Page 25 of Pleasantly Undead in Dark River

Lucius watched the whole thing, his face screwed up. Not in disgust or anger. But he seemed… perplexed maybe? He met my eyes, and looked at me like he wanted to open up my chest and see what made me tick. It was terrifying, but earnest all at once.

My feelings for Lucius were a bit of a mess.

“Yes. The Beta was easy to collect. Most have no interest in a Beta wolf. They are a literal dime a dozen. I bought her from the dealer without much trouble.” I tensed my jaw, but he held up a hand. “I just wanted to get her papers. Then I followed him to his car and painted the interior red. You told me to make it hurt, so I tore him limb from limb. Started with his tootsies. Then I set the car on fire.” I couldn’t help the smile that spread over my face at this unhinged killer calling toes ‘tootsies’. “I thought perhaps you’d like that.”

Oh. He thought I liked the dismembering part. Well I didn’t not like it, but it didn’t fill me with glee. Actually, the idea of ripping a person apart made me feel a little queasy but I didn’t say so. Instead, I said, “Uh, thank you?”

Lucius grinned, showing actual dimples. Good Lord. “You’re welcome.” He looked so pleased with himself, I kind of wanted to hug him.

“And Christopher? The Alpha?”

Lucius frowned, the levity leaving his face. “He’d been sold to an organization who runs underground cage fighting matches. They get them young and teach them to be inhuman. Like the gladiators of old, they teach them nothing but pain and winning. They were a little more, hmm, recalcitrant. Did not want to give up an Alpha pup. They are quite a rare find to come across so young. Normally they are stolen from the packs. From what I can see from the Omega and Beta’s papers, the Alpha of their pack happily sold them to the dealer. He was also their father. Dam is listed as deceased.”

“Their father?”

Christopher appeared. “Our father is our Alpha.” Behind him were two small girls, an inch or two shorter than Christopher. Enit, the tiny omega was the smallest, and her hair was as white in her human form as it was in her wolf form. Carmen was a little taller, and her chin jutted out as if she was daring one of us to come for them. She was tough, Beta be damned. Christopher stood in front of them, like his five year old form could take on a room full of vampires and an Alpha shapeshifter.

Brody stepped forward. “Not any more. That man might be your sire, but that is all. He is not an Alpha. He is a disgrace to the label.”

Christopher’s eyes shot to Brody, and though his body shook, he didn’t look away. He held Brody’s eyes longer than most would, but eventually his eyes shifted toward the ground. He subtly tilted his head, baring his throat.

Brody knelt down, but he was smiling. “No. I will earn your respect as your Alpha. Or I’ll find you a Pack where you’ll be happy. No one will force you to do anything again. I swear it.”

The last part of his statement was filled with power, which made Enit shake until Carmen wrapped her arm around her sister's shoulder. Christopher looked at Brody, and then around at the rest of the room.

I don’t know what he saw, but he nodded. “Okay. Carmen is hungry.” But even as he said it, I heard his stomach rumble.

The front door opened again. Nico walked in and looked at all the people filling out my living room. He held up a bag. “I heard we are having tiny house guests. I made a trip to town.”

God. I could have kissed him in that moment. I didn’t know who told him, probably Brody, but Nico always knew what to do. Accidentally inherit a bakery? Nico was there. Accidentally get gifted three children? Nico knew what to do.

I mouthed, “Thank you,” from where I stood and then when he zipped back with a stack of pizza piled ten high, I knew I was going to kiss the hell out of him later. Maybe I could thank him properly, with my mouth on those sexy fucking ridges on his stomach.

My body clenched, and every adult in the room’s eyes swung toward me like sharks smelling blood in the water. I found Lucius’ eyes, and if anyone embodied the shark analogy, it was him. So different from his twin, but also similar. Not just in looks, but in mannerisms. The way he smiled with his whole face. The way his eyebrows drew together when he was trying to work out something complex, namely me. The way he spoke. The way he gestured with his hands. It was all so like Nico. But he was like the darkness to Nico’s sunshine. You couldn’t have one without the other, and that kind of scared the hell out of me.

I dragged my eyes back to Nico, and he was looking between me and his blood splattered twin with that frown on his face. “Lucius,” he said softly, and there was an incredible amount of past hurt and history in the way he said his twin's name.

Lucius cocked his head to the side, still more animal than man, but something there was more human than when I first met him. Back then, he’d been a monster trapped in a beautiful body like Nico’s. He was cold and only that monster had stared back out at me.

Now, there was something else in there. Like the Lucius who had once been a human, once had emotions and love, was peeking back out from behind the monster. If he tasted my blood, my pleasure, who would stare back out at me then?

“Nicolai. It is good to see you.”

I saw the tension flow out of Nico. “Good to see you too, Lucius. More than you know.”

Lucius nodded, but his eyes slid back to me. Well, that was tense.

“As much as I am loving this Lifetime Movie moment, can we eat the pizza already? I’ve worked hard and I have a hunger that will not be tamed,” Judge interrupted.

I didn’t think he was talking about pizza either.

Chapter Fourteen

Iwatched Christopher load up the plates of both his sisters, pushing them close to their bodies so no one could steal it, before he placed even a single slice on his own plate. Even then, he watched them, making sure they ate, and watched us in case we made a move to take their food. I don’t know what it was like before, but this was an ingrained behavior and it broke my heart.

We all chatted like there weren't three small children at the table ravenously consuming a pizza each, at least until Brody whispered, “Easy. You don’t want to throw up.” There was the tiniest touch of Alpha power to his voice, but then, it could have been the normal way you spoke to children. How was I to know? But Christopher looked at him, frowning, before slowing down his chewing. Carmen glared at Brody, her little chin lifting as she chewed with deliberate slowness.

Judge’s lips twitched. “I like this one. She’s gonna raise hell, aren’t you?”

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