Thorn shook his head at his son. “Leave, demons. Or you’re going to regret being stupid. Which as I said is terminal. Stay and I’ll show you exactly how terminal it is.”
They vanished instantly.
E.T. growled. “Really? You’re as bad as Mom.”
Thorn’s eyes turned a vibrant red. “I’m so much worse than your mother. Never forget that, Ian. She’s your sympathetic parent who carried you inside her body. I don’t have that attachment.”
He started past Thorn, who gently took his arm. “What’s going on with you, kid?”
“I want to know more about my demonic kin.”
“I’ll send you a scrapbook.”
Simi bit her lip as she saw the defiance in E.T.’s eyes. He had a lot of his daddy in him.
A lot.
She’d never realized that before because he’d always been such a sweetie baby. What happened to that perfect little angel boy who used to sit on the floor, eating potato chips and playing cars with his Simi sitter?
The man in front of her was angry. Defiant. He reminded her a lot of Thorny when akri-Thorn had been that age.
Except E.T. wasn’t nearly as scary.
“This is such bullshit!”
Thorn growled. “Enough!”
“Or what? You’ll ground me, Dad?”
The look on Thorny’s face was enough to make Simi take a step back. Sadly, E.T. didn’t have the same level of self-preservation.
“This isn’t a game, kid. There’s a war coming and you don’t want to be on the wrong side of it.”
E.T. actually had the nerve to roll his eyes. “You sound like Mom. There’s always the end of the world looming. Since we’re tap dancing on a constant landmine, why can’t I have fun before the Malachai or whatever destroys us?”
Thorn wasn’t having any of it. “Fun comes after you grow up and stop acting like a baby. Go home, E. Don’t make me have to spank you in public.”
The look in E.T.’s eyes said that he was tempted to push his father to that point.
Simi understood. She’d been known to press her luck with akri a lot more than she should. Although, compared to akri sons with akra-Tory …
The Simi was a delight for her akri. Bas and Terry had been making akri crazy since they hit their teens and turned all lippy with their daddy.
Kind of like E.T. and Thorny. Only worse ’cause Bas and Terry knew their grandmother would protect them from akri no matter how mad they made him. Akra-Polly had become exceptionally protective of her grandboys.
Even over akri.
It was funny sometimes. Scary most times.
“You two can’t run my life. I’m grown!” E.T. looked at Simi as if he knew she understood his frustrations.
And she did. “I have the same argument with my akri, too. It okay, E. Growing up is hard and there were times when the Simi hated it all.” She still had her issues with it, but she was getting more accustomed to being an adult … ish.
Thorn sighed heavily. “No one is trying to run your life. We’re trying to keep you from ruining. And keep you safe.”
“No one is going to mess with me. Not given who I’m related to.”
Simi widened her eyes. “Oh, that’s not true, E. Trust the Simi. There are lots of beings out there who will mess with you exactly ’cause who you related to. Even the Simi gets messed with ’cause of akri and everyone knows akri would eat the head of anyone who hurt his Simi.”
