Adrian knelt next to him. “And so did I. Please, Mikhaila, forgive us. We meant no disrespect. We just wanted to know what was going on.”
Mikhaila looked down at the two males who were normally vicious warriors. She said, “There is really nothing to forgive, but if it will make you get off your knees I forgive you both.”
“Thank you,
adelfi
,” they said in unison. That one Anstice understood,
sister.
But she had heard several people call
Nikkos
“
Kyrios
.” She didn’t have a clue what that word meant. She needed to start making a list of things to ask her mates when they had a chance to talk without being interrupted.
Marcus took Mikhaila under his arm and led her from the room with his other hand on her ever-expanding belly.
Chapter Eighteen
Anstice could tell that
Nikkos
was still in shock from the news Mikhaila had given him, so she helped
Adrian
lead them back to their room and into the bathroom. Anstice stood beside him with her arms wrapped around him while
Adrian
started the water so they could shower. They both led him into the shower.
Anstice was worried for
Nikkos
. He just stared at the wall while they washed him. The only time he moved was to rinse the shampoo from his hair after
Adrian
had washed it for him.
She knew the story of his family. His brother has been killed by the
kynigos
—or “pasties,” as she had named them the night she met them
—and his parents had killed each other a week later. That was how she’d learned about the love and devotion of true mates. The boys had explained to her that his parents were not mates. His mother had had a true mate once. Arsen was
Nikkos’s
real father, and he had been killed while his mother was pregnant with
Nikkos
.
She had met her husband while she was pregnant, and he’d sworn he loved her and that he would always care for her and her child. For the first five years he had, but when
Nikkos’s
brother
Cosmas
was born, the father started treating
Nikkos
bad and even beat him a few times, until
Nikkos
was old enough to fight back. After that he didn’t beat him again, he just ignored him.
His mother wasn’t any better. She blamed
Nikkos
for the hell that her husband put her through. She insisted that if she hadn’t been pregnant, she would have followed Arsen to the grave, and the only reason that she didn’t was because Arsen made her promise to take care of the baby if anything should happen to him. She loved him so much that she had to keep her promise.
After he had fought his stepfather, his mother started ignoring him, too. That was when
Nikkos
basically moved in with
Adrian
. The first night he stayed at
Adrian
’s, his brother was killed and a week later so were his parents, by each other. Apparently they were arguing about the loss of their son and blaming each other. They got into a horrible fight and were found in their bedroom by the servants the next morning. The mansion belonged to
Nikkos
after that, being that there were no more known relatives, so he moved back in and set up the training facility for the warriors.
According to them,
Adrian
had the perfect family. His parents were true mates and had loved each other and their only child more than life itself.
Nikkos
had spent all his free time at
Adrian
’s house with him and his parents. They’d treated him like one of their own children.
But life was sometimes unfair. Within a month after
Nikkos’s
parents had died, the
kynigos
somehow had found
Adrian
’s home and attacked his family.
Adrian
had been in the warrior training then and had been injured in a fight the night before. His parents were able to lead the
kynigos
away from the house, saving
Adrian
. After they killed his parents, they returned and set the house on fire.
Nikkos
arrived just as the house started to burn and was able to rescue his friend from the fire.
Adrian blamed himself for his parents being killed and thought he should have been able to save them. Since the fire, he had been living with
Nikkos
at the mansion. That had been eleven years ago. The boys hadn’t even been eighteen and had lost their entire families. At least they had each other. Now they had Anstice, too. She knew from the moment she woke up and looked at the two warriors she wasn’t going to be leaving them. It just took her a while to admit it.
* * * *
After they were all clean, Adrian and Anstice dried off
Nikkos
and led him back to the bedroom.
Adrian
kissed him gently on the lips and said, “Maybe we should wait until tomorrow to do this. I’ll go let Mikhaila know we’re going to bed and that we’ll talk to Damian tomorrow.”
Apparently that was what it took to snap
Nikkos
out of his own world.
“No, I’m fine. Let’s get this over with. He needs to know what is going on. We need to figure out how he came to be separated from my family and why. Why don’t I remember him? Was he taken or given away? Why would my mother give away a child? Who is his father? How does he have a different father? Is he going to believe me? Will he want to come here and live?”
Nikkos
was talking to himself, trying to find answers to questions they may never know.
He’d been racking his brain trying to remember the younger brother he never knew since Mikhaila had told him.
Adrian
stopped the rambling with a small kiss to
Nikkos’s
lips. “Stop worrying, babe, we’ll figure it out.”
He stuttered, “I–I’m not worried. I’m fine.”
Adrian kissed him again. “Yeah, okay. Because you always ramble when you’re not worried, right?”
Nikkos
scowled at him. “I don’t ramble.”
The response he got was both of his mates trying to stifle their laughs. That made
Nikkos
feel a little better. His mates knew him well. Whenever he was worried or got on a roll about something, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Usually no one could get a word into the conversation when he really got going on something. Unfortunately, his semi-good mood didn’t last but a few seconds because then he got thinking again.
