Chapter 21

Abe paced over to the map wall again and stared at it. As meetings went, this one had been loud, with so many voices, ideas, and issues to cover. He glanced over his shoulder; his family was exhausting. Smirking, he went over to get a coffee. Maybe some caffeine was what he lacked. He’d already fed, which hadn’t helped much settle the turmoil inside him. He’d hoped being away from Liri, his head would settle down, but now all he could think about was what she was up to and was she safe doing it?

All of his aunts left the room in one large group. He glanced at his uncles. None of them looked concerned, so he didn’t need to find anywhere to hide from the fallout.

“You’re quiet.”

He turned to see his father standing behind him. “Not much to add to anything that was said.” He shrugged, “I’ll just go where I’m needed.”

“I’m going to go check in on your sister. Did you want to come?”

Abe shook his head. “Nope, the two of you are like oil and water lately, so I’ll just stay here.”

“I’m just concerned she’s overdoing it.”

Abe stirred his coffee and kept his head down, “keeping busy helps keep her mind off things,” he briefly glanced at him, “which is hard with a growing baby inside her that is a constant reminder.”

“I know. I try not to bug her, but I worry.”

“She’ll handle it her own way, Dad. Just be there for her.”

“Okay. Oh, what are getting for the party?”

Abe’s head jerked up. “I forgot about that.”

His father smirked. “Talk to Mitz. She’s keeping a list of what has been gotten and what’s needed,” he grinned wide, “or ask her nicely, and she’ll just take care of it for you.”

Abe nodded. “that sounds like the safest route.”

“I’ll see you later.”

He leaned back against the table and took a sip of his coffee.

“Where’s he off to?” Uncle Michael came over.

Every time he spoke to him, it was like looking in the mirror. “To upset Rena mostly.”

His uncle smirked. “Then Autumn will go off.” He reached around him and picked up a cup, “maybe we can assign him somewhere until the baby is born.”

“I don’t see Dad being happy with being far away for the next month.”

“A month?” His Uncle’s eyes rounded, “it’s only a month?” His face blanked for a moment, and then shook his head, “I’ll panic about that later.” He cleared his throat, “do you want to tell me what’s going on with you?”

Abe froze with the cup in front of his mouth. “Not much.” He took a sip and hoped that was the end of it.

“I don’t think so. Even Quinton expressed concern.”

Abe looked over at him. “Oh?”

“If Quinton notices it and expresses it verbally, there is something going on.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he widened his stance and looked at him.

Abe felt like that was his uncle’s way of saying he wasn’t going to budge until Abe shared.

“It’s uh,” he glanced around the room to see the rest of the men were busy conversing with each other, “I’ve been having some issues with,” he looked down at the liquid in his cup as if it was going to give him the words magically.

“Issues?”

He jerked his head to see his Uncle Chase standing there. “With my fangs,” he blurted out.

“Ah,” Chase smirked, “I’m not a fanger, so this isn’t a talk for me.” He pointed to him. “We’re going over to check out a location with Bohdi, he has some concerns about. I’m just going to check in with my beloved for a few minutes. I’ll meet you at the armory.”

“Who is going?” Michael asked.

“Leone, Bastian, and his brother, so we thought we’d take the nephew with us and get some miles on his swords.”

Michael nodded. “Sounds good. Let me know what you find. I am needed over in Solrelm to discuss the meeting with King Osbert.”

“Thank the gods our mother had the good sense in naming us.” Chase saluted and walked away.

“Your fangs?”

Abe shrugged, “I thought it was a good way to get rid of him.” He blew out a breath, “it’s not something I feel comfortable talking to a king about.”

‘You are brilliant. How have we never thought of that?”

“Thought of what?” Uncle Quinton came over.

Abe studied his coffee again, suddenly wishing he’d gone with his dad after all.

“To get rid of Chase, Abe mentioned fangs.”

Quinton smiled, “that would make him run the other way fast.”

“Who is running fast?” Uncle Rafael came over and picked up a cup.

“Chase, because Abe mentioned fangs.” Quinton grinned.

“I think he’s jealous.” Rafael picked up the coffee pot and then scowled at it because it was empty. Setting it back down, he looked around and then sighed. “I don’t know where the stuff is to make more.”

