Chapter 28
“We’ve got this,” Gabriel said, taking Vega’s hand in his hand, holding tight.
Simply touching him gave her strength. “Yeah, I know.” But that didn’t mean that Vega wasn’t nervous.
She’d literally closed a Hell Gate and gone up against a traitorous psychic wolf. And had a whole lot of training under her belt. Oh yeah and she’d died. But these were still her parents so yeah, she was nervous about this whole meeting.
Before he could say anything else, the front door to the house that her parents were staying at opened. And her father stood there, looking between the two of them. His gaze immediately landed on their clasped hands. She’d called him earlier, told him that she knew he was in town and asked if she and Gabriel could come by. Obviously he’d said yes and now here they were.
To give her dad credit, he didn’t look surprised at all. Even if she and Gabriel hadn’t been holding hands, there was no way either of her parents would miss the scent of their mating. They had claimed each other in every way possible and now any supernatural beings would know that they were taken and off-limits.
“Come on in.” His voice was neutral and she wasn’t sure how to take that. But her worrying was for nothing when he pulled her into a tight hug. “It’s good to see you,” he said, squeezing tight even as her mom stepped into the foyer, looking perfect as usual.
Her long blonde hair was in a loose braid draped over her shoulder, and she had on jeans and a casual sweater.
Laughing, Vega stepped back. “I saw you like a week ago.”
Her dad shrugged and shot a quick glance at her mom. Something unspoken passed between them and she wasn’t certain what it was.
Before Vega could even contemplate what was going on or ask them why on earth they were here—she’d been too nervous to ask over the phone—her mom pulled her into a hug. “My sweet baby girl,” she said running a hand over Vega’s head and down her hair.
As she stepped back, she eyed her mom curiously. “Not that I’m not happy to see you guys, but why are you here? Is everything okay with the baby?”
“Baby’s fine as far as we know,” her mom said quickly. “But why don’t we go into the kitchen? I’ve got a bunch of food set out for you including lemon and feta meatballs, and baked eggplant chips.”
Vega snorted softly. Her mother knew her weakness. Food in general. But Greek food? Oh yeah. Since her mom was a vampire and didn’t even eat, it always meant so much when she took the time to cook for Vega.
She looked at her dad and Gabriel, who were staring at each other warily. “Come on, you guys. This is ridiculous.”
Her dad cracked a smile and pulled Gabriel into a hug. “I couldn’t have picked a better mate for my daughter. Congratulations.” He did that guy thing where he patted Gabriel on the back and then they fist-bumped.
Then her mom stepped forward as well. “I apologize. I didn’t even think to say congratulations to the two of you. I’m going to blame it on pregnancy brain.” She pulled Gabriel into a tight hug and then kissed Vega again on the cheek. “Congratulations on the mating. You two are perfect for each other.”
Okay, then…that went a lot better than she expected.
Once they were all settled in the kitchen, her mom piled a bunch of food on a plate and practically shoved it at her. Though she wanted to dive in, she needed to get some stuff out. Vega looked at Gabriel, but he simply shrugged and snagged two loukomades.
“So… You two are officially mated.” Her mom picked up a glass of what Vega knew was blood. Likely warmed and B positive, her favorite.
“Yes…and we have some other stuff to tell you.” Vega had considered not telling her parents that she’d died, but Gabriel had pointed out that it might eventually get back to them anyway. And even though technically they wouldn’t be lying, it would be a lie of omission of sorts. And she felt kinda gross about that in general, especially where her parents were concerned. She wasn’t going to tell them a lot of stuff if she kept working for August, so she wanted to be as honest as she could, when she could.
Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’m going to break this down for you guys as quickly as possible. A couple years ago I was recruited by a black ops supernatural agency.” Both her parents went still, but didn’t say anything so she continued. “I work for the US government—for now. Basically we’re all about keeping supernaturals safe and our secret from the world. I don’t think we’ll be living in secret forever, and that’s something that our group is also getting us ready for. Us meaning all supernaturals. My boss is August McGuire. He used to work with Bran and he’s incredible.” She stopped there, giving them time to digest the bomb she’d just lobbed at them.
