Loving the leech (Guardians of Red Moon city #4)
43. Meeting daddy

Kaylin’s POV

A few days ago, I had a conversation with Benjamin. He admitted that he had feelings for me, and I tried the softest way I could think of to explain to him that I don’t feel the same way. Gratefully, he understood and said that the meaning wasn’t that it’d come out at all. He didn’t really want anyone to know the truth, but since my mate apparently noticed and announced it to every single person present, there wasn’t much more to do than talk it out. However, that conversation made it harder for me to focus when sparring with my friends. I didn’t feel that I was in control, which made me use only defensive movements, offensive sometimes.

That’s why Benjamin “had to” take the step to get the training started for real so that we could find out what level my self-control was really at. Thankfully, it went well, even though I was terrified the whole time. I continue to amaze myself with what my body and psyche are capable of. Given my history, you might think I would’ve broken down a long time ago. Instead, I stand firm and try to learn to control my life. I don’t think I have succeeded remarkably well on that part, but the others in my vicinity certainly do. It’s nice to know that I at least made a little progress yesterday. The problem is that it isn’t enough and that I have to practice more before I learn to control my powers properly.

I thought it was strange when many of my former powers disappeared, but they remain hidden away, according to Salazar. My most potent force is obviously fire, which is more explainable now, given my dragon dad. However, I must say that I find it funny that fire is my specialty, given that it’s deadly to a vampire. I need to see my dad, my biological one. Carl was a good man, and I love him as a father, even though he never was my parent. However, I must honor his memory and promise to keep me safe. I plan to do just that by meeting my dad. He may not know the promise Carl made or even believe that I’m alive, but it’s worth a try.

I don’t know how he’ll react or if he even wants to have something to do with me. All children need their parents, and I’m no exception. The opportunity to meet and get to know my dad makes my heart pound with longing. If my mother did everything in her power and gave her life to make sure I could live, then I intend to honor her will to live on, hopefully with my dad next to me. However, the fear is there all the time that he’ll choose not to want to meet me. I don’t know how I’ll react if that happens. Maybe the anger would take over, and I burn down his entire office building or lose my last bit of mental health.

Regardless, I must try to meet him. Otherwise, I’ll never again have any peace of mind. My brain would overthink and go into high gear all the time, thinking about all the “what if’s.” That’s why I’ve decided to do the most audacious thing I can do. I’m going to waltz into Alaric’s big board meeting today and tell him he’s my dad. It’s just as good to do it right away. I’m not the one who’s quiet and calm; I prefer an explosion. Moreover, if he chooses not to have contact with me, then that’s something I want to know immediately. There’s no point in me wasting my time on someone who doesn’t deserve it.

That’s why I’m sitting in a car I borrowed and am on my way to Alaric’s office. I really wanted to go by myself initially, but my mate refused to agree to it. That’s also why I have my three friends with me as temporary bodyguards, Benjamin, Oliver, and Elijah. Nathan wanted to go with me, but he had to go back to his territory to work.

“Are you sure this is the best way?” Oliver asks nervously, and I giggle.

“I’m not like everyone else. In addition, it was you who said that dragons were arrogant, so why not behave like that in their presence?” I ask, and Elijah laughs at my words.

“After all, it’s true that dragons are arrogant. The only reason you’re not is because of your vampire heritage,” Elijah says.

Benjamin rolls his eyes at us as we continue to giggle at the arrogance dragons apparently have in their cultural heritage. It doesn’t take long for us to reach the building, and once we enter, the staff reacts immediately to our presence. However, I pretend like nothing and step into the elevator with my guards as if nothing has happened. We reach the top floor, and I open the door to the big hall without knocking. Damn, I’m good at using my arrogance! There are about thirty young men in the room who stop when we step inside. At the end is Alaric Gotfire, my father and I immediately recognize the traits that I also have.

“Miranda?” he asks with big eyes as if he can’t believe I’m standing in front of him.

“Mr. Gotfire, I’m not Miranda. My name is Kaylin Clarkson,” I reply, and he furrows his eyebrows.

He has a young man next to him who looks to be my age, and the first thing I notice is our similar traits. This means that he must be my brother or another relative.

“I, unfortunately, don’t know any Kaylin,” Alaric replies, and the man next to him takes a step forward, causing my guards to react.

“Who are you?” he growls, and my friends do the same back.

“Calm down, boys. There’s no reason for that,” I say calmly.

“He is rude to you!” Benjamin growls without letting go of the man with his eyes.

“It’s okay. He doesn’t know better, calm down,” I answer and then turn to Alaric. “Mr. Gotfire, I’m sorry to have to do this, but I felt it was just as good to do this at once. I found out about it recently and had I known it earlier, I would’ve notified you on a much earlier occasion.”

