Adopt a Vampire
: Chapter 12

Ross called Huxley right there on the spot, waiting impatiently for it to ring. It took a few rings before the call picked up.

A voice I hadn’t heard in six years, sounding just as rough around the edges as back then, answered with a note of trepidation. “Ross? What’s broken?”

Ross didn’t seem to think the question was weird. Which made me wonder just how rowdy his clan was. “Huxley, did you turn a young man about six years ago in order to escape a black witch coven?”

There was a startled intake of breath. “I did! How the hell do you know about this?”

“I’m talking to the man you turned right now—”

“YOU FOUND JESSE?!” The question was full of demand and also ringing with excitement and joy.

I felt nonplussed about this reaction because first of all, I wasn’t missing. Secondly, he sounded like a parent who’d lost a child, which was strange. I mean, I knew vampires were protective of their progeny and all, that had been explained to me, but Huxley hadn’t really chosen me as his “child.” His reaction now made no sense to me. More than anything, I felt hurt by all of this. He was the one who abandoned me, right? So why was he acting excited just hearing about me? Was it wrong of me to feel a little resentful, maybe betrayed?

“I found him, all right.” Ross kept one eye on me, the other on my hovering boyfriend. “He’s in Arizona. Huxley, I’ll put you on the phone with him, but— Oh, VidChat now? Okay, thanks for the warning.”

“Turn the camera around,” Huxley ordered impatiently. “I don’t want to see you.”

“Fuck you too.” Ross didn’t seem bothered, more amused, as he flipped the phone about and handed it to me.

I took it with some trepidation, straightening the phone so I could more easily see the speaker. Huxley truly hadn’t changed one whit in appearance, except he looked healthier. He’d looked like he’d survived WWIII the last time I’d seen him. He also wore this mile-wide smile, and I think if he’d been here in person, he’d have glommed on and not let go.

His eyes roved over me and his dark brows tightened in an unhappy line. “Jess, my god. Are you all right?”

“I’m, uh, actually much better than I was before.” I felt a hand land on my shoulder and reached up to cover it, giving Barrett a quick shaky smile. “I was just adopted into a werewolf pack, you see. Huxley, what happened? Where did you go?”

“No, I don’t see—and we’ll come back to that—but…” His shoulders slumped, reddened eyes falling from mine. “I understand if you’re angry with me. I didn’t give you all the tools you needed to survive. I abandoned you, but you must believe I didn’t do so intentionally. I heard the damn witches coming early that last morning. I left to draw them away from you and then ended up wounded. I had to go to ground for several days to recover. By the time I got back to your building, you were gone. I couldn’t track you.”

My breath caught at his words, and I stared at him in puzzlement. “You…meant to come back to me?”

“Of course. You’re my child. I realize this might be strange for you, to think of me as a parent, but I made you.”

“Wait. Wait a sec, you’re not making any sense. You made me so we could both survive. You didn’t do it by choice.”

“Perhaps not in the traditional sense, but the moment I placed my fangs on you, I took responsibility for you. I never intended to leave you on your own. I never wanted that. You accepted the change with good grace, despite the deplorable conditions we were in. You showed restraint and intelligence. You’d make any parent proud. Of course I wanted to keep you with me.”

I was perfectly stunned by this admission. I’d never once thought he might want me with him. That he thought of me as his own. My mouth opened and closed several times, but I had no words to offer. I could feel tears burning in my eyes because, honestly, I’d not felt the love of a parent in years. My own biological father was estranged from me, mostly through his own choices, and I’d not had contact with him in years. To suddenly have parental love and concern again impacted me more than words could express.

I honestly thought being adopted by the pack, being loved by Barrett, would be enough to heal all the scars on my heart. But hearing I’d never been abandoned by Huxley healed another wound in one fell swoop. I felt a surge of love so strong the memory of my heartbreak became distant, easier to forget. I still wanted to hear all the details of him, learn properly about this man, but I now had time. A precious gift once stolen from me, suddenly given back.

