Dhampirs of Sgiach

49.Altina

Mrs. Tilly was in the kitchen when Altina came down for breakfast. When she saw that Kieran wasn’t there, her heart sank a little, and the kitchen felt lonely without him sitting at the table with Maison.

“Where’s Kieran?” Altina asked as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

Mrs. Tilly looked up from the breakfast she was cooking for Altina. “He went to pick up Maison and have breakfast with Mr. and Mrs. Luna.”

“Oh,” Altina said. He’s avoiding me.

“Are you going to work, Mrs. Eahban?”

Altina looked down at her outfit. She had originally planned to take the rest of the week off, thinking Kieran would agree to a baby. “Yeah. Mr. Joren said he was taking a new client.”

“Will you be home for dinner?”

“Yes. Can we do a spicy seafood boil this weekend?” Altina asked. Kieran and Maison will enjoy that. “We can have Echo, Artem, Hikaru, and Mika over,” she added as she pulled out her phone to text them and invite them.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea. It’s been a while since the last time they were all over,” Mrs. Tilly said as she opened the fridge. “I’ll need to do some shopping for it. Will the rest of the Clan be there as well?”

Altina thought about that. Kieran tried to host something for the entire Clan on new moons, so they didn’t only come together for the full moon. She generally found a quiet place and tried not to socialize too much. The next new moon was in two weeks.

“Yes. Can you please write up and send out the invitations? I believe Kieran keeps the stationary for it in his office. I’ll stop by the bakery on my way home and put in an order,” Altina said. “Well have it goo all day since it’s short notice, so everyone can come and go as they need and please.”

“Shouldn’t you write the invitations yourself, Mrs. Eahban?” Mrs. Tilly asked.

“You’re better at speaking with the Clan than I am. I’ll write the invitations for Kieran’s birthday party.”

“Mr. Eahban never has a birthday party for himself.”

“I’ve been wanting to plan one for this year. He’s twenty-four this year and his birthday only comes once every six years,” she explained.

“I’m sure he’ll appreciate it, dear,” Mrs. Tilly said. “My grandson has a catering service. He can help with both the birthday and the boil.”

Altina shook her head. “One of Ezekiel’s dhampirs just recently started her catering service. I want to hire them for both.”

Mrs. Tilly gave Altina that look old people got when they knew something about you that you hadn’t realized for yourself yet. “As you wish. I’ll contact them today. Would you like Mr. Eahban to know?”

“Let’s surprise him with both,” Altina said as she put her dirty breakfast dishes in the sink. “I’m going to work. I’ll stop at the bakery on my way home and pick up dessert for tonight.”

The temperature had dropped even more in the night, and Altina could see her breath as she walked out to her car. It was only going to get colder as winter came. She glanced at Artem and Echo’s house as she opened her car door. Kieran hated this weather and always got lethargic until spring came around again. More than once she had come home to him and Maison curled up asleep in a blanket fort in the living room and a space heater blasting into it. Lately, Maison had been in the kitchen with Mrs. Tilly, helping with dinner while his daddy napped.

“Altina, I thought you were taking the rest of the week off to spend with your husband,” Molly, the receptionist, said as Altina entered the building.

“Kieran’s father needed him for Sleuth work this week,” Altina lied. Her entire time working for the law firm, she kept her marital problems to herself. There was no point in making her coworkers worry about the strange arrangement between Altina and Kieran. She hadn’t even mentioned his illness. That was kept secret between the leadership of the Clan and the Sleuth. Grizzly Auron was worried outside werecheetah Clans may try to exploit a weakened Clan King.

“It must be hard to be away from him when he goes off with the werebears,” Molly mused. “I couldn’t bear it if my husband left for dangerous work in faraway countries.”

Altina smiled. “It’s not so bad. Maison stays home with me.”

“Girl, I don’t know how you stand it. Raising the son of another woman. Especially when Kieran cheated on you.” Molly shook her head in disapproval.

“I keep telling you, Kieran has never been unfaithful to me,” Altina sighed.

“Yet Maison was born shortly after you two were married,” Molly countered. “I don’t believe that dumb story of a whirlwind romance between you two after Maison’s mom cheated on him. He never stops by to see you at work, and when you finally took me and Jasmine to The Dancing Pig, he hadn’t seemed like a happily in love man whose woman had come to visit him.”

Altina blushed. Jasmine and Molly had gotten drunk and hit on Kieran’s younger brother, Adam, that night. And Kieran had been annoyed at Altina for a week afterward. She didn’t blame him; she had invaded his space without warning. “Kieran is a private man and doesn’t much care for public displays of affection.”

