"I'm Mike." He held his hand out to me so I took it and shook. "I'm the cook. My mate, Jamie, is the housekeeper for this bunch," Mike informed me as he prepared breakfast the next morning.
"How do you keep up with all of them plus the house?" I asked, mystified. The place was huge with a capital H.
"It isn't easy," Mike laughed. "But Conner sends some of hers over now and then, and they help out if we need it." Mike was in his early thirties, according to his scent, looked younger than that and knew his way around the kitchen. He had a plate of ham and eggs in front of me in no time.
"Look who's up," Dragon grinned when he and Crane walked into the kitchen. "Want to watch us practice in the dojo? Those sons of mine have been off messing about and not keeping up with their training."
"I met them last night," I said, cutting into my ham. I hadn't had ham in a long time. "This is good, Mike," I said.
"Did they say where they'd been?" Crane asked, pulling up a chair.
"Skiing on Chleroa," I replied. "No idea where that is."
"Then somebody bent time for them," Dragon sighed. "It's summer there, right now."
"They said Feather did."
"Feather is Mack's daughter," Dragon informed me. That's all right, then."
"I also heard you have a third son," I glanced at Dragon, who was getting his plate of food.
"Dragon Taylor," he nodded. "We call him Tay."
"You've been busy since I met you on Refizan," I smiled at him.
"I have, little vampire. It might have been easier for me these past few weeks if I hadn't thought you were dead." I didn't tell him it might be easier for me if I were dead.
We finished breakfast, Crane listening silently as Dragon and I talked, and then Dragon folded us to a dojo somewhere. "My dojo is behind Adam's garage," Dragon caught me looking around the place. "He built it for my family and me." The single, spacious room had a large square floor, most of which was covered with a padded mat. A nearby wall was covered in thick cork, held a row of practice blades, both wood and metal, in a rack, with another rack of throwing knives. On the opposite side of the room were weights and other exercise equipment.
Crane and Dragon were stretching and preparing to spar when Drake and Drew showed up. "Dad doesn't look happy," Drake whispered to his brother while he grinned. I snickered.
"Hey, quiet you," Drake pointed a finger at me.
"Hey, don't point at me," I said, letting the claw slide out on my index finger.
"Wow, now that's a fingernail," Drew laughed.
"Get over here," Dragon commanded—he was telling his sons to come and spar. I sat down on the floor outside the mat and watched them go after each other. They all fought using two blades each, and it was a dance as they moved and clacked wood practice blades together. Crane took Drew on; Dragon had Drake. They were all sweating when they finished.
"Impressed?" Drake flexed his muscles; he and his brother were just as broad across the shoulders as Dragon and Crane and they were all tattooed. I'd seen Dragon's tattoos before, but Crane had a dancing crane on his back, a crane with widespread wings on his chest and cranes flying up both arms. Drake had black dragon tattoos; Drew had silver dragons. I don't know how they'd managed to sit still for all that work. They were impressive, though.
"Lissa, how are you feeling?" Dragon asked. "Want to go a round with my brother?"
"I could probably do that," I said.
"Just don't overdo it, all right?" He smiled slightly.
"I can mist out of the way if I have to," I said, standing up.
"Here," Dragon handed over his wooden practice blades. "Crane, see what you think." Dragon moved aside.
"Parry with the flat of the blade," Crane instructed when I came to stand before him. He'd taught, all right. "I'll go slowly."
"You don't have to—I'm vampire, remember?"
"Then how fast do you want me to come after you?" Crane grinned.
"How fast can you go?" I shrugged.
"I like her," Crane said, and went into the middle position. He did come after me, as fast as he could and as hard as he could. He Pulled in a wood replacement blade when I hit one of his hard enough to break it. He hadn't touched me and I was blocking all his blows. When I got the first touch in, we stopped; I was breathing hard and Crane knew not to push it.
"So, brother—black leathers?" Dragon pounded Crane on the back.
"Yeah." Crane grinned at his brother.
"Come on, you," Drake came to me and lifted me over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.
"Hey!" I swatted what I could reach, which turned out to be his ass.
"I can hit you in the same spot," Drake laughed and folded me back to the villa's kitchen.
"Young Falchani, please explain what you are doing with Lissa in such an undignified position," Karzac had fists on his hips while he glared at Drake. Drew had come along, with Dragon and Crane right behind. Drew was laughing out loud.
