Their Mating Rituals [Paranormal Protection Unit 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) (10 page)

“Of course it’s nerves, sweetheart,” he whispered, leading her to the sofa. Sitting down with her in his lap, Aiden stroked her back. He wasn’t saying anything about what it
actually
was. Besides, he had a feeling Talon, being the big mouth that he was when surprised, would blurt it out. Pressing a kiss to her temple, he smiled. “You don’t have to worry, love. He’s going to absolutely adore you and will likely do something silly like yell at me.” In the old languages so she wouldn’t understand. Loudly.

“He better not or I might actually have to hurt the big dork,” she muttered. “No one gets to yell at you except me. I’m the only one who’s allowed to yell at you, my darling man, and that’s the God’s honest truth, too.” She reserved the right to be upset with her man at any given moment in time. “I just really and truly hope that you don’t regret introducing me to him,” she whispered softly.

“Why would I?” he asked, softly stroking her back. “You are his daughter, Talina, and you both have the right to get to know one another. You your father, and him the child he didn’t get to see take her first steps, to hear her say her first words, to watch her graduate,” he murmured softly. “I think this will be very emotional, absolutely, but I think you will be surprised and quite happy by the end of it. Just remember, his bark is worse than his bite, most days.” Aiden grinned.

“I hope that you are right,” she whispered softly. When the loud knock pounded at the door, she jerked and gulped. “All right, well let’s go and let him in then.” She would be right there at her mate’s side. She would walk along at his side in everything. Rising with Aiden’s help, she slipped her hand into his and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s do this, darling,” she whispered quietly.

Walking at Aiden’s side, she watched as if through a haze when Aiden opened the door and there stood her father, a man she had never known but a man she had seen every day of her life in a worn image that her mother had and had been buried with.

Staring at Talon, Aiden shot her a look and then back again. “Come on in,” he said, easing her back slowly so neither would lose eye contact. “Talon, this is Talina. Talina, this is Talon. Your daughter,” he said to the big guy, who just seemed to be standing there gaping. He had no idea what else to say or if he should say anything else. He really didn’t feel like having his head ripped off.

“Lina,” she murmured and offered her hand. “My mother said that you hadn’t wanted me. I still don’t know if you do. She tried to reach you for years, literally,” she murmured. “Hired private detectives, even when she couldn’t afford them, sent letters time and again to the address that you gave her. Why?” she asked then. “Why in heaven’s name wouldn’t you have followed up with a woman that you had liked enough to sleep with, have unprotected sex with? Why didn’t you look for her after you were gone just to ensure that nothing came of the sexual encounter?”

Talon was standing there gaping, and Aiden knew the exact instant that he got his feet back under him again. His teeth snapped shut and his brows went straight down. “There was never any unprotected sex in any of the few encounters I’ve ever had. I always use protection and always will.” At least until he found his bond-mate. Moving closer, he growled when she stepped back and he looked to Aiden.

“He wants to catch your scent, love,” he said quietly to her as he took her hands in his and wrapped his arms around her. “Just relax and let him take a small sniff,” he murmured, lifting her hand up so that Talon could take a smell.

Lina looked at the massive Dragon and gulped. “All right,” she whispered, and even though she was shaking, she let him close to her. “She told me that no man would ever remain beside a woman, that men would always put themselves before anyone else. For the longest time I believed her,” she admitted. “Until I met Aiden, that is.” She looked up at Aiden with a smile. “He changed my mind on everything.”

Leaning in, Talon inhaled the scent of her skin. Processing through the scents, he eliminated Aiden’s, the scents of the house, and everyday items down to her scent. Well, her scent and something else, but he wasn’t going there yet. “You are definitely my child,” he said, and threw a look at Aiden. “And you are with child, too,” he commented, stepping back. Oh yeah, Aiden had known, he just hadn’t told his bond-mate yet. That much he knew from the smallest of twitches in his facial muscles.

“I’m what?” she asked as she all but melted into a puddle, only being saved from the floor by Aiden’s quick hands. “Oh God,” she breathed and looked up at Aiden.
I told you he didn’t want me,
she whispered with a tear trailing from her eye. The man had sniffed and stepped back from her as if she had been made of absolute garbage and even now looked as if he couldn’t wait to get the hell out of Dodge.

