No Escape From Destiny (28 page)

* * * *

“I don’t need to talk to them right now,” she replied. “I need to calm down before I do that. If I go over there right now, they are both apt to wind up with black eyes instead of just
Adrian
.”

Damian looked up, and his pupils dilated when he saw that
Adrian
did indeed have a black eye. He looked back at Anstice and asked, “How did he get a black eye?”

She didn’t sound contrite when she answered. “He wouldn’t let me go to come help you. I needed to stop
Nikkos
before he killed you. We all know that none of this is your fault, and you shouldn’t be paying for my stupidity.”

Damian ripped his hands out of hers and jumped up and over to the other side of the chair so fast she lost her balance and almost fell over. He started pacing back and forth, running his fingers thought his hair. He started rambling like he did when he got nervous. “Anstice, you can’t hit your mate.”

She protested as she sat back up on the lounge chair. “He wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t mean to hit him. I just couldn’t get away. And you needed me to help.”

He looked at her and shook his head. “It doesn’t matter what happened. You cannot fight with you mates. Especially over another male. They were only trying to protect you. I know that’s what I would have done. Mates go a little crazy seeing their woman in another man’s arms, even if he is their brother. You can’t get mad at them for trying to protect you. It’s their job as your mate to do that.”

Damian looked over to where
Nikkos
and Adrian were sitting quietly, and then back at Anstice. “You three work this out. I’m going inside to get ready. We have a lot to do today. I can’t wait much longer to see Kassie, and I’m sure you can’t, either.” She just nodded her head at him as he walked back into the villa.

* * * *

Anstice didn’t want to look at her mates and see the hurt she had caused them, but she knew Damian was right. They were only trying to protect her. She was sorry she had hit
Adrian
, but at the time all she could think about was stopping
Nikkos
from killing his brother. She slowly turned her head and looked at them sitting together on the other side of the pool. They both had tears in their eyes. She got up and walked over to kneel in front of the lounge chair they were sharing. Looking at them from under her lashes, feeling like a child who was about to be grounded, she said, “I’m sorry.”

They both reached for her and took her into their arms, where they held her for a few moments as if making sure for themselves that she was safe.
Nikkos
spoke first. “No, baby, we’re sorry. We felt your emotions. They were a mix of pain and relief, and we were confused. Then when we saw you in Damian’s arms with only
Adrian
’s T-shirt on, and we didn’t stop to think that he was comforting you. We weren’t sure what to think. All we saw was our mate in another male’s arms, half naked and panicked.”

Adrian added, “We know Damian would never hurt you and would give his life to protect you, but at that moment it didn’t matter, and we just reacted.”

Anstice laid her hand on his cheek where it was already bruised. She bit her bottom lip and said, “But I hit you, and I never should have done that. I don’t know what got into me. I would never do anything to hurt you. And I
kinda
forgot about not having a lot of clothes on.” Color rose to her cheeks when she looked down at what she was wearing.

Adrian took her hand and kissed the inside of her wrist, whispering against the soft flesh there. “I know, baby. You did what you had to do to save Damian. I know you would never hurt anyone unless it was to protect someone else. You are a natural protector. That’s how we met, remember? You saved my life and protected me when I couldn’t protect myself.”

She leaned in and kissed his bruised cheek. “But I’m still sorry I hit you. I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”

With mischief in his eyes, he grinned and reached his hand under her shirt, lying flat against her mound. “Oh, I have the perfect way for you to make it up to me, but right now we need to go get ready to find your daughter.” He removed his hand even as she moaned her protest, and started helping her to her feet.

Anstice started to rise but suddenly stopped and looked back and forth between the two of them. She had a question but she wasn’t sure how to ask.
Nikkos
stifled a laugh. “Go ahead, little one, just ask your question.”

She hesitated a second, trying to arrange the words in her head. “You keep saying ‘your daughter.’ Does that mean that you aren’t going to consider her yours, too? I mean, I don’t want to push either of you, but if we are all going to be together, then she will be a part of your lives, too. Are you going to want her to call you
Nikkos
and Adrian or Daddy?”

Nikkos
leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. “She will be ours, too, little one, don’t worry. We will love her as if she was our own, and it’s up to her. We would love for her to call us Daddy when she’s ready to. It may be a little confusing at first, but we’ll work it all out. Maybe one can be Daddy and the other
Mpapas
.
Both mean Daddy. We can teach her to speak Greek at the same time we teach you, so you will both be able to speak it when we visit.”

She nodded, and they all went to their room to get dressed for the day.

* * * *

By the time they were all showered and dressed, Damian was waiting for them in the living room. He didn’t raise his head to look at them. He was embarrassed and didn’t dare meet his brother’s eyes. He knew better than to have hugged Anstice but couldn’t bring himself to push her away when she’d needed comfort. He knew his brother was probably still mad at him for daring to touch his female even though it was completely innocent. He kept his eyes on the floor when he saw
Nikkos’s
feet enter his line of sight. He prepared himself to be hit by his brother. He flinched when he felt
Nikkos’s
hand on his shoulder and hesitated for a brief moment when he said, “Look at me.”

