A Gift of Three (A Shade of Vampire #42)(11)

“Like you do every night?” I snapped at him.

“I’m older than you—and I’m a guy.”

“What?! So?” I exclaimed. “I hope Aida handed you your ass today.”

I just didn’t get it. My brother was totally awesome almost one hundred percent of the time, until it came to protecting me. He suddenly turned into a fuddy-duddy, almost worse than Dad.

“I have to agree with Serena,” my mom retorted, frowning at Phoenix. “That’s not how we raised you, and you know it.”

“All right, I’m sorry,” my brother replied, holding his hands up in a mock-guilty pose, but not looking the slightest bit sorry. “Maybe we should just think about providing her with supernatural bodyguards.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” my dad mused.

“Are you kidding?” I exclaimed. This conversation was fast descending into madness. Thankfully, my mom burst out into peals of laughter.

“Absolutely not,” she replied once she’d calmed down. “Both of you are out of your minds. Serena’s a capable young woman, and if she wants to go to college, she’s going to go to college. I’ll get these dates in the calendar and see if Corrine wouldn’t mind taking us.”

“All right,” my dad growled, smiling at my mom with barely concealed admiration.

“And for that comment,” my mom continued, trying to glare at Phoenix but failing miserably, “you’re going to help me make dinner.”

“Happily,” Phoenix replied with a smirk, taking a ridiculous floral apron off a nearby hanger and placing it over his training clothes. I snorted. If only his many admirers could see him now.

“Thanks, guys,” I replied happily, glad to have gotten my way. “Aida’s coming over—is it okay if I wait outside for her? Or will my life be in peril?”

“Hey, don’t get too sassy,” my mom replied, smacking my butt with a hand towel. I laughed, and ran out to the terrace to wait for my friend.





Serena





[Hazel and Tejus’s daughter]




Aida and I were sitting on the porch, watching the redwoods sway in the breeze. I’d been boring Aida close to death about my plans for college—she’d heard them all before anyway, but now that it was starting to look like a reality, I hadn’t been able to shut up.

“I’m sorry,” I groaned after a pause. “This is my thing—I know you’re done talking about it.”

“Hey.” Aida turned to me with a frown. “That’s not true. I’m genuinely happy for you, and plus, happy for myself—I’m going to be visiting constantly. Maybe sit in on a lecture or two and pick up some hot postgrad.”

I laughed. “Sounds good. Please do visit. I’m excited about going, but I know I’ll miss home. Obviously, I won’t be telling Phoenix or Dad that, they’ll just try to leverage it as an excuse not to send me.”

Aida shook her head, her thick, dark-brown hair cascading down her shoulders.

“Phoenix wouldn’t do that, not really. You know he’s only teasing you, and sometimes…you know, he just loses his head.”

“Yeah, I know.” I sighed. “I should be grateful I have an older brother who cares, and doesn’t just ignore me completely.”

“Exactly,” Aida replied. “We’re both lucky in that respect.”

“Yeah, but Jovi’s amazing—he’s never over-protective. How did you get such a laid-back brother when you’re so uptight?” I joked.

“Hey! I’m not that uptight. Just self-conscious—there’s a difference. And I’m not even close to Vita in that respect.”

She had a point. Vita was the quietest one of us all. She was painfully shy around everyone, and probably the most gentle-natured girl I’d ever met. Both Aida and I loved her unconditionally. As quiet and shy as she was around others, when you dug beneath the surface she was the most loyal and amazing friend a girl could ever hope for.

“That’s true. Where is she, anyway?” I asked, looking around as if I half-expected her to appear from the shade of the tree at any moment.

“Studying. And last I saw, getting really frustrated,” Aida replied.

That was nothing new. Vita was determined to enhance her fae abilities, but she was only part fae and so her control over her powers was limited. She fervently believed that one day that would change, and I hoped for her sake it did—but until that day came, Vita was going to continue to exhaust herself trying.

“Ooh,” I said, suddenly distracted, “the Hawk boys at three o’clock.”

Aida whipped her head around, and we both stared down at the Hawk men strolling past. Uncharacteristically, they were walking—normally you could only catch glimpses of them up in the air, but clearly today was our lucky day.

“Don’t embarrass me,” Aida muttered. “Your brother did enough of that earlier.”

“As if I would,” I whispered back.

We watched them pass in silence. Individually they were incredibly good-looking, but when you saw them as a group together like this, the combined gene-pool took my breath away. Blue was my personal favorite—those piercing blue eyes, that muscular build and that long, windswept hair made me feel like my insides were melting. I didn’t even need to glance over to know where Aida’s gaze would be directed. Her crush on Field showed no signs of slowing down.