Turning her to him, Aiden explained her reaction to Talon even as he leaned in to explain to her.
He just got introduced to you, sweetheart, and found out he’s a father and also a grandfather,
he murmured quietly.
He’s also respecting the bond-mate distance until you or I give him leave to do otherwise. He’s really wishing you’d give him a hug but understands that you probably don’t want anything to do with him since you believe he abandoned you, my love.

Lina wasn’t so sure about that, but she nodded.
He will destroy me when he refuses me. Are you sure that you are ready for that?
she asked quietly.
I thought I was tossed aside once by him. If he truly does it again I will never be able to remain here, honey, ever. Are you very sure that this is something he would want?
At her mate’s nod, she took a deep and steadying breath and moved from Aiden’s side, and walked up to the massive man. “I would really like a hug from my father, if you wouldn’t mind?”

With a stunned expression, Talon looked to her and nodded, opening his arms as he stepped forward. Wrapping her up gently, he tucked her in close to him and held her. He buried his nose in her hair and took a deep breath. “Thank you,” he whispered to her softly as he gently gave her a squeeze.

Lina couldn’t have not cried if she had tried. She began to sob. She couldn’t help it. All the years with her mother, all the years of trying to be good enough for the woman and never measuring up. This, right here, was the first hug from a parent she had received, and it broke her heart that it was from a man that she had believed abandoned them, a man she spent her entire life hating.

Jolting at her tears, Talon hugged her closer to him and rubbed her back. “Shh,” he murmured, throwing Aiden a look. The man just shrugged and grinned before heading off…somewhere. “Come on, baby, don’t cry,” he whispered to her. He didn’t do well with tears from a female, ever. They…Well, they completely made him feel inadequate and that he was at fault. Rocking her gently in his arms, he didn’t have a clue what to do, so he let her cry and cursed at Aiden for leaving him alone with her.

Meandering through the house, Aiden collected a box of tissues, a damp cloth, and some water before he went back to where, yup, she was still bawling. Tipping his head to the sofa, he set everything down on the coffee table and waited for Talon to get her settled down with him.

Holding her close, Talon stroked her hair. “Talina, sweet, you have to stop crying, baby.” She was starting to make those hiccupping sounds, which never boded well.

“All my life she blamed me,” she whispered. “All my life I never got so much as an ‘I love you’ because she was certain that you had abandoned her because of me.” Another sniffling hiccup. “All my life I tried to give her everything that any child could possibly give to a parent, but I couldn’t,” she whispered. “And it’s freaking killing me. All my life I thought that I was worthless, useless, all because she had made me feel thusly.” Which was the truth. All her life she had felt less than nothing because she just was never enough for her mother.

Aiden sat in a chair and waited. He could say all the right words to get her out of her funk, but Talon needed to fix part of this. She was his daughter, and some things only a father could fix.

Talon leaned back and cupped her damp cheeks. “I didn’t know, Talina. I swear I didn’t,” he whispered, softly brushing his thumbs to her skin. “If I had known I would never have stayed out of your life. This I swear as King of the Dragons. You are wanted, very much so, sweetheart. You are a blessing, a gift, a true and priceless treasure. You are amazing, baby, absolutely amazing,” he said drawing her back into his arms to squeeze her close.

Lina hugged him back just as tightly. Tears fell from her eyes and she couldn’t stop them but she did nod. Looking up at him, she whispered, “Are you sure that you would want me? How could you have known about me?” She swallowed hard, sniffed, and looked up at him. “So if you never had unprotected sex with my mother, how did she become pregnant with me?” Or was she really not Talon’s child? Perhaps all these years she had hated a man who didn’t deserve her hatred.

Brushing his fingers to her cheeks, Talon shook his head at her. “Best guess is it was likely a faulty condom,” he said honestly, wrapping his arms back around her. “Not the first time it’s happened. You are my baby girl, Talina.” Talon pressed his cheek to her hair. “Your scent has traces of my genetic lineage. Which means you are a Princess, by the way.” Talon chuckled when Aiden muttered curses.