Alaric’s eyes stare at me like he’s trying to penetrate my soul to find out all my secrets. I close my eyes and inhale a couple of times. Just do it, Kaylin, like a band-aid.

“Mr. Gotfire, my name isn’t Miranda. But she was my mother, and I’m your daughter,” I reply as I exhale.

All the men in the room look skeptically at me, and I’m not too fond of their arrogance, which makes me let out my mixed aura. For some reason, the men must have known of my dragon even though I myself don’t. Alaric stares at me with big eyes full of tears as if he can’t understand it’s true.

“How? He said you died, that-. Miranda, she-?” None of what he says do I understand, but I realize that what he seeks is an explanation.

“My mother, Miranda, gave birth to me and died a few weeks later. No one knew I survived, and she wanted it to stay that way. Salazar told me all this recently, and is my grandfather,” I explain, and his tears are falling.

“That doesn’t explain anything! Who are you?” the young man next to Alaric continues to question, causing my father to respond.

“She’s the vampire princess, but also a half-blood since I’m her father. Alreo, this is Qina, your sister,” Alaric explains, and the young man gasp.

It’s like I suspected; I have a brother. The other men in the room stare back and forth between us like it’s a bad soap opera. I’m starting to hesitate on whether my decision just to stomp in here was a good idea. Probably not. Fuck my impulsiveness!

“I understand that it’s a lot to take in at once for you two,” I say, looking at my dad. “When you made a decision, I’d appreciate it if you could get in touch to let me know.”

Elijah opens the door for me, and I’m just about to go out through it when my brother starts talking.

“What do you mean? What decision?”

I turn around and look into his eyes from across the room.

“Whether you want to have contact with me or not,” I reply, and he’s about to continue talking, but I have now grown tired of being a public spectacle. “At the moment, I find myself in the territory of Queen Aleida. Contact me when you’ve made up your mind. Thank you for your time, gentlemen, and I’m sorry to interrupt your meeting.”

I wave at the boys to follow me out the door, and just like when we walked in, all the staff is staring at us. But now, a lot of them are bowing, and I don’t know if it’s because they felt my aura or if they heard us. For me, it doesn’t matter. They can speculate and believe what they want. I did what I came here to do. The ball is now in their corner.

“I’m proud of you, Kaylin,” Elijah suddenly says as we get in the car, and I look questioningly at him. “You took a big step forward today when you chose to display your authority and dominance. Instead of waiting for them to speak, you took over the whole conversation, and that was courageously done. Good job.”

I’m smiling at him and am just about to answer when someone knocks on the car window. Outside, a young woman stands who’s a few years older than me with a nervous facial expression and a piece of paper in her hand.

“E-excuse me, Princess Kaylin,” she stutters. “Mr. Gotfire asked me to give you this before you leave.”

I thank her and take the paper. There are two phone numbers to my father and brother, with an invitation to dinner tonight. My heart is pounding a little extra when I read the words and smile to myself before I call Nathan to announce the invitation.

“Hey, my little rose,” he says when he answers. “Do you miss me already? How did the conversation go with your father?”

“What do you say about going to a dinner and taking over names?” I ask and smile at myself.

“With you? Of course! Where are we going?”

“We’re invited to dinner with my brother and father.”

“Does he know you’ve got a family?”

“No, which makes it even more fun. We’ll bring Aurora and find out what they want.”

“Not without guards, that decision I won’t yield on,” he replies, and I approve of his wish. “Why do you hesitate at this meeting when you’ve already met them?”

“Because I don’t know who’s on my side and who’s in Joseph’s pocket,” I answer.

“Okay, I understand your insecurity,” he sighs. “I’ll get some of my guards out of here.”

“And I’ll ask Blake if he wants to scare the life out of some dragons,” I answer and hear him laugh.

“He’ll certainly appreciate that.”

When the evening arrives, my father has accepted that I’ll have guards with me and to set the table for one person extra, but has no idea that it’s my mate. I’ve curled my hair, put on make-up, and dressed in a dark red dress with a slit up to my thigh. Instead of feeling anxious or apprehensive about meeting with my family, I feel more vital than ever before. Life can only become more manageable now; at least, that’s how it feels at the moment. Hopefully, I’m right and don’t have to suffer through even more shit than I’ve already done in my few years on this planet.

“You’re the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen,” Nathan says with big eyes as I walk down the stairs with Aurora in my arms.

