“Aw, Dad!”

“Go.”

“Damn it,” Joshua muttered. Chris hit him upside the head gently. “Watch it, punk.”

“You’re the punk,” Joshua said with a fond smile.

Chris walked with Ephraim across the hall to their new room. Madison insisted before Marc was born that they move their room closer to the rest of the family. He agreed after she twisted his arm, literally.

“So, Dad, I was thinking.”

“Yes?” he asked cautiously. It was always a good idea to be cautious when it came to his seventeen year old son’s "thinking". He swore if he asked for a third tattoo again he was going hang Chris by his ankles in the foyer and leave him there.

“I was thinking instead of taking my own Sentinel home next year I’m going to hang around here for a while and make sure everything’s okay.”

Ephraim hadn’t expected that.

“Chris, I would love for you to stay, but I don’t want to hold you back.”

“You’re not holding me back, Dad. You know as soon as I leave they’ll set up another Sentinel home close by to protect Marc.”

Ephraim sighed. “I know. We thought of moving to start over somewhere else, but this is our home. Madison and your Grandmother want the kids to finish growing up in one home. No more moving around.”

Chris smiled easily. “I’m not complaining, Dad. I don’t want to move out just yet. I would like a few more years with my family before I have to go out on my own.”
Ephraim cupped Chris’s neck. “Are you sure? You know I will never stand in your way.”

“I’m sure, Dad.”

“Okay.” He pulled Chris into a bear hug. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Get some sleep we have a vamp nest in Concord to help clean out tomorrow.”

“Night Dad.” Chris headed back to the nursery where he would most likely stay for the rest of the night. The kid was a natural when it came to kids. Ephraim hoped he wouldn’t have too long of a wait to find his mate.

He turned to head into his room only to pause as spotted the pictures that covered the hallway walls. A sad smile tugged at his lips as he looked at the enlarged photo of him with his two brothers when they were children. His eyes shifted to the next blown up photo of him standing with Marc and his family. Marc looked so happy with one arm around his shoulders and his other cradling his youngest child.

Ephraim chuckled, wondering what Marc would have thought about the hectic day Madison gave birth. Marc would probably be jealous as hell that Ephraim was the one that delivered his son into the world. Not that he had much of a choice since Madison went into labor downstairs while she was watching Chris struggle to re-learn how to walk.

It was the best day of his life seeing his son take his first step again after seven months of surgeries and grueling physical therapy. The doctors hadn’t held out much hope that Chris would ever walk again. Hell, more than half of them didn’t think he’d make it through that first night, but in the end Chris proved them all wrong. He’d never been prouder of Chris as the boy dragged himself across the floor and then forced himself through the pain to walk up the stairs in order to get help for Madison.

He reached up and traced a finger over Madison’s smiling lips in their wedding photo. She looked so happy in his arms. He just hoped he could keep her that way forever.

With a smile he walked into their room and closed the door. He wasn't too surprised to find Madison on the large bed, waiting for him.

Ephraim pulled his shirt off and crawled across the bed predatorily towards the beautiful woman in his bed. “Is this what you called me for, my beautiful wife?” He gently pulled the sheet covering her body away, exposing bare skin. He licked his lips as two gorgeous br**sts were revealed.

“Perhaps.” She laid back as he crawled over her.

“Perhaps?”

She laughed. “Well no, I wanted to tell you that Father James told me that another Priest will be joining the household tomorrow. He’ll be taking over my old room.”

“Ah I see, then you don’t want any of my wares tonight?” he said, wagging his eyebrows.

“I didn’t say that.” Her fingers found the zipper of his fly and gently pulled it down. Her hand brushed his already hard shaft. She reached in and pulled it out.

Ephraim’s h*ps pushed forward, knocking her hands out of the way so he could enter her in one smooth thrust. Madison’s fangs dropped immediately. “You are far too good at that, Ephraim.”

“And you feel too damn good, darling,” he growled.

“Yeah?” her voice was thick and husky.

His head dropped back in pleasure as he moved inside of her. “Oh yeah, you feel wonderful.”

“You’re sure you’re not going to get bored of me in say, a hundred years?”

The muscles in his neck strained as he growled long and loud, “Hell no.”

She moved beneath him, meeting his every thrust. “How about a thousand years?”

“No.”

“How about a million years?”

Ephraim lowered his weight on her. He gently brushed her lips with his as he moved with lazy thrusts in the way he knew she liked. She licked her lips, moaning continuously beneath him.

“I will never grow tired of you. Not in a million, zillion, quadrillion years.”

“Why?” She looked serious for a moment.

His expression softened. “Because I absolutely love and adore you, Madison.”

“I love you too, Ephraim. So much.” He took her mouth in a searing kiss.

She pulled back after a few minutes. Giggling uncontrollably as she asked, “What about a zillion, billion, million, quadrillion-“

He sighed in exasperation. “I see I’m not doing this right if you’re still able to talk.” His arms wrapped around her.

“What-ah!” she gasped as they were suddenly floating in the air towards the ceiling. He effortlessly turned them over so that she was lying on top of him. Her back touched the ceiling as he took her hands into his and pinned them against the ceiling above their heads.

“Now let’s see if we can’t find something more interesting to do than talking, shall we?”