Addict (Hunter #2)(68)

“It’s all right, Marcus,” Liv said, waving him off. “Your butt looked good, too.”

Marcus stared at the schoolteacher. “That isn’t helpful, Miss Carey.”

Liv turned a lovely shade of pink, her eyes sliding away. “Sorry, sir.”

Marcus leaned over and kissed my forehead. “Enjoy your dinner, bella. We’ll be retiring early. We have a plane to catch in the morning.”

With that, he and Zack walked off to join the king.

“What the heck just happened?” Liv asked, her mouth slightly open. “Did Marcus tell your uncle he’s going to marry you?”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Rhys shook his head.

“No one asked you,” his brother replied.

“Stop, everyone.” I had to catch my breath. “Marcus did what countless other men in the same position would do. He told my irrational uncle exactly what he wanted to hear. Now we can go home to Italy, and Zack won’t bug Marcus anymore.” There was no way someone like Marcus would marry a woman like me. It was ridiculous. Vampires married companions. Except Hugo had mentioned he once married one of his Hunters.

I found the whole conversation completely unsettling and was happy we could move on to other accusations.

“You’re going home?” Lee’s voice rose. He shoved a hand through his thick black hair. “You just got here. This is your home.”

“Why are you weaving, Aunt Kewsey?” Courtney asked. “Don’t you wike it hewe?”

No one can make you feel guiltier than a kid. They don’t take into account little things like obligations. They only know that you promised them something, and now you’re a ratfink bastard for not delivering. “Marcus thinks we should leave.”

“What do you think?” Lee asked.

“No one asks me what I think.” This was the way my life had gone since the king had decided to press me into service. I sat outside waiting while a bunch of men decided my fate.

“And they never will,” Zoey Donovan-Quinn said as she stood looking at me. There was a baby girl on her hip and something in her free hand. The tiny girl was Evangeline, her daughter with Dev Quinn, though I knew the king claimed her as his own. He called the girl Evan. She was a mini me of her mama. She had dark red curls and pretty hazel eyes. She clung to her mother’s sweater like a monkey, but grinned down at her brothers.

“Rhys! Lee!” she shouted and attempted to scramble down.

The Queen of all Vampire set her daughter down and the girl, who looked to be roughly three, ran into her brother’s arms. Lee picked her up and twirled her around then passed her off to Rhys. Rhys and Courtney wandered off to play with the newcomer, but Lee stayed behind.

The queen greeted Liv. She sent me a questioning look when she noticed the near-empty beer bottle sitting near my best friend.

“She got bitten by a vampire for the first time.” I sighed and took another swig of my own beer. My uncle had good taste. “She liked it. Now she feels guilty.”

“I do not,” Liv piped up. “I don’t have anything to feel guilty about. I was only helping him out. He’d been shot several times. I was the only blood available. I didn’t enjoy it.”

I was supposed to believe that? “Yes, you did. Those moans weren’t about pain, my friend.”

“I have a boyfriend.” Her lips turned down sullenly.

She was forgetting so many truths. “You have a boyfriend who’s addicted to drugs and possibly aiding a demon in planning to take over our world.”

“Oh, you can totally cheat on him.” The queen sat down across from me.

“I didn’t cheat.” Liv stood suddenly. “I’m going to get another beer.”

Liv stalked away in search of more alcoholic solace. The queen slid a framed picture across the table to me. I found myself looking at a man with curly brown hair. He was dressed in an army green T-shirt and jeans. He needed a shave, but he smiled gamely. My heart seized a little because I’d never seen one picture of this man, but I knew who he was.

“I had to promise him a case of beer to get him to stand still long enough to snap this one.” Zoey looked down at the picture, her lips curling up with fondness.

This was my father. Lee Owens.

“I like that picture.” Lee stared at the man he was named after. “He looks happy.”

There was a fine sheen of tears in the queen’s eyes as she put an arm around her son. “I know you do, buddy. He was happy.” The queen winked at her son. “Baby boy, why don’t you go do what you do best? Report back when you hear something particularly interesting.”

Lee grinned that adorable grin and was off like a shot. For a human, he was fast and quiet. It was good to know I wasn’t the only one who encouraged the kid’s more criminally inclined talents.

“This was taken a few weeks before we left for England.”

I knew the story. It was a few weeks before he died. My father had guarded the queen and when the old Council caught them, he’d been executed. The royal family blamed a demon for betraying them to the Council.

Yeah, I wanted to meet that demon someday.

“Your father was the best guard I’ve ever met, and believe me, I’ve run through some.” The queen smiled down at the photo. When she looked up at me, she was super serious. “He was the only one who understood.”