"We had to haul her out of the dojo; she wore herself out whacking Uncle Crane," Drake grinned at Karzac.
"She is still recovering! Explain yourselves," Karzac demanded.
"Lissa had Crane subdued in a matter of minutes; I doubt she's permanently damaged," Dragon was calming Karzac down. Drake set me down on the floor and I swatted him across the stomach as soon as I was in a position to do so.
"Can we keep her, Dad? We've already touched her, we can't put her back," Drew snickered.
"Lissa may have something to say about that," Dragon said.
"What are you doing today?" Drake caught my arm as I started to walk away; my suite was upstairs and down a lengthy hall.
"Going to find a wardrobe; I have no clothes," I sighed.
"That sounds intriguing," Drew smiled.
"You can go if you behave yourselves," Devin walked in.
"Mom, we're models of decorum," Drake hugged his mother.
"You're not supposed to be able to lie," Devin gave him a kiss on the cheek when he leaned down.
"But we can practice sarcasm until the Falchani sun experiences a carbon flash," Drake laughed.
"Lissa, we have more borrowed clothes on your bed and we'll go as soon as you clean up," Grace walked into the kitchen.
"Sounds good," I said and had a quick hand fight with Drew before I got out of the room. He and Drake were enjoying themselves, I could tell.
"Have you ever seen anything like that?" Drake asked as soon as he knew Lissa was out of hearing. Since she was vampire, he waited quite a while.
"Bro, do you think we have a shot at that?" Drew came to stand next to Drake.
"I think you may have to work for that," Karzac growled.
Chapter 7
"Merrill said to give you this," Grace handed a credit chip necklace to me. "Most people have these embedded in their wrist, but a few still wear it like this. He says the money is yours, from long ago." I slipped the necklace over my head and tucked the chain inside my borrowed blouse. "How much?" I asked. I didn't want to upset Grace by cursing Merrill—she didn't have to know how I felt about him.
"He says there are too many zeros to count," Grace smiled, brushing honey blonde hair back. Karzac and Dragon had to be proud; they had two ladies who were knockouts. Devin came in, her red hair in a clip at her nape and dressed tastefully in a jacket and matching trousers.
The shocking thing came while we were preparing to fold to London—I learned the villa was roughly a mile away from Merrill's old manor. Devin explained things after I finished dressing in more borrowed clothing and misted back to the kitchen.
"Lissa, hello," Amara's musical voice hadn't changed since I met her the last time, and she was just as beautiful as I remembered. Another set of twins were right behind her as she appeared inside Grace and Devin's large kitchen. I drew in a breath when they materialized.
"They're your nieces; Brenten's granddaughters," Amara said as I backed away, shaking my head. I knew from the scent they were related—we had the same bloodline—on one side, anyway. They were also beautiful, with long, auburn hair that fell in waves down their backs. Nearly-gold eyes studied me as they sized me up. Their scents, though, were vastly different. Both held a great deal of power, but the power signatures weren't close. One held a scent of the Larentii about her, while the other could only be described as otherworldly.
"I found a way to duplicate the Larentii power signature," one stepped forward and held out her hand. "I'm Kyler, and Flavio is one of my mates."
"Kyler," I took her hand. I wanted to cry—I had family I hadn't known about. It made me wonder what else Griffin had kept from me.
"My mother—your half-sister, died long ago," Kyler squeezed my hand and stepped away so her sister could come forward.
"I'm Cleo," the other took my hand. "I'm a healer for the Saa Thalarr. Rhett is one of my mates. Our father," she nodded toward Kyler, "is Glendes, Eldest of Grey House. Our step-nephew, Shadow Grey, should meet you," Cleo said, smiling uncertainly. She wasn't sure how I'd receive her or her sister.
There's nothing to worry about, I sent mentally. "So, you both have multiple mates, too?" I asked aloud. Cleo took another step forward and hugged me.
"It'll work out," Cleo whispered in my ear. "Kyler says so, too."
"I sure hope so," I brushed away a bit of mistiness when Cleo stepped back.
"I'm mated to Dalroy, too, and as Cleo said, she's mated to Rhett," Kyler smiled brightly at me. "We know you know them."
"Yeah, I know them. I'd say they're damn lucky," I nodded to my newly discovered nieces.