Run, Run, Run, As Fast As You Can

Supper

My alarm clock started to blare at four o'clock in the morning. I opened my eyes and looked at my ceiling, wondering why the elves insisted in making me lose sleep two nights in a row. The alarm started to get more shrill, reminding me that I still hadn't turned it off. Taking a deep breath I sat up, turned off the alarm, and started to get dressed.

This was the first time I had forewarning that I was going to see the elves so I took more care than usual while picking out my outfit. 

 Dark wash skinny jeans, my black leather boots that came up to the middle of my calf, a tight fitting dark blue t-shirt and my leather jacket. I was trying to look like the leader that everyone thought I was. Looking at the array of make-up and hair supplies on my bathroom counter I decided that it would be better to go without. The elves didn't use make-up or hair supplies. 

As soon as I was dressed I walked out of my room and pounded on each of the doors that I knew one of my boys was sleeping behind, all except one.

When I came to Colla's new room I opened the door softly and stepped inside. Doing my best not to wake him up, I changed him out of his pajamas and into clothes that were suitable for the dinner that we were going to have. I put shoes and socks on him and grabbed his new winter coat before picking him up and carrying him out to the front room. 

All my boys were there and Armaros had a sleeping Snapdragon curled up in his hand. 

"Is everyone ready?" I asked looking at each one of my boys. 

"We are," Eros said giving me a comforting smile. 

Just then a knock sounded at the front door, letting us all know that our escort was here.

I lifted my chin up just a little higher and schooled my features into a neutral expression before walking to the door with purpose. Being careful to not wake Colla, I moved him so that I was only carrying with one arm before I opened the door. 

The person on the other side was not who I expected. Chayton never said who our escort would be, but I'd assumed that it would be Mingan since he was the only one I'd ever found sitting in my room in the middle of the night. Actually, he was the only elf I'd truly met besides Chayton. That's why it was a shock to me to be faced with a female elf. 

She had the same features as most of the male elves I'd seen up close, but there was something a thousand times more delicate to her face. None of the male elves that I'd met had the same innocence shining in their eyes. Intellectually, I knew that looks could be deceiving, this girl was every bit as lethal as Chayton or Mingan. 

"Oh," she said with surprise before putting three fingers over her mouth then on her heart, "my brother did not inform me that the new member of your pack was a child. May I hold him?"

I copied her greeting as best I could with Colla in my arms.

"Who's your brother?" I asked, trying not to let my distrust of her request show in my voice or my expression. 

"Chayton," she answered absent-mindedly "Oh, please let me hold him. I love children but my kind do not have children very often so there's very few for me to play with. I promise I will not hurt him and, or, try to kidnap him. I just want to hold him."

It still felt unsafe to hand Colla over to her but elves couldn't lie and the way she was pleading made it seem incredibly rude for me to deny her request. 

"Be careful not to wake him. He's had a hard day and I want to let him sleep until dinner starts," I said handing Colla to her slowly. 

"Thank you," she said smiling down at Colla, "If you ever need a babysitter just say it really loudly and someone will get the message to me."