His nerves were making me anxious. We hadn’t seen any Hive since the restaurant, but I had no idea what that meant. Could they beam in and out like Star Trek characters? Appear out of nowhere? Maybe they had invisibility suits? Or maybe they gave up and went home, back to whatever hell planet they came from and decided to leave me alone.
Yep. Definitely taking that last option.
I rang the doorbell and waited. A couple minutes later an elderly man opened the door. He was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of brown shorts and matching sneakers. One leg was titanium from the knee down. “How can I—” He stopped midsentence, his gaze going wide when he noticed Kai. “Well, I’ll be damned. Another one of you fellas. Come in! Come in!”
Kai and I exchanged confused looks as Mr. Kaur opened his door wide and stepped back to allow us to enter. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I walked in but stopped short at the entry hall where the walls were filled with neatly framed, family photos.
“Is that an Atlan Warlord?” I leaned forward to get a better look at a family portrait the size of a large poster. I didn’t think people ever really wanted pictures this big to hang in their homes. There was no missing it.
Kai looked over my shoulder. “That is Warlord Braun.” He sounded as confused as I felt.
“Yes. That’s my family. He married—or I guess you fellas call it ‘mated’—my granddaughter, Angela.” His joyous grin was contagious. “And those are my great grandbabies. They’re about six months old.”
Holy shit. They were huge. Guess with an Atlan for a father, that was no surprise.
Inspecting each photograph more closely, I noticed the warlord appeared to truly be part of this man’s family. There was a large group photo with Mr. Kaur, a middle-aged man who appeared to be Mr, Kaur’s son with his arm around a black woman I assumed was his wife. Warlord Braun was seated next to them, his arm around the waist of a young woman I assumed was his mate. She wore mating cuffs. The resemblance between herself and her parents was unmistakable.
Mr. Kaur had a warlord in his family? “Where do they live?”
“The Colony. He’s one of those integrated fellas.” He looked over at Kai. “You get captured by the Hive, too?”
“Yes.” I expected Kai to elaborate. He did not. Mr. Kaur didn’t appear to expect more of an explanation because he kept talking.
“Sorry to hear that, son. Glad you made it out alive.”
The silence after Mr. Kaur’s statement made my heart drop into my stomach. Apparently, Kai didn’t want to talk about it. Time to change the subject.
“Is that Angela, holding one of the babies?” I knew it must be, but I wanted to know for sure. Here was a girl who had gone through what I was experiencing with Kai right now, a bad boy, a beast, waltzing into my life and taking it over. Literally, taking me over.
“Yes. I miss that girl. Don’t get to see her as often as I’d like. She used to come over every couple days. Now I only see her a few times a year. Guess since she lives on a whole different planet, I can’t complain. Braun’s good to her and the babies. That’s all I care about.”
Those babies left me breathless. Twins. The warlord and his mate each held one of the adorable little ones. Chubby cheeks. Bright eyes. Big, happy smiles. They looked big enough to be at least a year old. Six months? How big were they when they were born? “Do Atlans have a lot of twins?”
Mr. Kaur chuckled. “No. That’s my daughter’s fault. Twins run in the family on her mother’s side.” His chuckles evolved into full laughter. “Braun passed out when she told him. Funniest damn thing I ever saw. Fell over like a tree.”
His glee was contagious and I found myself giggling at the idea of a giant, beast of a man fainting just because he found out he was going to be a father.
Did Kai want children? I’d always dreamed about having a family, if—and this was a huge if—I could find a man who would stick around, not cheat, and be a decent father. Something told me Kai could do all those things.
But did he want to? He hadn’t told me anything. Not really. Other than assuring me he would protect me and that he would understand if I refused his claim. Didn’t inspire confidence in his feelings about the situation. Did he even want a mate?
I turned to find him hypnotized by the portrait, just as I had been. His face was a blank slate, gave nothing away. Was he hiding his reaction because the idea of a family repulsed him? Or because he wanted it so desperately, he didn’t know how to respond? I wanted to ask, but now wasn’t the time.
Suddenly the mating cuffs gave me a feeling of claustrophobia, of being trapped with a mate and a future I knew nothing about. I didn’t know if he wanted ten children or none. I didn’t know anything about his past, his family, or what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. I knew nothing except his beast took one look, decided he wanted to claim me, and the sex was fantastic.
Orgasms were a nice start, but they didn’t make a life. Was this disconnect between Kai and his beast the reason he’d acted so strangely in the bathroom? So formal? He’d fucked me up against the wall in the shower and then spoken in a stilted, awkward manner as soon as the beast was gone and he returned to himself.
The beast made no bones about it. He was obsessed with me. Did Kai the man even like me? He knew nothing about me. We were two strangers pretending to be in a serious relationship. The only one who had zero doubt—Kai’s beast—filled me up with his huge cock, made me come until I was a wrung-out mess, then disappeared.
I was mated to a ghost. A beast ghost. Not Kai. What did that mean for our future?
“You all right, young lady?” Mr. Kaur’s gentle question pulled my attention from the smiling young woman, her warlord, and their two, adorable babies. My heart hurt from looking at them. Did I ache because I wanted that life? Didn’t want it? Or wanted it and couldn’t have it?
“Yes. Sorry. I’m Larkspur. This is Warlord Kai. I’m from the vet clinic. From last night? You brought in a cat?”
“Yes, yes. Neighbors asked me to feed him while they’re on vacation. They let him roam. Reckless, if you ask me—which they didn’t.” Mr. Kaur walked deeper into the house, waving his arm to indicate we should follow. “Got him out back with Howard. Figure maybe the little gators will stay away with a big one in the yard.”
“Howard? Is that the cat?”