“I’m so, so sorry.” Huxley shook his head, no doubt remembering those early days we had together. I certainly was in this moment. “Believe me that I’ve looked for you, but once you left the area, I couldn’t pick up your trail.”

“I changed everything,” I whispered, and felt Barrett step in closer, like he wanted to both comfort and protect. “I moved, changed my phone number, changed jobs—everything. I was paranoid at first about the black witches replaceing me again, and I wanted out. Plus people were giving me weird looks because of all the physical changes I’d gone through, and it seemed wiser to just leave.”

“I feared that’s what you’d done. I had no way of tracking you afterward.” He ran a hand roughshod through his black hair, visibly upset. “I consoled myself by thinking that at least you’d left the area before the witches could get to you. But seeing you like this, I can’t… Jesse, how bad is your condition?”

“I promise you it’s improving.”

Barrett leaned in over my shoulder to growl, “He damn near starved before we found him. He was subsisting on coconut water.”

I saw Huxley wince.

“We’ve been feeding him multiple times a day since we adopted him. He is recovering.” I heard a hint of pride in Barrett’s voice. He was very much not happy with Huxley, that was clear too. “What did you plan to do once you found him?”

Huxley seemed to realize the only thing saving him right this second was Barrett’s inability to punch him through a screen. “As any other vampire would, I would have taken him in as my child. I do have a clan who would welcome him but”—his eyes darted to me and he looked rueful—“I have a feeling suggesting so would shorten my lifespan.”

“Significantly,” Barrett agreed, not even masking his anger.

Huxley just huffed, too amused to be surprised. “Jesse, what do you want from me now? Whatever you want, be it answers or a proper relationship with me, I’m more than willing to give.”

You’d think I’d need to sleep on it when offered a father-slash-son relationship. Strangely, though, I didn’t. I knew the answer instinctively and my mouth hijacked my brain before I could overthink it. “I want a relationship with you.”

Huxley’s expression melted into a smile that was joy unleashed. “I want that, too. You’re the first child—the only child—I ever made, you know.”

“I…seriously?”

“It’s why being separated from you was even more heartbreaking. My only child, and I couldn’t even point in your direction. It’s kept me up more than a few days and nights. Jesse, if you want a father, you have one. I’ll come immediately to you, all you must do is say the word.”

I didn’t need to think too hard on that, either. I wanted to see him. I wanted to have the relationship I should have always had with him. We’d trauma bonded, if nothing else, but I wanted to see if we could actually be family to each other, too. Greedy? I wasn’t sure, but I wanted to give it a try.

“I do, but I have to warn you, I’m living in a rather large werewolf pack right now.”

Huxley waved this off. “I think even better of them for helping you. I want the full story of how it came to be when I see you. Assuming your very protective werewolf boyfriend will let me anywhere near you.”

He wasn’t exactly kidding and we all knew it. Barrett was so protective right now that FedEx would consider a hug from him to be bubble wrapped.

Barrett spoke up first. “If you want to come here and see him, I’ll allow it.”

Eh?

“Huh?” Huxley perked right up, eyes alight. “If you mean that, I’ll be on the next plane. Ah, Jess, run this by your alpha first—”

I pointed to Barrett. “He’s the alpha.”

“Oh. Then I apparently have permission. Thank you. I’m coming immediately.” Huxley lunged for something and was back in a second with pen and a pad of paper. “Cell? Address?”

I rattled both off, relieved we finally had each other’s contact info. I just had one question. “Huxley. That coven…it’s gone, right?”

“It is now. I had some of my clan meet me down there and we wiped it out.” Huxley shot me a wink. “So you can sleep peacefully.”

“I’m relieved.” I really was. I wasn’t in any danger after moving across the country, but still, I felt relieved evil like that was terminated and didn’t linger in the world.

“I’ll be on the next flight out,” Huxley promised again, nearly vibrating in place, he was so eager to move. “Jess? Just don’t disappear on me again.”

Silly man. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”