“Mallory?” Mom said, “Isn’t that the name of Nik’s mate?”
“He’s my younger brother,” Kendrick finally spoke.
Mom nodded, though I couldn’t tell if it was a good nod or a bad one. Not that I cared either way. We weren’t staying long.
“Come along,” Mom started for the dining room, and just expected us to follow. “Birch is here. He came for the entire dinner. Such a good boy, he is.”
“Damn,” Kendrick whispered under his breath to me. “Shots fired. Who is Birch?”
“My asshole brother,” I whispered back.
“Do your parents have a thing against humans?”
“Eh,” I waved my hand in a back and forth motion. “It’s complicated. Goes back thousands of years and the human/elf wars.”
He crinkled his nose adorably. “That was a thing? That really happened?”
“I guess,” I shrugged. “Before my time. Mom also has this weird idea about inter-species breeding. She’s desperate for a grandchild.” Glancing around at all my siblings, I added, “I have no clue why. She’s still got plenty of kids of her own living at home, and I’m almost positive one of my brothers sent me a birth announcement some time ago.”
“Ahhh, but she wants her first born to have a baby,” Kendrick grinned, slipping his hand in mine. When I looked at our interlocked hands, he simply said, “We are dating, remember?”
“Yeah, she’s disappointed you’re a human, because deep down she doesn’t see there being any real chance of getting a grandchild from our relationship. But she would never openly say that.”
“Wow,” Kendrick muttered, as we entered the massive dining room, which was large enough to hold two long tables that seated twenty each.
“Sorry,” I told him sincerely, feeling the need to apologize for my parents. “I won’t let them be mean to you. We’ll just leave if we need to.”
Kendrick winked at me. “I can hold my own, don’t worry.”
“I have no doubt,” I assured him, holding out an empty chair for him, and sliding it forward when he sat. Taking the empty seat next to him, I nodded curtly at my brother. “Birch.”
“Balfour.” He turned and whispered something to the pretty elf next to him, who in turn peered around him to stare at me. I assumed this was the neighbor that my parents’ had wanted me to meet.
“Are you going to introduce me?” Kendrick asked, side-eyeing Birch.
“Not if I can help it,” I replied blandly, glancing around to see if there were any other siblings I recognized. There were a few, but for the life of me, I couldn’t remember their names. “Would you like some dessert or are you still full from dinner at your brothers?”
“Well, it would be impolite to not eat, wouldn’t it?”
“Does my face look like I care about being impolite?”
To my surprise, Kendrick cupped my cheek with his hand, leaning in close to me. So close I could feel his breath on my lips, or at least I imagined I could. My dick definitely imagined it could, because it perked right up.
“Maybe try smiling,” Kendrick whispered to me, his free hand resting casually on my thigh. Fire burned where he touched me, and I shifted in my chair. “Act like you want to be here.”
“I don’t want to be here,” I told him honestly. “I hate coming here. It’s too noisy.”
Dad came in then, carrying a tray with different pie slices on it. He stopped at every one of my siblings, before making his way to Kendrick and me.
“Pumpkin, apple, cherry, pecan. Take your pick.” He named off the various assortment before us.
“Ohh, pecan, please,” Kendrick acted excited, but I shook my head.
“I’m still full from dinner, thanks though.”
“Humph,” Dad muttered, moving on to Birch and his date, who I strongly suspected was supposed to have been my date. What was her name? Adair? Adele? Something with an A I was fairly certain.
Kendrick slapped my thigh lightly. “Stop being rude.” He sank his fork into the pie, holding the bite out to me. “You know you want it.”
