This was not exactly a conversation he wanted to have in front of anyone. But the bastard had about as much conscious awareness as one of the Pit’s leather couches. And now and here were better than any other version of later and there that involved the chaotic mansion he and his mate lived in.

“You ever think about having kids?” he said.

THIRTY-NINE

“So will you tell me more about the people you live with?”

As Bitty asked the question from the backseat of the GTO, Mary glanced at Rhage. The three of them were on the way home, all kinds of ice cream in their stomachs, most of the tension gone from the whole “dad” thing. But boy, that had been a difficult moment—well, for everyone but Bitty. She hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other.

The same couldn’t be said of the two adults with her. Nothing like shining a light on the kid-less issue like that. But at least the rest of the outing had been a wild success.

“More on my people, huh.” Rhage looked up into the rearview and smiled. “Lemme see. Who’s next. We’ve covered the King, the animals, and Lassiter. Who actually should be lumped in with the animals, really. So . . . okay, have you ever met a set of twins before?”

“No, never. I wasn’t allowed to leave my house.”

Rhage blinked. “I’m sorry, Bitty. That must have been very hard.”

“My father didn’t want us to see anyone.”

Mary had to catch herself from wincing.

And as Rhage frowned, she felt him take her hand.

“Lemme ask you something, Bitty,” he said.

“Okay.”

“How did you learn to read? And you speak really well.”

“My mahmen was a teacher. Before she mated my father.”

“Ah.”

Mary turned in her seat. “Would you like to be a teacher, too?”

The little girl’s brows lifted. “Yes, I think I would. But I don’t know where to go to school for that. My mahmen went to school in South Carolina.”

Mary tried to show no reaction. “Really? Your mother never said she was from there.”

“That’s where her parents lived. But they died.”

“I’d heard there was a colony down there,” Rhage chimed in.

“My father was a migrant worker. He used to move with the seasons, working for humans, until he met her. Then they came up here and he became an electrician for the species. His drinking got bad and that’s when things changed. I was born after the bad part happened—or maybe I was the reason for it.”

Mary kept quiet, both because she was hoping Bitty would continue, but also because it was really hard to hear any child say something like that. And then she frowned as she recognized that they were getting close to Safe Place.

Glancing at Rhage, she intended to encourage him to keep going—but he subtly nodded, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

Maybe if he continued driving, Bitty would keep talking.

Because none of this was in her or her mother’s file.

“Sometimes,” Mary said, “alcohol can really hurt people.”

“My father was the one who hit us. Not the beer he was drinking.”

Mary cleared her throat. “Very true, Bitty.”

The girl fell silent, and then before Mary could say anything else, she spoke up again.

“May I ask you something, Ms. Luce?”

Mary twisted around once more and nodded as she met the girl’s eyes. “Anything.”

“You said your mahmen had died, right?”

“Yes, she did.”

“So where did you do her Fade ceremony?”

“Well, Bitty, it’s a . . .” She tucked her hair behind her ears. “The truth is, I used to be human, Bitty.”

The little girl recoiled. “I . . . didn’t know.”

“It’s a very, very long story. But I met him and fell in love.” She put her hand on Rhage’s shoulder. “And then some other things happened. And I’ve been in the vampire world ever since. My life is here, with you all, and I’m not going back to where I once was.”

Bitty’s brows drew in tight over the bridge of her nose. “But what happened to your family? Did you bring them with you?”

“It was just my mom and me. And after she died? I had nothing to keep me in that world. Thanks to Rhage . . .” She glanced at him and smiled. “Well, because of him I found my new family.”

“Do you have young?”

Mary shook her head. “No, and I can’t bear children.”

Once again with that recoil. “Ever?”

“No. It just wasn’t in the cards for me. But I have my work at Safe Place and there are so many kids there who need my help.” Like you, for instance. “So I make my contribution to the future, to young people, that way.”

Bitty frowned for the longest time; then she looked at Rhage. “What about you? Do you have young? Before you met . . . well, her?”

Rhage reached out again, his big hand taking Mary’s in a warm, strong grip. “I guess I can have them. But if it’s not going to be with her, then it’s not going to be with anybody.”

“My mahmen said young are the biggest blessing in life.”

Mary nodded through a sudden pain in her heart. “And she was very right about that.”

“So, twins?” Bitty prompted.

Rhage took a deep breath, like he was having to force himself back into normal conversation. “Ah, yup. Twins. So, anyway, we have a set in our house. They’re identical, but they don’t really look anything alike.”

“How is that possible?”

“Well, one was taken as a blood slave.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a practice that’s been outlawed by the King. It’s where one person holds another against their will, using them as a blood source. Zsadist was scarred during his escape, and Phury, his twin—who was the one who got him out—lost part of his leg in the process. But everything worked out. They’re both mated now, and Z has the cutest damn—er, darn—young on the planet. You’d like Nalla. She’s a peach of a toddler.”

“I think I would like to have young someday.”

Mary turned around once again. “And so you will.”

“But you can’t, right? So what if that happens to me?”

“Well, maybe it could. But I like to believe that if you think positively, positive things happen. So visualize yourself in a happy family, mated to a male who loves you and takes care of you and lets you take care of him. And then see that infant of yours all warm and squirmy in your arms. See her eyes that are like yours, or maybe his hair that’s like his father’s. Visualize it and think positively, and make it happen.”

“And anyway,” Rhage chimed in, “even if you can’t bear your young, you can maybe adopt one. Or work with kids, like Mary does. There are always ways around things.”

“Always,” Mary agreed.

They drove along for a little more, and then Rhage headed back to Safe Place. As he pulled up to the curb and put the GTO in park, he cleared his throat.

“So, Bitty.”

“Yes?”

Rhage cranked his massive shoulders around so he could look back at the girl. “I have to work tomorrow night, but the night after I have off. Will you have dinner with Mary and me? I want to go out to eat.”

“To a restaurant?” Bitty asked.

“Yup. TGI Fridays—ever been?”

“Well, no, actually.”

“So what do you say?”

Annnnnd this is just one more reason to love him, isn’t it, Mary thought.

Getting out, she popped the top half of her seat and held it forward.

Bitty looked up at her. “Is that okay, Ms. Luce?”

“Absolutely.”

“Then yes, please.”

“Great!” Rhage clapped his hands. “Oh, my God, you have to totally get the brownie sundae. It’s amazing.”

Bitty stood at the curb for a moment. Then she lifted her hand in good-bye. “Thank you. For the ice cream.”

“Can’t wait for dinner!”

Mary put the seat back into place, leaned in and planted her palm on the still-warm leather from where she’d been sitting. “I’ll see you back home?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Stretching forward, she kissed him on the mouth. “I love you.”