Deanna smiled from ear to ear, her breathtaking countenance lighting up the room. She strolled forward and grasped his hands. “Keitaro,” she whispered with unabashed admiration. “Father.” She sat down on the bed and cupped his face in her hands; and then she bent over and kissed him on the cheek, first the left, and then the right. “Welcome…welcome…welcome.” It was almost as if she were at a loss for words.
Keitaro blushed and playfully stroked his cheeks, touching each spot where her lips had just been, deliberately acting flustered. She paled, and he laughed. “Thank you, Deanna. I am pleased to see my wizard son has found a mate with a soul that shines as bright as his own.” He turned toward Nachari, who was sitting once again on the other side of Keitaro’s bed, and gestured toward the handsome bundle in his arms. “And who might this little guy be?”
Deanna sat up straight, her eyes brimming with love. “This is your youngest grandson: Sebastian Lucas Silivasi.”
Keitaro regarded him fondly. “Sebastian.” He held out his arms, and the child practically leapt from his father’s embrace, trying to get to the ancient vampire.
“Gan-pa!”
Keitaro jolted, startled. “Oh my, you are an eager sort, aren’t you?” The child grinned with pride as if he had done something truly remarkable, and Keitaro laughed aloud. Finally, he passed the baby back to his mother, turned to Kagen, and regarded him squarely. “You are yet to be mated?”
Kagen sighed. Where to begin? “I am…soon to be mated.”
Keitaro raised his eyebrows and waited. When Kagen didn’t elaborate—in truth, he had no idea what to say next—Keitaro urged him on with his eyes. “Explain, healer.”
Kagen flashed a faint smile. “I met my destiny in Mhier. We brought her back to Dark Moon Vale.” He gestured thoughtfully with his hands. “Once I am sure you are out of the woods, I will go to her, and see to…the conclusion of my Blood Moon.”
Keitaro frowned. He glanced around the room, eyeing each of his sons in turn, as if he could garner further information from their eyes. When no one spoke, he cleared his throat. “Well, who is she? Have I heard of her?”
Kagen smiled broadly then. “Yes, I believe you have. The daughter of Auriga is also the daughter of your heart, Arielle Nightsong.”
If someone could actually jump out of their skin, Keitaro would have done it. His surprise and delight were exuberant and unrestrained. “Rielle?” He glanced around the room, his eyes darting wildly back and forth between spectators, as if he could somehow pick her out of the crowd, as if he had overlooked her presence before. “Where is she?” he demanded, his voice thick with impatience.
“She is in my private residence,” Kagen said candidly. “She didn’t want to be here while we were still working to…revive you. It is all too overwhelming…too new and confusing. There was too much to process at once.”
Keitaro considered Kagen’s words. “Of course; she must feel like a fish out of water.”
Kagen nodded. “She does.”
“Then why aren’t you with her?”
Kagen drew back in surprise, feeling immediately defensive. “Because I’m with you.”
Keitaro frowned, and the paternal flash of disapproval on his face was unmistakable. It was as if his eyes were saying, What the hell are you doing, boy!?
“Father, I…I—”
“Belong with your destiny right now,” Keitaro interrupted.
“Of course, but you were in pretty serious need of a healer.”
Keitaro tilted his head from side to side as if weighing the healer’s words. “And now, I’m fine.”
“Well—”
Keitaro’s stern glance cut him off abruptly. “You do have a nurse, do you not? An acolyte…a healer in training?”
“Of course,” Kagen said. “Katia Durgala and Navarro Dabronksi, but I would like to see to your care, at least for a couple more hours, make sure you don’t regress or take a turn for the worse. And I’d like to write up clear orders before I hand over your chart to an acolyte.”
Keitaro shrugged with indifference. “Nonsense. I’m a vampire. Once we heal, we heal. What do you think is going to happen, cardiac arrest? I’m not that old, son.”
Kagen shrank back, his ire rising in spite of himself. “You are that old, Father. But that is not the point. As you say, you are Vampyr, so age is of no consequence. I would just like to be sure that all is well before I turn my attention to other matters—it’s taken a lot of years to get you home.”
