The Vicious Vixen: Mother To The Panther Lord’s Pups Chapter 09
The Lord Comes Home
Three months after the bonding, the front gates opened without warning.
No call. No message from the border. No warning from Darian.
Four black SUVs rolled up the drive at seven p.m. on a Tuesday.
I was in the dining room with the children. Cassian was helping Liora read. I had a glass of wine in one hand and the Nightfall Hall accounts in the other.
Gideon appeared in the doorway. His face was tight.
“My Lady. Lord Darian is home.”
Cassian’s head snapped up. Liora dropped her book.
I took a sip of wine. Set the glass down.
“Well,” I said. “About time.”
I heard him before I saw him. Heavy boots. Guards moving aside. A low command that made every soul in the hall lower their eyes.
Then the dining room doors opened.
Darian Nightfall walked in with blood still on his shirt.
He was taller than I expected and broader. Dark hair pushed back from a face that looked like it had not slept in weeks.
His shirt was black, sleeves rolled to the elbows. Dried blood marked his forearm, his collar, and his jaw. It was not his.
He smelled of pine, blood, and cold air from the border. Every shifter in the room lowered their eyes.
He looked around the room.
He saw the children first. Cassian sat straight and calm. Liora looked healthy and bright-eyed.
Then he looked at Isolde.
She stood near the far wall in a plain black dress, no jewelry, no makeup, her face tight with rage. Two servants stood behind her with their heads down.
Darian’s jaw tightened.
Then he looked at me.
I was sitting in his chair. The big one at the head of the table. The one nobody had dared touch in years.
I crossed one leg over the other. Picked up my wine glass.
“Welcome home, Lord Darian.” I raised the glass. “You’re three months late.”
No one spoke.
Darian looked at the pups, then at Isolde, then back at me.
Then Liora moved first.
She slid off her chair and ran across the room. “DADDY!”
She hit his legs at full speed. Darian caught her with one arm. Liora wrapped her arms around his neck and talked fast.
“Daddy, Mommy taught me big words and Cassian can fight now and we eat breakfast first every day and—”
“Mommy?” Darian repeated.
His eyes found mine again.
I did not look away.
Cassian stood up from his chair. He did not run.
He walked to his father, steady, shoulders back, chin up.
“Dad.”
Darian looked down at his son. His face changed for a second. He had not expected Cassian to stand like that.
“Cassian.” His voice was low. “You’ve grown.”
“Three inches,” Cassian said. “Mom measured me last week.”
Mom.
No one missed it.
Isolde stood stiff near the wall, trying not to show her rage.
Darian set Liora down. He walked to the table and pulled out the chair beside mine.
He looked at Isolde. Then at me in his seat.
“Someone,” he said, “is going to explain what happened in this house while I was gone.”
Isolde rushed forward. “Darian, finally, thank God you’re back. That woman is out of control. She attacked my son, stole from me, and turned the pups against me—”
I did not answer.
I looked at Cassian.
For the first time, my son stepped forward to speak for himself.
—