Page 76 of In the Light of the Moon
“Rion,” Sylvie whined, and I relented, trailing down her waist and back to her hips. My thumbs caressed the sides of her belly, and I wondered what she would look like swelled with our child. Would she want that? We hadn’t yet discussed our relationship getting to that point. Was it too early for couples to be having that conversation?
Instead, I said, “You still have some consequences to contend with, my little witch. I came home to find you fully clothed.”
Her breath hitched, and I relished the waves of her desire enveloping me. I was completely hard in my jeans, now, and I once again couldn’t care less about my mother and sister being in the house. As many times as I heard unwanted conversations or Meredith and her husband fucking over the years—I’d never developed a sense of embarrassment about these things.
But I knew that Sylvie didn’t share the same sentiments. I didn’t have the heart to tell her, also, that Meredith certainly heard everything we’d talked about earlier.
To cool us both down, I moved my elbows to rest on my knees and resisted the urge to lean into her. She rustled the back of my head, giving me a shivering scrape of her fingernails before pulling back completely.
“Okay, okay, so we should probably go back out there,” she said more to herself than me.
“Most likely. Though, they were uninvited, so we don’t owe them anything.”
Sylvie gave me a weak shove, “Rion, they’re your family. And I did want to meet them, remember? You can get your revenge on me later.”
I cocked a brow, “Promise?”
She gave a long-suffering sigh. “Yes.”
“Then I’ll look forward to that to help me get through this.”
Sylvie turned toward the door, and I stood to follow. “Then come on, Dr. Gealach. Introduce me properly to your family.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Sylvie
It was tripping me out how similar Orion, his mother, and sister were. Though they had different fathers, Orion and Ramona almost looked like full siblings. And now, up close, I could see that he and his mother shared more than just their fair coloring. Orion looked very much like his father, at least, from the photos I’d seen, but when he spoke, his expressions pulled in ways that mimicked his mom’s. Not to mention that the air ofmorethat surrounded both of them was the same.
And Ramona, with darker hair and skin than her mother and brother, was just as dry yet perceptive as Orion. “Lovewhat you’ve done with the house, O,” she said while her thumbs were tapping furiously over her phone screen. We’d all settled around the dining table after Orion begrudgingly offered to make everyone dinner. I knew that he was warring with the discomfort of a shift in our plans, the groceries he’d bought earlier that day for the two of us now having to stretch for four. But he swallowedany protest and just gave noncommittal grunts to his sister’s jabs as if they were their version of exchanging pleasantries.
When Orion described his father, I pictured warmth, gentle guidance, and ease. His mother, on the other hand, was… intense. “So, is it against some sort of policy for you two to be engaging romantically? You know, with you being his student.” She sipped from a very full glass of wine and watched me with piercing, icy eyes.
I blinked widely at the accusation and noticed Ramona finally lifting her attention to the conversation. “I’m not?—”
“Sylvie isn’t my student, Meredith.” Orion’s body went still while he was chopping away in the kitchen, and if he threw the knife at his mother’s head, I wouldn’t have been surprised.
His mother pursed her lips and gave me another once-over. Her head cocked to the side, and my heart quickened. I hadn’t been bullied when I was in school, but I knew what it felt like to be in the crosshairs. That a cut was sure to follow. “And you wear my son’s mark. Are you sure that’s something you can handle?”
My shoulders bristled, and though I had the urge to slap a hand over the mark, I fought to keep both in my lap. Orion’s growl wasn’t helping to relieve the tension in the room, but I managed to take a deep breath and steel my spine. “I love your son, and though I’m not like you two, I accept and embraceallparts of him. Who he is and all that comes with it. So, yeah, I’m sure.” I picked up my wine glass and felt proud of myself for the steadiness of my hand.
Ramona put her elbows on the table, resting her chin the cradle of her palms, and looked between us with the largest show of expression that I’d seen from her yet. “She toldyou, Mom.”
And then the anxiety creeped up again. Had that crossed the line? Was it a disrespectful thing to say? I shot a worried glance to Orion who had stopped chopping again to stare at me with an intense gaze that made me fidget.
His mother broke the trance he was pulling me into, “Well, congratulations are in order, I believe. I would ask if you were pregnant, but I scent that that’s not the case. I am glad that my son has someone in this big, lonely house.”
“Don’t, Meredith.” Orion was wearing the apron I’d bought him a few weekends ago and holding a delicate-looking spatula, but his glare toward her was no less menacing.
“Hey, didn’t your dad build this place?” Ramona called over her shoulder, and I cringed.
“What did you do with that old trailer, anyway?” Meredith asked nonchalantly, and I tried to imagine this woman living out here with Orion and his father. When I’d asked him of his childhood, the juxtaposition between his life at his mom’s house and that at his dad’s was stark. Where he’d lived in cold luxury with Meredith and her husband, my mate undoubtedly preferred the adventures and care with his father who barely made ends meet.
The image I had of Orion and his dad’s life didn’t fit at all with this prim and manicured woman. Her expensive perfume and designer clothes were out of place in the cozy cabin, but I would wager that she couldn’t be bothered to care.
Orion just grunted at his mother, but I saw the stiffness in his shoulders as he began frying on the stove. Soon the aroma of our cooking dinner loosened the conversation, and Meredith asked Ramona superficial questions about school and her friends. The teenager gave bored answers while going back to scrolling on her phone, and I made myself busy by meandering to the record player in the living room and putting on a Minnie Riperton record to hopefully put Orion and I more at ease.
He made dinner quickly and efficiently, as always, and after I helped him set the table, we all sat, with Orion and me on one side and Ramona and Meredith on the other. The music made the silence of the initial bites of the meal only marginallyless awkward. I caught myself hooking my socked foot around Orion’s ankle for some sort of grounding, and he leaned into the touch.
