Sera laughed and led his brother towards the door. Antoine paused there and let her go on ahead. He looked back at Snow.

"You will be alright?" Antoine said, concern in his voice and his pale blue eyes.

Snow nodded to reassure him.

Antoine smiled. "Try to get some rest."

He closed the door behind him. Snow felt suddenly very aware of Aurora where she stood near the bathroom, her wickedly curvy body wrapped in his black robe. He rose to his feet and faltered, unsure what to say to her. He had so much he needed to tell her, but he wasn't sure where to begin.

"How are you doing?" Nothing had ever sounded as lame to his ears as those words leaving his lips. He clenched his fists but the action caused the cuts on his arms to sting. His fingers fell open again.

Aurora nibbled her lip and slowly approached him, the blush still burning her cheeks. Her scent of lilies and snow wrapped around him, comforting him. She settled against the thick steel post at the foot of his double bed, leaning the front of her right shoulder against it and holding onto it with both hands. Her gaze tentatively met his.

"Much better already... really," she said, her soft voice warming him right down to his bones, soothing his tension away.

Snow sat back down on the bed and glanced at her, hoping she would join him. She shuffled away from the post and sat close to him, her thigh brushing his, burning him through his jeans. He ached to feel her hands on him again. Her lips on his.

"I am sorry I doubted you." It was a weak apology and he knew it, and he would find a thousand ways to apologise to her until she forgave him for believing she had betrayed him.

She shrugged and leaned her head on his shoulder, and the feel of her there was bliss, reassuring him and calming his ragged feelings.

Snow looked down at the bandages around his chest and then at her. The sight of her bleeding, sharing the terrible wounds on his body, had driven him crazy with a need to protect her. It had torn him in two, pulling him between a need to fight to keep her safe and a need to stay his blade so he wouldn't pick up another injury that she would share.

"I shouldn't have done that." He reached over and parted the top of the black robe she wore, his fingers shaking. The bandages around her chest had spots of blood marring the pale fabric already. "I am sorry, Aurora."

"You scared me," she whispered and then pulled away and stared up at him, her green-to-blue eyes overflowing with her fear and with tender affection. He stroked her chest and could feel her pain in the blood flowing in his veins. She caught his hand and squeezed it, clutching it tightly. "Why did you do that? I thought I had lost you."

"You sound like Antoine. I was almost certain I would survive. It takes more than a few stab wounds to kill a two thousand year old vampire." His words didn't seem to reassure her. If anything, they only served to increase the hurt in her heart, until it showed in her beautiful eyes and hit him hard. He gathered her into his arms, gritting his teeth against the pain moving so swiftly caused him. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

She nestled close to him, her hands pressing against his chest, her cheek resting on his shoulder.

He leaned his cheek against her other one, savouring the feel of her in his arms, the knowledge she was safe now stripping away his strength. He had feared he would lose her too, had been bombarded by one emotion after another tonight, and all of them conspired to leave him shaken, desperately clinging to his female, needing to feel her in his arms.

Aurora drew out of those arms and surprised him by standing. She held her hand out to him and he slipped his into it, curious as to what she was up to. She made him stand and he raised an eyebrow when she stripped him down to his underwear and then removed her robe.

"Come," she said and tugged the black covers on his bed back. She crawled onto it, took hold of his hand again, and lured him onto the bed with her. "You need to rest."

He wanted to mention that she needed to rest too. She turned her back again as she moved across the bed to make room for him and he frowned at the thick twin vertical scars on her back, visible above the top of her bandages.

She had forsaken her wings for him, because she had feared they would end up separated in the afterlife. It touched him deeply. She had made a great sacrifice for his sake, proving her love for him. She turned to face him and settled down in his bed.

Their bed.

Snow clambered onto it, lay beside her on his back, carefully coaxed her into his arms so he didn't aggravate her injuries or his and drew the covers up over them both. Aurora settled her head on his shoulder and her hand on his chest, and then pushed herself up and looked down at him.

She smiled and it hit him hard in the chest, and he wondered if her smile would ever stop doing that, or if there would ever come a day when he couldn't help but stop and stare whenever she entered a room and he realised all over again just how beautiful his female was.

His female.

She leaned down and softly kissed him, showing him that their thoughts had been running along similar lines earlier and she wanted to indulge in victory sex too. It would have to wait, but he could definitely spend the time it took them both to heal doing this. He would never grow tired of kissing her.

Snow held her close to him, her soft body pressing into his and warming him, her lips dancing across his, teasing him. He kissed her until he felt as though he was floating, light enough inside that he might drift away, a feeling he had never experienced before he had met Aurora again and fallen in love with her.

