Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 1062: Proud Son

Kaiden raised an eyebrow. "Disappointed? Yes, in myself. I left my beloved mother behind and forced her to clean house. In you? Perish the thought. You were already the most badass person I ever knew, and that position only solidified."

"..." Vespera said nothing, but she was clearly pleased with his answer.

Yunohana covered her mouth, but her laughter escaped through her fingers. Kaiden was grinning at Vespera again, trying to imagine what the men outside had thought when their colleagues came flying out of the building.

"Did anyone complain?"

"The President called."

"Of course he did."

Vespera took another sip while her son waited. On his lap, Yunohana had become very attentive.

"I told him to establish who commissioned the audits, who paid for them, and how their requests reached the people harassing you. Otherwise I’d treat him and his administration as complicit."

"Good." Kaiden settled back with Yunohana in his arms, thoroughly enjoying the picture. "How did he take it?"

"He told me I could not issue an ultimatum to the United States government."

Kaiden laughed over Yunohana’s shoulder.

"He picked a wonderful woman to say that to. What exactly did you tell him?"

"He could expose the people responsible, or I would deal with his administration myself. I made it quite clear that I was prepared to declare war."

"That’s my mother."

The pride in his voice brought Vespera’s eyes back to him. Kaiden was beaming at her, delighted that someone had finally told the bastards they owed his family answers.

They had spent so long making his family accommodate them. Instead of chiding her for putting the guild at risk, her son...

"If he thinks you’re dealing with them alone, he can forget that too," Kaiden added. "I’m 100% with you, Mom."

Vespera held his gaze for a moment, her cup resting untouched between her hands.

"I know."

Yunohana glanced between them before beginning to laugh.

"You look so pleased with each other."

"How could I be anything but pleased when my mother is this amazing?"

Yunohana giggled, and Kaiden looked down at the woman in his arms.

"You do realize you’re dating a proud mommy’s boy? Will that be a problem?"

"A problem?"

The question surprised her enough that she looked across at Vespera. His mother sat with her usual flat expression, still watching her son over the cup in her hands.

Yet Yunohana could see how much his approval meant to her. This woman could threaten the American government and still worry that her son might be disappointed in her. His pride had made her happy, and the tenderness Yunohana felt at that realization brought her closer against him.

"Hmm..."

Poking her own cheek with a fingertip, she tipped her face up toward Kaiden and pretended to consider the matter with great seriousness.

"For a woman, watching how the man she’s seeing treats his mother is one of the best ways to learn what she might expect herself."

Her smile escaped before she could maintain the thoughtful pose any longer.

"And you are giving me the most promising expectations."

"I’ll try to live up to them, then," Kaiden returned the smile.

"Please do," she murmured, her composure dissolving into another delighted giggle when he leaned down and kissed the finger resting against her cheek.

Yunohana’s forehead came to rest against his shoulder while he grinned across the table. Vespera took a sip of tea, but he caught the curve of her lips before the cup could hide it.

He loved this woman so fucking much.

Vespera set her cup down, watching him rub Yunohana’s back while the shrine maiden tried to recover enough to face her hostess.

"Your mother has been very busy," Yunohana managed.

"I should have brought her flowers."

"Rook had a list of possible connections to the Pact," Vespera continued. "I visited the addresses."

At the mention of the Pact, Kaiden leaned forward, keeping his arm around Yunohana so she came with him. He wanted to hear what his mother had done to those fuckers.

"Did you find them?"

"Eventually. The first warehouse was a trafficking operation. Women brought here with promises of employment, then locked in cages to be sold. My people recovered their passports and brought them out."

Yunohana straightened on his lap.

"And those keeping them there?"

"A pointless question."

"Good riddance."

Kaiden meant it with every bit of the disgust in his voice.

"Were the other addresses connected?" the shrine maiden asked.

"Some were ordinary businesses. I took their records for examination. There was a drug operation as well. Quite a few of them, actually."

"Did any of them try to keep you out?" Kaiden asked, already grinning at the thought.

"Yes. It didn’t matter."

He laughed, making Yunohana steady herself with a hand on his shoulder.

"I’d have loved to see their faces."

"There was a blood collection facility," Vespera went on. "People strapped to beds, being drained. I found vampires there. One was taken alive."

Yunohana’s fingers tightened over his hand.

"Then you found a connection."

"Yes."

Kaiden looked at his mother’s face, remembering how she had held him when he appeared at her door. All those questions about his journey, whether he was safe, why he hadn’t called first.

He had laughed because she couldn’t work out how he had reached her.

Now he wanted her beside him.

"Mom?"

Vespera turned from Yunohana to him.

He held out his free hand.

"Would you come sit with us?"

Her gaze moved to the space on his left, then to Yunohana across his lap.

"You seem quite comfortable already."

"I’d be happier with you here."

The teasing had left his voice. Vespera studied him for a moment before putting her hand in his and rising from the opposite sofa.

Yunohana drew her feet closer to the right armrest to give them room. As Vespera came around the table, Kaiden guided his mother onto the cushion beside him, then put his left arm around her shoulders.

She sat very straight.

His hand rested against her upper arm, warm through the robe. With Yunohana settled against his other side, Kaiden turned and kissed his mother’s temple.

"Thank you for looking after us."

"Kaiden..."

"I mean it. You were here dealing with all that, and I came in laughing at you for missing me."

Vespera looked down at her hands.

"You may laugh. I would prefer that to another call where you try to tell me you’re fine while blood runs down your face."

The memory hurt him now, with her tucked beneath his arm. He had wanted to reassure her, had thought a smile might make seeing him injured easier, and she had spent the call watching her son struggle to convince her he was all right.

"I’m sorry."

She reached across herself to hold the hand resting on her arm.

"I know why you did it."

Her fingers closed around his, and Kaiden drew her nearer until her shoulder rested against his chest. The stiffness she had brought to the sofa lasted another moment before she allowed herself to lean into him.

He lowered his cheek to her hair.

"I’m very happy to be home."

Vespera closed her eyes. Since waking, she had questioned his journey, examined his prospective relationship, and tried to make him behave. Now her son was holding her while the room warmed with the smell of tea, and she could feel him breathing beneath her cheek.

She had missed him terribly. Every call had given her his voice and his face, then ended before she could put her arms around him.

This time, when she tightened her grip on his hand, he squeezed back.

"So am I," she murmured.

On his lap, Yunohana rested her head against his other shoulder. Kaiden felt her fingertips brush his nape, a tender touch that made him turn enough to kiss her forehead as well.

She smiled up at him, then reached for Vespera’s cup and offered it to her.

"Your tea, Mother."

Vespera opened her eyes.

Yunohana held the saucer very steadily. The smile, however, gave her away.

"You have become comfortable remarkably quickly."

"Your son has been most encouraging."

Kaiden laughed, keeping his mother close while she accepted the tea. Yunohana returned her hand to his shoulder, her crossed legs resting comfortably along his lap.

He looked between them with such obvious happiness that Vespera sighed into her cup.

"Weren’t you going to fetch the others?"

"In a little while."

Vespera rested her cheek against his shoulder again, her hand still wrapped around his.

"Okay."