Page 62 of A Bloodline Redeemed

Moon put her arm around her brother and glared at me.“We won’t go.We won’t live with some old man we’ve never met.You can’t make us!”

I blinked back more tears.“I appreciate the sentiment, kid,” I told her sadly.“But unfortunately, Icanmake you.And I have to.I’m sorry.”

She stared at me for a long moment, her gaze narrowing even further.I felt her magic surge up inside her, unstable with rage, but she was too good at controlling it for it to be a problem.She didn’t hurl a spell or blast me with a discharge of angry magic.No, instead, she went right for where it would hurt most.“I hate you.”she snapped.“Ihateyou!”

Then she spun and ran away.Her brother gave me a disappointed look for making his sister cry.Then he ran off too.

I sighed and stood.

“They don’t hate you,” Hasumi said as they materialized into the room, wrapping their arms around my waist and resting their chin on my shoulder.“They’re just hurting.”

“I know,” I said softly.“And they’re right to be mad.I hate it, too.But it’s the right thing to do.You know that don’t you?”I asked, twisting slightly to meet their turquoise eyes.“We’ll be moving soon.It won’t be safe for them here.They have afamily, Hasumi.”

We’d been over it all before.We’d had a family meeting about this just yesterday.I knew Hasumi, River, and Zhong wanted to keep the kids.But it just wasn’t practical, responsible, orlegal.

Hasumi kissed the tip of my nose.“Perhaps they would rather choose their family than be delivered into the hands of a man they’ve never met before.”

I groaned and pulled away.“Not again.Look.We’ve talked.The decision has been made.And the SA wants the kids returned to their blood relative.End of story.”

I packed up the cookies I’d just finished baking and headed out to the entryway to add them to the small pile of stuff the kids would be taking with them.They had only been with us for a few weeks, but somehow they had accumulated a mountain of belongings, mostly pilfered from around the house, with the odd handmade item or toy that someone had ventured out into the real world to purchase.

Almost everyone else was there, waiting for the scheduled time for Jacki and the child welfare person to come get the kids.But now we were missing the stars of the show.And Dyre and Aahil, as well…

A little “knock” at the shields let me know that our guests had arrived.I opened up a portal to Magea, allowing Jacki and a tall, thin woman with gray hair and kind eyes to step through.

“Hello, Lovell,” Jacki said with a curt nod.She was okay people.She just had a lot on her plate, since I’d threatened her into fixing the entire Supernatural Alliance and keeping order in the two realms.

“Heya, Jacks,” I said, as if I wasn’t missing a couple of kids.“How’s it hangin’?”

She narrowed her eyes at me.“What’s wrong now?”She scanned the pile of belongings and noted the glaring lack of red-headed children.“Where are they?”

“Uh,” I said intelligently.“Oh!There they are,” I said, spotting Dyre and Aahil coming from the back of the house, each carrying a runaway.“Of course.”

“Hello, little ones,” the tall lady said with a soft smile as the guys approached with the twins.“I’m Celeste.I’m going to take you back home and make sure you’re well cared for with your uncle.He’s so excited to meet you.”

“No.”

I raised my eyebrows at the ringing tone of finality in Dyre’s deep voice.That was his necromancer voice.The one that commanded undead armies and revenant angels.The same voice that always fiercely protected the kids from literallyeverythingaround them.

His violet eyes met mine for a moment and I saw a flash of desperation there before he hardened his gaze and returned to glaring at Jacki and her friend Celeste.Oh.Oh goddess, how could I have been so blind?

As a rule, I tried not to pry too much into my lovers’ hearts and minds using our newly strengthened bonds.But now, I let the link to Dyre open more than usual, let his emotions and his thoughts flow through me.His violet eyes met mine again when he felt the connection widen, and I saw what he had been feeling all this time.Fuck.

Not just protectiveness.Yearning.A fierce, desperatelonging.This cold, scarred, dark-magic wielding man had been completely enthralled by the twins since the moment he laid eyes on them.Orphaned.Used by their fellow witches for their uniquely powerful magic.Sweet little red-heads just like him.Like the baby he never had the chance to know.

He had met them, held them in his arms, heard their laughter, been their protector… he loved them for who they were, of course.But he also loved them,neededthem fiercely, for what they represented—a second chance at the life he’d had ripped away from him so long ago.The chance to be a father—something he’d longed for once, but never thought would ever be possible.

“What was that?”Jacki snapped.

“I said no,” Dyre repeated, returning his attention back to the SA agent and the child welfare person, dampening the link between us as he did.“They aren’t going with you.They belong with us.”

Damn it, I could see Hasumi smirking out of the corner of my eye.The water weaver had known something like this was going to happen.That was probably why they hadn’t argued more about keeping the kids.Because they knew there was no way in hell we would be able to give them back, in the end.

“You can’t justkeepsomeone else’s relatives,” Celeste said, her voice still kind, but starting to tip over into offended.

Aahil jiggled Moon up a little higher on his hip, and brushed her hair back out of her face casually before looking at the woman before him.“Do you want to go with them?”he asked Moon in a calm, easy voice.

She shook her head fiercely.“No!We want to stay here!”

---