Her Imposter, Her Imprinter

Chapter 4

The only thought that revolved through Carine's brain was the impending vacation with her family. It was all she seemed to talk about to whoever would listen. Zoey was the only one who actually cared after a while. Of course anyone would be annoyed if they were hearing the same story over and over again. Henry, on the other hand, was both annoyed and pissed off at the sudden leave Carine wanted to take. Two or three days he would agree to without much thought. But a whole week wasn't two or three days. So in order to get him to say yes, she refrained from talking about it and prayed for a miracle. That was about five days ago and Carine has heard zilch from him. Carine wasn't a werewolf but that didn't mean she could simply disregard pack rules, she knew better than any human affiliated with them. So she couldn't just leave without Henry's consent. However, she wasn't against a compromise. She would be friendly with her mate again if that's what it took to hang out with her family. She didn't want it to come to that though. Henry had been in the wrong when he tried to kiss Carine. She shouldn't have to be the one to make amends in their relationship. Especially when it was so fragile to begin with. That was something he established and constructed with her. Whoever broke it is the one responsible. That's something you learn in kindergarten for crying out loud!

But she was willing to put away her pride if she needed to. She'd give him a couple more days before she took matters into her own hands.

Right now, however, she was on babysitting duty. It was just supposed to just be the Ayala twins, Dennis and David. However, Tony rushed over with a kid in each arm and a request to watch Robbie and Kaleigh as well. Carine readily agreed and Tony left, with a million thank-yous spewing from his mouth. Both Tony and Zoey have been very busy for the past 5 months and the work load only seemed to increase. Carine didn't mind since their kids were always on their best behavior; Robbie on the other hand was missing his parents. He was always keeping busy and he loved hanging out with the other kids, but nothing could really replace the attention of his parents. Kaleigh was basically a potato all day so she didn't really acknowledge the long periods of time her mom and dad were gone for just yet. Carine could only imagine what Henry was having them do. Either they were having major 'foreign' problems or Henry was sitting on his ass and sucking his thumb. But he was always gone too-working-so she doubted it.

Carine was currently sitting on the couch with a napping Kaleigh laying on her chest. She was flipping through old episodes of Super Nanny while Robbie and the twins were in the basement. When she babysat in the Ayala household, she rarely went down into their basement, unless it was to call them for food or to play with them. The carpeted floor was constantly littered with the tiniest of Lego and Playmobile pieces ever made on Earth. Carine thought she was going to need her feet amputated with how many toys got plunged into her naked foot the last time she came down without any armor. It was those times of frustration, anger, or surprise and when she was in front of impressionable minds that Carine had to be creative with any swear words that threatened to bubble from her mouth. Most of the time it was 'Fudge!' or 'Mother Chicken!'. Other times it was gibberish she made up. 'Shnickles!' was a favorite for the Ayala twins and Robbie was fond of 'Holy Gullybars!' (She didn't have the guts to tell him she actually got that from 'Arthur and the Invisibles'). But to avoid any accidental slip ups and having two 7 year old boys shouting some butt-ugly words in front of their parents, Carine tried to avoid the basement as often as she could.

Eventually, Carine found that she didn't want to watch T.V. anymore. She'd seen majority of the series anyway. Kaleigh had the right idea in taking a nap. She wished she could join the infant but damn it, she had to be the responsible adult. So she settled with simply curling up on the couch with Kaleigh with a soft throw covering them, lost in thought.

Despite not having a definite answer from her mate, Carine conspired with her siblings daily. They discussed going out of state or a to a nearby beach. The beach idea won hands down:no one wanted to be too far away from home for fear of any emergencies. They also agreed on inviting some close friends. Rhett and Kairi were coming as well as Tara. Carine wasn't sure if Bacchus, Tadeus, or Lilith were bringing anyone at all. But the more the merrier.