By the time he thought he could speak without breaking down, several minutes had passed. Bast looked up and found her watching beneath half-lidded eyes. “I love you,” he said.
“I love you, too.”
“I can’t do that again, Alice. I cannot do that again.”
“I know.”
“Don’t leave me like that again.”
A small smile. “No. Not if I have anything to do with it.” After a long pause, she said, “I heard you talking to me. I kept drifting and every time I thought I was drifting too far away, I heard you.”
“I have something for you,” Sebastian said. He nodded toward Drew. The vampire nudged Richard, who shuffled forward, albeit reluctantly.
Alice’s mouth parted, her gaze darting from Richard to Bast and back again. “Richie?”
“Hey, girl.”
Her hand flew to her face, covering her quivering lips as her eyes shimmered. Then her trembling arms extended, opening so her brother could fall into them. This time, Richard didn’t need to be nudged.
“Hey, girl,” he repeated softly against her hair. “Missed you.”
Bast waited patiently, almost willing to let his dislike of the man outweigh his love for the woman. But as he watched them together, Alice’s possessive grip and Richard’s fierce hug, he reconsidered. Maybe the asshole would be less of an asshole once he got off the junk keeping him high.
After a few minutes, her tears reduced to sniffles, Alice pulled back, a sweet smile on her lips. One hand remained clasped around Richard’s, but she used the other to reach for Bast. He went to her without hesitation.
“Richie, I want you to meet someone very important to me. This is Sebastian Kent, your brother-in-law, and the man who’s changed my world.”
Epilogue
One month later...
Bast lifted his gaze from the whiskey mixer to locate the two women in the other room of Corin’s house. He couldn’t help himself from seeking them out. Their laughter brought a smile to his lips, and once again he marveled that circumstances had brought him to this place in life.
“Thank you for bringing your mate,” Corin said. “Mine is tired of my company.”
Alice sat at Jasmine’s swollen feet, dabbing neon green nail polish on each of her toes. Their glasses of lemonade sat untouched, the plates of cookies next to them equally ignored. Stretched out across the couch, Jasmine rubbed the sides of her protruding belly periodically, her chatter almost nonstop. While she looked happy, it was very evident that her due date galloped closer.
“I very much doubt that,” Bast replied.
Corin sipped the rose-colored liquid. “Can’t sleep. Heartburn. Can’t get up without help. She blames me for how miserable she is.”
Bast chuckled. “Well, that I agree with. It’s the plight of fathers-to-be everywhere. Hang in there. A week to go, right?”
“Any day now.”
The two men weren’t fast friends the way the women had bonded, but Bast grudgingly appreciated having someone to talk to who understood being ostracized. No longer a part of the Council guard, he didn’t know who else to approach with his questions and concerns. Funny how he’d never realized how much he’d made that job his entire world.
Bast rubbed his chest, still not quite used to the double thump that filled him whenever he was in Jasmine’s presence.
Corin studied the motion and said, “Your animus?”
He sat back. “No, the dragon urge isn’t as strong as it used to be. It’s getting better. I can control it better, too.”
“What of the information Jas gave you? Did it help?”
“Dribbles.” Despite her diligent research, Alice could only glean bits about Aurak RithRagoth, a leader of some renown. Bast didn’t know whether to attribute the dragon as merely the leader of his ancestors, or if Bast was a direct descendant of him. “It’s helped me discover more about me than I used to know, about the animus, as you call it.”
Additional research explained his affinity to wealth and his uncanny ability to manipulate it, apparently a prominent dragon trait. He’d also learned that every eerie sense of memory he’d experienced was another trait. Memories were inherited up to a point. It’s why he remembered the taste of fire in his mouth and the glorious sensation of flying.