Page 2 of Little Bite of Bliss

“You are absolutely ridiculous,” I sighed. “Did you bring her here?”

“Yeah. Again, she was insistent.” He hiked his thumb over his shoulder. “She’s on the porch. I’m going to leave now and wash my eyeballs with acid.”

“Yes, go, be gone,” I grumbled. “And pick up your siblings from school as repayment.”

Bell laughed as he headed toward the living room. “Sure. How about I take them to get something sweet and drop them off at the height of their sugar high?”

“Demon,” I mumbled, but I smiled to myself as I followed him toward the porch. “Uh, by the way, have you talked to Layla?”

Bell paused mid-step and turned to look at me. “Yes. She hasn’t been matching monsters by the way. I think those two phantoms lied to get you to match them.”

Even if they did, they’d been aware of another grim reaper. All the protections I’d been setting up around my family were slowly eroding right before my eyes.

I swallowed hard. “That’s good. Is she . . . ?”

“She’s okay,” Bell said with a shrug. “Still mad at you, of course. I think everyone is though.”

Yes. Many were. Luna, Al, Quinn, Naomi. Even Jasper, the friendliest orc in existence, had given me a fucking earful. I hated it.

Trixie and Lucy had been furious with me for multiple reasons, and I’d spent the last few months doing everything I could to make up for it. Trixie was the first to come around when I explained everything, and for once, I didn’t hold back. I didn’t shield her from my worries or the fears I had about the dark parts of my world trying to drag our children to its depths.

Lucy had taken a little longer to forgive me. Severing the fated mate bond between Layla and Death had brought up a lot of hurt from the past. We’d talked through it, though, and he forgave me. Truthfully, I did not deserve either of them.

The three of us were a team. Trixie and Lucy were everything to me and I was grateful they didn’t resent me. I wasn’t sure what I would do without them in my life. Love didn’t even feel like a strong enough word to describe how I felt about them.

What we had decided was that regardless of if our youngest child really was some sort of all-powerful being, she was still our daughter. We would protect her. And if her soul had chosen to leave another realm, there was a reason for it. Not to mention, reincarnation was complicated. This version of her was her. Death could not simply take her back—and he had to know that wasn’t how any of this worked.

If anything, I did not think he was really here for Tana. My theory was that Layla had drawn him to our realm, but Tana’s rogue soul was an easy excuse for his reasoning. That there had even been a connection between Death and Layla was something unheard of. None of the elder creatures had mates. Their roles within the world prohibited them from that sort of connection. As long as I had lived, I’d never seen anything like it.

Bell pressed his lips together. “You should know that Layla still wants to find Death. She has been attempting to do so . . . I do not think she will give up. You know how she is.”

Stubborn to a fault at times—wonder where she got that from?

“Has she mentioned that she might forgive me?”

Bell laughed and he reached for the door. “I’m not getting in the middle of all of this. I love you, Papa. And I love my sister. You guys gotta work this out.”

“Fair enough. One more nosy question. How is Luca doing?”

“Well. Last I checked, he wants to go to Hell. But you guys aren’t letting him.” Bell opened the door and gave me a sharp look. “At some point, you have to stop interfering with our fates.”

My chest ached. “It’s difficult not to want to protect all of you.”

“I know. But you raised us well. Layla, Luca, and I aren’t kids anymore. Personally, I think they both should have taken off like I did. It was good for me to get away from the comfort of home.”

I swallowed hard. Bell leaving the way he did had been difficult, and for the first two months, I’d had him tracked by a vampire friend to make sure he remained safe. Was it overbearing? Yes. But our children were the most important thing in the world to myself, Lucy, and Trixie.

“Is that why you left?” I asked. “To get away?”

He shook his head. “Not particularly. I just knew I needed to fly the nest. Don’t get me wrong, I love the cafe. I love our family. I like helping where I can. But I should live my life how I want it. Layla and Luca deserve the same, even if it means they go in a direction you don’t like.”

Bell stepped outside. I took a moment to steady myself, then followed after him. I still had a damn creature to deal with.

Leaning against the railing and waiting impatiently was the sphinx I knew as Eleni. Tan wings were tucked against her back, her silky black hair falling to her collarbone. A fur-tipped tail swished back and forth with irritation. Her diamond pupils were sharp in the sunlight.

“Barista,” she greeted. Her gaze slid over to Bell and she smirked as his spine straightened. “I could take this one, you know. He’s handsome.”

I scowled at her. “He’s not yours.”