Page 30 of Little Bite of Bliss

“I don’t even know how you found me,” I muttered, kicking a rock. It rolled a couple feet away from me as I sat down in the sand, scowling at the waves that lapped at the shore.

My dad was quiet for a moment, but then settled next to me. “Of course I found you. Do you really think you or your sister are ever somewhere without me knowing? I’m always keeping an eye out for both of you.”

I scowled as he ran his fingers through his hair, his horns gleaming. He had a little patch of gray now that had only gotten brighter with each passing year. I remembered once when we were little, Inferna and I had snuck into his room overnight and dyed it pink. It turned out he was awake the whole time, but we’d laughed and giggled, thinking we were being so sneaky.

“You look old,” I muttered.

He gasped. “My gods, no need to be cruel.”

“You have more gray now.”

“Being a father does that,” he sighed, but then he made a face again. “I . . .” he trailed off. “I am sorry. I think that I owe you a lot of things, Archer. I showed up here because you weren’t answering our messages, and while I know Leni is good, I still cannot stand the idea of something happening to one of my children. Peter told me at least twenty times to let it go, but I just . . .”

“You’ve always been so overprotective. Too overprotective. Why didn’t you listen to Dad? Would you have wanted your father to show up during your first weekend with him?”

He winced. “No . . . I’m sorry. I know I can be overbearing at times, and I’m sorry for whatever I’ve just interrupted. I don’t even want to know, as long as you’re being safe.”

“I am,” I snorted. “Of course I am.”

“Good.” He looked over at me, and finally, I looked back. “You are angry with me.”

“Furious, actually,” I said. For some reason, him showing up had dragged so many feelings up to the surface that I’d been dancing around for so long. “I just don’t understand why you’ve always treated me differently than Inferna. With her mates, you were not like this. You didn’t show up on her doorstep to interfere. Is it because of what happened? Do you still think I’m so awful?”

“No,” he breathed out, his eyes widening. “Gods, no. Of course not. What happened then . . . I didn’t handle well. And I regret that. I just . . . I waited for Peter for centuries. Centuries of thinking I would never find the one. But when I met him, everything in my life changed. And when you swore that human was your mate, I knew he wasn’t. I just didn’t know how to explain it.”

I pressed my lips together and pulled my knees to my chest, resting my chin on them. “I was very determined to not listen. We always argue. I swear sometimes you’re just so abrasive, and even if you mean well, it hurts. It hurts my feelings. And it makes me not want to be around you.”

Ouch. Even I felt the sting of my own words. He sucked in a breath as if I’d punched him. But, it was the truth. At this point, I only saw him around the holidays.

A few moments of silence passed, but then he leaned forward, catching my gaze again. “I am abrasive,” he finally said. “I am too abrasive. It is something that I still need to work on. I just wish you would tell me when I am being too much instead of shutting me out⁠—”

“I did, Dad,” I whispered. “For a very long time. I tried. I tried really hard. But you didn’t listen.”

“I am listening now.” His eyes watered with tears. “Is it too late?”

That was for me to decide, wasn’t it?

It was such a difficult question. I loved my dad, even when he was harsh. And I knew how much he loved me, my sister, and my father. He loved us more than anything else in the entire world. Our personalities were just like oil and water at times.

But if we could communicate better, maybe it didn’t have to be so tough.

“More than anything, I want to make amends,” he said. “And I want you to be happy. I don’t want you to feel like you need to stay away from me.”

“I don’t feel that way,” I said. “I think I have continued to carry shame from what happened with that person for years, and I just assume everyone thinks less of me.”

He shook his head. “No one thinks that. Archer, if you knew the amount of terrible things I’ve done in my life, I think you’d possibly never want to speak to me again.”

“Okay, but you are an incubus.”

He snorted. “And you aren’t?”

“I mean, I certainly look human.”

“Yes, and have you never walked into a sex club and had everyone throw themselves at you like you were a god?”

Well . . .

Okay, yeah. That had happened a few times.