Jonas (Darkness #7) (12 page)

I
leaned back
in the overstuffed sofa as my twin three-year-olds fought over some stupid toy drum. Why Charles insisted on giving them the loudest presents he could find, I did not know, other than he thought it was outrageously funny. Which it wasn’t.

“Mommy!” Sabrina yelled. “He took my drum!”

“Share, you guys!” I shouldn’t yell at them. I knew this. It was not only frowned upon, but also terrible parenting. But seriously: I’d been hounded by Toa all day about my and Stefan’s duty to move up to
at least
Regional; I’d dealt with a huge fight of humans versus non-humans; and I’d found some dumb kid in the park playing with circles and trying to call demons. Thank God the kid was a nitwit and had no sense whatsoever or he might’ve succeeded. Instead, he lost two days of memory and all his silly witchcraft stuff. I was equally grateful he didn’t notice Charles and Jonas because it meant I didn’t have to take him into our fold and train him with magic.

Speaking of human magic-workers, we had a great many. We were looking for humans around the age of puberty, now. Grab ‘em when they were young and so we could start training when their magic manifested—we called it an after-school club. And it was really working. A new mansion one town over was being built. The rights to the larger territory were being squabbled over. And by squabbled, I mean fought over. Whenever Stefan and I showed up, though, the opposing clan took off. They didn’t have a mage or solid leadership. We had a black who had fought in some hairy battles and a leader who the Council was trying to groom to one day take over Cato’s role.

It wasn’t rocket science as to who was going to win the skirmishes.

Stefan and I were happy at the moment, though. We had a “moderately” sized house in the upscale part of town with five bedrooms, a playroom, and a score of other rooms. Anything compared to the Mansion was called moderate, I found out. If it was just our immediate family staying there, we wouldn’t need a quarter of the space. But, of course, we had a great many more people who made our home theirs on a regular basis, so I was glad in the end we got a large place.

“Mommy! She punched me!”

“Sabrina, don’t hit your brother!”

A knock on the door prevented me from moving. The drum forgotten, my exuberant kids went sprinting for the door.

“Ask who it is!” I shouted after them.

I never used to yell and shout this much. I really didn’t. What was it about kids that made a person want to yell all day?

“Who is it?” Sabrina asked in a sweet voice. That was the voice she used right before she stabbed you. Which was why Jonas stopped giving her anything sharp: she’d gotten Stefan’s violent side.

“Who goes there!” Savion demanded. He wanted to wear capes all day. Because I only thought of Trek every time I thought of a cape, I tried to dissuade him.

“The boogeyman,” came Charles’ muffled voice.

“Oh good, I wanted to see him.” Stefan sauntered into the room wearing a fitted black shirt that showed off his flawless torso, and slacks that hugged his defined thighs and scrumptious butt.

“No kids in our bed tonight,” I said in a throaty voice.

His gaze swiveled to me as Jonas and Emmy sauntered into the room after him. Jonas was holding his first-born, a two-month-old baby girl that looked just like her mommy. She’d be a beauty someday. The verdict was out on what kind of magic the baby would have until puberty, as was the case with my kids, but everyone wondered. There hadn’t been so much mixed breeding in history as there had been in our clan—at least, Toa couldn’t find any record of it in the scriptures. But with all the humans wandering around, and with the Mansion’s sexual culture… yeah, we had a ton of kids. A TON of them. Stefan’s people were insane with happiness. We had visitors from all over the country asking us how to snare humans. Also making the humans offers to move. It was ridiculous.

“Don’t you guys have your own house?” I asked Jonas.

“Yeah. In the suburbs. But you don’t need half this space.” He settled next to me on the couch. Emmy took the chair to my right and leaned back.

“We do when you stay here more often than not.” I rubbed my head. “I’m tired.”

Emmy nodded and glanced at Stefan. She refrained from commenting. She’d mostly shed her shyness around Stefan, but she didn’t often cut loose either. It was a slow process. In time she’d come around, but as it stood, she just let loose with the humans and Charles mostly.

Charles sprinted in growling like a bear. Sabrina squealed and laughed in his arms. Savion came barreling after him. As soon as Charles was in the room, he stopped in the middle and jostled Sabrina. “I’ve got your sister. I’ve got your sister!”

Savion took a running leap and kicked Charles in the shin.

“Ow! You little rat.” He put Sabrina gently on the ground as he sank to his knees and pulled Savion into a bear hug. Another knock sounded at the door before I heard it open.

“Must be Ann,” Jonas muttered.

“Thank you, security.” I grinned as Ann sauntered in with jet black hair. She’d given up the blue a while ago for pink. Then it went to purple before she settled on black. I suspected black was to cover up some mistake, but she assured me it was a conscious choice.

