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

to work for Bram Sterling.”
“Ambrose has always worked for himself,” Father said. He looked at Kole. “I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt, but she does seem lost and confused. Louis, why don’t you take her and explain things to her?”
“Reese can do it,” Louis said, winking at me. I frowned. Louis knew I was with Sarah.
Kole looked at me, and fluttered her eyelashes. I almost told her I had a girlfriend. Then Cholena stepped lazily out of the woods, her bag over her shoulder. When the two girls saw each other, they stared for a long time.
"I sense distension in the ranks," Louis whisper-shouted.
"What are you doing here, Cholena?" Father asked her.
"I have some questions about my mother," she said, turning to look at him.
"Let's go to the yard."
The day was overcast, though not in a way that threatened rain.
"What do you want to know?" I asked, as all the vampires sat in a half circle.
"My mother...was she pretty?"
"Very," I answered. "She was gorgeous. She had this shiny short hair, and this thin body. She was small, but not as small as you."
"Who are we talking about?" Kole asked.
"Mitra," I said. "Cholena, this is Kole, Kole, this is Cholena." The two girls stared at each other again, then Kole said "mate" under her breath. Mate? Were they mates? Cholena didn't seem to care as she threw her legs out, propping herself up on her hands. She jumped, bringing her feet together, and then jumped up as high as she could. Which was pretty damn high.
Then Kole jumped up, and the two girls intertwined their fingers in midair. David came out to join us then, and he watched this display with interest.
"Sorry I haven't been around much," I told my brother as he sat beside me. "With the wedding only a few months away, and with this baby coming..."
"I understand," he said, watching the girls as they landed near a patch of oak trees. "You've been busy. But one would think that you might put your brother ahead just for a little while."
Okay, so he was hurt. I knew he was trying to make me feel guilty about not staying or seeing him much.
Cholena ran back in a split second, panting, Kole right behind her. Then I heard a voice I didn't want to hear again.
"Kole! Kole, where are you?"
"Satira," Louis said, and Father groaned.
"She's not that bad," Kole said.
"How do you know her?" I asked.
"She created me. As a companion."
"Did you and Cholena know each other before this?" I asked.
"Er, no," Kole said, and I knew she was lying. But I said nothing against her statement and looked at my father. His brows were furrowed, and he scratched his abdomen absentmindedly.
"Fuck me," he said. "Were you two sent to spy on us?"
Kole and Cholena looked at each 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