Children of Krina

Chapter Twenty-Two

Victor's POV

At Uncle's request, princess and I were meeting everyone at the diner for a private party to welcome me home. I would make sure to keep Sang close, knowing she would be thinking of her dead parents. She was aware of how alone she was on Earth without me. While she was not the type to dwell on the bad things in life, today was like a slap in the face to her. It reminded her that all she had was the Krinar and me, that she had no human family left who cared for her. We were staying at my home in Charleston for the week; it allowed me to interact with my brothers while still having some privacy. I also wanted to show Sang some of my favorite places. She had been living on the out skirts of town, she had never seen more than the road in front of her house and the woods behind it. I was going to change that. No one was ever going to cage my princess again. That went for me as well. We were born to change many worlds and we would do so on our own terms.

During my absence, the engineers converted my house into an intelligent house like those we lived in Lenkarda and on Krina. No servants needed to keep it clean, no cook to prepare meals and most of the bric-a-brac my mother had collected was gone and so was half the furniture. Most of the antiques were on loan to a few of the local museums and some of the furniture was now at Princess's house. A friend of ours was really into design, she asked if she could redecorate both houses and we agreed. It was good practice for her and was one less worry for us at the time.

I open Sang's door and help her from the car, admiring her chosen outfit. She is wearing a lace sundress, a tea stained color, with a peasant top and flirty skirt. Pairing it with brown ankle boots and matching belt. I gave her a quick kiss, and then lead her into the diner where I know everyone is waiting. We should have brought a pod, but I wanted to drive my car and the freeway had been jammed. We were only a few minutes late. I hope that they would not hold it against us. Uncle greets us as soon as we enter the banquet room, the others quickly follow suit. I mentally flinch at some of the people present. I have no idea why they would include Danielle or Derrick; I had never been friends with them and did not intend to change it now. There were a few others and it made me wonder who made up the guest list. We managed to stick it out an hour, and then we left. No offense meant to Uncle or the rest of my friends, but I could not handle the rest of the guests. Danielle and Jade kept coming on to me, they wanted to be able to brag to their friends that they had sex with a Krinar. As for Jessica, Kota's little sister, let us just say that I have no interest in going near her again.

Kota's POV

For the first time in my life, I was embarrassed to claim my sister. Not only did she ruin Victor's party, she made a complete fool of herself in the process. He left early and I did not blame him, Jess had treated his girlfriend like a pariah. When the truth was Jessica and the so-called friends she invited were the ones who did not belong. I wanted to lash out at her, but I knew it would upset my mother. "Where is Victor?" My mom asked, having arrived late due to work.

"You just missed him," I was still glaring at my little sister.

"What did she do now?" My mom asked with a sigh.

"She invited the losers she has been trying to impress and she clung to Victor like bird poop to a statue. She would not let his girlfriend near him and pranced around here as if she was a queen."

"What about Derrick?"

"She acted as if he wasn't even here. Honestly mom, I have no idea what he sees in her. She treats him like trash and hangs onto my friends as is they are her property, it is getting to where they don't want to come over anymore and I can't blame them."

"You said he was in town for a week, perhaps you guys can all meet up somewhere without Jess?" Her tone was hopeful.

"He said he would call later today," I braced myself for her reaction to my next words. "Nate is going to rent his house to Brandon and Corey    , he, Silas and I are getting a condo together by Doc and Owen."

"I would like to say don't go, but I know that Jess isn't giving you a choice." She surprised me by saying. "I wish I knew what is up with her. When I try to talk to her, she just ignores me. I don't know what to do anymore."

"I swear she lost her wits the moment she turned thirteen," I grumbled.

"She has been pretty territorial with your friends since she was little. I would think she would have forgotten about Victor though, with him being gone so long."

"I don't think Victor will care, she hurt someone he loves and I will be surprised if he comes anywhere in her vicinity again. The sad thing is, we were all looking forward to seeing him again and she ruined it for all of us. We had hoped to invite them over to Nate's for a cookout and swimming later, we didn't get the chance."

"Your sister and Danielle would probably ruin that too," my mom shook her head in dismay. "The pair of them always seems to find you."

My phone vibrated, I removed it from my pocket and read the new message. It was from Victor, inviting us to his house sans my sister and the losers. We were to bring our swimsuits, a date if we wished and an appetite. I sent a quick text, accepting. My brothers did the same. None of us would be bringing dates; we were without girlfriends and content about it.

Luke's POV

We left in pairs, including the Toma team. We did not want to take the chance of someone following us. While it may sound dramatic and like over kill, we were going by experience. Danielle and Jade had followed us before and Jess had a habit of turning up at places we gathered. Why Jade hung around, none of us knew. She was a fool if she thought we did not know that she was one of the girls who directed Hendricks and his thieves to our location. My brother would never return her interest; he had better taste then that.

I was glad that Vic was giving us a chance; he could have blamed the fiasco on us and never talked to us again. He had never been like that though. I froze, my brain finally registering something it had been noticing without me paying attention.

"What?" Kota demanded, as he was the first one to notice that I looked like I had an epiphany.

"Jess, she thinks that one of us will be her future husband." I tell him. "She thinks that we are waiting for her to choose one of us, since we have always been so nice to her. I think she tried to pick Victor today, but he wasn't having it."

"Fuck, he is right." Gabe muttered, "It would explain why she was so snotty to our past girlfriends."

"You are the only one who she ignores when it comes to dating someone," Owen pointed out to Kota. "The rest of us have had her chase more than one girl away."

"Need I remind you of Nurse Belinda?" Doc asked, sounding a bit sad.

We all knew Belinda; she was a nice young woman Doc met when he returned to the hospital. We thought he was going to pop the question or at least to ask her to move in, but unknown to us, Jess was playing games with Danielle's help. Belinda ended up accusing Doc of cheating and transferred to another hospital. We figured it out when Jess asked Kota to take her to Doc's condominium so she could pick up her clothes, but even then, we had not thought much about it. Jess stayed at his place when we went camping for two weeks last summer, taking care of his cat, Darth Meow. We just had not connected all the dots. This was Kota's little sister, therefore our little sister, we would never think of her in such a way. "That isn't true," I corrected Owen. "She usually ignores who North, Si and I date. So it is only you, Doc, Nate and Gabe she is interested in."

"Don't forget Victor," North smirked.