Page 51 of Encore
I heard a child’s voice call my name. That was Ripley’s son Michael. The crowd parted and gasped as soon as his wings popped out, and he zipped across the lobby and practically tackled me with a hug. He was five now, and I wouldn’t have been able to hold him if he hadn’t pulled his wings back in.
He'd been getting private lessons in Hell with Lucifer on how to control his wings and fly with them since I’d been babysitting for him. He wasn’t technically supposed to whip them out in front of strangers in case the other angels took offense he was alive, but sometimes, he got excited.
“Look at you!” I said. “You’re flying so well now. I’ll bet Lucifer is so proud.”
“I didn’t hitanyonethis time, Beyla.”
Gabriel swooped in and took his son from me.
“Sorry. He’s growing like a weed and probably much too heavy for you now.”
I looked at my mentors. Killian and Felix were probably the only two out of this group who had been ballet fans before they met me, but the rest of them came to every show.
I looked down, and the twins were looking up at me. Matilda was dressed like a little princess with a tiara on. That had always been her preference, and her huge Hellhound father put a lot of work into picking out the perfect tiara for her.
“You look like a ballerina princess, Matilda. Did you like the show, George?”
I had no idea if she still wanted to be called George over Tempest. She was only four, but she tended to know what she wanted and didn’t tend to change her mind much on that. Her little face beamed at me that I called her that without her having to ask me.
“You looked so pretty. Areallthose boys your boyfriends?” she asked.
She was kind of used to that. Reyson was her biological dad, but all the guys were her dads. George still liked to ask questions that tended to make people uncomfortable. I felt my guys join me.
“Of course, we’re her boyfriends,” Arden said. “All the amazing women out there have more than one like your mommy. Are the two of you twins?”
George put her hands on her hips and struck a pose.
“Duh!” she said, holding out her fist for Matilda to bump it.
The twins ended up with different fathers, but they looked like their mother. There were slight differences in eye color and some of their features, but they were pretty close to being identical like Ripley and Ravyn were.
They were all about twin power and finished each other’s sentences most of the time, but they expected everyone to know they were twins because it was pretty obvious.
“Did I just get burned by a toddler?” Arden asked.
“We’refour,” Matilda sassed.
Arden absolutely did not want to get doubled-teamed by these two. They were vicious when they worked together if someone pissed them off.
“Four?” Merlin asked. “I would have bet five. I’m definitely getting kindergarten vibes.”
Matilda and George giggled and hid behind their dads. Ripley and Ravyn stepped forward to hug me so I could introduce them to everyone and introduce their family. It was kind of surreal. They were excited to be here with us because of the performance, and my guys were completely fanboying over meeting two gods. Bevan knew Ravyn had a close relationship with Minerva Krauss, and he was about to crawl up her ass to see if he could absorb some of that knowledge rectally, which was gross and adorable.
Nicolai was fawning over Reyson to find out to grow his social media following. I wasn’t super shocked Merlin had cozied up to Loki, and I was just bracing myself for later for whatever that was going to bring. Loki deeply cared for his family, but no one was safe when he got a bug up his ass. I think Loki would consider it amusing to take Merlin as an apprentice just to prank me all the way in New York.
Arden was desperately trying to win the twins over after his perceived slight. Those two could hold some epic grudges, but they weren’t unreasonable. They already had a blood feud going with some kid from pre-k because he tried to steal Matilda’s day tiara.
The twins would forgive Arden before the night was over, but I was shocked that little warlock Cody Cromwell hadn’t been turned into a cockroach by a four-year-old demigod for upsetting her twin. That was all Ripley and Reyson.
Reyson made his money through social media and the treasure he had stashed away from the last time he walked the Earth. He was a stay-at-home dad for all of Ripley’s kids. George wore a pendant from Lilith that made everyone think she was a witch. The only reason she hadn’t exposed herself was that she had amazing parents.
Ripley pulled me into a hug.
“Girl, I love you, and the show was amazing. We’ll be here two more days to catch up, but if I don’t get these kids back to the hotel and put them to bed, I’m going to have a cranky angel, Hellhound, and demigod on my hands, and that’s an awful thing. My feet are also killing me from this vampire baby I’m growing. If we keep going, they are going to outnumber us, and it’s going to be total chaos.”
Reyson wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.
“I’m the God of Chaos. I love kids, and I can handle them.”
