“Yes, he’s a perfect gentleman and extremely considerate of me. I couldn’t have asked for a better mate.
He’s downstairs now checking on the club. I’m about to head down there, I’m starving. Do you think they
have food?” Ashby chewed on his lower lip.
“Older vampires don’t need to feed or eat much but are known to intake more food and blood after they
are mated,” Nic said, as if he were reading out of a manual.
“How did you know that?” Ashby asked curiously.
“Rebecca had me look into vampires when we realized Gabriel was really serious about you so we
would know what to expect. There’s a book about vampires in the town archives that she loaned me. There
is a lot of good information in here. You should borrow it. It can tell you all about your prince, he’s
mentioned all over the place in the history section,” Nic explained.
“Like what?” Ashby asked.
“Did you know your prince hobnobbed with royalty in France during the Renaissance period and a
number of paintings from the most famous artists supposedly use him as a model?” Nic said and Ashby
heard the clankings of a tea pot in the background.
“He’s certainly gorgeous enough to be in paintings, anything else?” Ashby asked.
“Evidently he’s the one that organized the current vampire council when he got tired of ruling over all
of them. He is one of the oldest vampires who hasn’t turned feral, most of them turned centuries ago when
they couldn’t find a mate, but Gabriel outlasted them all,” Nic said.
“He must have been so lonely,” Ashby said quietly.
“Yeah, which means he will definitely take care of my best friend the way he deserves,” Nic laughed.
“How’s Rebecca doing?” Ashby asked and heard Nic groan.
“She’s moping around missing you. We’re all bonded, but she has the closest connection to you. We’re
trying to keep her out of trouble, but she misses you little buddy,” Nic said.
“Tell her that I send my love and that she’s going to adore Gabriel. I can’t wait for them to really get to
know each other, it should be interesting.” Ashby smiled and Nic laughed.
“What will be interesting will be watching Aleks’s reaction to them becoming friends,” Nic said and
Ashby giggled.
“Is she still trying to carry around her gun?”
“Yeah, she’s still mad at the way he talked down to her during the gun safety lessons he gave her. He
might be out of the doghouse by the time the baby is born,” Nic said.
“Ohh, that reminds me. I’ll see if Gabriel wants to go shopping. I bet they have a ton of baby stuff in
Brighton,” Ashby said excitedly.
“If you see a decent rocking chair small enough for her can you pick it up for me? She has the one from
Ma, but her feet don’t hit the floor and she’s too polite to say it’s uncomfortable,” Nic asked.
“Sure. I’m going for more clothes, my godson will have to have the best outfits.” Ashby grinned. He
couldn’t wait to hold the little guy.
“He will be my nephew too,” Nic reminded him and Ashby smiled.
“My godson and your nephew, which we’ll have to kidnap from Kate, Rian, Damian and Liam.” Ashby
cracked up.
“We called dibs when we first found out she was pregnant, there’s nothing they can do,” Nic said.
“Can you call dibs on an unborn baby?”
“I don’t know, but if I don’t know, then they definitely don’t know,” Nic said.
“I get first dibs, though, since I got morning sickness. Most of the time the Inner Court bond is fun.
However I don’t appreciate being nauseous randomly throughout the day. I don’t know how women do it.”
“OK, I agree to that. That morning sickness is no joke.” Nic said.
Ashby shuddered. He didn’t know how women lived through pregnancy, he was never happier to be a
man. “OK, I’m going to head downstairs to look for some food. Miss you guys.”
“Miss you, too. Call us later.”
“I will! Bye.” Ashby hung up the phone.
He smiled and jumped out of bed. He raced over to the bathroom and washed up. Humming, he went
back to the master bedroom and picked his clothes up off the floor and got dressed. He looked in the mirror
and grimaced. He looked like he was going home after a one-night stand in his club clothes. He went to the
closet and pulled out one of Gabriel’s button-down shirts. Smiling, he put the slate-gray designer shirt on
over his blue tank top. When he looked down he laughed. It looked like he was wearing a dress as
Gabriel’s shirt hit him mid-thigh.