One Daunting Night

Chapter 34

Xander would make small 'oof' sounds, but nothing a big guy couldn't handle. 

Ara rolls her eyes and folds her arms. "That's totally believable." She sarcastically states.

Sure he looked big and tough, you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover. Even though she knows he is strong and tough. 

He scoffs at her, getting himself off the floor and swinging Caleb high up into the air with happiness that his family is back together. 

They all walk together in silence out the room and down the stairs, Ara thinking mostly about Xander and this mate bond while Xander is out of his mind and holding himself back from marking her straight away. 

He was scared to even attempt to talk about it, because he was afraid to lose her. So he just kept quite and was waiting for the right moment at the right place and the right time to make his move. 

"Hey! You guys are up early, why don't you come join us for breakfast? The whole family has been dying to meet you." Lily announces with a huge smile when she notices Xander, Ara and Caleb stroll swiftly down the stairs. 

Ara simply smiles softly and nods politely. "Sure, that sounds nice." 

Lily leads them through the large main area and into a slightly smaller but very long dining room, and just like she had expected it was fancy yet modern with the whole long table and about a million chairs on each side. 

Side by side in each seat sat one of each family member of Xander's. His father sat tall and firmly, full or authority and power even though he was laughing along to his family and eating his specially prepared breakfast. 

An empty chair stood on his left, reserved for Lily while the other two on the right were reserved for the new additions to the family. 

Xander held the chair open for Ara and she nervously took a seat on it as he tucks it in. Her fingers were shaking a little and she swore she could feel her palms sweating. She really wanted a good first impression. 

Xander took a seat between Ara and his father, Caleb settling in his lap and suddenly becoming interested with the utensils, in which Ara hastily snatched away from him. 

On her right sat on of Xander's younger twin sisters; Mabel. The fifteen-year-old Mabel was quite interested in her older brother's new mate and immediately began introducing herself along with her sister, Maia, who sat opposite her. 

"Hey, I'm Mabel, Xander's sister. I've heard so much about you, well not directly at me but I overheard a lot of things and I'm so glad to finally meet you! This is my sister Maia, she's not very talkative but she'll warm up to you after a couple of hours." Mabel spoke quickly, a huge grin on her face as she talks to the human. 

Maia sent her a small smile, showing a little flash of her braces. Ara smiled back at her, wanting her to open up to her and show that she was friendly. 

"Nice to meet you Mabel, Maia." Ara replies nodding to each person as she says their name, "I'm Arabella Pierce, well everyone just calls me Ara. Except for Xander, he calls me Bella for some odd reason. My son over there is named Caleb and it's nice to finally meet you two too. I heard quite a bit about you two so it's so nice to finally meet you." She adds awkwardly, fiddling her thumbs in her lap and her face looking quite flushed. 

"Arabella Pierce, after about what, two, three years? I finally get to meet you! I'm Jonathon Gray, but please just call me Jonathon." Xander's father's voice interrupts, making Ara whip her gaze to face him with a smile. 

"You too Jonathon! I'm sorry we didn't come earlier I just wasn't really ready to be introduced to something so new." She apologized, though the smile on her face couldn't leave. Xander laughs a little, bouncing Caleb on his lap.