No Escape From Destiny (23 page)

She started sobbing. “There was nothing left of my baby to bury, so I had her cremated. Most of her ashes were buried in the cemetery, but I kept some with me. They are in the little wooden box you brought from my nightstand.” She looked between the two males with her. “The cemetery is a few towns away, but I would really like to go, if you don’t mind.”

They both wrapped her in their arms and cried with her.
Nikkos
was able to speak first. “Of course, baby, we’ll go right now. Let’s just go see if we can get at least one other person to help protect you while we’re out.”

Adrian added, “Damian may be able to go out in the sunlight, as he is your brother. You know Marcus and Lucian can’t, so it won’t do any good to ask them. I don’t know where else we can find someone to go on such short notice.”

Anstice spoke up. “No, not Damian, I don’t want him to have to suffer my pain when I go there.”

Nikkos
rocked her gently back and forth. “Shhhh, baby, don’t worry about Damian. He is strong, and he can handle it. But we need to make sure you are protected at all times.”

He lifted her chin so she was looking at him and gave her a grin. “After all, you will be the queen of our race someday.”

She paled. “Please don’t say that. I don’t think I’m quite ready for that yet.”

He chuckled. “Okay, baby, don’t worry. I’m not ready to be king yet, either.” He stood and took her by the hand. “Come on, let’s go find that brother of mine and go visit your daughter.”

* * * *

Damian was still with Lucian in the study and had gotten a good handle on blocking Anstice’s emotions. He barely noticed that she had entered the room until
Nikkos
approached him and said, “Can you go outside during the sunlight?”

“Yes, I’ve always been able to. That was one of the things that drove my adopted parents crazy. They were nightwalkers and couldn’t tolerate the sunlight. Why do you ask? Can you?” Damian asked.

Nikkos
answered, “Yes, Adrian and I both can, and I need to ask you a favor. You can say no if you don’t want to.”

“Of course, anything for you.”

Adrian
patted him on the back and gave a small laugh. “Boy, you really need to stop agreeing to anything he asks without knowing what it is. You would be surprised at some of the off-the-wall, crazy shit your brother comes up with for plans.”

He looked up at
Adrian
. “Yeah, sorry, obeying the prince in all things has been taught to me my whole life. It will probably take a while to break that habit. So, what do you need me to do?” he said, looking to
Nikkos
.

“Anstice needs to go out, and we need you to go with us and help protect her.”

“Of course, I would do anything to protect the princess.”

Anstice held up her hand. “Please, stop calling me that. I’m no one’s princess.”

Adrian
dragged her into his arms. “You will always be treated like a princess by everyone in our world, whether you acknowledge the title or not. Especially by
Nikkos
and myself. We will do anything to spoil you and make you happy.” Damian could see how much
Adrian
’s words meant to her. She seemed to melt in his arms.

Lucian wanted to know what was so important that it had to be done during the day and couldn’t wait until nightfall, when he and Marcus could help protect Anstice. While Anstice and Adrian explained to story to him and Mikhaila,
Nikkos
and Damian went to get ready to go out.
Nikkos
took Damian into the armory and helped him pick out all the weapons that he would need or want.

“You are welcome to anything in here at any time. What is mine is yours now. If you need something that isn’t here, just tell Lucian or Marcus, and they will be sure to get it for you. I will be announcing you as my brother to everyone soon, and I will expect the same respect shown to you as everyone shows to me from now on. If you have any problems, come see me and I will straighten anything and anyone out.”
Nikkos
paused to see Damian staring at him with adoration. “What?”

Damian put his hand on
Nikkos’s
forearm and said, “Thank you. You don’t have to do any of this for me. You could go on with your life like I don’t exist, but you aren’t. You are taking me and treating me like I belong here.”

Nikkos
replied, “You do belong here. You are family, and family takes care of family. My only regret is that I didn’t find you sooner and that you had to spend time in an orphanage. If I had known, I would have come and brought you here sooner.”

Damian had tears in his eyes again when he said, “Thank you again. Everything you are doing is like a dream come true to me.”

Nikkos
hugged him quickly, cleared his throat, and said, “Now let’s go protect our princess, shall we?”

Damian quickly armed himself, and the two brothers walked side by side out of the armory and met Anstice and
Adrian
at the front door.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Nikkos
got into the driver’s seat while
Adrian
placed Anstice in the middle of the front seat of the
Yukon
. Damian climbed in the backseat. Anstice turned around and told that boys that they were being rude and that Damian shouldn’t have to sit all by himself in the backseat.

When
Adrian
didn’t make any attempt to move to the backseat, she started to climb over into the back. She didn’t make it very far before four very large, powerful arms grabbed her and dragged her back into her seat. Accompanying the arms were two very loud growls.

