Lilly found an egg on a hiking trip. Nothing abnormal on that, right? Except the egg was four times bigger than supposedly the biggest egg in the world, the ostrich's egg.
Okay, no biggie... Except that when the egg breaks, something out of your fav...
Drinks started going around, and I made sure to greet everyone before going to the grill and turning it on. I put some sausages, and small meat among other stuff as appetizers, once they were ready, I put them on plates with the help of my Uncle Jake to put them on the main table so everyone could eat.
I sit next to Lilly once I put the meat and chicken in the grill, to enjoy the moment to catch up with my relatives.
Cassian then starts to laugh when I put my arm around Lilly's shoulder and I glare at him.
"What's so funny?" I asked, swallowing a growl.
Cassian then stares at us smugly.
"You are a smart man, Phoenix, but sometimes, you can be so stubborn and clueless!"
My other cousins giggle at his words as if they were laughing at a joke they didn't include me in.
"Cassian," I warned.
"What? It took me like two weeks for you to finally accept your feelings toward Lilly and mark her!"
I frown at that.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that it took me to send your niece to push your buttons for you to finally claim Lilly as your mate," Cassian huffs, rolling his eyes.
I stare at him, trying to process his words. Then I remember Edith coming into my office, talking about how Cassian wanted to mate with her and for Lilly to be her mother.
"Uh... What's going on..." Lilly asked, confused.
"So that was all on purpose?" I asked incredulously.
"Yep!" Cassian cheered.
"What are you talking about?!" Lilly demanded to know.
I groaned, thinking about those torturous weeks with Cassian constantly around Lilly.
"I'm talking about Phoenix being stubborn ignoring his feelings for you. So I had to step in and pretend I was courting you to make him jealous and accept his feelings but after two weeks, I lost all patience and sent Edith to push his buttons," Cassian explained, smiling devilishly.
Lilly gaped at him. She looks at me and then turns to look at Cassian with disbelief.
"Wait... You were courting me? Or more like pretending... So you taking me out to show me around was all fake?"
I could sense the hurt in her voice and I glared at Cassian for hurting her feelings. My beast wasn't pleased.
Cassian realized his mistake and started to panic.
"What? No! I really wanted to spend time with you because I could tell you were meant to stay and be with Phoenix! But tried to be flirty and cheesy to get a reaction out of him. But all that wasn't fake! I just wanted my cousin to realize what he was missing out on..."
He stumbles with his words, nervous about Lilly's reaction.
Lilly pursed her lips, and I could feel her uncertainty and confusion. She didn't know how to feel about it.
Then, finally, she turns to me, with a raised brow.
"So it really took a kid for you to take your head out of your ass?"
I snort at her choice of words.
"Well... I really didn't like my niece insinuating that Cassian wanted you to be his mate, and got scared of losing you and I..."
"Was it a rash decision, then?" She cut me off, and her fear and hurt filtered through our mate bond.
"No! Well, maybe, but I had wanted to do it for a while now but was too scared to make a move... You as a human and being my mate would have left you in a vulnerable position and..." I sighed, defeated. "I realized how much I wanted you, how I wouldn't survive to lose you. I did what I should have done a while ago." I admit.
I stare at her, not breaking eye contact, scared of her reaction.
She simply huffs and drops her head on my chest, closing her eyes.
"Whatever, I don't want to stress about it. It happened, is water under the bridge. I know your feelings are genuine because of the mate bond, but... yeah, you'll still need to make it up to me."
I hugged her tightly against me, relieved that she wasn't angry and rejected me.
"I will, don't worry," I say, knowing that making love to her won't suffice so I'll need to ask the baker to do many goodies for her.
I kiss her head.
The evening continues, spent among family even after the night falls. Once everyone left and Brax was put to sleep, Lilly and I finished the night dancing slowly under the moonlight, surrounded by the fairy light.
Now, I get to fall asleep every night with my mate in my arms. Can't wait to see my little family grow.
🐉🐉🐉
So... how did you like this turn of events?
I know how much you hated Lilly with Cassian lol!
I have the next ten chapters written but decided to add this here because I was wondering how to bring the setup up and decided to do it now rather than later. So hope you enjoyed the read!
I'll post another chapter tomorrow because it is a bit shorter and I rather not fill empty space with nonsense and ruin the chapter so... yeah. Double update yay!
Have a nice day, my lovers!
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