Tiffany glanced in Olivia’s direction, her gaze curious, but she didn’t say anything.
Zane moved to slide his arm around Olivia, holding her close. He introduced her to Tiffany, adding Olivia’s relationship to the shifter packs of Swanicott.
Tiffany’s eyes widened again. “You’re a shifter? So you can’t even fly?”
Olivia shook her head. “Nope. But I can do other things.”
“Like what?”
Olivia glanced at Zane. “Why don’t I show Tiffany what I can do? That way, you can have some time to catch up with Emily.”
“You wouldn’t mind?” Emily asked.
“Not at all. I love kids and I think I have a couple of tricks that can keep her entertained for awhile.”
Zane felt in those words all of Olivia’s future intentions toward his newly discovered daughter. He turned to Emily and asked if it would be all right.
“Yes, of course. I think she would enjoy spending time with a shifter.”
Olivia crossed to Tiffany and gave full expression to her wolf-ness by shifting right in front of her. Tiffany clapped her hands and laughed.
Emily suggested they sit on the back porch to talk over the details of basically shared custody. Emily wanted four days at her house, but Zane didn’t think three-days-a-week in flight school would be enough for Tiffany. The last thing he would do tonight, however, was argue with her.
He sat in a chair beside her, but throughout the conversation, much of his attention was fixed on his daughter.
He shook his head in disbelief. He had a daughter. He wondered how long it would take before the idea seemed real to him.
Olivia chased Tiffany all around the yard. When Olivia raced behind Tiffany and nipped at her heel then raced away, Tiffany screamed.
Emily rose from her chair, a hand to her chest. “Tiffany?”
Zane heard her motherly concern.
But the girl had already taken off after Olivia, flying at top speed, laughing loudly the whole time.
Definitely, his daughter.
He tugged Emily back down to her chair. “She’s in good hands. You’ll see. And Olivia won’t let her get away with anything.”
“Sure. Okay.” She groaned softly, a tormented sound that helped Zane to better understand the pressure Emily had been under.
Olivia bounded away from Tiffany, but always sustained a speed that would allow the child to catch up with her before bounding away again.
He was about to wrap things up, when he heard Tiffany bawling in a loud voice as though wounded. Emily was once more on her feet and heading down the stairs into the yard. Zane joined her and soon saw the cause; Olivia, still in her wolf form, had Tiffany pinned to the ground her ankle in her maw.
Emily gripped Zane’s arm. “What’s she doing? I think she’s hurting Tiffany."
“Not likely,” Zane responded. He then pathed to Olivia. What’s going on?
I told her not to fly so close to the electrical wires. When she didn’t obey, I brought her to earth. Had to.
Zane drew close to Olivia. “You can release Tiffany now.”
Olivia remained prone on the grass, but let go of Tiffany’s leg.
Tiffany stayed where she was, scowling at Olivia and rubbing her ankle.
“Oh, dear,” Emily murmured.
But Zane had already taken his daughter’s measure. Dropping to his haunches, he asked, “Why did Olivia bring you to earth? What were you doing?”
Tiffany stared into his eyes and wiped her face.
“Tell me the truth, daughter. I’ll accept nothing less.”
Tiffany huffed a sigh. “I was being bad. I was too close to the wires. She told me not to do it and I did it anyway.”
“Well, you’re right, you were being very bad. And if you stay with us, with Olivia and me, she has my permission to take you down every time. But you have to understand that if you continue to behave in a dangerous and undisciplined manner, your flight time will be curtailed. Do you understand?”
Tiffany nodded. She held Zane’s gaze. She was cute as hell and Zane worked at not smiling. Her spirit, so like his own, brightened his heart. He had no doubt she would push every boundary he set for her over and over but eventually, she’d figure out he was as good as his word.
For now, he had the distinct impression that the time of testing had only just begun. The good news was, he wasn’t Mastyr of Swanicott for nothing. “Apologize to Olivia.”
Tiffany glanced at Olivia, who sat on her haunches, her tongue lolling. “I’m sorry.”
Olivia dipped her muzzle up and down once.
“Now apologize to your mother, because you had her worried again.”
Tiffany’s lips started to pull inward once more, but Zane said quietly, “Do it now.”
