Invidious Betrayal (49 page)

There hadn’t been any hugging that day. Neither he nor his father could handle any more male bonding. It was just too foreign for them at the time. Victor was now aware of the new reality about Ian, and Ian now knew who had sired him, but nothing had changed.

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. In fact, his father had covered up the entire incident that had occurred at HowlTech, blaming Jasper, who was described as a loner-psychopath who had snapped for some unknown reason and gone on a rampage that caused the deaths of many good people and left Vincent Howl in a coma.

The whole encounter with his father had been surreal and what Ian found out later that day had been a real shocker. Vincent had willed all his holdings and property to him. Vincent had updated his will the day after Ian’s birth and ever year after.

Because of the wording of Vincent’s will, his being in a coma meant that Ian was now the owner of HowlTech. Although he initially didn’t want anything to do with it, Ian had agreed to run HowlTech so that he could put a stop to all research concerning the Syn serums and anything else that breached the balance of nature.

Ian hadn’t convinced himself to forgive Vincent for all he’d put him through yet, but he was still family. However, as Ian sat nervously waiting for news that his wife had given birth to their daughter and that they were both healthy, all the anger that he’d held onto didn’t seem so important.

That epiphany would fall on deaf ears where his uncle was concerned. Vincent had been in a coma since that fateful night.

Stiff and anxious, Ian kicked his legs out and braced the back of his neck with both his hands, thinking that he couldn’t wait another minute. He shouldn’t have let Aria do this without him. He should have insisted that he be allowed in the room during the birth. But even now as he waited, he was having a hard time controlling his abilities due to the stress.

It seemed that relationships were all kinds of emotional and his control of his abilities was clearly linked to his emotions, for now. He could imagine what the doctors would think if he began floating a foot off the floor, or sent an energy bolt out of his hands that blew the lights and equipment in the room. Or if they witnessed the eerie change of eye color that happened right before he did something otherworldly.

No…it was best he was out here where he was surrounded by people who understood his issues.

Brandon got to his feet. “I’m gonna get some coffee. You look as if you could use some water.” Ian nodded. His friend took drink orders from everyone before heading to the snack machines. Tanner passed a sleeping Mandy on Mama Morel’s lap and asked to go along. Brandon agreed.

This is my family
, Ian thought with a smile.
Now if only Aria and the baby
—

That thought was cut short as Ian noticed a small cluster of individuals rushing to surround Mrs. Cole, who had seemed to appear out of nowhere. Ian shot to his feet, anticipation burning through his veins. He watched Mrs. Cole, who was surrounded by Richard and Aria’s aunts, who he’d met at few weeks ago, as they moved into the waiting room. Mrs. Cole’s eyes found him almost instantly.

“She’s perfect, Ian,” Mrs. Cole’s voice shook with emotion as tears streamed down her face. “They’re both doing fine.”

Ian let out the breath he’d been holding and he vaguely felt the pats on his back, the hugs, and the well wishes. He staggered forward, as joy and relief washed over him.

“Go see your family, son,” Mr. Cole said, gently nudging him foreword.

My family
, Ian thought with pride as he walked down the hallway. The lights above him seemed to brighten as he came to room 129. A nurse was coming out as he reached out to push the door open.

“Congratulations, Mr. Howl,” the nurses sang in unison as they moved around each other.

Ian nodded, but kept his eyes on his beautiful new bride as she sat upright in the hospital bed holding the most important person in both of their lives from now on.

“Come in and meet your daughter, Noemi.” Aria smiled.

N
OEMI ROLLED OVER ON HER
back and raised her arm. Her little pudgy hands reached for the mobile that moved slowly above her. Ian looked at the black and white shapes that held her attention and wondered why the spinning toy fascinated her so much. She was only a couple months old, but he would swear that her huge, round, smoky eyes were focused on the mobile as if she could see more in it than just a toy.

“Aria,” Ian called out.

“Yeah,” Aria answered from their bedroom, just beyond a set of double doors that opened to Noemi’s nursery.

“I think you should come in here,” he said, trying to keep his voice even.

Something fell to the floor with a
clang
then Aria’s steps echoed as she ran through their room, coming into full view. She gasped and covered her mouth.

“What…how?” Aria stood in the doorway of the nursery, peering at what he also witnessed.

Ian knew how. His daughter carried his genes.

So far Aria hadn’t shown any negative or superhuman side effects from the injections she had received during her pregnancy. Neither she nor Noemi had shown any dependency for the drug after the birth either. Ian had assumed Noemi would have no abilities, and if she did at all, they would be muted and appear during puberty.

But as Noemi stared at the mobile that was bending toward her, it creaking due to the strain of her mental pull in a fight against the bolt that secured it, he realized that his daughter was indeed second generation with a mixture of all the Syn-serums imbedded in her DNA. Marroe concluded that Noemi would never need any injections and would most likely never suffer any of the side effects.