“I understand that, son. Believe me, I do.” Keitaro spoke respectfully, and then he simply pulled rank and dismissed Kagen’s concerns offhand. “Yet as your father, I have spoken, and we will not revisit this again: You will go to your destiny; you will see to her needs; and the two of you will not come to see me until your bond is cemented…until it is unbreakable. Do you understand?”
Kagen’s mouth dropped open, and the room fell silent.
And then Storm offered his two cents: “Unka Kagen go to time-out?”
Nathaniel burst out in laughter, and Kagen shot him a sidelong glare. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it, feeling like a complete idiot. Had his father—and his nephew—just put him in his place? And in front of the entire family? Gods in heaven, they had to know there was nowhere he would rather be than with Arielle, but Keitaro had nearly died.
Realizing that Arielle would want to see Keitaro immediately, he decided not to argue with his father but to seek clarification instead: Clearing his throat, he ventured forward: “By cemented, you mean what?”
“Once she is soundly in love with you,” Keitaro said firmly.
“Mmm,” Kagen said. “Small order, that.”
Keitaro chuckled. “Perhaps not, but an order nonetheless.”
Kagen winced.
Wow…
So this was what it was going to be like, having Keitaro back home…
He swallowed his pride and considered his next words carefully. “I know how much Arielle means to you, how much you mean to her, and I will try to be delicate, to honor that bond.”
Keitaro laughed heartily then, catching Kagen off guard. “Rielle is as free-spirited as a wild stallion, as beautiful as the prairie on a summer’s day, and as independent as a lioness, accustomed to hunting for her pride. As your father—as her father—I wish you to be gentle and kind with each other’s feelings. As a male of honor, I wish you to take all the time that you need. As a man who is also a vampire, who understands the Curse, I simply wish you luck. You’re going to need it.” He chuckled then, and Kagen’s brothers joined in.
When Nathaniel continued to laugh, long after everyone else had stopped, Kagen shot him another heated glare. And then he reached out on a private bandwidth, hoping to garner some brotherly sympathy from his twin. Yeah, because I would have just grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the nearest cave. Damn. What the hell?
Nachari laughed out loud. “I heard that, Twinsies.”
“Would you quit doing whatever wizard-ly thing you’re doing then?” Kagen snapped.
“I heard it, too,” Marquis chimed in.
Nachari smiled. “You spoke on the wrong frequency, brother.”
“And thank you for saying that out loud,” Kagen replied.
They were just about to take it up a notch, really get the banter going, when Keitaro raised his hand and waved it through the air to silence them all. His eyes grew narrow; his expression hardened; and all three sons halted in their mockery…at once.
And then, as if he had never been absent from the valley, Keitaro Silivasi switched into paternal mode, becoming the supreme, unquestioned leader of his family once more. His eyes swept over Marquis, then Nathaniel, each male in turn, and he lowered his voice. “Master Warriors.”
The warriors stood up straight and waited.
“Considering what happened with Shelby”—he almost stumbled over the word, but he quickly regained his momentum—“you are not to leave your brother unattended, unsupervised, for e
ven a moment until this Blood Moon is complete. Do you understand?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “You will each take turns guarding both Kagen and Rielle around the clock—you can trade off standing watch in twelve-hour shifts—and I do not want to hear that either of you, for any reason, were ever more than two hundred yards away, not until the sacrifice is complete.” He crossed his arms in a gesture of finality.
Nathaniel whistled low beneath his breath and turned to face Keitaro as an equal. “The sentinels will also be close by, and—”
“And you are family. It is a different obligation, a sacred duty.”
“Of course,” Nathaniel said respectfully, bowing his head in deference. “I make no objection. I just wish to point out that there will be extra protection at hand.”
Keitaro nodded. “Two hundred yards,” he repeated.
Nathaniel shared a knowing glance with Marquis and turned away. “As you will, Father.”