I smile and get embarrassed by his words. What have I done to get such an amazing mate? No matter how much I think back on my life, I can’t think of a single opportunity that would show me in a bright enough light for me to be eligible to this man. I can really estimate myself lucky to have him in my and Aurora’s life, especially considering that William no longer means anything. I plan to handle the situation and reject him for real. This time the bond will break for good because now I mean the words when I say them to him. It’s enough. William has exposed me to more than I asked for, and there’s no way back to each other now. I’ve had enough.

We get in the car and wait for the driver to start driving. Nathan wanted us to have guards with us, which obviously means he ordered fifteen of his best warriors to accompany us to this dinner with my newfound family. On top of that, Blake was more than willing to tag along, and when he heard where we were going, he decided to discuss the matter with the Everton family and Aleida. That means that we now have fifteen wolves in addition to the ones Nathan brought with him and ten vampires, a total of forty guards. I think it’s way too much, and I can bet that Aleida will indeed feel the same when I tell her.

Since I have a feeling that Nathan hasn’t been completely honest with his little sister regarding the guard situation, on the other hand, I can’t help but feel love for his determination to keep me and my daughter safe no matter what. William would probably never do such a thing, which is more than tragic if I’m honest. However, I can’t give him more because he simply isn’t worth the problems that arise in connection with it. You can compare our relationship with a completely ordinary piece of paper. If you crumble the paper and then smooth it out, you’ll never get it as straight as before. The same thing can be said about our relationship.

It takes no more than thirty minutes to reach Alaric Gotfire’s mansion, and believe me when I say that the house is beautiful! Honed black stone with impressive details and large shiny windows are looking back at me. From the road, there’s a gravel path up to the house that proceeds in an arc to be able to ride around and down again. In the center of the courtyard stands a magnificent fountain shaped like a majestic dragon. The grass is trimmed to a smooth and perfect length, with an almost shimmering green hue reminiscent of the freshest lime. Trellises adorn the walls with large, beautiful, and at the same time, vulnerable red roses that look like flower petals are as soft as silk.

Yes, this property is impressive, to say the least, and I would’ve loved to walk on this lawn on cool summer nights. Or why not create a bouquet to put in a vase that spreads its outstanding fragrance in every single room of the building? The vehicles stop, and our guards jump out. They secure the area quickly and then open our doors to help us out. The idea strikes me that even though Alaric, my father, is a prosperous business mogul, it doesn’t have to mean that he lives here alone. Maybe this is their packhouse? If they’re planning something, our guards are ready and know what to do to get us out of there if necessary.

“Are you ready for this?” Nathan asks and takes my hand.

I let the building go with my eyes and instead gaze at my mate holding my daughter on one arm. He worries about my condition and well-being again, which I greatly appreciate, even though it’s unnecessary.

“Let’s do this!” I answer with a smile, and we don’t even have time to walk up the whole staircase before the front door opens.

There are two young men I don’t recognize that look at me and bow before indicating for us to step inside.

“Welcome, Princess Kaylin and Alpha Nathan,” one of the men says. “Master Gotfire finds himself in the banquet hall with the young master. You’re welcome to enter.”

I nod politely and give Nathan signs to stay with my daughter. We went through the plan before we came here. I want to introduce myself properly first and chat a little to get a sense of their auras. No one with malicious intentions comes close to my daughter; it’s as simple as that. That’s why Nathan is waiting here with half the guards while I take the other half with me.

“You can do this, my love,” Nathan whispers and kisses my forehead tenderly.

I take a few deep breaths before nodding at my guards, who open the doors for me. The hall I step into has white, shiny marble floors that extend throughout the room, and the walls have bright paint with dark wood carvings that give the room a classic feel. In the ceiling hangs large chandeliers that probably cost more than I would ever earn as a human being. A large, elongated table stands in the center of the room with about a hundred chairs around. The more I look around the place, the more I feel like I stepped into another era. Take the curtains as an example. They’re very old-fashioned in a dark velvet shade that looks to be able to be from the nineteenth century or the like.

I can’t shake off the feeling that I’m in some kind of museum. Classic portraits adorn the walls of men I don’t recognize. and all look equally grim. Finally, my gaze falls on my newfound family standing behind their chairs at the far end of the hall dressed in tuxedos, straight in the back with their heads held high.

“Ah, my beautiful Qina,” my father says, kissing my hand. “Welcome home.”

A/N:

Hello, everybody!

Things are starting to move forward for our dear Kaylin, aka Qina. The only question is whether her newfound family has good intentions or not.

✿ Do you think Kaylin can trust Alaric and Alreo?

❀ Will William let go of Kaylin or create problems?

✿ Are things much calmer than they should, or are the problems brewing in the shadows?

❀ What do you think will happen?

I appreciate all the feedback I get, and hence I would ask you to leave a little comment with a few words about what you think. My purpose is to get better all the time, and it’s not possible without your help. Hugs and kisses!

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