"Shit."
Aquila raised a brow at my crude, one-word greeting, while Xavier covered the ears of a young werewolf girl standing beside him with wide eyes. Of course, all the other ten pups standing at my doorstep heard me loud and clear.
'Shit' was the only word to describe the current situation, however.
In all the commotion surrounding Etienne and his dangerous secrets, I'd completely forgotten the first werewolf-human lesson was supposed to take place today.
At my place.
Where Etienne was still being a grump in Aquila's old room upstairs.
"Wait a moment Sally!" I called out as Sally wriggled herself free from Xavier's grasp and ran past me towards the toys stalled out in the living room.
There was no stopping her or the other pups, however. At the prospect of Sally getting all the good toys, they ran after her with a lot of noise; yelling, laughing, and feet stomping on the ground. A few of them yelled 'shit!' at the top of their lungs, imitating me. I cringed at the thought of the complaints from their parents that'd come later about uncle Boris teaching them bad words.
"What's going on?" Aquila asked me quietly, while the kids made a racket in the living room, already sounding like they were tearing down the place.
"The vampire's upstairs," I replied. Then I shook my head. "No bother. I'll just open the drapes and he won't be able to enter the living room."
Aquila narrowed his eyes and breathed in audibly. His gaze darted to the stairs. "He's not in my room, is he? With my plants?"
"Don't worry. He drinks blood. He doesn't eat plants." I held up my hands in an appeasing gesture, but it was no use.
With a thundercloud over his head, Aquila marched past me to the staircase and then ran up the stairs.
I pressed a hand to my forehead. I loved my family and my pack, but it was unbelievable how big of a chaotic disaster this already was from the moment they all walked into my house.
Xavier gave me a sympathetic look. "I'll try to keep the pups from breaking down your house," he offered.
I nodded and gave Xavier a pat on the shoulder before hurrying up the stairs after my nephew. "Aquila!" I called his name.
Of course Aquila didn't respond, and I caught him at the door of his old bedroom. He stood in the entrance, face to face with Etienne. I practically saw the coiled tension in his body.
"Aquila, stop," I demanded, grabbing him by the arm.
I looked at Etienne over Aquila's shoulder. He stood beside the flowers on the windowsill. They were all in full bloom, and somehow looked even better than they had under Aquila's care. He had trimmed the stem with scissors, it seemed. And I wasn't the only one who noticed.
"What the fuck did you do to my plants?" Aquilla snarled.
My mouth twitched, and I almost smiled. Out of all the things Aquila focused on, it wasn't the fact that Etienne was a vampire, but the fact that he had touched his plants.
Etienne just crossed his arms and wrinkled his nose. "I pruned them. As you should have done a long time ago."
"They're not yours, leech!" Aquila snapped. He wanted to storm into the room, but I stopped him by tightening my grip on his arm.
Etienne just raised a brow at Aquila's anger. "Fine. I won't, then. Have dead flowers next year for all I care."
"Come on, let's go downstairs, Aquila," I said, tugging on his arm. I needed all my strength to pull him out of the room and into the hallway. "We have a lesson to teach, after all."
I turned to Etienne. "And you. Stay here. The drapes are open so you can't go downstairs."
Etienne scoffed. "Please. Like I wanted to go into a flea-infested room in the first place."
Aquila growled, and I glared at Etienne. There was definitely no need to aggravate Aquila even further, but of course the vampire did. That bastard even seemed to enjoy it—there was a small smile playing on his lips now. Vampires sure loved their drama.
"Come on. Don't dignify that with a reaction," I told Aquila.
"He can't stay with my plants!" Aquila protested loudly anyway, still fighting against my grasp on his arm.
Then the sound of soft, quick footsteps ono the staircase made both Aquila and I turn. Danny came running up the stairs, and before either of us could react, he slipped past us into the room with Etienne.
Xavier was hot on Danny's trail and came running up the stairs a moment later. He also froze, however, the moment he saw the situation: Danny in the room with Etienne and Aquila and I at the door.
Etienne looked down at Danny with a blank expression.
My heart pounded. "Danny, come back here!" I commanded in the calmest manner I could muster, though I didn't dare to move.
I was all too aware that if Etienne was closer to the werewolf pup. If he wanted to, he could get to Danny first. Aquila seemed to have the same realisation and stayed still for once, though I still felt his muscles tense under my palm.
The only one who seemed utterly unaware of how dangerous this situation was, was little Danny.
He looked up at Etienne. "I can't smell you, and I can't hear your pulse. How is that possible?"