Kagen cleared his throat. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one Keitaro was willing to take to task, and for a moment, he couldn’t help but wonder: If memory served him well, had the Ancient Master Warrior always been this stern? This abrupt? Nodding his head, he smiled. Indeed, he always had. Perhaps, with four strong vampires to raise, he’d had no choice. And now that he was back, his authority was music to Kagen’s ancient ears. That said, Kagen also remembered how he and his brothers had handled their father’s many dictates: by appealing to the male’s compassion and wisdom…and sometimes digging in. “Um, I think that’s all very well and good,” he said, careful to keep his voice pitched low and respectful, “but there is the element of privacy…and intimacy.” He stared at Marquis and cringed. “Somehow, I don’t think staring up into that one’s brutish mug is going to be comforting or bonding for me…or Arielle.”
“His mug is not brutish,” Ciopori cut in, flippantly. When they all stopped and stared, she huffed and rolled her eyes. “I’m just…saying.” She smoothed Nikolai’s already impeccable hair. “He’s rather handsome in my opinion.”
Keitaro snorted with laughter. And then he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture so similar to the one they were used to seeing from Marquis that Jocelyn and Deanna had to do a double-take. “Two hundred yards can be interpreted many ways,” Keitaro said. “If you’re inside your home, your brothers can be outside. If you’re strolling through the forest, your brothers can hide behind a tree. I don’t expect them to stand in your bedroom with you. Just the same, they will be within a stone’s throw at all times, ready to respond to the threat of an enemy in the blink of an eye.”
Kagen bit his bottom lip and nodded.
Well, so much for digging in.
He looked up at Ciopori and then Jocelyn, trying to register how they felt about giving up their mates, every other twelve hours, possibly for the next twenty-four days, but they seemed just fine with the idea. Or at least, if they weren’t, they were not about to express their objections.
Nachari sat forward. “I could help, if you like.” He held up his hands in jest. “After all, I’m a wizard, not a fledgling. I do have a few…unusual…skills that might prove helpful.”
“He’s a panther…at times,” Marquis offered gruffly.
Keitaro stared pointedly at Marquis; he gaped openly at Nachari; and then he simply shook his head, apparently deciding to leave it alone. “Great celestial gods,” he murmured. He redirected his attention to the wizard. “I have no doubt that you are more than capable of looking after your brother, Nachari—I did not mean to imply otherwise.” He sighed then. “It’s just that I would like to work with you on a different, more pressing matter, something more befitting of a Master Wizard.”
Nachari cocked his eyebrows.
“You do know how to create energetic wards?” Keitaro asked.
Nachari nodded. “I do.”
“Good. Then there are some things I saw in Mhier, things I learned about the lycans, things we can employ here at home—and the sooner the better.”
“Like?” Nachari asked.
“Like wolf traps,” Keitaro said succinctly. “Using what we know of their species to create specific, energetic wards to repel them, to craft alarms and detectors that we can place throughout the forest. I would like to make certain that they never attack our valley again…that they never again go undetected.”
Nachari’s deep green eyes lit up with curiosity and interest. “Of course, Father.”
“Very well,” Kagen said, his gaze fixed on Keitaro’s intelligent eyes. “So now that we’ve settled things—I will go to Arielle, and Nathaniel and Brutus will follow me around—I’m afraid I do have to insist, as a healer, as your doctor, that you remain in bed for the next forty-eight hours. At the least, you need to remain under observation.” His tone brooked no argument. “If I agree to devote all of my attention to my destiny—which is truly what I want—then you must agree to take it easy for a couple of days, to devote your full attention to your recovery. Deal?”
Keitaro looked at Kagen like he had cow dung smeared on his face and laughed. “You will agree to devote all of your attention to your destiny—because it isn’t a request—and as for what I must or must not do? Let me get this right; you insist?”
Kagen visibly wilted. “I…I highly recommend that you remain in bed for the next forty-eight hours.”
Keitaro tilted his head to the side, and his top lip twitched, almost imperceptibly.
