Forever for Rose

Chapter Twenty One.

Pedro stands rigid in the corner, clearly untrusting of Malcom.

Dalton sits beside me on the couch, Lance flanking my other side while Fallon and her brother are leaning against the far wall and Malcom sits comfortably in Pedro's recliner, his shoulders pushed back and his legs crossed like he owns the place.

"I don't understand." I shake my head, feeling like that line should be my catch phrase for as much as I say it lately. "How did you know where to find me? Or that I was looking for you?"

Malcom smiles, my mom's smile. She got a lot from him actually. His crystal blue eyes sweep the room, barely caring that he's the untrusted one here, and he flips his dark auburn hair from his face. "I have kept a few tabs over the years on my off spring." He shrugs. "I'll admit I stopped when your mother turned out to be such a disappointment and dashed all of her chances at being the queen-."

"More like dashed your chances of being the Queen's father." Lance rolls his eyes. "I bet you would have loved to weasel your way in here with her."

Malcom seems unaffected, a carefully crafted mask I'm used to seeing on Dalton. "It certainly would have given me something to brag about with my mates, but I can assure you," He looks down his sharp nose at Lance. "I have no desire to be here. Royal life has never been my thing."

Dalton nods at my side, watching the man he once thought of as a father carefully.

"Then why are you here now?" Pedro demands.

Malcom stretches his arms over his head and yawns, bored with this. "As I was saying before," He shoots a glare at Lance. "I used to keep up with what was happening with the other one, but she got herself killed...or so I was supposed to think. When I discovered she'd at least given birth to a royal heir, I thought at least she'd been able to do one thing right." He scoffs. "But seeing as the world out there is going to shit, I'm going to assume it is safe to say that you're not much better suited for the job than dear mommy was."

Dalton is the first one to hiss under his breath.

"Calm down, my boy." He shakes his head. "I mean no offense. You know this of me, I don't hide what I mean." He tells Dalton and then redirects his eyes to me. "I'm here now, because I want to see you do better than your mother did, especially in these trying times. And to answer your other question, I know you've been looking for me because your lap dogs have been asking around for me and others who were in Germany the year that the girl was conceived."

I suck in a sharp breath. "That girl is your daughter." I snap, but Dalton puts his hand on my knee, keeping me in place.

"Ignore him." He whispers and I see Malcom smile out of the corner of my eye. "We've got bigger things to worry about. Malcom is an asshole, but I can vouch for him. I trust him as much as I trust anyone else."

"High praise." Malcom comments but he's met with the glare of nearly everyone in the room.

I take a deep breath, pulling myself together and focus on the task at hand. "Dalton and I think we figured out the connection between all of the missing. You'll have to vet it out, but I'm almost certain." I look at Pedro because he's the only one whose eyes steady me more than distract me right now. "We think they're taking people like me. Ones with ability due to the double vampire gene mutation."

"Ability?" Malcom cocks his head to the side. "Do tell."

Dalton sighs. "Rose can see things. Futures, pasts..."

"How very interesting, though I do suppose that makes sense."

"How?" Lance snaps. "What do you know?"