18. Homecoming

18

HOMECOMING

I wake up long before my alarm and get ready for the night. I'm too amped up to sleep. Judging by the fact that Julien, Dad, and Eden are all downstairs when I get there, I'm not the only one who woke early.

Mom left during the day. She sent me a text, telling me she was going to visit my grandpa. I think she just wanted to give the rest of us time alone.

"Is Damek coming over?" Eden takes a sip of blood, but she hasn't even attempted to eat any of her food.

"Yeah. He texted me and said he's on his way." I take a bite of food. My stomach is in knots, so it's hard to eat anything. I force myself to swallow and take another bite.

Julien, on the other hand, has no problems eating. He shoves a huge bite into his mouth and washes it down with a large gulp of blood.

"I sometimes have a hard time believing that I'm related to you," I tease him.

He smirks. "Well, I'm sure Lucien will be thrilled to have somebody on his side."

At the sound of Lucien's name, my stomach twists again.

I'm about to meet my brother for the first time. I went through this already with Julien, but it was perfect. There is no way that this can go perfectly twice, right? I'm the one who almost broke up his parent's marriage. My existence has probably caused a lot of hardship for Lucien. There is no way he will like me.

The doorbell rings. Eden jerks her head toward Dad.

Dad shakes his head. "You know Kaine won't ring the doorbell when he's bringing Lucien. It's probably just Damek."

Eden's shoulders slump forward.

Dad reaches over and grabs her hand. "Kaine will text once the plane lands—"

He says something more, but I get up from the table to answer the door. I'm so glad Damek will be here today. Somehow, having him there feels like comfort. I need his support. When I open the door, he is standing on the other side with his hands stuffed into the front pocket of his jeans. When he sees me, he smiles widely.

"Maddie, you look beautiful." He steps through the threshold. "Are you nervous?"

I shut the door and wipe my palms on the skirt of my dress. "So nervous."

Damek slips his arm around me and pulls me into his embrace. He kisses the top of my head. "I'd tell you not to be nervous, but I'm a little anxious myself."

Still in his arms, I lift my head to look up at him. "What do you have to be nervous about? Don't you know Lucien?"

He nods. "I do. We've always been cordial, even friendly, but that was before I was in love with his sister."

My heart jumps at his confession of being ‘in love' with me. I already knew it, but I will never tire of hearing it.

Somebody clears their throat, so I step back from Damek's embrace. I turn around and see Julien smirking at us. When he sees that he has our attention, he steps forward.

"Kaine called—the plane landed, so they should be here in about half an hour," Julien informs us.

This is really happening.

I take a deep breath. "Is there anything I should know before I meet him?"

Julien cocks his head to the side and pauses before replying. "The only thing you need to know is that I am the charming brother."

I roll my eyes. "I'm not sure I would use the word charming to describe you."

"Really?" Julien puts a hand on his chest. "Because your cousins all seemed to think I was very charming. I told you that I exchanged numbers with them, right? They text me nearly every day to ask how I'm doing."

"You're a prince," I remind him. "You have to marry a royal vampire."

"I'm third born. I can marry a princess of another species if I want," he says.

Damek slips his hand into mine. His hand is much cooler than mine and it feels good. "Julien, do you really think you can handle being married to a girl who is better looking than you?"

I laugh so hard I have to grab my stomach.

Julien glares at Damek. "You know, I like you. Trust me when I say, you don't want to get on my bad side. I've got all the control in this family."

"My apologies," Damek says, but his smirk shows how insincere his apology is.

Julien groans. "I regret encouraging this relationship."

A little later, a group of us stand outside as the sun begins to set. Damek is at my side, holding my hand. Julien stands on the other side, his gaze on the driveway as we anxiously await Lucien's arrival.

Dad is embracing Eden as we wait. Eden is smiling bigger than I've ever seen. I knew that Lucien missing was hard on her, but I don't think I realized just how difficult it was. Seeing her so happy like this makes my stomach twist. She's a great mom to Julien and Lucien—the fact that she accepted me proves that. It would've been so much easier for her to reject me. But she didn't. And I know it was—at least a little—for the sake of Julien and Lucien. She never wanted them to have to choose between their mom and their sister. And I am so thankful to have Eden in my life as my stepmother.

The sound of a car turning off the main road and onto the driveway makes me stiffen.

That has to be them.

I squeeze Damek's hand tighter and he scoots closer to me.

Why did I ever question if marrying Damek was the right thing? I know now that nobody is more perfect for me than him.

Eden stands up straighter as the black SUV comes into view. She can hardly keep still while she waits for the vehicle to come to a stop. As soon as it does, she runs over to it and opens the door. Dad is right behind her, followed by Julien. I follow them, but I keep my distance. I want them to be able to have their reunion before introductions are made.