“I honorably request that you consider—”
His lip twitched again, only this time it was accompanied by a faint, guttural snarl.
Kagen collapsed on the edge of the bed, just to the left of Nachari, and buried his face in his hands. “Oh, hell. Please, Dad.”
Keitaro chuckled then, and his expression relaxed into a teasing scowl. He reached out and leaned forward to muss Kagen’s hair, rubbing his head far too vigorously for comfort. His teasing eyes alighted with joy. “Of course, healer,” he said, grinning. “I would not place an undue burden of worry on your shoulders at this time. And for what it’s worth, I know that you both honor and desire your destiny with every ounce of your being.” He winked at him and smiled.
Kagen shrugged and held up his hands in question. “Then what was all of this about then?”
“Your destiny, your safety, and your undue fear.” Keitaro’s voice was suddenly serious, and Kagen frowned, confused.
“Son, I know that you love me. You don’t have to prove it every moment of every day. You came to Mhier to rescue me, and now, you can go to Rielle with my blessing…and do what you must.” He turned to regard Marquis and Nathaniel. “And warriors, I can feel your anxiety—it’s like a bolt of electricity pulsing in the air—following Kagen around will relieve some of that stress and help you to bring the last week into perspective. I am home now, and I am not going to disappear again—but you won’t know that until you have tested it, until you leave and come back, and leave and come back, again and again. And again. Twelve hours, for the remainder of Kagen’s Blood Moon, should be just about right.” He turned to regard Nachari next, and he visibly wore his heart on his sleeve. “And wizard, in some ways, you carry the heaviest burden of all because your soul is by far the most sensitive, and you were only twenty-one when I went away. Right now, you need me more than your brothers. You need me to know who you are, to see the male you’ve become; and I will, as we work on this project together.” He regarded all four of his sons with unconcealed affection, and his voice was a balm to their hearts. “I love you boys more than life itself. I know what you risked in Mhier, and I know what you achieved. And I’m home now. I’m home. I’m not going anywhere.”
Damn it all to hell! Kagen did not want to cry.
He could not afford to cry.
For the sake of Auriga, he was one thousand years old!
Yet, his father was home, and he still knew each of his sons intimately. He still knew what made each male tick and what each vampire needed…above all else.
As the realization set in, the te
ars began to fall.
And they fell in endless rivers.
twenty-six
Kagen knocked three times on the guest room door before gently turning the handle and pushing the heavy wooden panel open. He dropped a small blue duffle bag on the floor and stepped gingerly inside the room. “Arielle?”
His destiny was seated in a soft leather armchair, facing a large, open window. She was staring out at the wooded hills that surrounded Kagen’s estate, and her legs were tucked up to her chest, her arms hugging her knees. She wore a heavy white bath robe in lieu of her soiled animal-skins, and she turned to glance over her shoulder in response to his approach. “Healer.” The word was formal and stilted, and by the drained look on her face, her swollen, puffy, and red eyes, Kagen could tell she had been crying. Again. “How is Keitaro?”
“Sweeting,” he said in response, strolling directly to the chair. He placed his hand on her shoulder, careful to move slowly, to act cautiously, and he gazed out the window with her.
“Is the father of my heart still alive?” she asked, her concern mounting as the moments passed.
“He is,” Kagen reassured her, unable to restrain the smile that curved along his lips. “He is alive and awake, and he would like to see you soon.”
“Of course,” Arielle said. Her voice brightened for the first time. “Will you take me to him now?”
“I will…take you soon,” Kagen said. “As soon as you and I have had a chance to talk, to reconnect.” He steadied his resolve. “Right now, Keitaro is visiting with my brothers, meeting his new extended family, and greeting his grandchildren for the first time. If you are comfortable waiting—”
“Yes…yes…of course.” She rushed the words. “He should have this time with family…uninterrupted. I understand.”
Kagen sighed. He had done it again, placed his foot squarely in his mouth. “That didn’t come out right, Arielle. You are his family—there can be no doubt. He loves you.”