Tiffany stood up and dusted off her jeans, then turned to Emily. “Sorry, mom.” The sing-song of her voice made it clear she spoke those exact same words dozens of times a day. “Can I keep playing with Olivia?” Now that the storm had passed, she was ready to go again.
“Yes, you may.”
Tiffany sized Olivia up once more, her eyes narrowed. “Race you to the trees.”
Olivia took off in a single extended bound and Tiffany whipped through the air beside her, flying like the wind.
Emily drew close to Zane and linked her arm with his. “I’ve never known what to do with her, but you’ve been here less than an hour and you’ve already started figuring it out.”
“It’s a beginning.”
Emily released his arm and turned toward him. “You know what? I think she needs to be in the Swanicott school more than she needs to be here. How about you take her on the weekdays so that our daughter can get the flying and discipline she clearly needs. I’m sure weekends will still be really challenging. I’ll miss her, but having her become a more cheerful, obedient child will be worth the sacrifice.”
“Once she’s pushed to the limits of her abilities on more of a daily basis, she’ll be more content. You’ll see. And she needs to be around her kind.” He thought of Olivia and what she’d endured without the support of a shifter community.
She released yet another sigh and more tears filled her eyes. “I’ve been praying for this day to come from the moment I left Swanicott and now here we are.”
“Here we are.” He nodded. “And listen, you can visit anytime you like. I’ll have a guest room at the lighthouse kept ready for you whenever you feel you need to be there. Or if you need me to bring her here, just give me a call.”
“Sounds perfect.”
~
A few nights after the visit to Freeport, Olivia traveled with both Luther and Zane to Camberlaune Realm. Luther had done his due diligence and had researched her bloodline. He’d found her biological father, Ivor, living in a rundown neighborhood in one of the larger cities and not exactly thrilled to learn he had a daughter.
He lived alone, and his one-bedroom apartment showed it.
He had her eyes, her hair, her teeth, her nose and Luther must have known exactly who she was, who her father was, the moment he saw her.
Having been in Ivor’s home for fifteen minutes and having listened to his ‘I-don’t-give-a-damn’ recounting of the night he met her mother, Olivia was not hopeful for a future relationship with the man. He confessed to having bedded her mother that same night, but he’d subsequently returned to Camberlaune shortly after with no intention of seeing her again.
His story had been laced with enough indifference to sink Olivia’s spirits. Though his attitude had clearly had another effect as well, since Olivia now sat between one pissed off shifter and a vampire in about the same state.
She was pretty angry herself.
Luther sat on her left while Zane was on her right, arms crossed over his chest.
These two men, bless them, had become her champions in her new Swanicott life and each radiated a fair amount of disgust at the man who’d spawned her.
A shifter with a beer belly.
&nbs
p; The setting wasn’t pretty either.
Her biological father had at least a dozen empty whisky bottles lined up on his kitchen counter. A couple of decades ago, he’d served as a leader in one of the Camberlaune shifter packs. But when his wife and young son had been killed in an Invictus attack, he’d lost the will to do just about anything.
Olivia could sympathize, but she still felt a strong measure of distaste that he hadn’t gotten on with his life in a meaningful way.
Luther asked, “And are you telling us you didn’t know about Olivia?”
Ivor glared at Luther. “Of course I knew I had a daughter, but she was half-human. I thought it would be better for her to be raised by her mother in the States. And it was just a Goddess-be-damned one night ride anyway.”
Both men growled, muscles tense.
Olivia didn’t even have time to be angry for herself. She worried now that what had begun as a civil meeting between child and blood-parent would turn into a brawl.
She stood up and clamped a hand on each massive shoulder, holding the men in place. “Stand down, both of you, or I’ll go Zephyr in this room.”
The men bristled but remained seated.
She addressed the man who had sired her. “But I needed pack involvement.” She waved her hands, showing her fur. “You should have known that, Ivor. And I fault you for not thinking that far ahead.” When he still remained unmoved, she knew she needed a slightly different tack. She debated sharing her recently discovered secret, but maybe it was what Ivor needed to knock him out of his doldrums.
She once more glanced at the whisky bottles. “However, I am open to seeing you again, to seeing if we might establish some kind of father-daughter rapport. But you’ll have to start attending one of the Camberlaune AA meetings and maybe some grief counseling. You’re a mess. And by the way, I’m pregnant. So if you want to know your grandchild, you’ll have to get your shit together. I suggest sooner rather than later.”
