Unraveling Mordecai, Marisa Maichel [ebook reader .TXT] 📗

other, then looked back at us, and said, "No," at the same time. I could tell Father didn't believe them. He sighed. "I really need to hire more guards. Go on, leave, both of you. Go!"
Kole and Cholena didn't need to be told again. They hurried off in the direction of Satira's voice.
Father laughed , then grabbed the cherry tree I'd planted years earlier and shook it Ornamental cherries fell. "Gods, what a creature! I'm so glad she's not my mother-in-law anymore."
I sighed and stretched out under the gray sky. It was considered to be a beautiful day by vampire standards, and I was determined not to let Satira's shenanigans get to me.
My phone rang, blaring Sarah's ringtone.
"Yes, cookie?"
"Reese Mordecai Emerson, you are in so much trouble."
"What did I do?"
"They detected three heartbeats, one of which is mine."
"What does..." It clicked. "Does that mean..."
"Yes, my future husband and favorite lover, we are having twins."
I buried my mouth in my jacket and screamed.
"Hello? Hello?"
Twins. We were going to have twins.
I could see Father's eyes were wide, and he looked at me and smiled. "Congratulations, son. Twins. That's an achievement, especially for vampires."
"Half-vampires," Louis reminded him. "Remember, she's still human, or fairy, or whatever."
"That doesn't matter!" I shouted. I literally jumped for joy. I used my hands and feet to propel myself around the yard.
"Hello, Sarah? This is Mordecai. Yes, he's alive. He's just jumping around like a lunatic because he's so excited. Congratulations, dear. Yes, I'm excited, too. I get to be a grandfather before any of these other losers. Reese will be all right, he'll be wired for days, though. What are they? Oh, another prince? And a princess? He'll be happy to hear that. All right, thank you for telling us, sweetheart. Goodbye."
He looked at me, smiling. I was somewhere between grinning like a fool and panting out of excitement. "A boy and a girl, son. Looks like you're getting the first two at the same time."
Caitlin Juniper and Joseph? Yes!!
I was as excited as any new father could be, and it took several laps around our land to work off my energy. I even dove into the lake and climbed on top of a tombstone in the cemetery and howled like a werewolf.
I knew I would never be able to sleep that night, so I stayed up, reading all the books I could about parenting.
The next day, Father, David, Louis, and I met Mother, Selena, and Sarah at the library. I hugged Sarah, squeezing her more tightly than I'd intended, and spun her around once. She laughed and planted a kiss on my chin. I put my hand on her stomach. Yes...I could hear their heartbeats now, two little lives burning brightly.
I purred and licked Sarah's hair to mark her as mine. There were other ways to mark her, but none that would be appropriate in a public library. She was already starting to show.
"Let's discuss finances," Father said, as he sat across from Mother, who slid into the chair with some difficulty. I failed to understand why she still wore high heels at this stage of her pregnancy. She was farther along than Sarah was, and with triplets. She didn't yet know the genders-she wanted to be surprised. I knew she'd be equally happy with either boys or girls, or if there were two boys and a girl or two girls and a boy. I myself was eager to meet my new half-siblings.
"The children must have a joint account," Mother said. "At least one."
"I agree. And the current wealth between them is...well, Reese has over ten million dollars in his account. And I have more in his name. He will have full access to each account when he gets married. There are five accounts in America, ten in Denmark. Ten million in each one, twenty million in his first ever one. You do the math."
Sarah's and David's jaws had dropped, Louis was smirking, and Selena pretended to browse the cozy mystery novels.
"There are also a few that, upon my death, will become his. Ten trillion dollars in all in my name."
Sarah blinked and her brows furrowed. "Are you pulling my leg, Mordecai?"
He smiled gently at her. "No, dear, I'm not. I am always honest about money. But I won't die for some time yet, if we're lucky, so no need to worry about it just yet."
"Sarah has thirty-seven thousand dollars approximately," Mother said. "That's all in one account. Most of it I've given to her, or you have. Thirty-seven thousand six hundred and forty-five dollars in all. And I have another account set up for her when she gives birth or turns twenty-one."
I did the calculations in my head. One hundred and twenty million dollars plus thirty-seven thousand six hundred and forty-five-wow. We were rich.
"Will you cut him off?" Mother asked.
"Of course not. Not unless he starts gambling or spends frivolously."
We all looked at Sarah, who blushed and looked at her red-painted nails.
"I know how much you like clothes and shoes, sweetheart," Father said. "But, please, try to control yourself."
She nervously fiddled with her bracelet. Then she looked up.
"Scarlett," she hissed. I looked up. There was Sarah's old nemesis and ex-friend, Scarlett, browsing the bookshelves. "What is she doing here?"
"It's a public library, lover," I said. I purred and stroked her hair to calm her down. "Shhh, it's all right. I'm here."
She shook her head. "No, I need to say something. First she flirts with you, then she shows up to take the same dogs as us, and now this! This is getting ridiculous!"
"We live in the same town, cookie," I said quietly. "Baby girl, it's all right. I'm here."
She hissed. "She's coming this way."