“Don’t get my brother!” Sabrina ran in with a dagger.

“Grab her, grab her! Who left a dagger laying around?” I jumped up from the couch as Stefan swung his long arms toward her and scooped her up.

“No, baby. No swords until you get your magic.” He gave her a kiss on the forehead and set her back down
sans
dagger.

He didn’t yell nearly as much as I did. I had no idea how he kept his cool.

Undeterred, and with her brother still getting attacked by Charles, she ran at them with a determined expression and balled-up fists. She punched Charles in the arm and then wound up and kicked him right between the legs.

“Ow! No—not the balls!” Charles let go of Savion and crumpled to the ground. “White flag, white flag,” he wheezed.

Savion, released, smiled at his sister before turning a gloating expression on Charles.

“Time out, you two. That is not nice!” I used my firm voice. They usually listened with the firm voice. And Jonas’ stare.

I sighed and closed my eyes. “Who are we waiting for, again?”

“Ann’s lover,” Charles said in a sulky voice as he climbed, painfully, to his feet and took a chair.

“Tim’s taking care of something, but he’ll be here—“ A knock interrupted Ann.

It had shocked me a little when Ann had first mentioned she was seeing Tim. He seemed a little too serious for her. After a couple months, it still shocked me. They didn’t seem all that interested in each other. It seemed more convenience than anything. And for Ann, getting a rise out of Charles.

And it did get a rise out of Charles, even though he still maintained he didn’t want anything permanent. He often glowered at Tim when no one was looking, and he badgered Ann about her boyfriend constantly.

Ann wouldn’t admit it, but I had a feeling she was lonely, and she’d chosen someone she knew wouldn’t work out long-term so she could wait for Charles. The way she looked at Charles, and the fact that those looks were often returned, spoke volumes. But, while Charles was definitely growing up, and he didn’t get up to nearly as much Mansion sex as he used to, he just wasn’t quite there yet. Men just took longer to come around sometimes. And this man most of all.

It was just a matter of time, in my opinion. They’d finally have a moment when neither could deny their mutual attraction, and then they’d be glued to each other. Just a matter of time.

Tim strolled in with Paulie and Selene. Their two-year-old boy was waddling right at their side.

“Mama, can we play?” Sabrina asked as Savion ran by. He stopped right in front of Todd, Paulie’s son, and grinned.

“Wanna play?” Savion took off to the right. Sabrina ran by Todd’s side, making sure he didn’t fall.

“Hey Stefan, Sasha, Jonas, Emmy, Charles—“ Tim nodded to everyone. His soft brown eyes held Ann’s gaze for a moment. “Hi beautiful.”

Charles rolled his eyes.

“Are the witches coming?” Ann asked as she scooted over on the love seat for Tim.

“Which ones? The Mansion is full of them.” Charles picked at his nail.

“Unlike you, who is full of
it
?” Ann smirked at Charles.

“Dinner should be ready in an hour. Drinks on the patio?” I stood and stretched my back. “Dominicous and Toa are already out there.”

“Oh shit—you didn’t say they were coming.” Charles hopped up and started walking out.

“Language!” Ann scolded. “There are children present.”

“What are you in such a hurry about?” I asked Charles as Stefan stepped behind me and started to knead my back. I leaned into his touch. I hadn’t seen him for most of the night and I missed him.

“I heard Toa got that spell wrong because he inverted it and I wanted to make fun of him.”

“Don’t make fun of him!” I threaded my fingers into Stefan’s and followed Charles out.

Dominicous stood by the large BBQ station with a glass of whisky. Toa sat in one of the cushioned patio chairs with a glass of wine. They looked up when we came through the sliding glass door.

“Hi everyone,” Dominicous said lightly.

“Hey, Toa,” Charles started. Jonas calmly handed the baby to Emmy. “I heard—Damn it, Jonas! Why’d you punch me, bro? That’s fucked up!”

“Language!” all the parents yelled.

“
Messed
up.” Charles rubbed his arm with a glower and settled into one of the many chairs.

A server distributed drinks from a side bar. After everyone had gathered and had their drink of choice, I raised my glass of juice. “I have an announcement.” Stefan rubbed my back as everyone turned to me expectantly. “I’m pregnant. Hopefully with just one, this time.”

Everyone smiled and beamed, wishing me congratulations, except for one person. Toa gave me his customary stare as he said, “Sasha, while that is happy news, what about stepping up in your post? We could really use you.”

“Hey Toa, I hear you blew up a whole room!” Charles boomed.

Jonas smirked as he took the baby back and smiled down on her. “That time it was warranted.”

Laughing, I raised my glass. “To family.”

“To family!” everyone chorused.

D
arkness Series (Paranormal
Romance)

T
hank
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