Chapter 42
After materializing on the country lane in front of the cottage, Lucius felt his tension dissipate. He was finally home, a place where his soul could breathe again and his heart be filled with love. He now knew it’d been fifty years since Valerian took that feeling away from him and yet, he would’ve sworn it was less than a year. Chuckling quietly, it was easy to make that assumption, especially since he looked exactly the same as he had before becoming a vampire. Learning about this phenomenon in the paranormal world shouldn’t have surprised him, but it did, making him wonder how old his mate was. Shaking himself out of his musings when he heard his mate’s efforts to quell his queasiness, Lucius quickly turned to Brady, sitting down beside him.
Waving his hand in front of his bent head, Brady murmured, “I’m fine,leelan. It seems to be getting less annoying each time we translocate. Are you ready to see the inside of your new home?”
Lucius’ eyes gleamed with excitement. “Like inside, inside? I thought we can’t because of a spell.”
“I asked Mystia to remove it last time when she returned with Jackson,” Brady replied.
“Wah hoo!” Lucius grinned, doing a fist pump.
Getting to his feet, Brady intertwined his fingers with his mate’s, tugging him up to join him. “It’s small…just two bedrooms.”
Frowning, Lucius asked, “I won’t be sleeping with you?”
“Oh no…I mean, yes…if you want to,” Brady said, blushing at the image of his sexy mate next to him in bed.
Nodding, Lucius headed for the gate, pulling his mate with him. “Of course, I do.” Then a thought occurred to him causing him to stop and look at Brady. “That’s what mates do, right? Sleep together?”
“Absolutely,” Brady responded. “I just didn’t want you to think I was ordering you to do it.”
Resuming his trek to the gate, Lucius replied, “Please don’t do that.”
“Do what?” asked Brady, slightly confused.
Swirling around, Lucius faced his mate. “Assume I’ll think you’re trying to control me…like Valerian did. Because I know you’re not…you’re nothing like him.”
Looking sheepishly at his mate, Brady replied, “Sorry…I’m so used to doing it with the low-level magic users…”
“Why with them?” asked Lucius before continuing on to the entrance.
Sighing, Brady was silent for a moment, before explaining. “Once they reported to the Witches’ Governing Council, all their rights were stripped from them and, from that point on, they learned not to speak up…not a thought or even an opinion. For instance, they would never be given a choice about having a bedroom for themselves.”
“What did they do?” asked Lucius.
“Nothing…that was the problem. Whatever they were told they did. They reacted the same way with me…even when I told them things they should have asked questions about. It drove me up the wall. So, my solution was to start asking them questions that required opinions, like, ‘There are two bedrooms…which do you want…and why’?”
“Did it work?” asked Lucius.
“Well, let’s just say in the end, it did.”
Smiling, Lucius pictured his mate sitting in silence, trying to keep his frustration in check. Reaching for the gate latch, he said, “Valerian’s way was to issue orders…but I still had my own thoughts; I just learned to keep them to myself. But I know I don’t have to do that with you. You can tell me about the two bedrooms, but also tell me about one of them being ours…just trust me to speak up if I’d rather have a room for myself.”
Shutting the gate behind them, Brady reached for his mate’s other hand. Holding them up to his lips, he kissed them both, before saying, “I can do that…now, what do you want to do first? Meet the girls or see the inside of our home?”
“Inside, please,” Lucius replied, his voice brimming with excitement. Ever since his first glimpse of it, the old, stone cottage covered with ivy touched his heart and spoke to his soul in a way he hadn’t experienced for half a century. Now, his wish was going to come true. Approaching the bright pink door, he grinned. “Pink is my mother’s favorite color.”
“Then she and I have something in common,” said Brady, “It’s my favorite, too.” Drawing an old iron key from his pocket, he inserted it into the padlock and turned it, listening to the sounds of the old tumblers as they fell into place. Removing the key, he grasped the doorknob, turning it until the door opened. But instead of pushing it in totally, he looked at Lucius first. “You can change anything you don’t like, so don’t feel it has to be kept the way it is.”
“I won’t, promise. And I know if I hate the green, polka-dotted orange chair you spent a year looking for, you won’t take it personally.”
A burst of laughter escaped from Brady. “A green polka-dotted orange chair? Really?”
“Well…I figure there must be something really ugly in there since you felt the need to warn me.”
Grinning at his mate, Brady shoved the door wide open. “After you,leelan.”
Giving his mate a smirk, Lucius turned and stepped inside, stopping in awe of what he saw. It was better than anything he could have dreamt—from the small, rose, chintz-covered love seat to the old highly polished carved wooden bookcase filled with old books. Even the stone fireplace looked inviting—just waiting for someone to light the waiting kindling. The room exuded warmth and coziness, much like his mate. It was perfect and he never wanted to leave. Sinking down in a heavily padded arm chair, he looked out the sparkling, clean windows, realizing he could see Brady’s girls bobbing in a light breeze.
