Page 68 of House of Kallan
“Hello,” I said.
“Why are you sitting here by yourself?” the other asked. “I’m Jasper, human bed slave to the family of witches.” He pointed to where the rest of their kids were playing with the three-year-old.
“Ew, Dad,” the kid said.
“This is Casper. Although he blames me for his absence of magic, I didn’t actually sire him.”
Casper glowered at him and slipped from his lap to stomp away. The other man chuckled. “You love to embarrass that kid.”
Jasper grinned. “He’s fine. He could probably give us all a lesson on the birds and the bees. Fucking kid knows everything, I swear.”
“I’m Merrik. Not a bed slave, though I’m also not opposed to that profession if my family would prefer,” the first man said.
I laughed.
“The little girl is mine,” Merrik said, pointing into the gaggle of witchling kids.
“I’m also not a bed slave, sadly enough,” Jasper said.
Shaking my head, still laughing, I said, “I’m Tatum. Also not a bed slave.”
“Of course, you’re not. You’re the Director of Haven. Tyrus hasn’t stopped talking about you,” Jasper said. “All good things, I assure you, but I think you might be his idol.”
That made me all warm and gooey inside. “That’s sweet. He’s a good guy.”
“He’s a fucking anomaly that we all love the fuck out of,” Merrik said, shaking his head. “Just when we think we have that fucker figured out, he goes and falls in love with a damn newborn. And the man lacks the emotional range to actually love!” He shook his head.
“I think we could all take notes from Tyrus,” Jasper said.
“Or Bellamy. That crazy ass just absconded Bael from Tyrus. That’s the first time I’ve seen Tyrus look murderous and confused at the same time,” Merrik said, shaking his head.
Bellamy skipped off—yes, he was practically skipping—as he brought the baby to the nightmare. My body stiffened as I held my breath. I think the entire yard watched, transfixed and so silent you could hear everyone’s heartbeat, as he retook his seat in the nightmare’s lap.
“Oh fuck,” Jasper said, sitting forward.
The rest of the demons in the yard converged, but none quicker than Tyrus, who also climbed on the nightmare’s lap. The nightmare just stared at the infant. I almost wished I were closer so I could really read the expression on his face.
Eventually he looked up, meeting the gazes of the demons hovering around him. Whatever they saw made the lot of them back up and retake their various seats. I wasn’t sure I saw anything comforting there; he was just as blank-faced as before.
“Is this normal?” I asked.
“Yep,” Jasper said. “Believe it or not, Bellamy has very littlefear in that compact body of his. I’ve seen that man walk into a burning building because there was a kitten in a window. His family has grown more gray hairs since his arrival.”
Merrik laughed. “It’s well worth seeing.”
“But to answer your question, yes,that’snormal,” Jasper said, nodding towards where Tyrus, Bellamy, and Bael were in the nightmare’s lap. “Tyrus and Ryker immediately found a familiarity with each other when they met and the only one outside of their respective families who tend to be able to handle them is Bryn, the fouke that’s sitting close to them.”
“I think it’s just his ultra calm voice,” Merrik said. “He calms my beast, too.”
Jasper shrugged. “Akello, that sexy ass witchy man right there,” Jasper said, pointing. “He and Tyrus are also pretty close. I’m not sure what the connection is there, but Tyrus trusts him implicitly. I half suspect they bonded over something that happened before I joined the family, but that’s just speculation.”
I nodded, taking it all in.
“But you don’t have to worry about Ryker and Bael. I’m sure he’s too perplexed to even consider harming anyone right now. Besides, his family keeps him well fed,” Merrik said with a smirk.
“Nice,” I deadpanned.
They chuckled.