“Yet he is more than willing to shower Maison with affection in those pictures you took of the fair,” Jasmine said as she entered the lobby from the hallway to the offices. “Come on, Altina. We may not be werecheetahs, but we have brains. What’s up with your marriage? You were excited before you left work yesterday for your week-long vacation, and now you’re back with a flimsy lie about him on business with the Sleuth.”

“Is he abusing you?” Molly asked.

“What? No!” Altina was shocked. Did it look like that from the outside?

I’m getting an infertility spell, and you have to use condoms because I don’t want one of your monster babies.

Altina looked down at the floor as shame washed over her. Kieran had thrown those words back in her face when she had tried to get him to sleep with her after she said she wanted a baby. It had been like a shot through her heart. Not only that, how many times had she insulted him and called him a fanger in the beginning? Blaming him for what he had done the night of his first shift. A night neither of them could remember.

We can either get along, or you can die.

Kieran had said those words and had kept to them. Since she had chosen to accept the marriage and complete the mating ritual, Kieran had tried not to insult her and to get along with her. It had always been her that started the arguments or insulted him first. Not him.

Have I been abusing him? Is that why he got so angry last night?

“I don’t want to talk about it. Here, at least,” Altina finally said.

Jasmine and Molly exchanged looks before they both grabbed their coats and purses. “Time for coffee and pancakes!” Jasmine said as Molly hooked her arm through Altina’s.

“Who is going to stay here then?” Altina asked.

“Samantha, duh,” Jasmine said. “She brownnoses enough. Time for her to earn her keep.”

The café they went to was within walking distance and one that the three would have lunch at a few times every week. They were known for good coffee and food. Altina sipped her espresso latte and told them how she and Kieran met and the basics of their homelife, leaving out that she intended to turn him into a sanguinai and bind him to her. She also left out Kieran’s illness.

“So, the monthly date nights are to keep you both from going crazy?” Jasmine asked.

“Because you won’t touch each other willingly?” Molly added.

Altina nodded and hid in her coffee cup.

“Does he prefer men?” Jasmine asked. “You mentioned he had been in a relationship when he turned you on his first shift. To a man.”

“I don’t know. He never talks about it. No one does. Not even Kage’s brother,” Altina said. “I think the subject is too painful for them.”

“Can he get it up with you?”

“Yes,” Altina said with a blush. Gets it up over and over again all night once a month.

Jasmine and Molly giggled as they pestered Altina for details of the monthly encounters. “Sounds like he definitely likes women,” Jasmine giggled.

“Oh yeah. And tries to get a month’s worth of pent-up s****l tension out in a single night,” Molly added.

Altina groaned and hid more in her cup. “This isn’t helping me. And stop daydreaming about my husband,” she growled.

“Girl, communication is your problem,” Jasmine said as she waved away Altina’s worries. “That and you spent two years making it clear you don’t like dhampirs.”

“They are the blood of the sanguinai,” Molly said thoughtfully.

Jasmine rolled her eyes. “No one pisses on the Dragonkin or the Riders for what they did to the Sgiach’rin’Furians. When you stop and think about it, they caused the Wrath of Heaven to rise and help Absalom and Nefarian overthrow the world. And necromancers of Nigrum Castrum are still respected.”

“But not Necromancers of Mallum Sanguinem,” Altina said sadly.

“I’m sorry, Altina. My mama always taught me not to blame someone for the sins of their parents,” Jasmine said, reaching out to squeeze Altina’s hand.

“My parents' sins are my sins.”

“No, they’re not. You’re here, trying to make it right with someone you had once viewed as a monster. If you were truly like them, you would have found a way to divorce Kieran by now.”

“Can’t argue with Jasmine’s logic,” Molly said with a smile.

“Yeah!” Jasmine agreed. “How about this: when Molly and I leave work tonight, you bring Kieran to the new dhampir bar for drinks. Molly can bring her slice of manly heaven, I can hit on all those cute dhampirs, and you can show Kieran you’re comfortable around more than just the werecheetahs that were once dhampirs. It can be a triple date.”

“A triple date implies you already have someone to bring with you,” Molly pointed out with a shake of her head at her friend’s antics.

“How will this help with my and Kieran’s communication problems?” Altina skeptically asked.

“It will open him up to accepting when you ask him to join you for more dates outside your monthly dates. More time spent together will soften him up to listen to you,” Jasmine said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Altina frowned as she thought about that, and her plans for the seafood boil for the weekend. “I’m planning to have a seafood boil for the Clan this weekend, will that help?”

“Hell yes, it will!” Jasmine exclaimed excitedly. “Especially if you invite Molly and me!”

“Jazzy, she said for the Clan,” Molly said.

“You both can come,” Altina said with a smile. “I was going to invite Kieran’s family and they’re werebears.”

“You’re the best Altina!” Jasmine said with a happy shine to her expression.