No.
He wasn’t alone. Now that he was fully awake, he could sense someone else in the room with him. No, vampires were with him. Very slowly, he slid his right hand up along the soft sheets to his pillow, aiming to grab the knife hidden there.
“Don’t bother,” said a low, hard voice. A voice he knew.
Ronan’s eyes snapped open, but before they could focus on the speaker, both the bedside lamps were flicked on. He groaned and closed his eyes again, wincing against the bright light.
“I must admit, I was expecting something a little more impressive from the European Ministry,” drawled a second voice.
“Be fair. He’s just waking up.” A third voice? How many fucking people were in his room?
Blinking rapidly, Ronan sat up and forced himself to look around the room. Not three people. Six. Six fucking people were arranged around his bed, staring at him as if he were the intruder.
But these weren’t just any random people. These were Aiden’s sons and their mates. At least some of them. The quick glance revealed only three of the four sons, if he was remembering their faces correctly.
“What’s going on? Has something happened to Aiden?” Ronan demanded in a sleep-rough voice.
“That’s King Aiden to you, peasant,” the second voice snapped.
“Really, Rafe?” someone new asked.
Ronan looked at him. Yes, this was one of Aiden’s sons. Beltran, he thought. They hadn’t gotten to personally meet, but one of the guests had pointed him out because it was rumored that he had two werewolves for mates. That guess was helped along by the large man standing close to Beltran with his arm wrapped around his waist. The energy coming off him declared very clearly that he was not a vampire.
Beltran looked back at Ronan. His expression wasn’t nearly as foreboding as his companions. Just curious. “Aiden is fine. We were hoping to have a moment to talk with you in private. I’m Beltran Varik, and this is my mate Wyatt.” He jerked his chin to the other side of the room. “I understand that you’ve met my brother Winter and his mate, Fox.”
Ronan looked in the direction Beltran had motioned and immediately met the icy-cold gaze of Aiden’s son. “Yes, we’ve met.”
“And then my twin, Rafe, and his mate, Philippe,” Bel continued.
Ronan looked straight ahead to find Rafe leaning against the dresser, a golden-haired vampire standing next to him. Rafe’s expression was nearly as dark as Winter’s while Philippe appeared amused by what was happening.
“How did you even get in here?”
The redheaded man next to Winter snorted. “Witch,” he said, holding his hand up. “Good with locks.”
“And I’m guessing the witch and werewolf made it possible to even travel during the middle of the day,” Ronan finished with a soft groan.
“Scary thought, isn’t it? That we can reach you any time of the day,” Winter taunted.
Ronan chose to ignore it. “Isn’t there another brother? Marcus, right?”
For the first time since he woke, the assembled party looked uneasy as they glanced at each other. It was actually Philippe who spoke up with a light chuckle.
“Marcus doesn’t always agree with his brothers’ less-than-diplomatic tactics. They thought it safer to leave him behind with his mate to distract him. They also left one of Bel’s wolves behind to keep an eye on Aiden should he realize they’re suddenly all missing.”
“Blabbermouth,” Fox grumbled, but there was no heat behind it as Philippe grinned at the witch.
If Ronan were being honest with himself, he had been expecting this kind of meeting with Aiden’s sons. Maybe not during the middle of the day when the sun was high in the sky, but definitely a private conversation.
“I’ll just grab some pants so we can—”
“Oh no, we like you right where you are,” Rafe drawled. “Catching you off balance and ill-prepared.”
“Sort of like how you caught Aiden this evening,” Winter added tightly.
Ronan sighed and shifted to sit with his back against the headboard while adjusting the blanket across his lap. It wasn’t ideal, but he understood the frustration of the Variks. “It wasn’t my intention to upset or off-balance Aiden…er…King Aiden. When I heard about the new king in the Americas, I wasn’t even sure if it was my Aiden.” Shit. He inwardly winced as everyone in the room reacted to that little slip. He hadn’t meant to say that, but he needed to plunge ahead. “I thought he was dead, had been dead for centuries. I didn’t even know for sure that he was the man I’d known as a human until I saw him enter the room tonight.”
“Your Aiden?” Rafe started, but Bel was already talking over him.
“You knew him when he was human?”
“Yes, the last time I saw him, we were both human. But that was almost—”
“No!” Fox shouted, cutting off Ronan’s words. “You are not winning the bet that way. That’s cheating.”
“What? It is not.” Bel gasped and for the first time, Ronan saw Winter smile before he brushed a kiss across Fox’s cheek. The witch didn’t even seem to notice; his eyes were locked on Bel on the other side of the room.
“Yes, it is. The bet was to get Aiden to reveal how old he was. Not to have someone from his past tell us.”
Bel huffed and folded his arms across his chest. “Only because we never thought we’d meet someone from Aiden’s past.”
“Now that you’ve confirmed that Aiden is the person you knew from years earlier, what are your intentions toward him?” Wyatt demanded.
Ronan barely held back his smile. It was a conversation he’d never imagined having. If he’d been crowned King as a human, he’d never have to explain to a woman’s father what his intentions were. They would have been clear—to produce an heir. Now, hundreds of years later, he was sitting nearly naked in front of a man’s children, trying to answer a question that had tied the tongues of countless teenagers for far too long.
And sadly, he was just as tongue-tied, despite his advanced years.
“I would like very much to talk to him again. We have so much catching up to do. I want to know everything he’s done over the past years. I would like to know about the woman he fell in love with and how he came to have four vampire sons.”
“Just talk. Like old friends.” The sarcasm didn’t drip from Rafe’s words. It fell off in thick, heavy glops to splat onto the hotel floor.
Philippe poked Rafe in the arm hard enough that the vampire slid sideways and had to readjust his stance to catch himself. “Seriously?”
“He’s an emissary from the European Ministry.” Rafe waved a hand at Ronan. “You used to be much more paranoid and suspicious than this.”
Philippe hummed and wrapped both his arms around Rafe’s waist. “Yes, and then I became a Varik. Discovered that there are some good people in the world who aren’t plotting the demise of everyone they see.”
Before his eyes, Rafe’s shoulders slumped, and his entire bristly personality melted. He cupped Philippe’s cheek with one hand and murmured, “Mon ange.”
“Oh God, why couldn’t you leave me behind with Ethan and River?” Fox moaned.