Fated Redemption [Kindred of Arkadia 8] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) (9 page)

still streaming tears. She used her sleeve to dry his eyes.

“I’ve missed you so much, big brother,” she whispered. Rian just pulled her into his arms and started

rocking them side to side.

“I waited. Every year I waited for you all to come home.” Rian cried.

“We know now. We saw our stockings, those silly stockings you helped us to make. I knew the second

that I saw them that Mom and Dad had lied. You never forgot about us. I knew you wouldn’t, I just knew

you wouldn’t.” Asling buried her face into her brother’s chest.

“They are your sisters?” Rhys asked, though now looking at the women, he could clearly see the family

resemblance.

“Welcome home, Bethy,” Gina said, wiping her eyes. Cecelia’s eyes were bright with unshed tears.

“We can stay can’t we? We can’t go back, we can’t!” Bethy said, sounding close to hysterical.

“What happened, Bethy?” Damian’s voice was gentle but his eyes had hardened.

“When we confronted Mom and Dad, the car was still packed from coming home from school. We both

graduated from LSU this December. We didn’t really want to move back into the family home and was

debating getting our own apartment, so we hadn’t unpacked yet. Mr. Prescott tried to keep Bethy from

returning. There was talk about an arranged marriage. He may get use of his arm back. Eventually.” Asling

sniffed.

“That’s my girl.” Rian smiled and kissed her forehead.

“They still have Dylan. They won’t let him out of the house for fear that he would return to Arkadia.”

Bethy wiped her eyes with one of the bar’s napkins.

“We need Liam,” Damian said, looking over at Rian desperation in his eyes.

“I’ll call him.” Rian pulled out his phone, stood up, and let Asling take his seat.

“They’ve joined NOAH, Damian, the entire pride. I swear they are all fucking nuts,” Asling said.

“Asling, language,” Rian said, pulling the phone away.

“Sorry, Riri.” She smiled at him, he smiled back. His attention was diverted when a familiar voice came

on the line.

“Hey, what’s up?” Liam greeted him.

“They fucking lied! They fucking lied to all the kids and they kept my baby sister from me! I’ll kill

them, I swear I will Liam,” Rian ranted. Damian sighed. Bethy stared and Asling giggled. Rian began to

pace.

“Rian, who?” Liam asked before Rian interrupted him.

“They told them we didn’t want them. All of those years lost because of those bigoted fucks! They

joined NOAH and they’re probably brainwashing all the other kids too!”

“Rian…”

“They saw the newsletter, Liam. They saw their stockings and knew that we still thought of them.

They’ve come home!” Rian started sniffling.

“Rian, I swear to all that is holy if you don’t tell me what the fuck is going on I’m going to have

Sebastian bite your ass! Now calm down and make some damn sense,” Liam roared into the phone.

“Our asshole parents told our brothers and sisters we didn’t want them living in the Lewenhart pride

because they would infringe on our carefree lifestyle. They have joined NOAH and they are holding Dylan

hostage!” Rian shouted.

Rhys looked over. Peyton was watching the entire scene while his hand dipped into the table’s bowl of

chips. He looked as though he were watching one of his soap operas. Duncan was on his cell phone talking

quickly. Rhys would bet money that it was with his ma.

“They have Dylan? He wants to come home?” Liam asked sharply.

“Yes, Liam. We were already packed, we couldn’t get him out,” Bethy said.

“Bethy, is that you?” Liam asked, his voice softening.

“It’s me, LeeLee,” she said.

“God, I forgot that you used to call me that. Don’t worry about your brother. We are bringing him

home. If he wants to transfer prides there isn’t a damn thing they can do about it,” Liam said, his voice

sounding harsh.

“We knew you would help us,” Asling whispered.

“Of course, baby doll. You, Bethy and Dylan were our little shadows.” Liam laughed.

“We hoped, but we didn’t know if you really wanted us here.” Bethy sighed, exhausted from crying.

She laid her head on her brother’s shoulder.

“I’m hanging up and calling Lachlan now. Girls, no more talk about not being welcome, or I’ll put you

over my knee,” Liam threatened, though everyone listening knew it was an empty threat. It was proved two

seconds later when both women giggled.

