***Eliana***

 

 “Same for you, gorgeous,” Alistair orders. “I won’t have you running off, get me? Don’t leave without letting me know, and even then, you’re not to be alone. You’re with me or with Velma. And just to be sure, I will put a prospect with you guys so you don’t have to leave if you need something. Just tell him and he will get it for you.”

“Nice…a guard.” I roll my eyes.

“No fucking guard. Didn’t you hear a thing what was discussed just now? Your own fucking father despises humans, I won’t have the fucker near you. Or near Velma for that matter. It’s protection,” he throws back in anger.

“A bodyguard. Right, whatever. Is there anything I can do? You have your guys looking into the archives, isn’t there something Velma and I can do to help?” I ask, better to skip over the guard thing because I know he means well...and the stuff he just said about protecting me makes my heart and panties melt.

Alistair shakes his head. “I just need to know you’re safe so I can focus on other things. I have no clue how we can find out about your siblings. So if you or Velma can find a way to…”

“Wait!” Velma snaps and steps toward me. “How do you always know I’m near?”

Alistair eyes me curiously. “You’re able to pinpoint your sister’s whereabouts?”

I feel my cheeks heat. “It’s nothing. I just have this gut feeling when I know she’s close.”

“I bet my left nut it’s more than that...she’s part witch,” Os quips.

My cheeks heat some more and I’m sure my head will explode any time soon. “I just found out I’m part witch, you can’t expect me to have any magical powers, I never had…”

Os holds up one finger. “That boil trick from the inside out, what you did in Church, that purple fire stuff? I don’t think that’s solely because you’re half Heaven and mated to a Hellhound. Velma doesn’t have any change in her...hell, I haven’t grown an extra head out of my tail or some shit.”

“Hey,” Alistair snaps. “How the fuck do you know? Did you let your Hellhound lose after you were mated? And stop making my Old Lady uncomfortable.”

Velma strokes my upper arm. “This is exactly the reason why I never told you. When I did my research, I talked to a witch who knew your mother. She said your mom put a protection spell on you when dad dismissed you. She also mentioned that your mother kept the witch ancestors a secret, from both you and our father. Clearly, she wanted to protect you. But the spell would have stopped working when she died. Eliana...I know you moved back with your mom when she got sick...did you clear out some of her stuff or did you save it all? I mean...do you know if she had any older looking books?”

“As in books with spells in there?” I question.

Velma nods. “Exactly. Maybe we can see if there’s a spell to locate family members. To see if it’s true about having another sister. Worth a try, right?”

“But I don’t even know if I can do that. It’s not like I’m a...”

“Witch?” Alistair chuckles. “Stop putting labels on people, folks. But I do think Velma has a solid point. It’s worth a shot. You mentioned you wanted to help, right? Sounds to me like this is harmless and worth a try.”

“Can we go to her house, look around? Knowing she has some magic in her, she might look at items her mother owned differently now,” Velma asks Alistair.

Alistair and Os share a look before Alistair answers. “Okay, but we’re going in a group, because we’re not going anywhere without backup. Besides...it also gives Eliana the chance to grab some of her stuff.” His eyes find mine before he adds, “Because you’re going to move in with me anyway.”

A relationship in speed train mode…check. Crazy, and way too fast, but I guess we also skipped the whole dating thing. And with the stuff hanging over our heads, with my father and all…it actually sounds like a good, and the best, idea. Besides, “I take it it’s the same for Velma?”

The corner of his mouth twitches. “That’s up to Os, but I assume he’s not letting your sister out of his sight anytime soon.”

“We’ll be roomies then.” I smile at Velma, who gives me a brighter one in return.

“About that…” Alistair quips. “Not so much roomies because when this is all over, we’ll be staying at my house. That’s a few miles down the road from here.”

“Don’t make it sound like you’re ripping the sisters apart, my house is three doors down from yours, so we’ll still be at a minute walking distance.” Os chuckles.

Velma gives a fist pump while I do the same internally. It seems as if everything is going as if we’re headed for a world record, and yet all of it feels the way it should be.

