Winter stood frozen for a moment, unable to tear his eyes away from the sight. It was a way he’d never seen Aiden. His father was the loving, caring mentor. He was patience, concern, and more recently joy. He’d never doubted that Aiden was a strong protector of their family, but it was another matter to see him in action. Winter was simply in awe of him. He was the protector of all their people.
“King Aiden,” he murmured.
“All hail King Aiden!” Sofia shouted and someone else repeated it.
His father looked up at him and gave a little sigh. It wasn’t a title he wanted, but Winter knew he’d live up to it in every way.
Aiden opened his arms and Winter immediately rushed to his side. Marcus joined him a heartbeat later. They both embraced him tightly. A kiss was pressed to the top of Winter’s temple, and he smiled. King Aiden would always protect them all, but his sons would come first.
“I’m okay. Fox is okay,” Winter quickly said.
“Good,” Aiden breathed. He squeezed them for a second and stepped back. “Go find your brothers. Help them. Leave Fox and Ethan with me.” He lifted his gaze to Sofia. “Take Damon’s head and order the fighting to stop. There is a new king in the Americas. Vampires will answer to me or follow Damon into death.”
Sofia’s grin was wide as she hurried over to grab the head up by the hair. She and David disappeared down the stairs.
Winter hesitated. He wanted to make sure that Bel, Rafe, and the rest of his family were safe, but he was reluctant to leave Fox.
“Go, Winter. Fox and Ethan will keep me safe,” Aiden nudged. Winter nodded and winked at Fox. They were at the end of it all. The monster had been slain, and his family was safe.
Now he had to figure out what normal vampires did each night.
Not that his life was ever going to be normal with a witch at his side. And he was never going to let Fox out of his sight again.
Chapter 31
Winter watched with a bone-deep weariness as the heavy metal shutters descended over Marcus’s windows. Sunrise was less than an hour away, and he was trapped in his brother’s mansion along with Ethan, Bel and his mates, Rafe, Philippe, and too many other clanmates to think about. He wanted to be in his own home with his beloved mate, but the windows were still broken out and his front door destroyed. It was not a safe place to spend the daylight hours.
They’d arrived at Marcus’s less than an hour earlier. He’d been shoved toward a shower, since he smelled like a rancid slaughterhouse, while Bel grabbed Fox to check over his injuries. Sadly, he was one of the only people in the house who didn’t enjoy accelerated healing.
He stepped out of the shower and pulled on a pair of old sweat pants he kept at Marcus’s when Fox appeared in the room. But his attempts to wrap his lover in his arms were quickly rebuffed. Fox was still covered in vampire blood and didn’t want to make Winter dirty again. Not that Winter gave a single shit about that.
But no.
So, after fighting and overthrowing the vampire ruling order and all the other fucking chaos, Winter sat on the edge of the bed, waiting to have the only thing that mattered to him. Fox.
A soft knock on the bedroom door had Winter growling in the back of his throat.
Cockblockers. Every last one of them. One of them was coming to annoy him when they should all be fucking busy with their own mates.
Jerking the door open, Winter had to admit that he was mildly surprised to find Marcus on the other side. His older brother smirked at his foul expression.
“I wanted to catch you before you became preoccupied,” Marcus said.
“Don’t you have a cute twinky vampire who needs you?” Winter grumbled.
“I do, so this won’t take long. There was something I wanted to ask you.” His brother stepped away from the bedroom doorway and walked over to the hallway banister, looking on the main foyer and the elegant winding staircase. Winter glared at his back for only a second and then closed the door and joined Marcus. While all his brothers had the power to be annoying, Marcus usually didn’t do things just to be a nuisance. He usually had a very good reason for doing anything.
“What’s on your mind?”
Marcus placed both his hands on the banister and frowned, his eyes seeming to stare off at some distant point. “Tonight…when you spoke of seeing the ghosts…”
“Are you sure this is a road you want to go down right now?”
His lips pressed together in a hard line for a second, seeming to think about what Winter was asking. They could all use a break, but not Marcus. He faced things head on. Always. “Did I make it worse?”