Underground

41

Joel

I folded my arms as Justine rushed out of the kitchen and counted to ten from keeping myself from snatching Alex off the stool. It was one thing for her to walk away but her thoughts after Alex touched her. I growled low and Alex kept his head bowed. Jonathan and Carter walked in looking at him and then me. "Joe? Is she alright?" Carter asked slowly.

"Her thoughts are...all over the place. She thinks we are vampires," I told them and they chuckled, grabbing a seat.

Alex finally looked up but at Jonathan, "Don't you think we should tell her we aren't fangers? Haven't even seen one in what? A hundred years?"
Carter leaned back and nodded.
"You told her about Gianna?" I asked and Alex flinched before nodding. It took me a minute to remember that incident with Gianna. 1895 during Cuba's war for Independence.

"I remember her. She was that servant girl Valentine hired to get intel on the other side," I said.

"The human servant girl," Cherine said walking into the kitchen. "And who's going to tell her we aren't vampires?"
I smirked.
"She's taking this hard. The immortality thing," Jonathan looked at me. "You should have spoke to her about this before you mated her."

I bit the inside of my cheek. Never in the thousands of years of living did I think anyone would complain about immortality. Of course Justine would. "I can't let her go. Even if she wanted out," I looked directly at Alex and he looked back at me.

"She's half human and half Titan just like we are," Cherine leaned on Carter. "It's nothing to be afraid of. I'm happy with my life."

"Not everyone is you, Cher," Alex looked up at her. "Immortality is lonely-"

Dad walked into the kitchen with Dorrian and sighed heavily, "I will never understand women."

"Hey!"

I smiled, "Give us a minute, Cher."
Cherine glared at us before walking outside back to the bonfire. Dad went into the fridge and pulled out a beer. "A warning about the immortality thing would have been nice, Dad," I told him.

"Valentine is planning on having a banquet to celebrate your Airen," he said sitting next to Alex. "Hundreds of aristocrats and people who will be prying into your mate. That topic would have came up and both you and her would have looked stupid if she didn't know."

Jonathan looked at me then at Dad, "And this is to do what?"

Dad paused and looked at all of us. I already had an idea of the answer. "Aside from the fact that we are investigating him, Valentine has to save face. My eldest son has his mate so it's only right to congratulate him," he rolled his eyes. "Also...the Belrose family isn't happy."

"I was never officially engaged to her," I growled. Dad shrugged, looking at me.

"Deal with that bridge when you get there, Joey."

I nodded, leaning off the wall and walking away. When I got outside, Justine was sitting with Mitchie, Devlin and Lexi. Laughing. I never knew what it felt like to really be lonely until the day I realized I wanted her. Justine's head looks over at me with that frown that I grew to like. A hand tapped my shoulder and I closed my eyes. "Justine is mine. The next time I catch a whiff of those thoughts in your head, I'll challenge you again and you will be sorry."

I turned to Alex and he nodded slowly. "Understood."