Page 32 of Marcello
“That wasn’t the case at all,” I told him. “I am unsure of Rio still. I’ve met him only once more than you have, and I cannot help but be a bit unsure of him around you and our unborn children. It is simply how things are. You are my newly claimed beloved. He is an unknown, and I still feel unease.”
Abel raised his eyebrows at me. “Is that all?”
I nodded. “Yes. I apologize if you feel that I am anything but excited about our babies. I very much want you and them. One alone changes the dynamic of how things will be, but two certainly adds to that.”
Abel tilted his head. “How so?”
I gave his hands a squeeze before I stood and picked him up. He laughed as I turned and sat down where he’d been sitting. “It changes,” I told him after I was settled on the sofa, “because I have not only you to protect, but both of our babies as well. I will ask that you please do not leave the villa without me.”
Abel snorted. “I don’t even leave the room. That’s funny that you would think I would leave the villa.”
“You are welcome to walk about and explore the villa and the grounds freely. There is no threat here, but outside of the villa’s grounds is a very ugly and unpredictable world. Especially once it gets out that you are mine.”
Abel reached up and touched my cheeks with a huge smile on his face. “Am I still yours?” he asked. I would have thought he was teasing, except I could tell that he wasn’t.
“Tell me what’s going on. You know you will always be mine. Why would you think otherwise?”
Abel’s smile dimmed a bit, and he dropped his hands. “You’ve been distant since I got sick. I don’t understand what’s going on because you’re not open with me. I’ve tried to reach out through our bond, but I don’t get much of a response. You’repulling away a bit, and although I expected things to calm down between us, I didn’t think it would happen so soon.”
I ran my fingers through Abel’s hair, hoping that the gesture soothed him a bit. I knew it did me. “I did not mean for you to feel as if I am pulling away. I very much want you in my life and desire you as much now as I did over a year ago when I first scented and then saw you.” I cupped his face, hoping I was explaining myself clearly. “You are my world. And if anything were to happen to you, I would never forgive myself because it would undoubtedly be my fault because of who I am.” I leaned in and kissed Abel gently. “I want nothing more than to have you and our children safe. There is a lot happening, and I apologize now, but there will be times that I am needed here at the villa as well as elsewhere for certain things.”
We would deal with those things when the time came, but for now, things were quiet. Too quiet, which was why Vincent and I both believed that Sandro just wasn’t taking time to come to terms with the fact that his brother had been killed. Actually, most of the coven felt the same, I was certain.
“I don’t like that,” Abel said.
“What?”
My beloved sighed. “Your job. Yourfamilyand what they do. I know you can’t change that, and I had a choice to not become involved, and I chose to be with you anyway.” Abel leaned against my chest and laid his head on my shoulder. “That doesn’t mean I have to like every aspect about what it is that you do. Or the fact that I’ve been kidnapped, and now I’m here, cut off from everything and everyone.”
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I was going to talk to you about that,” I told him.
“About what?”
“You haven’t called anyone since you’ve been here. I understand we’ve been pretty wrapped up in one another, but I wondered if there was a friend that you wanted to talk to?”
I could feel Abel playing with the buttons on my shirt. “I would like to at least message Lewis. He was there that night. We’d gotten dinner together, and he had always been so nice when I would stop in at the bakery.” Abel sat up. “I don’t have a phone. Mine doesn’t work here, and it’s probably so dead now it won’t turn on without being charged.” My beloved shrugged. “And I don’t have access to any of my money. Even if my card would work here, I can’t exactly go out and get a new phone.”
I would like to say that I would have eventually taken care of these things for my beloved in another week or two, but one never knew.
“You are welcome to use my phone anytime,” I told him. “We will get you one that works here, but for now, you can use mine.” I pointed to the side table that was under a mirror over by the table where we ate. “Yours is over there. It is plugged in, but no, it won’t work here. As for cards, if you need or wish to go shopping for anything, I have cards that you can use.” Abel would have access to everything of mine, and I would see to that this afternoon. He was going to need, at a minimum, a few outfits that were pregnancy-friendly. Especially since he was carrying twins because he was going to show sooner than I thought either of us realized.
“I don’t think anyone would respond to an unknown international number.”
“You just have to let them know it’s you when you reach out.” I leaned to the side and grabbed my phone out of my pocket, then handed it to Abel.
“It’s not locked?”
“Should it be? There is nothing on that phone that I need to hide. I have another phone, a work one, that goes with me whenI’m out taking care of things,” I told him. I knew my job was a sore spot between us and always would be. “It is locked, but it, too, has very little on it.”
Abel held up the phone in his hand. “So this one what? Has nothing on it?”
I swiped to wake it again. “It has things on it,” I told him as I opened the contacts. “Here are the personal numbers of others in the coven.” I scrolled while Abel held the phone and then closed the contacts. “There are some things on it, but I do a lot of things, such as shopping and banking, on the computer in my office.”
Abel’s eyes widened. “How did I not realize you have an office?” He handed me the phone and then got up from my lap. “Oh yeah. Because you keep things locked up and don’t let me in.” Abel walked away and quietly closed the bathroom door.
I groaned and let my head fall back onto the sofa. He wasn’t wrong. I did keep part of myself locked up. But obviously, I was blocking too many things because my beloved was upset. I sat there for a minute, and when Abel didn’t return from the bathroom, I reached out through our bond.
“Mio angelo? Are you all right?”