For the first time in her life, both her parents looked surprised. Stunned, even, as they sat there watching her.
“I’m so proud of you,” her dad finally said.
“Me too.” Her mom still had a dazed expression, her father having recovered much quicker.
“As you can guess by now, the reason I’m here had to do with an operation. I can’t go into the details of the actual operation but…” She looked at Gabriel, needing support. She really didn’t want to tell her parents the next part.
He must have sensed that as he slipped an arm around her shoulders. “During the operation, Vega…died. There’s no other way to say it. Some crazy shit went down, and she stopped breathing and her heart stopped beating. Someone who I’m sure you’ll meet in the future saved her life.”
“What? How?” her mom demanded, her violet eyes flashing.
“It’s complicated. Dragos, as in Dragos senior, apparently has two really ancient sisters. They were in Hibernation on Judoc McGrath’s land,” Vega said. “I wasn’t conscious so I obviously don’t remember anything, but apparently she breathed some kind of life into me in the same way that Arya did to Liberty.”
“You don’t smell any different though,” her dad finally said. “Liberty smells different now.”
Vega shrugged. “I know. And I’ve only been able to thank her for what she did. She’s headed to Montana now. Both his sisters are. They want to see their brother and his family. I honestly have no answers about what she did and I didn’t ask her. It felt too weird to ask. I just thanked her.”
“That’s a whole lot to take in,” her dad murmured.
“I know and I’m sorry to lay all of this on you now. Also…I’ve developed a new gift.” Might as well get it all out there now. She held up her hand and let fire dance along her fingertips.
To her surprise, her mom smiled. “My great-grandmother controlled fire so you come by that naturally.”
“Really? A pure vamp could?”
Her mother nodded. “Oh yes. She was very feared because of it.”
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Well, get ready for another bomb. I’m officially resigning as your Guardian. I’ll be working side by side with Vega in black ops for the indefinite future.”
Surprised, Vega turned to look at him. “Are you serious?”
“What, did you think I’d let you go off on your own? You’re mine to protect. And I’m yours. No way in hell will I do some long-distance bullshit. We’re mates.” He frowned at her as if she’d lost her mind.
She opened her mouth once, but snapped it shut. To be honest, she hadn’t really thought that far ahead. She hadn’t wanted to quit her job, and yes, would have been angry at Gabriel if he’d asked her to. But it had been in the back of her mind that she might end up leaving the team. She’d simply never assumed he would give up his role in the pack to work with her. “I love you so much,” she said quietly, not caring that they had an audience.
He grinned. “Right back at you.”
“Will you at least come home for the holiday?” There was so much hope in her mom’s question. Christmas was in less than a week.
“Yes,” Vega said excitedly. “And I have something else to tell you. It’s kind of strange. And there’s not much you can even do with this knowledge, but when I died,” she said, ignoring her mom’s sudden intake of breath, “I had the weirdest dream or vision. I’m not really sure what to call it. But I’m ninety-nine percent sure that I met my future sibling. He was a little pup and he’s adorable.” She wanted to cuddle that little pup now.
Gabriel looked surprised and she realized she’d never told him about her vision. After all the insanity, it had simply never come up.
Grinning at her mate she said, “Yeah, he’s so cute. And he’s the one who told me to wake up, that I couldn’t stay where I was.”
“Is that all you’ve got to say?” her mom finally asked. “I don’t think I can handle anything else.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
“Good,” Lyra said, sighing. Then she looked at Finn. “Unless you guys want to stay another day, we’re ready to head home soon. The jet is on standby.”
“I’m ready to go home.” Because Vega knew that her next mission could take her far away for who knew how long. She would miss her packmates and her parents.
But now, knowing that Gabriel would be by her side for always…it made everything a lot easier. Hell, more than simply easier. She was looking forward to a life with him, to missions with him…to having a whole lot more sex with him.