I peek between Dad and Julien's shoulders and spot a head of dark brown hair. It's on the long side, but I know from his pictures that he normally keeps it short. I can't blame him for the long length since he's been in captivity.

"You need a haircut." Eden pulls back from the embrace to look at him.

He grins at her. "I'll get right on that, Mom. After I eat. And sleep."

Julien was right—Lucien does look like Eden. Not just his hair and eye color, but he's got the same smile too.

Dad hugs Lucien next, which consists of a hard slap on the back.

"I'm glad you're back," Dad says.

Julien hugs him next. "Very glad. For a while, I thought I was going to have to be heir."

Lucien laughs. "Of course you wouldn't want the responsibility."

"I'll have you know I'm very responsible." Julien puffs out his chest.

Lucien turns his attention from Julien toward Damek and me. He glances at Damek for only a couple of seconds before his eyes focus on me.

"So, you're my younger sister," he says.

I pause before saying, "It's better than calling me the infamous love child."

Lucien laughs as he steps forward. "I'm not surprised Julien said that to you." He stops in front of me. "I'm Lucien."

"I'm Madeline," I say.

"But call her Maddie," Julien says.

Lucien surprises me by hugging me. I hug him back, my head spinning from the unexpected gesture.

I didn't expect my older brother to like me. Though, I shouldn't be surprised, not with Eden as his mother.

"It's nice to meet you, Maddie." Lucien pulls back and his gaze finally settles on Damek. "Prince Damek, I wasn't expecting you to be here."

Damek rests his hand on my lower back, a move that Lucien notices.

Lucien looks at me, raising an eyebrow.

I tuck a strand of hair behind my ear. "Uh, Damek and I are engaged."

Lucien turns around to face Dad, who is talking with Kaine. "Dad, you approved this," he yells, breaking up the conversation.

Dad turns to us. "Are you talking about Madeline's engagement to Damek? Yes, I approved it. Though it was Madeline's choice."

Lucien turns to Damek. "You always were picky. I thought you'd be single forever—or until your council forced you into marriage. I will take it as a compliment that you chose my sister. But let it be known that if you hurt her, I will hurt you."

Damek grins, not at all put off by what Lucien is saying. "Thanks, I appreciate your support. I will never purposefully hurt Maddie."

The two of them shake hands and I stand there wondering what just happened.

Lucien just threatened Damek and now the two of them are going on like they've always been friends.

We head inside so that Lucien can get some food and blood. From what I understand of his captivity, he wasn't given a lot of blood—only enough to survive. To make up for the lack of nutrition, he'll have to drink double his usual amount of blood over the next few months to make up for it. The healer also gave him a lot of vitamins to take.

Eden coo's over Lucien as he eats, making sure he has plenty of food. She keeps refilling his drink.

I don't think I've ever seen Eden smile so big and she can't take her eyes off her oldest son. My heart feels so full as I watch the love she has for him.

Somehow, the family feels complete now. I didn't even realize how much was missing by Lucien not being here, but now I can't imagine it any other way. It feels as though he has always been here.

Dad catches him up on everything that happened while he was gone.

Lucien chuckles when Dad gets to the part of Damek and I getting engaged. He glances at Julien. "Which left you as heir. I'm sure you loved that."

Julien shrugs. "I tried to talk her out of marrying Damek, but the two of them are sickeningly in love."

Lucien looks at Damek and me. "I've noticed."

Damek and I are holding hands, but I didn't think we were doing anything too ‘lovey.' I glance and Damek and he shrugs.

"I think they're sweet," Eden says.

Julien pretends to gag.

"Wait until you see Julien with my cousins." I stick my tongue out at my younger brother.

Lucien chuckles. "Julien is probably as vain as an incubus."

"Can confirm," I tease.

Julien put a hand to his chest. "Wow. Is this pick on Julien day?"

"How is that different from any day?" Lucien takes a sip from his cup of blood. Eden rushes to refill it, but he waves her off. "I don't think I can stomach much more, Mom. But thank you."

Eden pushes his hair back out of his face. "I missed you, Lucien. I'm glad you're home."

"Me too, Mom."

I lean into Damek's side, watching my family.

Everything feels so good… so right. I glance over at Kaine, who is sitting at the table with Lucien. He's looking at some paperwork, but I see him look at Lucien every few minutes. It's almost like he can't believe he's here either.

After finishing as much of his food and blood as he can, Lucien heads for bed. He must be extremely tired because the sunset was only a few hours ago.

Damek heads back to the Rune estate soon after, promising that he'll be back tomorrow night—he has a lot of duties as heir to his clan. When he leaves, it feels so quiet again.