Etienne raised a brow at the little werewolf. For a moment, I thought he wouldn't reply, but then he opened his mouth. "I'm a vampire," he said, bearing his fangs to show them to Danny.
"Oh," Danny said. "And vampires don't have a scent?"
"No," Etienne said, glancing at me. "Well, hardly any scent. Not no scent."
"Really?" In all his innocent curiosity, Danny stepped closer to Etienne, grabbed his arm, and breathed in deeply.
Aquila and I both took a step forward in shock. But Etienne just stood there and let the little werewolf sniff his hand. In fact, he seemed as much at a loss of what to do with this situation as we were.
Etienne looked up at me. "Boris, remove your family member from my sleeve. Now," he said in a strained voice.
I would have laughed at the panicky expression on Etienne's face if I didn't fear for Danny's safety.
"Danny, come here," I said again. I let go of Aquila to step into the room and grab Danny myself. Aquila was rash, but he wasn't an idiot, so I trusted him enough to stay still even if I wasn't restraining him.
Danny yelped in surprise as I picked him up and squirmed in my arms as I made for the door. "Wait, is the vampire not coming downstairs to listen to the stories?" he asked. He tried to turn towards Etienne. "What's your name? Do you live here?"
Etienne pressed his lips into a thin line and narrowed his eyes. He looked at me like he blamed me for being addressed by this small wolf.
"No, he won't be joining," I replied curtly in Etienne's stead. "Clearly, he doesn't want to, Danny. Let's leave Etienne to his brooding in his room, shall we?"
"Wait. Who said I didn't want to join?" Etienne asked. Judging from the smirk on his face, he only asked to annoy me and to contradict me for the sake of it.
Danny beamed. "Yes! You should listen to the stories about humans. Ivana says it's very important for all supernaturals."
"No, Etienne doesn't need to. He's a grownup and already knows these stories," I said, but I already realised I was fighting an already lost battle.
Danny had his chin jutted up and looked at me defiantly. I knew he would get all the other children to protest too if Etienne didn't come with us and I'd lose all their attention before even starting my lesson.
I glanced at Aquila and Xavier. Aquila looked quite capable of ignoring Danny's pleas entirely, but Xavier seemed to get my predicament and shrugged with a sheepish look on his face.
"Fine, you can sit on my lap and listen to some fairytales like the rest of the kids," I told Etienne sarcastically with a roll of my eyes.
Etienne just responded by batting his eyelashes at me exaggeratedly. "Lovely. Let's go."
"I'm not kidding," I warned him. "You are staying near me and Aquila all night."
"I can't wait," Etienne deadpanned.
"Yay!" Danny called out. He tried to wriggle out of my arms again, and since there didn't seem to be any immediate danger anymore, I quickly set him down on the ground.
Danny ran downstairs, yelling, "Story time! Story time!" as he went.
I watched him go with a chuckle.
Xavier cleared hi throat. "I'll, uh... I'll go close the blinds then."
Aquila huffed at me and then marched downstairs with Xavier. It was clear my dear nephew disagreed with Etienne joining us and wasn't going to let him near any of the puppies or Xavier.
Since Xavier, Aquila, and Danny all went downstairs, Etienne and I were left standing in the room alone.
I heard the kids yelling and playing downstairs and turned to Etienne one last time. "I'm only going to give you one warning, vampire. Hurt any of the children or Xavier today and we will break not only you, but your entire fancy castle."
Etienne clacked his tongue. "Like I've said before, I do not have a taste for fleabag." He gave me an up and down look, equal parts arrogant and mock-flirty. "Besides, aren't you keeping me in your lap all night, Boris? You promised me a good time."
"Sure. And you can use my thumb as pacifier," I replied, holding up my already healed thumb.
Etienne's lips twitched for just a split second, but he stopped himself from smiling. "Can't wait to hear what kind of fairytales you're telling those kids about your kind."
As if on cue, Danny's voice rang out from downstairs. "It's safe, Etienne! The living room is all dark so you're not going to burn!"
Etienne looked at the staircase, but didn't reply to Danny. Instead, he looked at me. "And I trust you are not going to try to open the drapes 'accidentally' while I am down there," he said.
"Of course not," I replied. "I can't speak for all the little ones, though. They're rascals we can't exactly control."
Etienne rolled his eyes. "Yes, you being in control of anything would clearly be too much to ask."
"You can always stay upstairs," I offered.
"Etienne?" Danny called out again.
Etienne looked me dead in the eyes and muttered under his breath, "And let you have all the fun without any annoying, unwelcome presence to ruin your evening? Of course not."
Then he called out to Danny, "Yes, we're coming."