She settled against him and he closed his eyes and held her, and found a new bliss in the act of falling asleep with her nestled against him, tucked safely in his arms where she belonged.

His beautiful angel.

He felt whole again, the empty space behind his sternum filled with light not darkness, with love not rage.

He felt normal.

And for the first time in forever, he couldn't wait for tomorrow to come.

He was looking forwards, towards a future filled with hope and a new beginning, and he would never look backwards again.

CHAPTER 22.

Snow leaned against the wall of the theatre, lurking in the shadows, watching the finale of the first show of the season and keeping an eye on the audience as they enjoyed the acts playing out on the stage. He barely paid attention to the performance, just enough to know what had happened and that everything was running like clockwork. The shows were mundane to him, designed to titillate.

They didn't thrill him as being with Aurora did.

Just the thought of the beautiful female awaiting him in their quarters had him growing hard in his jeans and aching to return to her. He tamped that feeling down and scanned the audience again, folding his arms across his chest and stretching the material of his black shirt across his muscles. A few females glanced his way and he paid them no heed.

He was spoken for.

He smiled at that.

A beautiful angel had not only fallen in love with him, but she had remained with him, and had even helped him through an attack whenever one happened. He felt blessed to have her in his life, a woman strong enough to deal with him even when he was in a black mood and lost his mind to bloodlust.

He dragged his attention back to the show and shook his head when the audience gasped in unison, not understanding what they found so appealing about the acts on the stage. He didn't need to understand it though. He just needed them to behave and enjoy it.

Life at Vampirerotique had been quiet over the past few months, blissfully uneventful. Payne and Andreu had remained, working with Callum and Javier on new shows and helping them run the theatre. Everyone had welcomed Aurora into the family, and even Antoine had admitted that he liked her.

It hadn't surprised Snow. Antoine liked anyone who could help Snow through a bout of bloodlust or even keep one at bay. Aurora was exceptionally skilled at both of those things.

His mind drifted back to her until his senses sparked. A ripple of discord went through the theatre.

Snow smiled and shook his head when his hearing caught a muffled curse and then the audience settled, becoming unaware of their non-vampire member again. Snow could still sense her, even with her best veil in place.

He was tempted to call Chica on it but decided to let her have her way and leave her to watch the remains of the show in peace, thinking she was deceiving everyone in the theatre.

He tried to focus on the show again, knowing Antoine would expect a full report when he returned.

Snow still couldn't believe that he was covering for his brother. He had never thought he would live to see the day that his brother missed a show or the day when he was an active member of management at Vampirerotique.

It still felt strange and it was definitely going to take more than a few weeks to get used to it and having to do mundane things like attend meetings and talks about what to add to the shows to make them new and exciting for the audience.

Part of him was actually hoping for a relapse. A break from work would be nice. Or at least easing him into a daily work schedule. Antoine and Aurora both thought that throwing him into full-time work was good for him though, and all attempts he had made to make them change their minds had failed.

He couldn't even tempt Aurora with the promise of more time spent in bed.

She did look torn whenever he mentioned it, but then she got that steely look in her beautiful eyes and stuck to her guns.

Snow cocked his head and smiled.

Antoine had returned, and his brother's feelings were all over the place.

Snow slipped out the double doors and into the high-ceilinged black room beyond to wait for Antoine.

He leaned his back against the wall, folded his arms across his chest and crossed his legs at the ankle. He tracked his brother's swift approach. Snow looked across to his right as he appeared along the black corridor. He looked more than on edge, far worse than Snow had anticipated, and he pushed away from the wall, concerned now.

He frowned at Antoine. "Well?"

Antoine looked agitated, swallowed a few times, and began to pace, shoving his fingers through his dark brown hair. It set Snow on edge too.

Sera came up behind Antoine, looped her arm around his and smiled, and Snow had never felt so relieved. It couldn't be bad news if she was smiling so brightly, buzzing with joy.

"He's going to be a daddy." She grinned, her dark green eyes overflowing with the happiness he could feel in her.

Antoine looked ready to pass out.

"I hope you have a firm hold on him, because he might go at any second." Snow moved closer, afraid that his brother was going to faint. He was getting paler.

Sera laughed, the sound musical and full of excitement. She flicked her long fair hair over her shoulder with one hand and squeezed Antoine's arm with the other.

"He did go. He hit the desk and the floor in the doctor's office pretty hard too." She reached up and brushed Antoine's dark hair back from his forehead, revealing a nasty gash near his hairline.

Snow laughed, earning a growl from his brother. He couldn't help it, not when he could easily picture Antoine's reaction to the news they were going to become parents.

