Luna (Lycan Series: #2)

B.C. #1

KATYA POV

"Mom."

"Mama."

"Ma."

"Mommy."

"Mama mia pizzeria."

My eyebrow twitched and I turned to look at Castor, Winry, and Lux. "Are you guys done with your competition of how many ways you can say moth-"

"MOTHER!" Winry yelped. 

"When's dinner ready Madre?"  Castor drawled out from his cat like position on the couch. 

"Dinner is ready. Eat up."

I served the macaroni and sausage in bowls for them as they crowded around the TV. Our house in Ireland was significantly smaller than the villa, but it was nice and homey, and on Stark's land. He seemed much more in place here than in Sicily.

"I made panna cotta for dessert, so eat quickly." I called out to everyone as Castor pressed play.

Lux followed me into the kitchen, her hands on her hips. 

"Katya, I know you're stressed out."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh? So I'm Katya now?"

She shrugged, "Stark lets me call him by his first name. Plus, I feel like if I called you the m-word one more time, I'd be treated the same way Stark gets treated when he says that dress makes you look fat."

"Okay one; that dress did make me look fat, but he wasn't supposed to answer honestly." I pulled out the panna cotta from the fridge, as well as the raspberry glaze. "And two; he wants you to call him by his first name because Stark has daddy issues. Issues of him being called anything relating to parenthood."

Watching her sit with ease of the stools in front of the kitchen island made me realize how much she'd grown. Just a couple years ago she wasn't able to reach the stool without Stark lifting her up, and now at 14 years old, she could easily reach the top cabinets never mind sit on the stool.

"But why?"

Stark wasn't here, instead he was visiting Kendra in Sicily to find out more on the prophecy, so it was a good time to tell her. I know he didn't mind our daughter knowing, but I knew he was scared of the idea that telling her might think of him differently, despite the fact that we both knew deep down that Lux would never see him as anything other than a hero. Unless it came to boys. Then she would see him as a "loser nobody who has nothing better to do than to make her life a living hell".

Pouring the glaze on the panna cottas before placing them back on the fridge to firm up, I then came around and sat beside her.

She was tall, Stark's genes showing vividly through her. She was a carbon copy of him physically, but mentally she was just like me. Power wise though, she was a bit of both. 

"Your father had met a woman named Kathleen around the time after the Irish famine. Back then, the chances of finding your mate was slim to none, so he decided to settle down with her. But Kathleen had a stalker, Orion. He was friends with Stark but soon became enemies because of his obsession for Kathleen. That obsession went over the line and Orion ended up murdering Kathleen's brother, Kathleen herself...and their baby."

Like Stark, Lux had a mask on to hide her emotions. But I could read right through her- after all, she was my daughter.  I took her hands in my own before continuing.

"He developed a phobia for children. Every time he was near one, he'd think of his baby and what happened- how he couldn't protect his wife and child. He was haunted by their memory. It's why he has difficulty with you calling him 'Dad' or anything like that. He prefers Stark, but that doesn't mean he's any less of a father."

Lux looked hurt for a moment, pulling her hands from mine quickly. "I never said he was."

I sighed deeply, "I know you didn't, but I just wanted to let you know."

Her cornflower blue eyes softened. "Yeah, I know. Sorry, Mom."

I ruffled her blond hair, which had gotten a slight wave to it over the years. "It's fine, sunshine."

She snapped her fingers, pointing it at me in a cheesy way. "I see what you did there. Fine. Sunshine. Rhyming."

I shook my head. "I think you hang around Castor too often-"

"Oh my GODDESS! THIS COFFEE TABLE IS DUSTY AS HELL, DO I HAVE TO CLEAN EVERYTHING FOR YOU?!" 

I peeked out the kitchen to see Castor with his trusty rag and windex, spraying down my coffee table and simultaneously swiping it down. He shoved Winry's legs off the coffee table too. 

"Ooooon second thought, maybe hang out with Castor more."