“What?” she demanded with a frown. “No.” She could handle being a daughter to a father that actually wanted her, but a, P—no, she couldn’t be that. “Faulty condom.” She couldn’t help but think that perhaps her mother had done something to ensure that the condom was very, very faulty.

“It’s not so bad,” he murmured quietly. “You actually don’t have to do anything. It’s really just a title. But you will end up with a Royal Guard or two hanging around.” Talon shot a look to Aiden. “Not including the one that mated and impregnated you before introducing us.”

“That’s not his fault as much as mine,” she told him softly. “I wasn’t ready to meet you. I was honestly terrified to meet you because I had truly believed that you wouldn’t want me.” She sighed. “I’m very, very happy that I was wrong,” Talina admitted and looked up adoringly at her father. “And isn’t Aiden enough of a guard for me?”

“I’m sorry, Talina,” Talon murmured again. His little girl had actually thought she wasn’t wanted. That was so many kinds of wrong he didn’t know where to begin. “Unfortunately no, he’s not,” Talon told her. “At least not if he’s working, which he still does need to do. He’s part of the Teams, which means he’ll be going out with the rest of us and leaving you vulnerable. Some of the Guard are part of the Teams, but there are many who are not. Those that are not will fill in while he is gone,” he told her. “And don’t argue with me on that. You are my baby girl and I’m going to damn well protect you.”

No one protected her, ever. Not until she had met Aiden. She felt another round of tears and sniffed. “I think that maybe the hormones of pregnancy are kicking my rump now.” Well, not really. She was sure that she would have been bawling no matter what because of the simple fact that she was finally loved, she was finally accepted by a parent, the one she never knew, never dreamed she would meet.

Pressing a kiss to her hair, Talon gave her a squeeze. “One night soon you are going to come over to my place without your bond-mate and have dinner with me,” he said softly. “I want to show you a few things and give you some sense of my history, too. It will be our time and we will try and do it every month if we can, all right?” he murmured.

“I would like that a great deal,” she admitted softly. “For now, do you think that maybe we can just be here together for a bit? Have dinner together maybe and then spend some time simply getting to know each other? I would like to do at least one day a month, possibly more, and also maybe the three of us can have some time together as well?”

“I think we can do that,” Talon said with a smile. “But I need to make a call first and let the office know where I’m at and rearrange a couple of things. So if you’ll give me a few minutes…” he murmured, squeezing her close. Standing, he headed for the hall and Aiden’s office to make his calls.

His eyes on her, Aiden lifted a brow. “So the big bad Dragon isn’t all that bad, is he, darling?” he asked with a small, knowing grin.

Talina moved to him and wrapped her arm around him. Looking up, she smiled and said, “Hug me, Aiden. Hug me and just let me hold onto the man that I love. And I do. I love you, Aiden, with all my heart.” Closing her eyes, she smiled. “And no, he’s not as bad as I thought he would be. I really and truly thought that he would be worse than he was.”

“You should learn to listen to your mate, my love,” he murmured, wrapping her up in his arms, and grinned. “Especially since we’ve already covered the fact that he is all knowing and never wrong,” he teased her. That had gotten him a nicely heated argument the other night, and damn him, it had ended splendidly with her all naked, lush, and his to play with. Hell yeah!

“Ha”—she smiled—“most times right, sometimes wrong, although… If you would like to do a little arguing, I’m totally down for it so that we can make up again.” Oh, making up was one of her favorite things in the whole world!

“Or we could just dispense with the arguing and you admit I’m always right and you can make it up to me,” he grinned, lifting her up in his arms. Once she’d wrapped her legs around him, he headed for the stairs. Talon could totally wait. “You shouldn’t doubt your bond-mate, darling, especially when he is always right,” he teased, nipping at her jawline lightly.

“Almost always right,” Lina said with a grin and brushed a kiss along his jaw and then nibbled his ear. “Like 99.995 percent of the time you are right,” she amended and pulled back. “I love you, Aiden. I’m so very happy that you are mine.”

“I love you, too, angel,” he murmured, kissing her gently.

Clearing his throat, Talon stood watching them. “And just where do you think you are going with my daughter?” he asked, slightly amused but trying to hold a stern expression.