“Papa, brother,I would like to introduce you to His Royal Highness Ishildur, one of the princes of hell's heirs. Ishildur, please meet biological my father, Alpha Maykal Ivanova, and my oldest brother, Declan Ivanova, and my good friends Layton Hound, Saint and River Knight” I say all this low enough that only us seven can hear, so I don’t yell his actual name, the water could carry it too well, and it’s not safe for others to have his name.
“Shall we take this conversation inside? We have a few problems to deal with tonight that have to do with my daughter.” Dad seems to take diplomacy in his stride. I inwardly flinch, feeling like I am causing more problems than I’m worth, something I know the demons catch, but none of the others do.
Ishildur, or Ishi, as I call him, takes a breath, closes his eyes and let’s go of my face; there seems to be a group sigh. When I’m free, he turns and sends a single command to his troops.
“Leave” All but two leave. He glances over his shoulder at me, and I nod, stepping back to make room for Angel and Evan to appear flanking Ishi. Yes, that’s their proper names; they look different every time I see them. They are what’s known as chameleon demons. The only things that never change are Angel’s black and shocking pink mohawk, Evan’s variegated blue 90s curtain fringe, and their tattoos. They will give Jenson a runfor his money on mischief, too.
“Papa, these are Ishi's right and left hands, basically his betas. They will also share a mate when he is born,” I tell my dad, and he nods, putting his arm around my shoulders. I can feel a slight tremor in his touch, and I think the physical contact is to remind himself that I’m here and I’m safe
“Let's go to my office while Dad keeps Jameson entertained with Nic and Luc.”
Our party moves to Dad's office; Ren, Creed and Brayden meet us there. I make it to a vibrating Ren as Bas enters with drinks.
“I’m okay. He would never hurt me,” I whisper against his chest, his face presses against his bite marks, as he takes some deep, calming breaths.
“I love you”,I breathe.
“Erm, smudge, can you explain the look I’m getting from the scary demon trio, and let me know if I need to cover my junk or pee myself?” Creed says, half stage whisper, half nervous, chuckle. I turn to look at the 'scary demon trio' and raise an eyebrow; their eyes flash to me, and then they mumble a sorry and take a seat on a couch together.
“I need to explain some stuff, but not right now; you don’t need to pee, and your junk is probably the safest in the room,” I say to Creed with a smile; he gives me a nod and kisses me just below my right eye, he nicknamed me smudge because, around when we first met I used a piece of coal from the fire one time to do some drawing and had a smudge on my face below my eye.
Angel
Seeinglittle flameagain was a kick in the nuts; when I pulled her out of the pool at the Tank, she was nearly starved and barely holding her head above water; humans are lucky there isn’t a crater where that building is.
To see her now with some of her friends and family is doing things to my hearts that I didn’t know I could feel. Ember does introductions again, adding in the new people, the Incubi, who called us the scary demon trio, Creed; I make a note to get his number before I leave. I’m not fussed by the others, and I’m not listening to Ember now; she knows I’m the wild card... wait, what?
“TWIN?” I blurt out, and she smiles knowingly at me.
“Yes, Angel, it seems my twin Brayden got the height, muscles and alters in the womb”, she says, pointing at the younger version of the Alpha she called Papa. The Beta smiles at her.
“Yes, but you got the beauty and brains, baby sister” All the others agree with him; he's pretty, but she is beautiful; he kisses the crown of her head; it’s strange to see, to be honest, the only people I have that familiarity with is Evan and Ishildur, minus the few hugs from Ember and Evan’s sister when we’ve seen her, wonder if I can have one before we leave. I wonder if these people will be all hugs and shoulder pats when they discover what we are to her.
Ember
After the introductions are done, Ishi stands.
“The Lennox Pack hired my earthbound company to retrieve a stolen mate; as I said, we were offered female offspring,” he states matter-of-factly, while looking at me. I hear Saint growl, so I move over to him.
“When I was in the Den, Ishi was offered the same deal as you! He killed every single guard because of it! But his father forbade him from removing me, the fates said I needed to be there” I inform Saint. The rest know what happened with us in the Pit. Saint looks at the Royal Demon and gives him a nod, and Ishi continues.
“I would have hidden her and kept her safe, but until I seal the bond with our mate, we can only spend so long on earth, and I trust my earthbound staff as much as most do their receptionists. I’ve never liked the idea of people giving over babies for deals, and I tend to save the baby if offered one as payment or if I’m retrieving one. Even if Ember wasn’t the female I was here to collect, we would have asked where she wanted to go” Dad relaxes at this, turning to me.
“Was it someone from the Lennox Pack that hurt you?” I feel Ren Tense; he’s standing behind me again, even though I’m still holding Saint's hand.
“Trent said the bastard shifted, and they couldn’t track him”, Declan chimes in.
“Yes, he was the Alpha's nephew, but I don’t know his name” Dad nods. Saint, Declan, and Ishi start to make agreements and swap details, most of the others listening in; I notice Evan watching me.
When I walk over, he hands me his phone with a cheeky smile, showing off his dimples. River appears at my back, shadows wrapping around me. Evan and I share eye rolls, but if it makes the others feel safer, I will ignore it for now.
I take the phone, add my number and send a text to myself. Ihand it back as Angel's phone is thrust into my hand; I nearly drop it as Evan speaks.
“Fank Ewe”, he rarely speaks to anyone but Angel and Ishi as he has a severe speech impairment. I text myself from Angel’s phone and pass it back.
“You’re welcome; I will explainAeternus Flammato the others.” Evan nods, and Ishi comes over and hands me his phone.
“I want to hear regularly from you,little flame. Don’t make me go through your Papa,” I smile, returning the phone.