“Well, what do we do?” Aria finally asked, coming to stand beside him.

Movement to his left blurred by Ian as Kermit raced across the room, climbed up the side of the crib, unlatched one of the shapes off the mobile, and handed it to Noemi. The monkey had only been with them a month after Noemi’s arrival, since the natural passing of Dr. Marroe. Already, Kermit had cemented his place inside their family, watching over Noemi like a guardian and she seemed to like the little guy.

Noemi smiled. She took hold of the black and white circle Kermit handed her and tilted her head as if inspecting the pattern on it.

“Ian!” Aria smacked him on the shoulder.

He couldn’t contain his smile as he grabbed Aria to him by her waist.

“What do we do?” Her voice didn’t hold fear in its tone. He expected as much. His young wife wasn’t afraid of anything pertaining to those she loved.

“We love her, teach her, and support her,” Ian said, before kissing his beautiful wife.

Aria narrowed her eyes as she looked up at him. “That’s obvious, I meant—”

“Train her,” Kermit cut her off.

Both he and Aria looked around to see Kermit sitting, balanced on the footboard of the crib, his eyes alight with knowledge and a hint of mischief. “Yes, Kermit,” Ian laughed. “We will train her. And you can help.”

“Great.” Aria pouted. “I’m the only one who has to actually use good old-fashioned labor to get what I want.” She turned toward their room, taking two steps away from him.

“Don’t be angry, sweetness,” Ian said giggled, as Aria pulled out of his arms. “I’ll get you a maid.”

Aria picked up a teddy bear from a dresser and hurled it at his head. Ian ducked out of the way before it hit him then chuckled when she growled. Aria had once told him how she loved and hated his agile and graceful moves.

“Two maids,” he added with another laugh.

“As lovely as that sounds, we can’t risk exposing Kermit’s, yours…and now Noemi’s gifts. Besides, we don’t even have a home yet.”

That was the opening he needed. Ian followed her into their room and tackled her, both of them falling on their bed. “Kermit and I will help as much as we can then. And as for a home… I was thinking we could move to Clovis County, in a big, modern, country-style house close to Mama and Poppa Morel. I loved being there, and I know you did, too.”

“Really?” she asked with excitement.

“I’ve found the perfect plot of land. You, of course, will design our home,” he answered, “I even spoke to your father about taking over as Clovis County sheriff, since Sheriff Gaskins is thinking about retiring.”

Aria’s glowing smile turned into a frown, causing her nose to scrunch up. It made him smile bigger. Ian loved when she scrunched her nose up, it was so cute.

“What about HowlTech, Richard, your father, and your uncle?”

Ian shrugged, “It’s the twenty-first century. I can run HowlTech from anywhere. My father and brother can visit, and we’ll go see them as often as we can. As for Uncle Vincent, he’s not going anywhere. We’ll continue to visit him twice a month as a family like we do now or we can move him.” It went unsaid that Ian went to see his uncle at least twice a week and he knew that Aria knew. “Plus there will be visits for holidays and birthdays, and when I come in town for HowlTech business I’ll see them.”

“Yeah, please don’t remind me of birthdays. I swear if I see another of your father’s gifts for Noemi’s birth I am going to freak. I see where you get it. You spoil me, Mr. Howl.” She nipped his chin with her teeth.

“I love you, Mrs. Howl.”

“I love you more,” she sang before claiming his mouth with hers.

Ian couldn’t deny she loved him, but he was sure he loved her more. He’d known the moment she left him in Brandon’s apartment that he was never letting her go. But he would give her this victory because in truth, he’d won the grandest honor of all. He’d won Aria Howl’s love, created a new family, was able to reclaim his own family, and was finally living instead of simply existing.

Ian smiled because he had won, and he’d keep on winning.

To all the people who gave me a helping hand, encouraging words, and their time. I thank you. To Sonserae Bell, Daniel, and Cianne, you three are my inspiration. Dan Patrick, you are my motivator, support team, and biggest fan. I don’t know where I would be without you and I don’t ever want to find out. My Beta readers, Darlene Carter, Shiree Henderson, and Tina Lassiter, you are invaluable and I can’t thank you all enough. Officer Kim Bey, you are my go to gal for all of my projects and an awesome Beta. I appreciate your input, opinions, and value our talks.

Pam Howard, you jumped right in and picked up all the pieces. You stepped up and helped me when I needed it the most. I can’t express how the kind words, encouragement, and no bull attitude, pushed me forward.

I will always be grateful for each and every one of you. Thank you much.

Edited by
: Pam Howard and Chrystal Schleyer

Proofread by
: Pam Howard and Kim Bey

Beta read
by
: Daniel Swain, Tina Lassiter, Darlene Carter, Kim Bey,

Cover By
: Michele Johnson @BlueSkyDesigns.com

Story Development
: Aided by Daniel Swain