, I’m just surprised that I was so emotional over it, you know? I didn’t really expect to feel any type of connection to him, in fact I kind of thought he would be this horned monster that pulled me down to the underworld with him. I didn’t expect to notice any features I got from him, and I felt like…I missed him. Which makes no sense but still. As for everything Thayer had to say, I overreacted. I was just overwhelmed” I said with a shrug, trying to be casual.

“That’s understandable, and it makes perfect sense, you know werewolves recognize their kin. None of this is easy, and I’m proud of you for not just unleashing your power upon the country and ending it.” he says with a chuckle, to which I punch his arm

“Wow, seems like your training is actually paying off, you might actually leave a small bruise.” he says before I can throw obscenities at him

We reach our door and he quickly drags me inside, almost pulling my arm out of my socket if I must add, and pulls me to him, bracing his hands on my hips. Trying to hide how much I’m melting over him, I muster up the most sarcastic voice I can, I quickly rattle off my rebuttle

“I would have kicked your ass without any training, Alpha” I say, rolling my eyes and shoving him yet again. He must not of been expecting it because he stumbles

“Such a cruel, violent little thing you are” he says with a laugh as he starts to undress and heads toward the shower. I bite my lip looking at that goddess damned fine ass. He turns around before I can avert my eyes and raises an eyebrow.

“And apparently insatiable, did the last 8 days not satisfy you?”

“I’m simply just appreciating what’s in front of me.” I scoff, despite feeling my pussy dampen, but he doesn’t need to know that. I squeeze my thighs, but the action doesn’t go unnoticed. He smirks and stalks toward me. When he reaches me he starts to undress me. I butt in before things can get too steamy, despite sounding breathless.

“I’ll do training in the morning, but after, I think I’ll ask my father to spend the day together” the mood instantly dissipates, but he still flashes me his gorgeous smile

“I expected as such, do you want me to come with you?” he says, and I can see the unsaid words, telling me he’d be the buffer or the one making conversation if I needed him to, or just being there to ground me. I chew my lip

“No, I don’t think so. I think I just need to get to know him on my own, I’d rather just dive in head first in this situation.” I say after letting out a sigh

“Well regardless, if you change your mind let me know. You can always mindlink me, I will always be there to support you, or just be there for you” he says gently, and I can’t contain the smile that graces my face at that. Goddess, how could I ever have mistaken Felix to be my mate? The things this man makes me feel, the safety, the support-like no matter what I decide he’d stand by me. There’s nothing that could compare to this. In response to my smile, he pulls me to him and kisses me deeply, showing me just how much everything I feel is true.

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Training beat my ass today, apparently the last 10 days with no training was enough to set me back double that. I’m gonna feel this tomorrow, and not to mention Seth managed to punch me right in the jaw when I got distracted mid-fight. That shit is still healing too, considering it only happened an hour ago.

I groan feeling the ache as I trudge back to my room, I’ll be getting him back for that. Maybe I’ll throw Nisha on his head while he’s asleep, hair dye in his shampoo, maybe I’ll make a ghost out of a sheet and levitate it into his room at 3am…the possibilities are endless really. And now that I have demon magic at my disposal...oh I'll be getting him good.

Just as I open my door, I start when I feel something furry brush my legs, and I look down to see my little Nisha. Smiling and cooing, I pick him up and kiss his little head just as he yawns in my face. Cat breath, ew. Ok, Amara focus now, I’m going to shower and then find my father and I guess do 20 years of catching up. I make quick work of filling his food bowl and showering.

Goddess I’m nervous. I’ve never exactly been a social butterfly and I generally find it pretty hard to make conversation and hate small talk. Hence, why I grew up with literally one friend. As I put my face on, I’m suddenly feeling even more nervous, it will be so damn awkward if we end up just sitting in silence. Maybe I should have taken up Roman on his offer to come, if nothing else they can talk about demon things, or man things. Males always have something to talk about. No it won’t be awkward, I have 20 years of bullshit to catch him up on, its not like I’ve had an uneventful life. I’m sure he has plenty of things he wants to tell me.

I shake my head at myself and my stupid internal rambling. I wasn’t even nervous until I had to go and overthink. It’ll be fine, everything will be fine. Being able to hold a conversation is the least of my worries right now. Although, I guess it is a nice distraction from thinking about the vampire overlord who wants to make me his slave. Yeah, I’d definitely stress over a couple hours of forced conversation. I take a deep breath and head to his room down the hall from mine. Sophie’s is right next to his, but I told her to hang out with Violet for a couple hours.

He has his door open before I can even knock, must be that damn demon hearing. I took him in again, yeah I guess I couldn’t deny I was his daughter even if I wanted to. We don’t look alike outside of the eyes and hair, but we’re both dressed head to toe in black and flash each other the same awkward, crooked smile. Huh, guess that’s where I got that from, and my dimples.

“Hi. Do you want to have lunch and talk?” I say, getting right to the point

“Sure. Lead the way” he says bluntly.

