Chapter 26

Twenty-Six

I heardRemi hang up the phone as I walked out to the kitchen, and when I saw him rubbing his temples, I asked, "What's wrong?"

He sighed, loud and long. "Some of my family are coming to help with Luynore."

I stared at him for a long moment before my stomach dropped. "You told your family about my—" The word obligation still wouldn't come out.

"I did. I talked to Talon—he's fae—because I thought he might be able to help, and… Why are you looking at me like that? What's wrong?"

My belly was full of knots, and I thought I might be sick. "You… I… you shouldn't have told them."

He froze, staring at me for a long moment before he let out a noise that sounded like a muffled growl. "May'ezza, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize you'd be upset. I'm so used to calling them when there's a problem like this. I just… I want to keep you safe—I need to."

I nodded, sort of understanding—he had a family that actually cared and wanted to help—but I still felt queasy.

He walked over and put his hands on my hips, kissin' the tip of my nose. "A couple of my brothers, their mates, and my dads are coming here to help us."

"I didn't ask for their help, or yours, for that matter."

"You're getting it anyway."

I sighed. "Remi, I?—"

He cut me off with a kiss to the lips. "You need protection, and I have the means to supply it. I have two agents coming here tonight as well."

"Agents? What does that mean?"

"It means that two of my employees are being hired by me to protect you."

I blanched. "You hired me bodyguards?"

"Yep."

"Rem—"

"Sorry, may'ezza, but I'm not about to let Luynore hurt you ever again."

Even though I felt out of sorts and perhaps a bit annoyed at him doin' this without asking first, my heart melted a little at that. "Hun, bodyguards aren't goin' to help with Luynore."

"Sure they will."

I put my hand on his chest, hoping to calm him since I could feel the tension pouring off him. "No, babe, they won't. You can't stop him from pullin' on my… ugh… or forcin' me to do his bidding. I can't stop it either. It's binding."

He shook his head. "I don't care. I understand that you have to go if he calls on you, but that doesn't mean you have to go alone or unprotected. The bodyguards will be there to keep you as safe as possible until I show up."

"And just what the hell do you think you'll be able to do?"

He grinned, but it wasn't exactly a nice one. "I have fangs and claws for a reason." He kissed the tip of my nose. "And Talon reminded me that our viramore bond is stronger than anything else."

I shook my head, not understanding. "What? How's that supposed to help us?"

He shrugged. "I don't know yet, but I'm going to figure it out." He kissed my forehead. "My family should be here any second."

I blinked at that obvious subject change, but let him get away with it. "They're coming right now?"

"Yep."

Holy shit. Nerves overtook me in the span of a heartbeat. Holy crap, I so didn't want to meet his family because I was in trouble and was a nervous wreck.

"There's no need to be nervous, may'ezza." Of course he'd overheard that thought.

"What if they don't like me?"

Remi squeezed my hand. "They're going to love you."

"But what if they don't?"

"They will."

"But—"

He let out a bark of laughter. "They're going to love you, Bel, because I care about you. Trust me, you're going to be fine."

I blew out a breath because, of course, I trusted him. Didn't make this any less scary, though.

Before I could respond, I saw the air behind Remi ripple for a moment before a giant… tear just sort of opened up. Right there, in the middle of nothing. Just air.

Seeing that my attention moved behind him, Remi turned around, saying, "Oh good. They're here."

He'd warned me about how the portal was going to look, but apparently, I hadn't been prepared because this was crazy. A big hole… in the middle of the air. Wow. In the middle of it, all I could see was pink. Like a blast of pink right to the eye.

But then a voice said, "No, he promised I could meet him first, so you better back up before I trap you in a shield." And then an arm and a leg pushed through the tear, followed by the rest of a very short man with blond hair and silver eyes.

As soon as he was all the way through, Remi was by his side, pulling the much smaller man into a hug.

The man hugged him back, saying, "I miss the days when you were smaller than me."

Remi laughed. "You're about thirty-one years too late for that."

The man released him to stare up at my viramore. "Excuse you, but you were not taller than me when you were twelve!"

"I think you maybe need to go look at some pictures from back then. I was the same height as you when I turned eleven."

The guy smacked Remi's arm with a laugh. "Shut up." Then he turned to me with a big smile. "Hi. I'm Delaro. It's lovely to meet you."

"Hey. I'm Bel."

Delaro leaned in and whispered out of the corner of his mouth to Remi, "He's cute."

"Agreed." Remi winked at me, but then he was being pulled into more hugs because more of his family came through the tear.

Delaro moved over to me. "Don't worry, I know they can be overwhelming. I've got your back."

That was… a sweet sentiment, even if it was unnecessary. I was nervous, but I'd be fine. Everything would be… fine.

A man an inch taller than me with long black hair that was braided back on one side—the same way Remi wore his hair; must be an Ellwood thing—came over, and his magic hit me like a freight train. He wasn't even doin' anything and I could still feel it that intensely. Holy shit.

He said, "Hello, Belryn. I'm Remi's dad, Ailin." His voice was stern and unforgiving. He seemed tense and pissed off and not at all like the warm people Remi spoke about so often.

My eyes widened. That was one of Remi's dads, and holy hell, did his magic pack a punch. "H-hi."

Another man, much taller than the three of us, moved over with his hair pulled back in a small ponytail and honey-colored eyes, saying, "I'm Sebastian, Remi's other dad. It's a pleasure to meet you." He exuded kindness the same way Remi did. They might not have been blood-related, but it was very clear where Remi got his sweet nature from.

"Hello."

He smiled, making his eyes crinkle at the corners. And then he surprised the hell out of me by tuggin' me into a quick hug. I gave his back a couple of pats and was relieved when he released me, if only because I felt awkward and didn't know what to do with my hands.

He whispered, "Welcome to the family, Bel."

My eyes felt a little watery at that, but I did my best to hold the tears back.

"Don't scare him away, Pops," Remi said.

Sebastian released me with a laugh. "I'm not." He gave Remi's shoulder a little shake, lookin' at his son like he was proud of him.

Remi hardly seemed to notice because his eyes were set on me. I didn't complain at all when he moved close and put an arm around my back with his hand resting on my hip. His touch grounded me. He kissed my temple, and I felt my cheeks heat, but I didn't pull away.

He introduced me to more of his brothers—Jorah, Thayer, and Basil—all of whom I'd heard a lot about. Then I met Delaro's mates, Nikolai and Grayson. Nikolai was fae, and he was gorgeous and powerful—I could feel his power, and I wasn't sure I'd ever felt anythin' like it before.

I hardly had a minute to talk before everyone started asking me a million questions while Delaro set up his door portal thing.

"You okay?" Remi asked while the others were finally giving me a breather.

"Yeah. That was a lot, but I'm okay."

He chuckled. "You haven't seen anything yet. That was only a small portion of the family."

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of.

He chuckled. "I heard that."

"Of course you did."

He kissed my nose. "Ready to hear all the plans?"

Did I really have a choice? "Sure."

He smirked like he'd heard my thought, but he didn't call me out on it.

I gave his hand a squeeze and let him pull me back into the fray, unsure about what they could possibly do to help me, but I was willing to at least listen… just in case.

I'd do just about anythin' to get out from under Luynore's rule.