King placed a hand on Dave's shoulder. "Your spirit is strong, Dave, even stronger than the dark Incubus." King bit into the chicken. "You protect Papa all the time in the other world. The Mother said that everyone has a purpose. Even me."A swift exchange happened between King and Alexis, and I stared at Alexis.Alexis leaned toward me. "We'll talk about it soon."King stood and reached for an apple and a hunk of cheese. He sat and hungrily bit into them both. Yeah, they were starving. Eat first, talk later.Alexis drank most of a pitcher of milk. He was too famished and exhausted to reveal anything he had seen or heard while in the Mother's realm. Did he know that the Elders and he were being controlled by Underlings? Would he even care?A while later Oni stood. "Everyone. Your attention please."We turned to her."We are all so happy to see Alexis and King return to us safely, but I'm sure that they have a lot to talk about," Oni said. "We'll finish our meal and excuse oursel

"That is all." Isla shrugged her pretty shoulders. "Of course, we warn you not to attempt to battle any member of The Wolfpack. Our agreement has been renegotiated to forbid violence between Werewolves and Neratomay…although there are no such agreements between the other Supernaturals. The Neratomay have located very interesting Supernaturals. Some consider them delicacies, but I have yet to indulge.""What other Supernaturals?" I asked.Isla's black eyes seemed to twinkle. "Fairies, pixies, a dark elf, and of course, your run-of-the-mill witches and wizards.""Are you joking?" I asked."We may have had a leprechaun, but someone ate it before it could be confirmed." Ferris smiled. "And no. I do not joke of these matters.""We won't insult you by giving you rules to follow," Isla said while turning back to join the Council. "But should you do something that is ill-advised, then the ten years you've just spent in Limbo will be like one drop of water in the ocean." I refused to loo

Instead of returning to my old house, we got a suite of rooms at an all-Vampire hotel. My home with Paul would hold too many memories, and this wasn't the time to sort through them.I had contacted my Ladies in waiting, who were excited to see me, so we were going to have an "all-nighter" to get caught up.It wasn't uncommon for humans to be present at a Vampire hotel since they were our food. The hotel took special care with our blood donors, requiring all un-living guests to sign a contract upon final death that we wouldn't harm anyone else's property. It still happened occasionally, but most Master level Vampires avoided the blade and final death with one little loophole—not recognizing that the "food" had belonged to someone.There was so much to tell my Ladies, but I mainly wanted to share King with them. We were going to bring him to our realm for the first time. I was so excited to share him with my family.When we arrived, the Ladies had already been sent up to our suite. T

The Ladies liked the new Alexis. He showed King that he could change himself to appear more human but immediately changed back. I think Alexis wanted King to get used to the way he looked in our realm, but King thought his father's new look was interesting and didn't seem to have a problem with it.After breakfast, the Ladies didn't linger too much longer. Kat wanted to get in touch with her real estate agent to find houses for us to tour. Karen offered to go out and buy King a few changes of clothes until he could decide on a wardrobe.Mara needed to get the paperwork together concerning King's birth certificate and passport. "What is King's last name?"I turned to Alexis. "What is King's last name?" Alexis had never mentioned having a human last name."I don't claim a family name, and you know how I feel about sharing a name with someone who means nothing to me," Alexis said. "King has a name and a title. He is King of the Underworld.""King…of the Underworld?" Mara repeated slo

He ran his tongue over his lips and looked down. "Ten years. That's a long time." He shook his head.I took a deep breath. "While I was there, a lot of things happened."He nodded. "Yeah. You hooked up with Alexis.""No. Not just that." He shoved his hands into his pocket. "What?""You know how I cry clear tears?"He reached out and gently swiped away a tear on my cheek. He looked at it and showed me the clear drop.I hadn't shaken my desire to breathe, and I took in a deep breath and held it. "I found answers down there."His posture changed and his expression grew serious. "Did you find out why this is happening to you? I thought it was…us."I shook my head slowly. "I think that helped but…no." I thought about what I was going to say to him and how it would change everything—even whether he would let me see my baby girl again. "While I was down there—while we were down there—we weren't like Vampires. We were about as close to human as one can get and not be mortal. And I wa