Her elegant face became a mask of well-bred horror. “Tell me you haven’t married that Liadan person. Oh, Beck. You cannot give up hope. Annul the marriage. I will find a way to smuggle a bondmate out of Tir na nÒg . Your Uncle Alex and Susie already have feelers out looking for the best way to do it. We have confirmation that Torin, the bastard, is making deals with other vampire families to sell them consorts. Obviously he would never make a deal with the Dellacourts, but we have plans.”
Beck took his aunt’s hand. She was a slave to fashion, as always, and her nails were painted an emerald green with small jewels on the tips. It was the fashion for consorts. “Tell them to stop. I’m not about to…what was the term Meg used…divorce my wife, though she might beat me when I return home. As for Cian, I spoke to him not thirty minutes ago on that contraption your son left with our wife. He’s perfectly clear-headed and more like himself than he has been in years. He’s just as pissed with me as Meg must be, though he’s trying to hide it, the tricky bastard. I’ll have to watch my step when I get home or he’ll jump me.”
Alana gasped as she understood the implications. Before she could say a thing, a bundle of feminine energy burst into the room and ran straight for Beck. Beck braced himself for impact and wasn’t disappointed. Susan Dellacourt threw herself into his arms with a resounding thud.
“Beck! I can’t believe it.” His cousin looked up at him with joyful tears in her eyes. “You bonded! We all thought we were going to lose you. It’s fate. I know it is.”
“You’ll have to excuse my wife, Your Highness,” Colin O’Donnell Dellacourt said with an indulgent smile. He bowed formally to his king. Beckett recognized the sidhe. He had been one of the many refugees to make it out of Tir na nÒg before the plane was closed. Unlike most of the Fae, Colin had settled on the Vampire plane and quickly found himself in the enviable position of consort. “She’s been worried about you and Cian for a very long time. She talks about you all the time. I’ve heard more stories about your childhood than I can imagine.”
Colin was dressed in typical vampire attire. He was casual but elegant in slacks and a pearl-gray dress shirt. He had come a long way from a farm in Tir na nÒg.
“Well, I remember when she was just a wee thing, and I used to pull her pigtails,” Beck said, giving his cousin a squeeze. He often didn’t understand his vampire relatives, but he loved them.
Susan shook her head and planted a kiss on her cousin’s cheek as she noted her brother walking into the room. “That was Ci, dear. You were always too serious to play.” She squeezed his hand. “Why didn’t you bring your new wife and Ci with you? Everyone will be dying to meet her, and I would love to talk to Cian when I don’t have to remind him who I am every five minutes.”
“You aren’t the only one, sis. He was completely loony when I left. Bonkers. It’s funny now, of course, but at the time, I was concerned.” Dante shrugged Beck’s way. “Well, you told me to keep my mouth shut around Mother. You said nothing at all about Susan. Come on, man, she’s my boss and my older sister. I gotta have something on her.”
“How can you consider me your boss?” Susan asked with a roll of her emerald eyes. Beck heard Colin snort and realized this was a well-worn argument. Even Alana sighed. “You never show up for work. You’re always out gallivanting around. Sometimes I wonder if the tabloids would have anything to do if Dante Dellacourt wasn’t around to give them a headline every day.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed. “Well, we can’t all be perfect CEOs and perfect spouses and perfect daughters. Some of us prefer to have a life.”
“How can you call that a life?” Susan mocked her baby brother. “You drink and go out with a new model every night. That isn’t a life. It’s a blood disease waiting to happen. I don’t even want to know where your fangs have been, brother.”
“Susan!” Alexander Dellacourt’s voice boomed through the great room as he entered. Beck tried to hide his smile. His uncle was a bit larger than life. “Give your brother a break. He is a young man finding his blood. So what if he’s a little wild? He’ll fall in love and settle down one of these days. You have to be patient with him.”
Dante’s green eyes were suspiciously innocent as he poured himself a Scotch. Vampires might not eat the way the Fae did, but they could drink. “Father is right, Susie. I drown myself in booze and loose women to hide the pain in my heart from not finding true love. It could be that my tale ends tragically, sister. I fell madly in love with a beautiful consort, and Beck stole her from me. I suppose I will have to find something that will make me feel better. Perhaps a Ferrari. It won’t fill the hole in my heart, but I have to make do.”
Alex rolled his eyes and readjusted his Stetson. “Don’t push it, son. I’m not a fool. I started with next to nothing.”
Dante’s eyes glazed over. His mouth moved in time with his father’s. He had obviously heard the tale about a million times, but then, so had Beck.
“Just a hundred head of cattle and a dream,” Alex was saying as he poured himself a Scotch, too. “A dream to refine their blood into an easy-to-swallow nutritional pill that made storage problems a thing of the past.”
Susie was mouthing the familiar conversation as well. Alex continued his story of building Dellacorp into a giant of the industry. Alana slid her arm around Beck’s shoulders as her husband lectured their children about how easy they had it. “Come along. He’ll be at it for hours now.” She led him onto the balcony. The air was cool and the night calm, though in a city as large as this, it was never quiet. “Tell me about your bride. How did she make it out of Tir na nÒg?”
“She didn’t.” Beck looked out over the city, feeling the distance between himself and his wife. It weighed heavily on him. Had he done the right thing? Should he have brought her with him? “She’s from the Earth plane.”
Alana stepped up to the railing. She didn’t seem to have the same problem with heights that Beck had. “I had heard the Planeswalkers were taking advantage of Torin closing Tir na nÒg. Human females are close to the Fae. Some historians believe we originated on their plane, after all. It follows that some would be suitable as bondmates. She must have been terrified.”
“To say the least.” A vision of tears running down her pretty face when he left her at the cottage haunted him. She would never understand all the reasons he left. He could have put off this business trip for a few days until she settled in, but Beck feared what he would have done. The night before had been a close call. It was sad that the one woman he loved was the one he couldn’t trust himself around. “Do you think she can ever be happy so far from her home?”
Alana smiled brilliantly. “Of course she can. She’ll settle in. I was overwhelmed when I first came to this plane. Still, I love your uncle. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And your bride has two devoted men to make sure she’s happy.” A cloud passed over Alana’s face. “You can love her? I know some bondings come without it, but if you can’t love her, it would be better if you let Alex and Susie try their plan.”
“No.” Beck’s voice was harsh and his answer quick enough to put a smile on his Aunt’s face. “I don’t want anyone else.”
“Good,” Alana said. “I am glad you’re happy with her.”
Beck wished his mother were alive so he could talk to her. His aunt was the next best thing. “I wish she was happy with me.”
“Give her time, Beck. She was not prepared for this life. You have to make allowances.”
Beck felt his jaw firming as a part of himself tried to stop the conversation right here and now. It should have been easy. He should have simply kept everything inside as he always had. But since bonding with Meg, he was discovering nothing was simple anymore. “I can’t control myself around her.”