Damian looked up to see tears in
Nikkos’s
eyes.

Nikkos
said, “I’m sorry, brother. I overreacted and didn’t mean to hurt you. Please forgive me.”

Damian knew he looked like a fish out of water. His mouth was opening and closing. It took him a second before he could respond. “You don’t need to apologize to me. You were just protecting your mate.”

Adrian stepped up next to
Nikkos
and said, “No, we weren’t thinking straight, and because of that we could have hurt you both. We are sorry. We know you would never hurt her or do anything we wouldn’t approve of. We know you two will be spending time together, and we will try our hardest not to be too jealous and jump to conclusions without talking to both of you about it. Just please be a little patient with us, okay, brother?”

Adrian calling Damian brother brought tears to his eyes, and without thinking, he reached in and hugged the male.
Adrian
hugged him back, and he could hear a small growl from
Nikkos
. Damian straightened and said, “I think we all have a lot to get used to, but we’ll be just fine. Thank you again for taking me in and making me part of your family. Now can we please go get Kassie so she can learn what a great set of dads she has?”

With that, the three of them left the villa to go find Kassie.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Damian had been able to feel Kassie as soon as the plane had touched down the night before and was anxious to go get the little girl. They still weren’t sure exactly how they were going to go about it. The plan was they were going to find her, and then figure it out. Marcus was able to get copies of her birth certificate, and they knew a doctor that happened to be a vampire in
Las Vegas
that was all ready to do a DNA test to prove she belonged to Anstice. They were just trying to figure out how to approach the adoptive parents.

Damian didn’t know much about them because he had tried to stay out of their sights when he went to visit Kassie. They were going to have to find the girl and do a little research before they could decide on how to introduce themselves and get the child back. Damian was able to lead them right to the house she lived in. Because it was Saturday, Kassie wasn’t in school. They only saw one car in the garage with another empty stall, so they figured only one parent was home with her.

They sat and watched the house for about a half an hour before Damian couldn’t take the waiting anymore. He said, “Let me go knock on the door and see who is home. They’re just humans. What could happen?”

Nikkos
stopped him before he could get out of the SUV they had rented. “No, brother, we do this together.”

They all got out and walked toward the house, Adrian in front and
Nikkos
and Damian in the back. They kept Anstice safely in between the three males. As
Adrian
knocked on the door,
Nikkos
moved up close enough to Anstice to lend her his support. Damian stepped off to the side of the door not to be seen in case there was trouble. Damian could feel Anstice’s fear, and she had admitted to him earlier that she was scared the little girl wouldn’t know her or want to be with her. He knew better. She was her mother, and he knew Kassie would always recognize her and love her.

They waited a moment before a woman opened the door. She looked a little shocked at first but asked politely, “Can I help you?”

“Is this the Middleton residence?”
Adrian
asked.

She hesitated again as she looked at the other large male standing behind him. She couldn’t see Anstice behind
Adrian
, so Damian was sure she was scared that some thugs had come for her husband.
Adrian
shifted just enough so that she could see the female behind him. That seemed to relax her a little, and she answered, “Yes it is. I am Shana. ”

Anstice started to speak but froze. Damian inhaled and could tell Kassie was near the open door. He shifted just enough to see into the doorway while still keeping himself hidden. The little girl walked up behind the other woman and said, “Mommy?”

It had been so long since he’d heard her voice that he had to fight to hold himself back from revealing himself and picking her up. The other woman turned around and said, “Just a minute, Emily. Mommy is talking to these people, and I’ll be with you in a minute. Go play with your toys.”

The girl refused to move and didn’t seem like she had heard a word Shana said until she shook her head and pointed to Anstice. “No, that’s my mommy.”

Shana spun around and shot a look of hate at Anstice and asked, “Who are you people and what do you want?”

While she was waiting for an answer, Kassie was able to sneak past her into the doorway. She looked to her left and saw Damian. Before Shana could catch her, she screamed his name and launched herself at him. He had just enough time to squat down and catch her up into his arms before she plowed into him. He stood up with her in his arms, holding her as tight as he dared and whispering to her how much he had missed his sweet baby girl while tears rolled down his cheeks.

Shana tried to peel Kassie away from Damian, but the child was stubborn and wouldn’t let go. Shana was crying when she said, “Give me my daughter and leave. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you need to leave. I’m going to call my husband. He’s a police officer. You need to leave now.”

Adrian, always the calm one, replied, “We know your husband is a police officer, and I think you should call him and have him come home. How about we go inside so you can call him, and we can talk while we wait for him.”

Shana shook her head. “Oh no, no, no you are not coming in my house. Give me my daughter back and get out of here.” She tried again to take Kassie out of Damian’s arms. “Emily, come to me, let’s go inside.”

The little girl buried her face in Damian’s neck and said, “I told you, my name is Kassie, not Emily. I want to stay with Damian and my mommy.”

Shana pleaded with her. “Your name is Emily, not Kassie, and I’m your mother, not her.”