Leone came over, “Chase won’t be long. Beth says Alona is moody today.”

Abe nodded, “Whenever he’s ready.” Which he hoped was right now.

“So, why did you mention fangs to get rid of Chase?” Uncle Quinton crossed his arms over his chest, mirroring Michael’s pose a few minutes earlier.

“He was going to tell me what he was having issues with.” Michael glanced from his brother back at Abe.

“Issues?” Rafael leaned back against the table. “If you’re not ready to go out with…”

“No. No,” Abe shook his head, “it’s not that at all.” He set his cup down. “And I want to apologize for when I suddenly ported away earlier.” He frowned. “I don’t know why I did that.”

“You haven’t ported a lot; it takes some getting used to.” Leone grinned, “Some of the things we did at the start was…”

“Let’s not go there,” Rafael scowled at him.

“Are you feeding regularly enough?” Uncle Quinton ducked his head so they were looking eye to eye, “your eyes were red a few times.”

“I know you had to make do for a long time, but you don’t have to anymore, Abe…”

“It’s not that,” he offered Uncle Michael a slight grin, “I’m feeding more than I need to lately, so I know that’s not it.” Taking a deep breath, he held it for a moment. There was no scenario he could think of that was going to get his uncles to drop this conversation. Blowing out his breath, he opened his eyes, “have you ever been near someone and wanted to bite them out of the blue?”

“Human someone?” Leone’s voice sounded hoarse. He backed up, “I can’t have this talk. Message when we’re leaving.” He turned and walked out of the room quickly.”

“I…”

“It wasn’t you.” Uncle Michael sighed, “he had an addiction problem...”

Abe’s eyes widened, “I didn’t know.”

“It’s not your fault.” Quinton gripped his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “So, how long have you been having this problem?” He frowned, “I mean, humans shouldn’t be a problem. You’ve been around them all of your life.”

Abe blinked, “No it’s not a human.”

“If you say it’s one of us, I might have to pull your fangs from your mouth.” Quinton scowled.

“What? No. It’s none of you.” Abe couldn’t believe the conversation had taken this turn. “It’s Liri. Every time I’m near Liri.” There, he’d said it. He looked up slowly, hoping he didn’t regret doing it. His uncle’s expressions ranged from big stupid grins to shock.

“That’s something,” Michael said and looked at his brothers.

“Whatever you do,” Rafael put his hand on his shoulder, “do not take any advice from most of my brothers.” He glanced at Quinton, “Except for this one, he wasn’t a complete idiot.”

“Hey,” Michael objected, “I wasn’t that bad…”

“She was dying before you manned up, brother.”

Michael crossed his arm over his chest and scowled at his younger brother.

“It’s true,” Quinton nodded, “I don’t have much advice to give, so don’t ask me. Just follow your heart.”

“And your head, think things through before you do stupid shit.”

Abe put his hand up, “what are you guys talking about?” He looked from one to the next and then stopped on Uncle Rafael.

“Liri. She’s your mate, bro.” Rafael grinned and then sobered in response to the look Abe gave him. “Oh, you didn’t know that part?”

Abe shook his head slowly. “No. I was talking about having trouble focusing and wanting to bite someone.” He rubbed the back of his neck, “mate? Is that even possible?”

“I’m going to go with yes.” Quinton crossed his arms over his chest again, “and it makes sense because your soul hasn’t been reborn, like Nova’s.”

Mate? “Mate.”

“He looks like we just slugged him,” Quinton grinned.

“Just get out of his face.” Uncle Rafael grabbed his shoulder and steered him in the direction of the other side of the room. “Do not listen to any of them. You need to talk it out with Liri,” he stopped walking, “I have no idea how the mate thing works over there, so make sure you discuss that too and,” he put his hands on his hips, a serious look on his face, “don’t do anything without talking it through with her.” He snorted, “We don’t need any more accidentally marked mates stomping around.”

Abe nodded. He’d heard about his uncles Leone and Troy’s lousy judgment calls. In fact, the women mentioned it often. “Okay.” He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck and then looked down at the floor. “I was not expecting this.”

Rafael chuckled. “Well, if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that you find your mate when you least expect it.”

Abe nodded. Mate?