"There is no one that can make me look into their eyes and see the rest of my life. Only you."
-Airicka Phoenix
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Tina's P.O.V:
I fell off my bed butt first hearing a loud screech from downstairs, My wolf went on alert thinking the worse but relaxed when I realized it's just one of the toddlers throwing his/her morning tantrums. I got up from the floor and made my way to the bathroom, after freshening up I went downstairs to grab something to eat before heading out to the garden. Today there is no training because of last night's party, and its Sunday so no daycare either. Sunday is completely my day.
I can still hear cries from the kitchen, that is a hungry cry," I wonder what his/her mother is doing without feeding the child", my thoughts are cut short by an agonized screams of a man mixed with the baby cries, I ran down the stairs with my heart going uphill, I burst into the kitchen and the scene in front of me is priceless. I just stand there for a second not sure to be amused, angry or laugh, in front of me is the funniest scene I ever see in my life and I couldn't help but started laughing uncontrollably.
I see a very hungry, angry and screaming Rose pulling the hair out of Jace's head, who is screaming like his heart is being pulled out alive. The look on Jace's face is priceless, I wish I have my camera with me now. By the time I am able to catch my breath, I noticed that all the room has gone silent, I look up to see an annoyed Jace and grinning Rose looking at me. Rose suddenly raised her little hands towards me signaling me to pick her up from Jace's arms which I am more than happy to do. She giggled when I picked her up, throwing her arms around my neck and giving me a sweet hug, I smiled and hugged her back inhaling her sweet scent of rose, just like her name, before pulling away. Then I looked up to Jace to see him holding a spoon, it looks like he was trying to feed her.
"What is that?," I asked him trying to get a look at the content of the bowl in front of him.
"THAT is her breakfast," he said pushing the bowl with some white semi-solid stuff towards me.
"And would you be kind enough to give me the name of her 'breakfast'?", I asked him making quotes in the air with my free hand and trying not to look at that horrible stuff in front of me.
"Oatmeal?!" Jace said looking at me confused.
"You call THAT oatmeal???" I asked shocked.
"Yeah... why?" he asked getting annoyed again.
"Then you better eat that oatmeal of yours when I fix something else for this little girl here. And DON'T even tries to move from here without finishing the whole thing." I told him making my way to the shelf to get stuff to make some real oatmeal porridge for Rose.
"WHAT?!! You want me to eat this", he asked shocked looking at me and the thing he called oatmeal.
"Yes.", I said sternly, "if you think it's edible for one year old, then it surely won't kill you."
I could see Jace starting to protest from the corner of my eyes, but it is cut off by another deep male voice saying, "She is right, you know."
Alpha Demetrius walked up to us from his previous leaning position at the door frame. Rose let out a loud squeal when she sees her father walking towards us. He chuckled seeing his excited little girl who jumped from my arms to his when he reached arms distance, he caught her with ease, kissed her forehead and murmured a good morning to her burying his face in her hair inhaling her sweet scent. Then he looked at a now grumbling Jace with a stern look forcing him to take that horrible thing to his mouth. I turned back to the task in my hand and made the little rose's oatmeal and pouring some honey on top of it. I took Rose from her father's arms; pulled one of the high chairs closer to the dinner table settled her on it before settling myself on a chair. I removed her pajama top and then feed her so that her dress won't be spoiled. I am so absorbed in her, talking to her and trying to pry the spoon away from her little chubby fingers every time she gets hold of it, I did not notice Jace getting up from her seat and moving towards the sink.
"Enjoyed your breakfast?" I heard the Alpha asking and look towards to see Jace looks like he is about to omit.
"Yeah. Very much.", he grumbled annoyed," You are so unfair. It is not even my duty day to take care of her. It is Phil who is supposed to be the nanny today."
I looked between the Alpha and Delta confused, and Jace is the one who provided me with an explanation, "I and Phil take turns to look after Rose, sometimes Liza too, so accordingly today is Phil's duty day."
"Why are you 'guy's' babysitting her? You guys know nothing about babies. Is there no one in your pack who know at least basics about baby care?", I asked him while feeding Rose.
"Where is this Philip anyway? I haven't seen him since the party!", Jace asked clearly avoiding my question.
As if answering his question we heard deep male laughter mixed with girlie giggles reached our ears and in came Philip with his arms around the waist of a furiously blushing Bella and murmuring to her. I could see the appalled look on the face of Jace when Bella detached herself from Phil and ran to me pulling me into a bear hug smiling like a child on a Christmas Eve.
"Thank you so much", she said to me while hugging me, then she pulled away and looked at my eyes, "Thank you so much for letting us see our mistake. If it was not for you both of us will be moping around in self-pity now..."
"Yes, she is right. Thank you" Philip said as he came behind her wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her in for a kiss.