“There’s a coffee shop a few blocks away, we can walk there. It’s nice outside if you don’t mind the cold”

He simply just nods his head and falls into step beside me as I start to head downstairs. I guess I inherited my dimples and my ability to hold a conversation from him. We walk in silence until we get outside. I’m wracking my brain for something to start the conversation when he thankfully starts to talk.

“So, you’re the Luna of this pack? The Alpha is your fated mate?” he says looking around and surveying the area

“We’re freshly mated, I haven’t had a Luna ceremony yet or even gotten into what my duties would be…actually Roman hasn’t even announced it yet. We were away for the last week and well, there’s other pressing matters at hand. The pack has an idea though, we were involved for a little over a month before we discovered we were mated.” I shrug

“And your mate is half demon” he says, not a question.

“His pack doesn’t know. We can discuss that later, he’ll have to tell his pack whenever he deems fit. It’ll come out what I am one way or another, so that will warrant some explaining on his end. I doubt they’ll care, he’s a good Alpha and his pack adores him. I don’t even know why he hid it, other than his male arrogance of saying he doesn’t need any extra powers to be strong” I say the last part with an amused scoff and he also lets out a chuckle

“Very well, I won’t discuss it here. I would be curious to see how he fares in the underworld should you decide to visit. I wouldn’t mind sparring with him.” he says and

I chew the inside of my lip. That would definitely be interesting, but outside of small things here and there and what little training we’ve done, I’ve never actually seen Roman use his powers. It seems like he was more trained at holding them back than wielding them, at least what I’ve seen.

“What’s it like? The underworld I mean” I blurt out, unable to hide the raging curiosity

“Not what you would think. Most people think it’s eternal fire all around and a realm of suffering. It has a designated area for that, but social structure is similar to the werewolf world, there’s a day and night of sorts-different from the sun and the moon, but still it would be considered the equivalent. There’s no seasons like there are here, but it’s built to cater to the biology of a demon.” he says matter of factly

“Well you’re right, that’s definitely not what I would have expected” I say just as we reach the coffee shop and get in line.

We pause our conversation to order our meals. I order a cappuccino with a grilled chicken salad, and he orders straight espresso with an Italian wrap. Somehow I’m not surprised by the espresso, he’s intense. I can see the cashier’s obvious nervousness, if I wasn’t on par with his powers, or his daughter I probably would be straining under the power that radiates off him too, and that’s not even including how intimidating he is.

We take our table numbers and I lead him outside to a more secluded area. I don’t plan to hide what I am from the pack, but I’d rather not start rumors before Roman and I can even announce it. Although, I’m marked by their Alpha, so I can sense the confusion when they feel that power radiating off me, mixed with their Alpha’s scent. Well, I guess that cat’s out of the bag.

“So Seth is your only living family?” my dad says as we sit down

“Yes, that I know of anyways. Both my parents died in a vampire attack, and their parents died before that. Both were only children. Do you have any family in the underworld? Did you take another mate after my mother?”

“I had two children prior to meeting your mother. You have a sister and a brother, your sister is my heir to the throne. As for family, my mother is still alive, and I have 4 siblings, you likely won’t meet them. And no, I haven’t and don’t plan to take another mate. I have my heir, and your mother was the only queen my kingdom will know by my side” he says, I try to read his expression but his face is stone cold neutral

“My siblings? What are they like? Do they know of me?”

“Aylin is…headstrong to say the least. A born queen, but she was born with claws and fangs alongside the crown. Pissing her off is something I try to avoid at all costs, I would advise you to do the same. Your brother Azrael is the complete opposite, he is a trained warrior but I’ve only ever seen him truly unleash himself when the castle was attacked after you were born. They’re close though, as you and Seth are, and despite how different they are. To put it simply, if you ever want someone killed go to Aylin, if you ever want a hug go to Azrael. They both know of you, they both want to meet you. Don’t be surprised by Aylin’s cold exterior, she already told me if you’re harmed she’ll put a dagger through my Achilles tendon” he laughs

“You let her speak to you like that?” I say wide eyed, although I think she and I will get along just fine. But I can’t imagine threatening my own parents, let alone a king at that.

He simply shrugs “I like to consider myself a fun dad. That and she would hold to her word. She just recently is able to beat me in hand to hand combat and magic wielding, so you’ll find its wise to pick your battles with her."

“And my mom, what was she like?” I ask, although I have a burning desire to ask more about my siblings too, accompanied by the relief that I wasn’t his heir. That could have gotten messy if I was an only child.

He pulls out his wallet and hands me a picture.

"Her name was Ariella" he says and I raise my eyebrows

"You guys really have a thing for A names don't you?" I tease and he just laughs

I turn my attention back to the picture. It’s of him grinning at the camera, with his arm around a woman laughing. My breath catches in my throat as I take her in, she looks exactly like what you would expect an angel to look like. Her hair was the lightest shade of blonde I’ve ever seen, golden eyes, a small slender face with high cheekbones, a button nose, and a beautiful smile. I look exactly like her, but like the evil twin version. The picture is of the upper halves of their bodies and I would guess they’re sitting down, so I can’t tell if I got my height from her. One would assume since the man before me is a giant.