"Mom, take Sarah out of here. I'll deal with Scarlett."
Mom didn't hesitate. She took my beautiful fiancee's hand and led her away.
"Crazy bitch," I muttered.
"Why would she come over here?" Louis asked. "She knows that her mere presence upsets Sarah."
"That's it," I said. "She knows she upsets Sarah, so she follows us around."
"That's crazy talk," David said. "I haven't known you long, little brother, but this is too crazy even for me. I have enough sisters as it is-I can't handle any girl drama. Sorry."
"You're on your own, son," Father said apologetically, leaving just as the Raven Queen approached.
"Hey, Reese," she said. "Doing a little browsing?"
"Actually, we were just having a private conversation," I said, irked at her callousness.
"Well, don't let little old me stop you from 'having your private conversation'."
"Must you always intrude?"
"All I saw were two friends and their family, and then everyone left except you and him, whatever his name is."
"Louis," my cousin said, extending his hand. "Louis Soren Emerson, milady. My father is Prince Soren, second ruler of our world. Also known across our race for his physical strength and bulging muscles."
Scarlett laughed a dry, humorless laugh. "You're a funny guy, Lewis."
"It's Lew-wee," he corrected, but she ignored him in favor of me.
"Hey, handsome," she teased, moving my bangs out of the way.
"Don't touch me," I growled, moving out of her reach. "You ruined Sarah."
"I didn't ruin her," she argued. "I thought she told on us. I was wrong. I didn't rape her, or get her pregnant."
"She lost most of her friends because of you!"
"But she made new ones! You and Ariella Spears, and Mason..." She trailed off. She looked stung for a moment, then shook it off.
"You're fucking crazy," I said. "She wasn't even the one who told your parents; Jordan was!"
She raised her fist as if to hit me, then thought better of it. Then she started saying a string of random numbers.
"What?" I said.
"It's my phone number, stupid," she said. "When you finally see sense, call me. I'll be waiting."
Then she moved off to the women's fiction section.
"You're right, she is a crazy bitch," Louis said. He slapped my shoulder. "Tough break, little buddy. Personally, I like the crazy ones. But I like the sweet ones, too."
Sarah was outside throwing a temper tantrum. When she saw me, she rushed toward me and grabbed my shoulders.
"What did the crazy bitch want?" she demanded.
"To fuck me," I answered. "She gave me her phone number."
The sound that came out of Sarah's mouth would have put a banshee to shame.
"Calm down, baby girl," I said. "Of course I said no."
She breathed and half-laughed, half-sobbed into my chest.
"Dumpling, what's wrong?"
"I'm fat! Can't you see? I'm fat and plain!"
I almost laughed. "My little cupcake, all women go through body changes when they become pregnant. And you are the opposite of plain. You're beautiful! You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen!"
She wiped a tear away and sniffed. "You mean that?"
"Of course I do. The first thing I noticed about you was your eyes. They're a beautiful shade of green, and your hair is so soft and curly! And your nose is cute, and your face is a nice shape, and so are your lips! They're full and red and pouty. Perfect for kissing. I love every part of you, including your flaws. In fact, I think your stretch marks are the most beautiful part of you. They show that you're strong. You've been through a lot, and you came out on top. You're a survivor."
She hugged me, wiping her eyes on my shirt. "I'm being silly, aren't I?"
"Just a tiny bit, dear Sarah Harper."
"Sorry I freaked out. But I love you so much, I don't want to lose you, or drive you away, like I've driven away so many other people!"
"Sarah Cresley, you are not responsible for other people's actions. If anything, they are responsible for abandoning you."
"My parents, my sister, my best friend, my crush...they all hurt me in some way or another. You would never purposely hurt me, I know Daddy wouldn't, either, but my mom did. She was supposed to protect me, keep me safe. She failed."
"You have a new mother now," I reminded. "If you choose her. My mother adores you, you know. She sees herself in you and thinks you're intelligent and sweet."
Sarah shyly peeked out at Mother, who gave her a reassuring smile.
"Can...can I hug you?" Sarah asked Mother.
"Of course, dear. Just be careful of the fledglings." My two favorite women embraced, and my mother kissed my girlfriend on top of the head. I remembered the first time I saw them together, in the library in our castle in Denmark. They got along so well. Sarah was studying the rites of Aphrodite, if I remembered correctly. Her own ancestor, but she didn't know she was studying her goddess ancestor then.
Mother came from a different background-one full of witchcraft and dark magic, which she abandoned for Roman Catholicism. She'd told me a bit about her life before becoming a vampire. Satira, her mother, was a well-known practitioner of the dark arts, and so were her sisters. She didn't know the whereabouts of my aunts, nor did she act like she cared. She said that her sister all looked similar-curly hair and blue eyes. But she also said that she had a redheaded sister and a blonde sister.
I knew very little about Satira other than that. She had been turned into a vampire by some kind of wraith vampire that hadn't seen the moonlight or eaten a meal in a long time.
Sarah and Mother had similar histories in that both their fathers died, and their mothers were not good mothers, and they were both essentially raped and had produced a child. I was the product of my mother's rape, Sarah had produced