She heard Damian let out a small laugh from the backseat just before he said, “It’s okay, princess, I’m fine back here. I enjoy all the extra room. You stay there before your mates decide to hurt someone. I don’t think they like the idea of you being too close to another male.”

Adrian and
Nikkos
both agreed to that at the same time. “We are taking the
Yukon
because it has room for all three of us in the front,”
Adrian
told her.

She rolled her eyes at him.

Nikkos
added, “I know you’re my brother and wouldn’t do anything to her, but I don’t like her close to anyone except
Adrian
.”

Damian nodded his head in acknowledgement. “When I find my mate, I’m sure I’ll be the same way with him.”

Anstice was the first to catch on to what he said and let out a small giggle. Both of the boys looked at her like she had lost her mind before the information must have clicked into their brains. When it did, they both turned around in their seats and studied Damian as if trying to decide if he was being serious.

“I–I, um, I
ummm
…” he stuttered. “I thought you said it was okay for us to love who we want, no matter their sex.” His face reddened, and he held his breath waiting for the reply.

Nikkos
looked so proud when he answered. “Of course it is, brother, and I guess we have one more thing in common, huh? I wish I was as brave as you are to admit it at your age.”

Damian blushed and nodded.

Nikkos
took Anstice’s hand and held it up. Brushing his lips across the inside of her wrist, he asked, “Are you ready, baby?”

She tensed for a second, and then, giving him a small grin, she nodded. They rode in silence for the forty minutes it took them to get to the small cemetery. It was just after 5:00 p.m. when they got there.

Damian looked around, confused. No one had filled him in on their mission for the day. Anstice directed
Nikkos
to a small plot way in the back under a beautiful cherry blossom tree. She had planted and taken care of the tree by herself since her daughter had died. They all got out of the car, and Anstice started to walk toward the tiny white stone with the angel sitting on it.

The boys hung back and planned on giving her time, but she stopped and turned to them. “Please, come with me and meet her. I know she would have loved you all as much as I do.”

Nikkos
and Adrian joined her, but Damian didn’t budge. She pleaded with her eyes. “Please, Damian, you are family, too. Come with us?”

Trying to swallow past the lump in his throat, Damian followed the threesome. He was searching the area around them, as he had been trained to make sure there was no danger. When Anstice knelt down in front of the stone and Damian looked over her shoulder, he couldn’t believe his eyes. His knees gave out on him, and he was sobbing by the time he was on the ground.

Anstice gasped and said, “Oh god, please, Damian, I’m sorry.” She looked up at
Nikkos
and told him, “I knew my emotions were going to be too much for him when we got here. I told you not to make him come.”

She got up and walked quickly over to where Damian was kneeling on the ground, staring at the headstone. She put her hand on his shoulder and tried to soothe him. “Damian, I’m sorry my pain is too much. Let’s go home. I’ll come again a different day, and you won’t have to be here.”

He caught his breath enough to look up at her. Tears stained his cheeks. “It’s not your pain. Who is Kassie to you?”

Anstice stared down at him, bewildered. “Kassie? How do you know I called her Kassie? I was the only one that ever called her that. The stone says Kassandra.”

He felt like a lost child, staring up at her. “She told me her name was Kassie at the orphanage. Her father called her
Alice
, and so did everyone else. She could barely talk, but when I asked her name she said Kassie, so that’s what I called her.”

Now it was Anstice’s turn to be confused again. “What are you talking about? Kassie was never at an orphanage. She died a few days before her second birthday.”

Damian looked past her to the picture of the beautiful baby on the headstone again. “The dates on the stone must be wrong. She was brought into the orphanage when she was two and a half and was adopted eight months later when her father was killed in prison. I begged them to keep her there until I was eighteen so I could adopt her, but they wouldn’t listen. They wouldn’t even tell me the names of the couple that adopted her. Said the records were sealed and no one would be able to find out the information on where she was going.”

He pulled out his wallet and showed her the picture he was able to take the day she left him. “See, that is the same beautiful angel. Now, how do you know her?”

Anstice carefully took to photo he handed her. She studied the picture with tears running down her cheeks before she answered. “She’s my daughter.” Damian watched as her eyes closed and she passed out.

Adrian caught her before she could hit the ground and snapped at Damian, “What the hell did you do to her?”

Damian raised his hands in surrender. “Nothing, I just showed her this.” He held the photo up to
Adrian
.
Adrian
looked between the photo in the wallet and the one on the headstone. He knew anyone could tell it was definitely the same child.
Adrian
sat down in the grass with Anstice in his arms and
Nikkos
standing over them both while Damian went to the
Yukon
to get a bottle of water. He held her in his arms, talking in a whisper. “Please wake up, baby. We’ll figure this out, just come back to us.” It took a few minutes and some of the bottled water splashed on her face, but Anstice slowly woke up.

She looked into
Adrian
’s eyes look like she was lost. She looked over to Damian and asked, “Can you please explain to me what’s going on?”