“I am Alpha you know.” They giggled again.

“I get absolutely no respect,” Liam said, but Rhys could hear the smile in his voice.

“See you girls in the morning.” Liam hung up.

“Now, let’s head home. I have so much to show you,” Rian said, sounding excited.

The four got up and waved good night. When the door shut. Emmett let out a deep breath.

“Damn those girls grew up pretty.” He was still smiling when Rian popped his head back in.

“I heard that. Paws off, bear.” Rian hissed and left again. Emmett gulped.

“Rian is going to have his hands full. Those two women are lovely,” Rhys said, grinning.

“Makes me glad I don’t have any sisters. Brothers are a lot easier to deal with.” Duncan punched

Emmett in the arm.

“Ma said she would be working with Lachlan to get any more family members transferred to Arkadia

that request it,” Duncan said.

“How long were they gone?” Peyton asked.

“Fifteen years. The entire pride moved fifteen years ago. Bethy and Asling were about six at the time.

Those girls worshipped their brothers. They must have been heartbroken all this time.” Emmett’s eyes

hardened.

“Rian was devastated when they left. He was fifteen when Asling was born. He was both mother and

father to her before he left for college. Damian was the same with Bethy. A year later Dylan was born. It

was nothing to see Rian walking around town, hanging out with a baby on his hip.” Duncan laughed.

“I learned how to change diapers from helping to watch Bethy and Asling. I can’t wait to see Gavin’s

reaction to them moving back to town.” Emmett smiled at the memory.

“All of us helped to raise those kids, But Gavin was closest in age to them. Asling, Bethy, Cecelia and

Gina haunted his every step.” Duncan laughed.

“He’s just so easy to tease.” Cecelia admitted.

“When they left, all of us missed them so much. I once heard Ma on the phone asking them to come

back.” Duncan shook his head.

“They’re home now. Soon we’ll have baby Dylan back too.” Emmett grinned.

“He’s not a baby anymore, he’s what…?” Duncan counted on his fingers and looked up at the ceiling.

“Twenty? That can’t be right. Baby Dylan is almost old enough to drink legally?” Duncan looked a little

spooked.

“Man, we’re getting old.” Emmett sighed. Rhys, David and Daniel laughed out loud.

“We have you beat.” Daniel cackled. Emmett brightened.

“That’s right! I don’t feel so bad now. I’m just a young man in my prime.” He puffed out his chest.

“Come on, guys. One more round and then we’re heading home,” Daniel said, waving a controller.

“Yes!” Peyton jumped up and ran over to his chair and picked up the controller.

David looked at Daniel.

“I think we’ve created a monster.” Daniel nodded. David jerked his head over to the Xbox and raised an

eyebrow. Daniel nodded. Rhys felt his heart melt. He knew what they were about to do and he loved them

more for it.

“Hey Peyton, is it okay if we leave this here with you?” David asked. Peyton looked at David as if he

had lost his mind.

“Don’t you need it?” Peyton asked. Daniel shook his head.

“Nah, we have another one at home. You keep this one and practice. We can log in from the coven

house and we can play together. We could really use you on our team,” Daniel explained.

Peyton looked over to Moe, his huge liquid brown eyes begging. Rhys had to turn his head to hide his

grin. As if his softie of a mate would say no.

“You know, Peyton, this might actually be good for business. Looks like everyone had fun tonight.”

Moe indicated Duncan and Emmett.

“We sure did. It’s hard to find good players anymore,” Duncan said.

“That would be so cool!” Peyton put the headset on and beamed at Daniel. Rhys almost laughed when

Daniel had to clear his throat. The little vampire’s eyes had begun to get teary.

“Okay men. Time to kill shit.” David grinned at Peyton bumping shoulders with his brother.

“Let’s kill some fucking zombies!” Peyton exclaimed. David, Daniel, Emmett and Duncan’s eyes

widened and they busted out laughing.

“Y’all are a bad influence.” Rhys laughed.

“We know,” they said together.

“God help us from the twins,” Rhys said. The four men looked at each other.

“Which set?” Emmett asked.

“All of you.”