Light footsteps sounded on the stairs behind him and then Aurora was rushing up to him, her short cream dress fluttering with each long stride. Her green-to-blue eyes shone brightly and he could feel her excitement flowing through her, and her nerves too.

"Good news I take it?" She halted beside him, her gaze darting between Antoine and Sera, and him.

"What gave it away?" Snow looked down at her and she scolded him with a frown.

"You never laugh unless something good has happened... or Alistair is throwing toys at Callum's head." Her frown deepened. "I think his parents are wrong about you and you're a bad influence on him. You're teaching him to be mischievous like you were as a child."

Snow couldn't deny that. She was right, but she was also hardly one to talk. She took immense joy from Alistair's well-aimed attacks on his father too, but mostly because they made Snow laugh. It seemed to make her happy whenever she saw him smiling.

Aurora looked back at Antoine and Sera, her expression expectant.

Antoine mumbled, "Baby."

Aurora clapped her hands and was pulling Sera into a hug, tugging her away from Antoine, before Snow could warn her that his brother needed the support. Snow caught Antoine before he could make a fool of himself, tightly clutching his left arm through his shirt.

"Easy, Brother," Snow whispered, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

Antoine scowled at him. "Wait until it is your turn."

Snow began walking with him towards the stairs, feeling his brother needed the assistance all the way to his apartment and a good lie down to recover from the shock of discovering he was about to become a father.

A father.

Snow couldn't imagine what that must feel like. He didn't think it was possible to get a fallen angel pregnant, but he didn't mention it. Antoine looked as though he needed to feel that Snow might have to go through this with Aurora one day so he could be there to laugh when Snow had a heart attack, and then watch him suffer as he spent months panicking about babies.

What Antoine didn't know was that he didn't have to wait.

Snow felt as weak-kneed and out of sorts as Antoine, and he was already sharing his brother's panic that something might happen to the baby before it was born or the birth might end up happening in daylight, with no doctor around to assist with it, and a million other terrifying scenarios.

He shuddered at the thought of any of them coming to pass.

"You are not alone in this, Brother," Snow said with feeling and Antoine gave him a grateful and relieved look. "You may have to think about opening a creche at the theatre though."

"What a fantastic idea," Sera piped up from behind them.

Antoine's expression turned dour, showing Snow how little that amused him.

"We already have one," Antoine said sullenly and glanced over his shoulder at his mate. "Don't you spend every performance and most days with Kristina and Elissa, and the children?"

"I suppose so. We'll just formalise it then and maybe take one of the spare rooms and turn it into a playroom." Sera smiled at him.

Antoine sighed. At least he was beginning to regain his colour and was walking more steadily as they neared the floor where their quarters were located. In time, his brother would grow comfortable with the idea of having a baby of his own, and then it would be born and Snow would teach the child to throw toys at their father's head.

Aurora parted ways with them at Antoine and Sera's door, hugging and congratulating Sera one more time. Snow helped Antoine into their dark green apartment and settled him on the four-poster double bed. Once his brother was comfortable and looking more at ease and himself again, Snow couldn't hold his tongue any longer.

"I should have taken that bet you made about Lilah and Javier being the next ones to bring a baby into the world." He grinned at Antoine, who groaned and flopped back onto the bed. Sera laughed and Snow looked across at her. "I swear, he will find this something to be excited about once the initial shock wears off."

Sera smiled at him, sat down beside Antoine, and patted his black-clad thigh. "I know my mate is excited about this somewhere beneath his terrified exterior."

Snow could understand some of that fear. Antoine had bloodlust too, and bloodlust was genetic. But Sera was elite, and a turned human herself. There was a high chance that their baby wouldn't be born with the same affliction he and Antoine had gained from their pureblood lineage.

He would have to remember to keep reassuring Antoine about that over the coming months and even after the baby had been born. He would be there for him, taking care of him and helping him raise his child, just as he had helped his father raise Antoine. Snow sighed, his heart filled with warmth and light, glad that he would be there to witness a new generation of their family, one hopefully free of bloodlust.

He pulled Antoine up into a sitting position, clutched him by his nape and pressed a kiss to his brow.

"Congratulations, Brother."

Antoine drew back and looked up at him, and the look that normally would have been in his eyes in this sort of situation, the need to reassure him that he was still loved and needed in this world, and that he couldn't live without him, wasn't there. Snow wouldn't miss that pained look and the knowledge he was hurting his brother.

Only love and happiness filled his brother's eyes now, and Snow was glad, although he still felt he had a long way to go before he made things up to Antoine. If he ever could.