***FLASHBACK***
I just came into the packhouse with the little girl I found under the fruits table, by the way, she is pushing her chubby little fingers into her mouth I knew she is very hungry. I tried to pry her fingers out of her mouth but failed, the second I pull out one hand from her mouth she would take the other hand in the mouth. After a couple of tries, I gave up concluding that she would give up only when her tummy is full. We got into the kitchen and I gathered the things I need to make baby food settling Rose on my hips, while the porridge was getting cooked, I took an apple from the fruit basket and feed the white portion to her using a spoon and thereby stopping her from putting her fingers to her mouth. Once the food was ready, I pulled a high chair near the table and settled her in, and started feeding her. The door to the kitchen opened suddenly and in came a sobbing Bella, telling that she was a mess was an understatement. She walked up to me when she saw me and throw herself into my arms crying uncontrollably, it pained me to see my best friend like this, preparing for the worst I asked her,
"What is it, Bella? What happened? Please talk to me. If it's overwork stressing you out I am really sorry to leave everything to you as I did. You can take rest now I will care of rest of the things. "
I heard her mumbling something through my hair but I did not make any sense, "What is it dear? I can't hear you clearly."
"I found him", she said pulling away just enough to look at me, "I found my Mate," she said starting yet another episode of waterworks.
My heart panicked fearing the worst seeing her tears but I tried to console her, " It's good news right. Then why are you here, crying in my arms? You should be in his arms kissing him." I teased her trying to lighten up the mood but it resulted in another crying episode.
"Did that idiot rejected you, Bella? I swear am going to have his head for breakfast tomorrow if he did so.", I growled feeling mine and River's anger coursing through me. But then I felt Bella shaking her head, "Then what?", I asked her.
"I don't want a mate, Tina." She said shooking her head.
"What? But why? You were always so excited about finding your mate when we grew up, now what happened to change your mind like this", I am totally confused.
"After seeing what you have been through since.. Since Mike passed away, I dreaded finding my mate. I don't want a mate, I am better off without him.", I froze hearing her reason for not wanting her mate, my heart ached for being the reason for my friend's distress and for the loss of my mate "I told him I can't afford to have a mate, that I have my reasons to not wanting a mate. Then he tells me he also does not want a mate and all the baggage attached to it. Then we said we will do mutual rejection and shook our hands and left. But it hurts, it hurts so much Tina." she sobbed into my arms like a baby.
"Bella Evangeline Joseph, listen to me and listen to me clearly. I want you to go out there and fix this stupid mistake that you just did. How dare you reject your mate, that too because of something happened long before. Yes it hurt, it hurts like hell and it still hurts. But even if I could go back in time and make a choice to whether to accept or reject my mate, I will still accept him because he is my mate. Only a mate can love us unconditionally, that love is something no one else can give us. It happens only once in a lifetime Bells, I am happy I got to know him and love him. Mates love is a thing that will know only if you experience it, that is why it hurts so much when you lose them because you love them. It is not a stupid bond or something, its love. Please don't give up on love Bella, not because of me, I had my share in the love and I am happy with the short time it lasted", I could feel tears flowing freely from eyes.
We stayed like that for a while; we came back to the reality when Rose started making uncomfortable noises being stuck in the high chair for a while. I went to her and picked her up, then turned to Bella, "I will go, clean her up and find something nice for her to wear, that guy is out of his mind for making her wear this stupid dress. Meantime, you go freshen up, adjust your make up ok?" She nodded and I made my way to the door and stopped," What's his name by the way? I will find him and send him inside when I go back to the party"
"He is Philip, Beta of Shadow Knight pack", she said smiling. I nodded and replied with a smile "I met him already, he seems like a nice guy." Then I went upstairs to find a proper dress for the young lady in my arms.
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"What you meant by she is right? And what mistake?," the Alpha asking.
Philip sighed and looked at Bella's eyes before replying and continued when she gave a small node, "I was planning to reject my mate when I found her. After seeing what happened... what happened to you and your mate I don't want to take the risk of having a mate. When I found Bella, she was also sharing an almost similar idea, so decided we will do a mutual rejection, but only when we parted our ways I understood how difficult it is. I went to the bar and was drowning myself in liquor when a certain brunette confronted me and dragged me inside with the collar of my shirt threating to behead me if I hurt her best friend."
"YOU PLAN TO REJECT YOUR MATE!!" the Alpha roared.
"Yes, and that was a mistake and I corrected it. We are together now. I am sorry I was about to make a horrible mistake." Philip said and Bella rubbed his arms that are around her waist. The Alpha just nodded and we could feel the tension building up in the room.
"You found your MATE???", Jace screamed with excitement lightening the tension in the room, only he could act like this in awkward situations, "Why didn't you tell me? Wow. Congratulations man... this calls for a partyyyyy". Hearing his excitement Rose started to get excited as well, he then picks her up in his arms and start to do couple-dance with her around the kitchen making everyone laugh. "You have got a very funny Delta.", I commented to the Alpha and Beta.
"That we sure does", they replied in unison.
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Hi friends,
I have to make an excuse here, I am an Indian and I am not familiar with the ways and food outside of India, not even the baby food. So I will be going mainly with word like "food" or "baby food" to avoid horrible mistakes.
Thank you so much for reading Fates Intertwined.
Please vote and let me know your thoughts on the book by commenting.
love,
Niranjana