Page 75 of Empire
Serafina was off like a shot. Her feet pitter-pattered against the tile floor as she rushed around her father. “I’m goin’, I’m goin’!”
Zia shook her head. “I swear, she’d do anything for her uncle. I just don’t get it.”
Personally, she found Adriana’s anchor to be one of the prickliest, haughtiest men she’d ever met, but both she and Serafina thought he was the best thing since synthblood. It almost certainly had something to do with all the gifts he came with — mainly rare books and toys that made a truly egregious amount of noise.
Echoing her thoughts, Harlan dryly replied, “He spoils her.”
“Like you don’t?” she teased, dusting off her hands.
Harlan stepped out of the doorway to wrap his arms around her middle. Drawing her close, but not enough to wake the baby pressed between them, he dropped his face into the crook of her neck and pressed a warm, wet kiss there. Zia’s toes curled in her custom boots.
“I spoil you, too, don’t I?” The words were a deep rumble against her skin. Goosebumps broke out all over her body, and a familiar heat settled low in her stomach.
Smoothing her hands up his bare back, she felt the muscles there ripple in a sensual wave. “I don’t have any complaints.”
Harlan huffed a laugh.
It was true, though. Zia didn’t have anything to complain about. Her life was so full of laughter and color and love that some days she felt overwhelmed by it all. It took her a year to truly believe that Felix would keep his word, but every day since had been treated like the gift it was.
There was never a single moment where she regretted her choice to break the estate’s one cardinal rule, nor her participation in the death of Julius Amauri.
Both choices had led her to this moment. Three days after her kidnapping, they led her to asking Harlan to marry her, which he happily did at Moonset a few weeks later. A year after that, they led to the birth of their daughter, named after her grandmother. Four years after that, those choices led to the birth of their son Leo.
Their world wasn’t perfect. Harlan was still extremely paranoid about their safety — and was somehowworsewhen she was pregnant — but instead of feeling hemmed in, Zia felt safe. Her family was protected on all sides by an elite force of guards who acted more like family, and the connections that spiderwebbed out from Atticus and Adriana and Zia’s brothers.
They were a force to be reckoned with, though no one dared do so after Felix took bloody control of his family. The announcement that the Bounds family was officially off-limits, and that anyone who crossed that line would be dealing with the full force of his wrath, had gone a long way to soothing their minds.
Harlan kissed her neck lazily, lavishing old bite marks with attention. Zia sighed and stroked his back with her fingertips, taking in the comforting mixture of scents from her vampire and the newborn cradled between them.
“Do you think she’s making a mess in there?” she asked, voice low so Serafina’s keen ears wouldn’t catch it.
He scraped his fangs over her pulse point and slowly lapped at the tiny beads of blood that welled there before eventually answering, “Absolutely.”
Zia giggled. “Shouldn’t we go check on her, then?”
“Not yet.” Harlan lifted his head to skim his lips against hers. It wasn’t quite a kiss, but it was close enough to make her close her eyes and sigh. “Have I told you how much I love you today, pet?”
“You tell me every night when we wake up, Mr. Bounds.”
“I’ll tell you again, then.” He twined one hand into her curls, holding her head still as he gave one slow kiss after another. “I love you, my Zia. Somehow, I love you more every single night.”
She melted into him. Hearing him say how much he loved her, how much he loved theirlife,never got old.
“I love you too, my scary vampire.” She gave his bottom lip a tiny nip, earning herself a low, rumbly growl. A wide grin made her cheeks ache. “Thank you for hunting me down the night I trespassed.”
His night-glow eyes glinted with a familiar heat. “My pet, I’d hunt you down across the entire fucking continent if I had to. You can’t escape me.”
Zia kissed the tip of his nose. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Harlan opened his mouth to reply, but was stopped by a sudden crash and childlikeeep!from the kitchen.
They both turned toward the doorway just as their daughter’s round face popped out from around the kitchen island. She made a disgruntled face that showed off her fangs. “Daddy, which bottles are mine again?”
Harlan shook his head. He was way better at hiding his smile than Zia was. Cupping their son’s back with one hand, he sighed and walked back into the kitchen. Tugging lightly on one of Serafina’s pigtails, he said, “Come on, princess. Let’s go clean up the mess you made.”
Zia watched them walk away. Butterflies filled her stomach, and a golden satisfaction suffused every part of her being. She moved to follow them, but stopped just before the threshold to glance over her shoulder.
The sky was a deep, inky black speckled with a spray of stars. The air was heavy with the day’s heat. Around the edge of the property, bugs sang in bushes and an owl called out from the shelter of the trees.
When she looked out over the brick patio that overlooked the koi pond and the gardens below, her heart lurched. She couldn’t see beyond the balustrade, but the glow from the lamps Harlan installed for her was a gentle warmth in the distance.
The estate was quiet. The guards were patrolling the grounds. Mr. Eisele had gone home hours before, his golf cart safely parked in the staff garage. All was hushed, and still, perfect.
Zia turned to step into the kitchen. Just as the latch clicked into place, she heard her son’s high-pitched cry from within the pantry. It was shortly followed by Serafina’s exasperated exclamation of, “But you said Leo was hungry! He can’t eventrysome of my synth?”
Zia grinned.Nothing to complain about, indeed.
THE END
