“I don’t know if I can find a way to not hate you for what happened to me,” I tell her, my voice cracking with emotion. “You should know that right from the start,” I explain bluntly, not because I want to hurt her or guilt her, but I need to be clear about how I feel about where things may go from here. “I had a horrible, empty, confusing, lonely life in the Mortal Realm, and that’s because you abandoned me there.”
Nefta’s purple eyes flare with pain, and a flash of regret makes them gloss over. “But…” I continue slowly. “You also gave Delta and Medley wonderful parents, and for that, at least, I’m glad. At least I know you tried, no matter how badly you failed me.”
I turn to Tazreel next. “I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. I get that you didn’t know about us and you have all kinds of feelings about it, but I find it telling that even though you know now, you’re too busy fighting or needing to prove that you’re right in some way, to actually get to know your daughters.”
Tazreel’s eyes grow stormy, and I can feel his desire to clap back, but surprisingly, he doesn’t. He keeps his mouth shut and lets me finish, and that action alone gives me a little hope.
“You looked for us, you looked for me, and that means a lot, but maybe you should think more about us than your wounded pride. I know that may be difficult, you know, with you being literal Pride and all, but...try.” I gesture to Medley and Delta. “We deserve it. We’re worth the effort. Also, full disclosure, I think I’ve inherited a little of that Pride, so we’re probably going to butt heads, I’m just warning you right now.”
Tazreel blinks down at me, his gold-flecked gray eyes caught a little off guard at how I’m speaking to him, but of course, a flicker of pride crosses his face, like he’s cocky about the fact that I’m brave enough to do it. I watch as his features vacillate between how dare she and that’s my girl. It would be funny if I weren’t about to lay down the law.
I look between Nefta and Tazreel with a stern face. “You two need to find a way to get along. You don’t have to like each other, but when you’re with your triplets, you need to make a damn effort. Don’t talk to each other if you can’t handle it. You need to do better by us. Because from what I’ve heard from Medley, neither of you have made an effort to do that yet. Either be who and what we need or stay the hell away. But you need to decide what you want and what really matters to you, and then you need to stick with it.”
Taz and Nefta stare down at me in equal astonishment as they take in my words. I feel the support of Delta and Medley behind me and smile when Delta holds up a fist for me to bump. “That was fucking epic,” she whispers, eyes flashing with gratitude and amusement.
“Couldn’t have said it better myself,” Medley chimes in, wrapping me in a side hug.
A low whistle sounds, and I look up to see Lucifer grinning. “I like your daughters, Taz. Who needs one favorite when you can have three?” he says with a smirk.
Who knew the Devil was such a ballbusting goof?
“Yes, don’t forget to throw a progeny party soon now that you’ve all been reunited,” Lust calls from behind Lucifer as she saunters away to collect another group of demons.
“Ugh, another fucking party,” Delta mutters unhappily.
Though her mate, Echo, comes up behind her and places a kiss on her temple. “Don’t worry, if we go to another Pride party, we can check out that upstairs bedroom we never got a tour of last time,” he says, wagging his black brows.
Delta blinks at him, and her cheeks visibly flush. “Oh. Yeah. Let’s do that,” she quickly says, making her other mates chuckle.
“Oh, will there be an orgy?” Medley asks excitedly, but Flint’s and Alder’s brows furrow, and they look at her questioningly. She giggles with a shrug. “I’ve never been to one, I just wanted to watch,” she says.
Flint’s mouth drops open, and Alder brings a hand up to rub at his temples.
“Oh, I’ll give you something to watch, Peaches,” Flint murmurs to her, his tone dripping with so much seductive