“Well, let’s go to my house so I can grab some things and we can look around to see if there’s anything like Velma was talking about. Then, when everything is settled, we can come back and see about me moving in with you, okay?” There, that seems reasonable, right?

The look on his face is a bit angry, as if he was hoping I would clear out my house right this instant.

I trail a finger down his cheek. “There’s a lot of things to go through, a few hours won’t cut it. So we will get into it when everything is handled with the trouble we’re surrounded by.”

Alistair releases a deep sigh. “Okay. Let’s get things started. Os, make sure we have a few brothers tagging along. We leave in ten. I need a few words with my Old Lady.”

Os nods and laces his fingers with Velma before they stroll out and close the door behind them.

“You never knew one of your grandparents was a witch, or a warlock, for that matter? Never noticed anything about your mother, like spells, or weird chants? When you think back now, does something come to mind?” Alistair tries but my mind is reeling.

“What? Extreme superstitions? Like throwing salt over one shoulder when she spilled some? All kinds of different herbs in the house? There were lots of books, old ones, because she was always reading.” I sigh in defeat. “I. Don’t. Know. You must understand that I was brought up solely by my mom. I went to public school. Yes…I had some struggles with bullying and I had to study hard. We didn’t have much money, but we managed to make ends meet. My mother gave me the world, or she tried anyway. Everything was normal in my eyes. Well, except for my dad looking me up, that could have gone better. She contacted him because I was going through a phase as a teenager where I was feeling sorry for myself for not having a father…he showed up, angry as hell, telling us he wanted nothing to do with me or my mother. He made sure my mother never tried again. Then last year, after my mom died, Velma came into my life.”

“When you were a teenager…how many years ago was that?” Alistair asks.

Thinking back…I would have been… “Sixteen.” I gasp. “That’s seven years ago. So that’s why he was all angry and wanted nothing to do with us.”

Alistair nods before he pulls me into his arms. “Yeah. That’s a no brainer. Fucking asshole.”

“Why didn’t I think of that sooner? I mean, I know Velma told me about her mother dying seven years ago. It crossed my mind it was around the same time my mother contacted him…at first I thought it was maybe due to the shitty timing, that he was acting that way because he thought my mom saw an opportunity and wanted to hook up or something. Except we didn’t know about Velma’s mother, how could we have known? But there was so much disgust when he looked at me…”

“Doesn’t matter anymore, this is where we stand and how we will go from here. He’s paved his own road, one that will have a dead end,” Alistair growls.

I wrap my hands in his shirt to pull him close, standing on my toes before I place a soft kiss on his lips as I murmur. “We need to be there for Velma. I know she might seem strong, but it will be different when she’s confronted with her father and the people she’s known all her life. I just know it.”

“Os will be there for her, we all will.” His hand slides into my hair and he tilts my head to the left before he covers his mouth with mine.

He pulls away all too soon and guides me to the door but stops in front of it. “Remember, gorgeous. No damn pressure. Even if there’s a hint of magic in your blood, that doesn’t mean you have to use it. I fucking love the fact that my fire can’t hurt you, and from what I’ve been told, you’re an immortal like us.”

Immortal? “Wait, what? Who told you I’m an immortal? How? But I’m…”

He chuckles like I’m not confused, pissed, scared, and hell…I don’t even know what I am and yet he’s chuckling.

“I asked The Orderly after we were mated. If you weren’t an immortal I would have to think of a way to keep you here with me forever because I can’t imagine a life where you would leave me, for any fucking reason, but death would be something you, nor I, would have any control over. So I needed to know,” the man croaks and I go all weepy inside.

Swallowing back the sea of emotions he just caused inside me, I poke him in the chest. “Good to know, because that right there allows me the fact that you’re never getting rid of me.”

“Wouldn’t want it any other way.” Alistair smiles and smacks my ass before he opens the door.

“Keep that in mind,” I mutter. “We’re about to go to my house and I also possess the magic of a slob.”

His bark of laughter makes my chest all warm and fuzzy. Gosh, I already adore this guy in many ways.