He knew that everyone had expected him to ascend to the throne when his parents had died, but he had not been ready to be king. It was bad enough being the prince. Every time there was a problem with the species, they came to
Nikkos
for guidance. What the hell did he know about leading his people? He was only twenty-eight years old. His kind lived to be hundreds of years old. Osias was the oldest known vampire at eight hundred forty-nine years old. His parents had been over five hundred years old when they had died.
His mother had been from the royal family, and when she married his stepfather and ascended to the throne, they had become king and queen. She would have been queen when she had mated Arsen, but her parents were still alive. They lost their lives the same night Arsen had. Someone had snuck into the palace and murdered her whole family except for her. She had been pregnant with
Nikkos
and was having late-night cravings. Instead of waking up Arsen, she had gone to the kitchen to get herself a late-night snack. When she returned to her room she found Arsen beheaded. When she went to alert her parents, she had found them dead also. Up until now, he had been the only heir left to the throne, except his evil cousin. The king was responsible for make the laws that their race lived by and appointing vampire to enforce them. Since his mother and stepfather had died, no laws had been changed, and very few enforced, so he knew that he would have to become king. Someday soon, if the rest of the race had any say in it. He had been pushed toward it for a while now but kept resisting.
Now there was another heir. What would that mean for them? Could he decide to give up the throne to Damian? Could Damian handle it? He was even younger than
Nikkos
. The kid had just turned eighteen a few weeks ago. He knew from their history that either heir could be the king, but did
Nikkos
want to lay all that on Damian’s shoulders? They would have to figure that out later. First he had to go tell Damian he was his brother. And a prince.
Anstice reached up and smoothed the lines from his forehead and whispered, “Stop thinking so hard. Everything will be fine. We will be here for you no matter what.”
Nikkos
blinked, looked down at her, and kissed her on the neck. He vaguely remembered Adrian and Anstice bringing him back to the room and showering him. He had to wake up and get his ass moving. He knew from the training that the kid’s parents and family had been killed a few months ago. Well, at least they had something in common besides DNA. Would he hate him as much as his other brother had?
How was he going to take the news that he had a brother and the family he grew up with was not really his? He walked into the closet and threw on a pair of workout pants and a T-shirt. He came out, kissed them both, took both their hands in his, and asked, “Will you come with me? I don’t think I can do this by myself.”
He knew it was a sign of weakness to admit it, but he couldn’t help himself. He needed his mates by his side.
Anstice stepped into him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and looked him in the eyes. “I will be right beside you the whole time.”
Adrian moved to stand behind him with his arms around his waist also. “And I will be behind you forever. We will never leave you.”
He softly kissed the side of
Nikkos’s
neck. They started to leave the room, but
Nikkos
stopped Anstice. “I’m sorry, baby, I had no idea that humans could be turned, or I never would have exchanged blood with you.”
She placed her palms on his chest and said, “It’s okay. Whatever happens, happens. I know where I belong, and if it means becoming one of you, I can handle that. All I need is to be with the two of you. I love you both and will do whatever I need to be with you.” She looked at
Adrian
. “And that includes exchanging blood with you and completing the bond with you.”
The two rock-hard males both had tears in their eyes as they held her tight between them and kissed her on each side of her neck over her pulse. Both of them whispered, “I love you.” With that, the three of them walked out of the room hand in hand in hand,
Nikkos
in the middle.
As they walked down the hall, Anstice broke the silence. “I do have a few questions for you when we have time.”
Nikkos
squeezed her hand. “Of course, baby, what do you need?”
She shook her head and said, “It can wait until we are finished talking to your brother.”
He pulled her to a stop and turned her to face him. “You and Adrian come first over anyone. Even a brother. So what is it that you want to ask?”
She looked at him through her lashes again.
Nikkos
wondered if she knew how beautiful she was when she did that. “What is a
Kyrios
?”
He gave a little laugh before he replied, “Caught that, did ya? It’s kind of hard to explain. Let’s go to the study, and you’ll understand everything very soon, I promise.” She looked confused but didn’t argue. They continued to the study to meet with Damian.
Chapter Nineteen
Damian had been shown to a guest room in the mansion after Mikhaila had taken enough blood to compare his to
Nikkos’s
. He was still confused about a lot of things. First, he didn’t think humans fed the way his kind did, but Mikhaila had been insistent that he give
Nikkos
and Adrian’s female his blood that way. Then, when Damian did give the female his vein, she craved it as if she suffered from bloodlust like their kind did when they were too hungry.
When she was done drinking she had said he tasted like
Nikkos
. Why did she know what
Nikkos’s
blood tasted like? Was her sense of taste really that developed? He knew their kind could tell the blood of someone they had fed from before, but could humans tell that, too? And lastly,
Adrian
had agreed with her. Damian was sure that
Adrian
had fed from
Nikkos
before. The two warriors had fought and been wounded together too many times for one not to feed from the other. Besides, if all the rumors were true,
Nikkos
and Adrian had a little more than a friendship going on.