I was seeing something I had never seen before with Antonio.
He loved Cahal.
It showed when he glanced down at him, his eyebrows pinching, allowing Cahal to see his private worry, before turning his attention back to me and asking softly, “Lil, are you all right?”
My wolf growled, and my eyes glowed fiercely as my attention snapped to Cahal, feeling all kinds of protective instincts rising to the fore, each battling to strike at the person who might harm who I felt was mine to defend. I stalked through the bedroom until I was staring down at Cahal. I pointed at him around the coffee and stated bluntly, “Since this whole scene never actually happened, I’m going to tell you right now that if you hurt him I will personally carve out your f**king heart and let my wolf feast on your corpse.” My wolf growled furiously in agreement. “Do you f**king understand me?”
“Lily Ruckler!” Antonio barked, sounding surprised and pissed. “Apologize. Now!”
“I. Will. Not,” I growled, bending so my face was right in front of Cahal’s. “Answer me, dammit, because I am as serious as this f**king war.”
Dark eyes stared an inch away, not flinching under my regard. “Have you drunk from those cups?”
I blinked at his question, wondering how the hell he hadn’t gotten my point since I couldn’t have been clearer. “Excuse me?”
“The cups,” he stated slowly, like I was a halfwit. “Have you drunk from them yet?”
My wolf growled but, curious where this was going, I stated, “No.”
“Good,” he lifted one from my hand, took a sip, completely ignoring the fact I was still in his face, and peered to Antonio, holding the cup out to him. “I’d like for you to drink.”
I went still. Understanding. Not sure how I understood, but again, it was part of that knowledge that remained between my memory voids. I quickly raised, moving back a step and slamming against Ezra, not even realizing he was behind me. “You…” I cleared my throat as Ezra steadied me. “You love him, too.” This was a symbolic gesture of wooing, of love, normally done at weddings, but since this event ‘never’ happened, it couldn’t be done in front of others, only us, their children, who would keep their mouths shut.
Cahal nodded once in answer, his eyes completely set on Antonio. “Tony…drink.” Antonio stared between the cup and Cahal, a weary, almost scared hesitation that he tried to hide shining on his features, but it peaked only to quickly disappear. And I watched, silent, as Cahal’s indifferent countenance cracked then completely crumbled, his expression plain as day, his love and adoration for Antonio shining through his eyes. “I’ll never run again. I won’t hurt you as I did before. I love you…and I’ve never stopped.” Cahal’s jaw clenched hard as he lifted the drink closer to Antonio. “Please, Tony. Trust me and drink.”
I wasn’t breathing, profoundly taken aback. My mind kind of…floated…at his heartfelt words, at his plea. I didn’t completely understand the depths of it, but it was sincere and torn from somewhere deep inside him. I could tell it had cost him dearly to say, to put himself out there, by the way his heart rate galloped and his chest heaved, perspiration beginning to form on his forehead as he waited for Antonio’s answer.
Ezra’s heart rate wasn’t doing much better, and I reached back with my free hand when he kind of tilted against me, and grabbed his hip, keeping him steady and damn near holding all his weight, his hands instantly gripping my shoulders for added support.
Ever so slowly, one of Antonio’s hands began to lift. Hovered.
Lowered a bit as he stared at the cup.
Air shuddered past his lips, then he finished raising his hand to the cup and took a firm hold on it. “I love you, too. Even when you hurt me, I never stopped.” Golden eyes touched and held Cahal’s dark ones, his love vulnerably revealed in his expression, his gaze, and his act as he lifted the cup to his lips, staring at Cahal over the rim as he took a sip.
Cahal’s chest shuddered, and he accepted the cup back from Antonio, taking another sip, grinning, his eyes appearing misty as he lowered the cup, then he rumbled quickly, “Ezra, you’ll want to leave now.”
I jerked as Cahal blurred, and suddenly the cup was on the nightstand, and Antonio was flat on his back on the mattress with Cahal over him…and yeah, I could see tongues moving together as their heads tilted, hands gripping each other’s cheeks or hair or nape or wherever their hands were wandering. The only thing I think that kept Ezra standing was the fact that the sheet had luckily moved with them, again covering their lower sections. Cahal heaved in a breath, demanding against Antonio’s mouth, “Queen Ruckler, get King Zeller out of here.”
I physically jolted out of my shock, Ezra’s body kind of moving with mine since he was lying against me so heavily, and I quickly averted my gaze from them, muttering, “Right. Right. We’re leaving.” I turned, literally lifting one of Ezra’s large arms over my shoulders, and started dragging him out as Antonio began to glow a little, which I somehow knew — this knowledge weirded me out a bit since it was from my voids — it meant he was becoming turned on, a Mage’s telltale of arousal. Yep, I hastened my way through the room, tugging Ezra and kicking a couple of empty orange juice bottles — didn’t want to know — out of our path.
As soon as we brushed past the tent flap to the front room and it closed behind us, any sounds — good Lord — of our dads doing their thing abruptly cut off with the privacy spell. After debating my options, there weren’t many since we couldn’t go outside like this, I dumped Ezra’s half-slack form on the golden couch.
Taking one good look at his face told me he was close to passing out, so I placed the other coffee cup in his hands. “Ezra, you need to drink this. A little caffeine will help to clear your head.” He lifted it methodically, green eyes staring off into nothing as he took a few gulps. It had to burn his throat, but he didn’t even flinch. “Alrighty. How about a smoke, too?”
When no answer was made, I started digging through his pockets, finally finding them in the inside pocket of his robe, which I hadn’t even known was there. I took one out and placed it between his lips, flicking his lighter, the flame bright in front of his face. “Here you go.”
He tilted his head slightly, uncannily meeting the flame with the end of his cigarette — even as he still stared off into nothing — pulling so the end lit.