I want to stand up, but I know my knees will wobble. So I stay sitting, focusing on my mate's and Sophie's touch to keep me grounded. Roman must mindlink everyone except Seth and Sophie to leave because everyone gets up and quickly evacuates the living room. Honestly, I barely notice. I'm still staring at the man I'm supposed to call Dad and trying not to fall into the abyss of my emotions while I do so. "I…" I start to say but trail off, not really knowing where I am going with it, but I feel like I need to speak. I didn't expect it to be this emotional, ignorantly, I guess. In the abstract, it was much easier to think about him. But with him, my father, standing here in front of me, reminding me that I have a parent who's alive, is bringing up so many feelings. Stupid, stupid feelings. I don't know a damn thing about him. He could be a sadist, he could be a homophobe, he could hate women. I mean, he's the demon overlord from the underworld; he probably has some seriously sadisti
In all honesty, the rest of the night was fun. After I introduced everyone, who thankfully already were briefed on the circumstances, my father didn't contribute a whole lot of conversation. He was just observing, and if roles were reversed, I would have stayed quiet too. He did talk here and there, though, not enough for me to learn much about him. Nonetheless, I felt lighter having him there. I guess I didn't realize I expected him to be nothing short of a monster. I had just shown Sophie and my father to their rooms, and now Roman and I were walking up to ours. "So today was certainly…a day," he says "Today was the equivalent of four days," I sigh "How are you doing, feeling?" he says, taking my hand in his and kissing my knuckles; I smiled despite what was about to come out of my mouth. “I'm just trying to process it. It's not like it was a shock that he showed up; I'm just surprised I was so emotional over it, you know? I didn't really expect to feel any type of connection
"I don't believe you," I said to my father sadly. "I have a feeling we're underestimating the vampires. I don't know anything at all about angels. But I just have a horrible feeling about the vampires," I tell him, looking down at my coffee and trying to find comfort in its aroma, but not even that beautiful smell could ease my anxiety. He visibly stiffened, and that made me feel even worse. "I believe you," he said, grabbing my hand before continuing, "One of your gifts is intuition. We will take their threat seriously." "How do you know that?" I asked him, I knew he had the last 20 years to prepare for this, but my mom said nothing was known of my powers "I resummoned Deumos a couple years ago. After years of researching myself and the elders, to no avail, I swallowed my pride. It seems she has her own agenda, that or she's just bored because she fully prepared me for everything you would be. I did considerable research on the tribrid, the elders did as well, and we got nothing
"This is a power I've wielded several times before; take a second and look at him, let the tether to your magic loosen, and then will it to surround him with protection," my father says as I stare at Seth, trying to put a shield around him to let him into the Underworld. I do as he says, and when my power reaches Seth, I see him stiffen for a second but relax as it surrounds him entirely. I can actually see it around him, like a light haze. I smile, completely unrestrained, as I realize it worked! My eyes dart to Roman's for a beat, noticing the pride and softness in his gaze. 'I love that smile on you,' he says through the link, and I look away; I'm probably blushing like a freaking preteen."Good. Now do that to everyone else here, except for your mate," my father says "Maybe try and look a little less like you're constipated this time, though." Seth teases me, I shoot him a glare, and he yelps. I jump, not expecting that. "Goddess, Amara. Are you going to do that every time I
The rest of lunch was nowhere near as intense. We made small talk, my father mostly asking about Roman's upbringing and childhood, how he runs his pack, his family…and really just all details about his life. Nosy bastard my father was, but it still warmed my heart nonetheless that he was so interested. He was growing on me, I suppose. I had asked about Azrael, to which Aylin said he likes to spend time in town. She had said it was important for the royal family to be involved with town life, and Azrael took it upon himself most of the time. Afterward, Aylin showed us to our rooms and told us to meet her back in the throne room in fifteen minutes, and she would show us to the training arena. That was ten minutes ago. I was unpacking my clothes and changing into my training attire-just a sports bra and high-rise yoga pants that went to my knees when Roman came up behind me and pulled my back to his chest. One of his hands went to my throat, and the other circled my stomach right abov
We trained for a good three hours, perfecting my aim with magic and quickening my movements. I had a few moments of doing something I didn't know I could do, one of them being that I accidentally took away Aylin's sight and hearing. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to return them to her. At that point, she magically threw me across the field and threatened to rip out my esophagus if I ever did that to her again. I had wanted to watch my dad kick Roman's ass, but I was too caught up with my training. Aylin was a badass, it seemed like she was trained in everything hand to hand, magic, and she was a boss ass bitch with her dagger. I practically begged her to train me with a dagger and twin blades. I did get the upper hand on her once or twice, but both times she managed to get her dagger and held it to wherever she would have stabbed me. I guess I should be proud that she has over 250 years of experience with me, and I held my own. The two of us, plus Roman and Dad, are wa
The next morning, the rest of the gang is finally awake enough to join us for breakfast. I’m buzzing with excitement. My father will start off with magic training, and then I’ll be with Aylin for physical training. Azrael wanted to spar with all the guys, so they won’t be bugging me during training. After that, I plan to explore around here with the girls. I tried to convince Aylin to come with, and after the third “absolutely fucking not” she reached for her dagger and I portaled behind Roman. He had the good sense to stay quiet, but he stiffened, and I swear to Selene I saw him pale slightly. The girls, unable to hide their blatant curiosity, decide to tag along with me to the training grounds. As I’m sitting on one of the chairs while Azrael shows everyone else around, Aylin comes and sits next to me. She places two wooden boxes in my lap. “These are for you. I had the blacksmith make them.” is all she says to me as I look up at her. I look back at the two boxes, the one is lon
The second Amara, ever so gracefully, portaled us back into my territory, everyone except her landing on our asses in my office-if, I might add, I was met by a wide-eyed Aston standing behind my desk. I've known this man my entire life and knew when he was about to say something I wouldn't like. And whatever he was about to say would make me want to turn an entire forest to dust. That much was evident as he stuttered over his first words. "Al-Alpha Roman. I'm glad you're back. We have information on vampire movements," he says, meeting my gaze, but I can see the worry in his eyes. Instantly, I'm on my feet and next to him. "Talk," I say, my cold, no-bullshit exterior immediately falling into place. "They attacked the Red Moon Pack. If they knew she wasn't still there and attacked them to send a message, then we're in deep shit. The Alpha and Luna were killed, and they wiped out over half their warriors before The Allies could get there and neutralize them," he sighs. "They've sin