“You do know we have two more sets coming up in the ranks. Landon, Lucas, Matthew and Merrick,”

Duncan offered.

“There goes Arkadia,” Moe said, wiping down tables, a smile on his face.

“Rock on!” Emmett said.

Chapter 5

“Peyton, don’t stay up too late.” Moe yelled as he and Rhys walked up the stairs to their apartment.

“I won’t!” Peyton called back.

“He so will.” Rhys smiled. Moe nodded.

“I know, but he’s having fun with friends. It may be a first for him. I’ll just make sure I have extra

coffee for him in the morning.” Moe chuckled.

They reached the top of the stairs and Moe opened the door for his mate. Rhys smiled and stood on

tiptoe. He kissed him softly then headed to the bathroom. Moe couldn’t keep the grin off his face if he tried.

He went over to the bed and pulled the covers down. He was about to head to the kitchen to make a cup of

tea when he smelled blood. He took another deep breath and the scent remained.

He walked over to the bathroom and the scent got stronger.

“Rhys, you okay in there?” he asked.

“Yup, fine.”

“I smell blood.”

“Nicked myself shaving.”

“Oh, okay.” Moe started to walk away but something kept him rooted by the door. The scent was too

strong for a shaving nick. Without asking for permission he opened the door. What he saw nearly drove

him to his knees. His beautiful mate had a straight razor out and was making horizontal cuts across his

forearm.

“Baby, no!” Moe raced forward, grabbed a towel, and laid it across the blood-smeared arm.

“Don’t look!” Rhys cried out, his face a mask of shame.

“Why, baby? Why?” Moe applied pressure with the towel to get the bleeding to stop. Rhys just shook

his head, unable to answer.

“Do you want to hurt yourself?” Moe asked, desperate to understand. Rhys shook his head frantically.

“It feels good, it’s like I’m letting out all the bad blood that I was forced to drink. I know in my mind

that it left my body months ago, but when I see the blood drip, it’s like the addiction lessens.” Rhys wiped

his eyes with his free hand.

Moe took a deep breath. He knew better than to tell him not to do it again or that it wasn’t helping.

Because he knew that in Rhys’s mind it was helping.

“What triggered it?” he asked, lifting the towel to check the cuts. To his surprise they were mostly

healed. His surprise must have shown.

“Vampires heal superficial wounds pretty quickly.” Moe didn’t want to think about the number of times

Rhys had cut himself and he missed it due to his accelerated healing.

“I’m glad it heals so quickly. What happened tonight that trigged the need to do this?” Moe asked again

gently.

“It was such a good night. So many of our friends were happy, I felt like my heart was about to burst.

When we got upstairs, I wanted to rip your clothes off and see how much of your gorgeous cock I could

get down my throat. Then all I could think about was the time I walked in on you in the shower and the

image of the thick vein that runs down the side of your shaft. After that all I could think about was blood.”

Rhys took a deep breath and sighed. Moe was still stuck on the idea of Rhys swallowing his cock down.

Fingers snapped in front of his face. Rhys’s mouth smiled, but his eyes still looked sad. Moe shook his

head and looked at his mate.

“So it’s not the sex you’re opposed to, just the fear you might lose control and bite me?” Moe asked as a

brilliant idea began to form in his mind. He wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before.

“God no, it’s not the sex. I don’t trust my mouth near your skin.” Rhys looked so dejected.

“So, as long as we can keep your mouth away from my skin…” Moe said and waited for Rhys to put

the pieces together. Rhys looked up quickly.

“Damn. Why didn’t we think of this a month ago?” Rhys demanded, standing up, and began to shuck

off his clothes.

“I don’t know, but remind me to kick my own ass later.” Moe in his impatience literally ripped the shirt

from his body.

“Fuck that was hot,” Rhys moaned.

Moe dropped his jeans and stood in front of his naked mate.

“Lube?” Rhys whimpered, staring at Moe’s extremely large cock. His tongue darted out and licked his

bottom lip. Moe felt himself break out in a sweat from the small unconscious motion.

“Nightstand drawer,” Moe said. Rhys shook his head and then darted out of the bathroom. Moe watched