“You did that? For Evan?” Fen sounded surprised. I could have told him Gray Sloane would do almost anything for the people he loved.
“No. I did it for you. Even when you were young, you loved her,” Gray said quietly. “If Evan was unhappy, you couldn’t help but feel it, too. I had halfling friends growing up who kept a hellhound or two, and they were great.”
“He talked to me about it when you were…fourteen or so.” Trent reached for the plate of bacon. “We’d come back for a couple of months but before we could make it happen we had to leave again, and we didn’t come back to the Earth plane for a couple of years.”
“I can’t leave the inner planes,” Gray explained.
“I know that, but I guess I didn’t think about it that way. You were there the first couple of years,” Fen began.
“Yes, for a few years after I descended, I was still in control.” Gray gave up all pretenses of eating. “I could still be near the children, but I would scare them sometimes when I prophesized.”
“We would be playing a game and suddenly Gray was talking about the planes running red with blood.” Evan took a sip of her coffee. “It could be disconcerting at times, and then he came to us when we were in Colorado with one of the big packs.”
“He would show up somewhere close to where we were, and this particular time I was the only one around and he was still in his demonic form.” Fen leaned in. “I changed. I did that a lot when I got scared back then. Gray didn’t seem to recognize me, and he defended himself.”
“I got there quickly and calmed the situation down, but Gray was shook,” Trent explained.
Gray turned to Fen. “Fenrir, I know I don’t deserve to have any kind of title with you, but I hope you’ll let me earn back your trust and affection.”
Fen sat back regarding Gray with serious eyes. “You never truly lost it, but I will admit I’ve felt the distance between us the last few years. I think Mom being back will help you. I know Dad tries his hardest to help center you, but I think Mom is important, too. And I think baby bro will be helpful.”
“Yeah, I recently found out about that.” Gray finally reached for the juice Eddie had placed before him. “But the fact that your mother is pregnant only makes me want to connect with you more. Trent has been your father all these years, but you should know I consider you a son. I know it sounds odd, but staying away, staying in control around you was the best way I could think of to protect you.”
“Protecting people who are hyper supernaturally strong is one of Gray’s favorite things.” I couldn’t help but needle him a little. “Especially from himself. He reads Twilight a lot.”
“I don’t…” Gray began and then a smile crossed his face and he laughed, the sound booming through the room. “I have never read Twilight.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. You got that whole ‘I’m so bad for you’ vibe going.”
The whole room suddenly seemed brighter. Evan was talking about how very Edward and Bella we seemed. Fenrir pointed out that I hadn’t left our Jacob behind. Trent then made fun of Fenrir for knowing all of these things.
“I believe I did point out the similarities of Hunter, the musical to Twilight,” Evan argued.
Oh, in all the sexy angst of the last twelve hours I’d completely forgotten about that fucking musical. I pointed Trent’s way. “How did you let that happen?”
His lips kicked up in the sweetest smirk. “Baby, I wasn’t on the plane when it was written, but you can bet I took the kiddos to see it as soon as I could. And then I wished that the supernatural world had a rating system.”
Fen’s head shook. “I mean it wasn’t like a porn, but it was not not like it.”
“It was not. The singing made it not porn,” Evan argued.
“Of all the things I wished I could have seen coming,” Gray said with a sigh. “I would probably have stopped that. Even over your mother falling into a painting and the world exploding. That musical…”
The door came open, and Casey walked in. He was looking spiffy this afternoon in slacks and a collared shirt. His eyes lit up when he realized we were all having fun. “Musical? Are you talking about my musical? You know I won a Shiftie for that.”
I felt my face go red. “You admit freely that you wrote that musical?”
Casey went still as though he realized something was about to go very wrong. “Uh, just the songs. Okay, now Kelsey, you have to know I process my emotions through music.”
I stood.
Casey turned and ran. “I regret nothing.”
I started after him. “I will make you regret…”
“Mistress.” Eddie stood in the hallway, a puzzled look on his face. “Murdering Master Casey will have to wait, though you should know he won a Shiftie for those songs.”
Apparently that was the supernatural equivalent of a Tony or something, and I did not care. “I can murder him real quick.”
Why exactly did he have to process his emotions about me? Was there a “my witchy girlfriend went bad and now serves the Earth plane’s magical autocrat” musical? I thought not.
“It has to wait,” Eddie insisted. “That book of yours, well, she’s glowing.”
I sighed. It would definitely have to wait.
I prayed the book wasn’t about to explode or open up and let all the witches of Arete walk through and join their magical master.
Maybe the trick and the trap weren’t through with me.