“She was carefree and wild, the daughter of a high angel so a little pampered, but she was the kindest person you would ever meet. We met when she was about 30 and I was somewhere around 600” I start at that. 600?! The shock must not be hidden from my face because he laughs “we are immortal, dear. 30 was actually considered very young to find your mate. Most women don’t find their mates until they’re over 100. But fate had other plans for us, I wasn’t even supposed to be on earth. I only came to deal with a rogue demon causing problems and she snuck there with her friends. Her father was strict, and forbade her from going to earth, so of course she frequently snuck here. The bond immediately snapped into place and she went back to the underworld with me that night.”

“But I thought it was dangerous for angels to be in the underworld? Like their body rejects it. At least that’s how my mother explained it in a letter.”

“For long periods of time that’s true for other angels, but she was able to pass through just fine when I marked her. The issue was the pregnancy, pregnancy is very very rare in angels, and their bodies require a perfect environment to sustain it. She couldn’t very well have a safe pregnancy in Heaven, considering she was hunted for her union with a demon, and her father was determined to kill you.” he says, as if he’s told the story a hundred times, the guilt of being the reason that three out of four of my parents are dead hits me like a truck

“How did you do it? Allow her to keep the pregnancy I mean. If the roles were reversed I don’t think I would be able to do it, knowing it was killing my mate.” I blurt out and his stone exterior breaks just enough for me to see the ghost of a flinch from him

“I’ll admit, it wasn’t easy at first. But it was her decision, and parental instincts kicked in with the first ultrasound. That’s how it was for all my kids, but for all the mothers of my kids instinct kicked in as soon as they found out they were pregnant. We had managed to hide the mating bond for a hundred years, she had a glamor placed over her mark so none of her family found out, but her father picked up on the change in her scent immediately when she was pregnant. He dragged her kicking and screaming to a healer that night to…terminate the pregnancy. The healer refused given how rare angel pregnancies are and she managed to escape before he found a healer willing to do it. Believe me I tried, I had all my best healers treating her 24/7, all the elders looking for an answer. I even tried convincing her to hide out in Heaven, I told her I would go with her, that Aylin was more than capable of looking after the kingdom, but she refused. She said if she was discovered, then they would kill me and you.” he finishes

I swallow hard, I still don’t know if I would have done it. To be mated to someone for 100 years and never being able to actually enjoy it because it was hidden, just to have it cut short for a pregnancy? I mean somehow, the man in front of me who doesn’t look to be any older than 30 is over 700. 100 years must be less than 5 years for him at best.

“Why not just steal her away and keep her in the underworld with you?” I ask

“For the most part I did, she spent the majority of her time down there with me. She had no responsibilities in her realm. Her father got more and more feral everytime she went back home, even more so when she refused to tell him where she had been for months at a time. He tried to trap her each time, but she always outsmarted him. I think he gave up after the first 50 years, he still raged and tried to keep her but he never tried harder. But something in the bastard snapped when he realized she was pregnant. She always had the hope that he would eventually be at a place where she could tell him and he would accept the bond, and if she knew she was pregnant she wouldn’t have gone to him.”

We stop talking as our food and drinks are brought to our table, which I’m grateful for because it gives me a second to think and absorb everything. I can’t help but feel sad for him, so many trials and tribulations in their love story, and it resulted in her death. He must be strong indeed if he’s managed to not go crazy or waste away. I’ve heard losing a mate can slowly eat up your sanity, maybe that’s what happened to Roman’s father. I’ve known very few people who didn’t die with their mate, so I don’t know the extent but I can’t imagine it’s pretty. The waiter politely asks us if we need anything else and then leaves us to it when we refuse.

“And how do you not feel resentment towards me?” I ask, yet again swearing at the filter between by brain and mouth for not working

“You were innocent in the matter, it’s her father who is to blame. You could be in the underworld with both of us right now, having mastered your powers and not being so vulnerable to the vampires.” he says the last part with a low growl

“Why not just take me back to the underworld with you? Why leave me out here to the vampires if they’re such a threat?”

“The vampires are the lesser of two evils, my palace was infiltrated multiple times after your birth by Jeremiel’s cronies and traitors of my own. It was better to let them think you dead rather than try and hide you in the palace. Making you a werewolf was to also lead them astray, if they somehow found you there would be no explanation for the werewolf genes in you and you would be thrown aside. Believe me, you do not want Jeremiel aware that you lived. The vampires are nothing, my army of demons can neutralize that threat easily, the angels not so much. There has been war brewing between angels and demons since before I was even born.”

“Great, another person to add to the list of who wants to hunt me.” I grumble, and I almost laugh at how I’m already used to the constant threats

“Once we get you trained to your powers, it won’t seem so scary anymore.” he says reassuringly

Somehow, I can’t find any comfort or truth in that.