Well, that puddled John Matthew. Yup. To the point where his fingers didn’t seem to work—the ASL equivalent to someone stuttering.
And jeez, Bitty was amazing, so outgoing and friendly—and courageous considering all she had been through.
Mary rubbed the center of her chest. Yes, she thought, she was getting a real live dose of maternal pride here—and it was better than a million glasses of wine. No hangover, either.
“Are you blind again?” Qhuinn asked his Brother.
“Yeah, I tried to eat some humans.”
“Tried? That beast of yours on a diet?”
They were all laughing when someone came out from under the staircase. Instantly, the chatter stopped, as if people were worried about who it was.
Zsadist was dressed in his fighting gear, black leather coating his body in a second skin, weapons strapped on his chest, his thighs, under his arms—
In spite of the way he looked, Bitty broke away and went right over to the scarred male, her well-washed, handmade dress frothing under that ugly black coat of hers.
Z did a stop-short just as everyone else had—kind of like he’d seen a ghost. And then he looked around in what seemed to be confusion.
“You’re Zsadist,” Bitty piped up. “You have a young—may I meet her? I should like very much to meet her, please.”
In response, Zsadist moved extra slowly, lowering himself down to her level. And then he just stared at her for a time, as if she were some wild creature that had unexpectedly proven to be tame.
“Her name is Nalla,” he said roughly. “My daughter is much younger than you. She would like to have a big sister, if you’d like to teach her things.”
“Oh, yes. I would.”
“What’s that in your arms, little one?”
Bitty looked down, and Mary held her breath. “This is my mahmen. She passed. That’s why Mary and Rhage are fostering me. I hope I get to stay here, though. I like them a lot.”
Just like that. The explanation was simple, and heartbreaking . . . and had all the adults blinking back tears.
Zsadist inclined his head low, his yellow eyes glowing. “My condolences for your loss. And welcome to our home—which you should now call yours, too.”
Bitty leaned her head to the side and regarded the Brother. “I like you. You’re nice.”
* * *
Hours later, after they got Bitty settled next door, Rhage and Mary headed into their room.
He was still blind as hell, but Rhage didn’t care how many times he stubbed his toe or clipped something on a door jamb, Bitty was under the same roof as he and Mary were, so all was hella right in his world. And, man, had she blown everyone away.
Even though she was this little thing in this huge, grand mansion with all these people she’d never met in her life? She had gone up and called everyone by name, introducing herself and smiling and laughing. She had kept her mother’s urn with her the entire time, and somehow that had seemed apt, not ghoulish or morbid.
Her mahmen was very much a part of her and always would be—and, oh, his Mary was being so respectful of that.
Like his female could make him love her more? Jesus.
“I can’t believe we have a kid,” he was saying as his shellan took him into the bathroom and loaded up his brush with toothpaste. “We are parents. We have . . . a kid.”
“And I’m sorry, I may already be biased, but how fantastic is she? Did you see Wrath? He’s in love with her. I think he wants L.W. to marry her.”
“Well, she’s strong. She’s smart. Who wouldn’t want to—”
From out of nowhere, a snarl twitched his upper lip, and a growl percolated up out of his chest—while at the same time, the beast surged around his back looking for a way out.
And all that got worse as he pictured some male standing next to his Bitty with all kinds of bright fucking ideas in his—
“Rhage. Stop it. She’s going to probably want to date someone at some point—”
“Over his fucking dead body anyone is touching my daughter—”
“Rhage, okay, three-part yoga breath.” She petted his shoulder like she was soothing a lion. “It’s perfectly normal for little girls to grow up and want to get mated to—”
“Nope. She’s not dating. Ever.”
Mary started laughing. “You know, this would truly be funny if I didn’t worry that you weren’t slightly serious.”
“I’m totally fucking serious.”
“Here we go already.” Mary sighed. “I swear, Bella and I are going to have to get you and Zsadist into a support group.”
“Yes!” he announced. “My brother will know exactly how this is. Solidarity among fathers—”
Mary cut off his rant by shoving a boatload of Crest toothpaste into his piehole. “Shut up and brush, honey. We’ll talk about this after her transition. In, like, twelve to fifteen years.”
“Bdjgaehu hasdpi knjidhgil.”
“What was that?”
“Not gonna change a fucking thing.”
But he was a good boy and worked his chompers over. Then he and Mary took a shower . . . where all kinds of other things happened—
ALL OF WHICH REMINDED HIM EXACTLY WHY THERE WAS GOING TO BE NO DATING, LIKE, EVER.
When they were finally lying in their big ornate bed together, he positioned his beloved next to him and let out an exhale that lasted a century and a half.
“Are the lights off?” he asked after a moment.