Ivor stared at her hard, lips compressed. “You’re having my grandbaby?”
“Yes. Your grandbaby.”
“Olivia?” Zane’s voice brought her attention riveting to him. She felt a sudden swell of sensation from the man beside her. She hadn’t meant to blurt it out this way; Zane didn’t even know. Yet somehow the moment had seemed right to her.
Zane stood up and turned her physically toward him. “You’re pregnant? You’re having my baby? Our baby?”
She blushed. “Dammit, I am. And I should have told you first but I wanted to give Ivor a shake-up. I think he needed one.”
Zane took her in a warm embrace. It doesn’t matter. I think you did the right thing. It might just be what the shifter needs to start fighting for a better life for himself.
He kissed her afterward, a lingering touch of his lips to hers that as always threatened to become so much more in no time at all.
We’re having a baby, he said.
Yes, we most definitely are.
She felt Luther nudge her shoulder, giving her a hint to knock it off.
She drew back, gripping Zane’s arms. “Tiffany will love having a sibling, especially one that’s mostly shifter and vampire with a little human thrown in.”
“Yes, she will because our child is bound to be a match for her.”
Olivia laughed and Zane joined her.
She turned back to her father and crossed to him. He’d risen to his feet, but now had the look of man who’d been slapped hard, which she thought a very good thing.
She extended her hand to him. “I hope you figure things out, Ivor. You know where to reach me, but I won’t have anything to do with you until you have a 30-day chip. And I’ll want a call from your sponsor. Do you understand me?”
Ivor nodded, giving her hand a single shake as though making a pact with her. She hoped he followed through. From what Luther had told her about him, he’d once been a true fighting man, an honorable shifter in every sense of the word, one of the most revered in Camberlaune.
“We’ll be going now,” she said.
When she turned, Zane hurried to open the door for her, glancing at her belly.
She laughed outright, then shoved at his shoulder. “Don’t be ridiculous.” She then pulled the door open for herself.
“I’m sorry,” Ivor called to her.
As she headed to the two bikes parked in front of Ivor’s apartment, she said in a loud voice, “A thirty-day chip. Nothing less. Or don’t even bother.”
“Okay.”
Once outside, Zane hopped on his cherry-red, replacement Valkyrie and Luther sat astride a big Harley. She slid her arms around Zane’s waist and held on tight, not so much because she needed to, but because she loved having her arms around her man.
The two men throttled their bikes, letting the noise flood the street, then each let out a warrior cry as they took off.
One day soon she’d get her own bike. But right now, getting to ride behind Zane seemed the best of both worlds.
The vibration of the machine, her arms around the man she loved, and the feel of the wind blowing her hair a dozen different ways was more than she’d ever hoped to know in the entire course of her life.
Now she had all this and a baby growing inside her, and Zane’s wonderful, willful vampire daughter.
Zane’s deep voice penetrated her mind, making her ache for him. I love you, sweetheart, he said.
And there was that word. A word she was sure she’d never tire of hearing.
Sweetheart.
I love you, too, Zane of Swanicott. More than shifting or bounding through the air or even swimming in the beautiful pond near your treehouse complex. Sweet Goddess, yes, I love you.
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Available now, the next installment of the Guardians of Ascension RAPTURE’S EDGE – 1 - AWAKENING!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caris Roane is the New York Times Bestselling author of 74 books. Currently she writes paranormal romance, both as a self-published author and for St. Martin’s Press. She began her career writing Regency romance for Kensington publishing and was awarded the prestigious Romantic Times Career Achievement Award in Regency Romance in 2005. Caris currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her two cats, Sebastien and Gizzy, and she really doesn’t like scorpions!
RAPTURE’S EDGE 1 AWAKENING
BLOOD ROSE SERIES BOX SET, featuring Book #1 EMBRACE THE DARK and Book #2 EMBRACE THE MAGIC
EMBRACE THE DARK #1
EMBRACE THE MAGIC #2
EMBRACE THE MYSTERY #3
EMBRACE THE PASSION #4
EMBRACE THE NIGHT #5
EMBRACE THE WILD #6
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