Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Seven
Cassidy was a mess.
Her dark hair was hanging in damp tendrils around her thin cheeks, lips pursed and sharp nose crinkled as she leaned against the open wall of the isolation room. She was tapping her foot with her arms folded as I approached, watching me.
"Have things calmed down upstairs?" she tartly asked, raising an eyebrow. "You know, enough for Diana and I to not get manhandled?"
"Yes," I mumbled, peering into the room; Sebastian was still chained up, but my eyes went wide with horror when I saw that the entire left side of the wall he was chained to had been stained with a spray of dark red, and that redness had completely ruined the carpet beneath him.
"He's fine," she told me, and I glanced at her clothes, realizing almost immediately that the entire back of her shirt was covered in his blood, as if it had sprayed on her while she'd been facing away. "We managed to get his hand... reattached properly, and it healed, so... well, let's just say, I think you two should keep an eye on it to see if he has any problems with mobility."
"He really ripped his own hand off?" I demanded, stunned. "Trying to get out?"
"Let's just say I've never wanted to puke that badly in my whole damn life," she muttered, swallowing hard as a bizarre green tint passed over her features. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go take a shower to wash this crud out of my hair. The cameras are off, to give you privacy now that he's calm... you do have your phone, right?"
"In my pocket," I said, patting it.
"Well, I'll leave you to it, then," she snorted, crisply straightening her bloody blouse before tapping something to her right and walking away; the hidden door clunked and immediately began to close, sealing me within the white room all over again.
"Aerin?" Bash rasped, and I jerked, turning to see that he was looking at me through glazed, half-lidded eyes. An expression of sleepy wonder laced his handsome features as I made my way over to him, looking at his sweat-soaked body and plastered curls. Bags lay beneath his eyes and his features seemed somewhat gaunt. The towel covering his indecency jerked and a tent formed.
"Hi, Baby," I softly greeted, smothering a laugh at the instantaneous reaction. "How are you--"
"Come here," he begged, breathing in a shaky breath that was completely unlike him. "Please. I have been having... hellish... nightmares. I need to touch you. I need you. Please, Beloved, come here and just... touch me? Lean against me?"
I blinked, but something inside my heart immediately melted and I obediently did as he asked, turning around and sitting down against the wall before leaning into his massive side. My head came to rest in the damp crook of his arm, but I didn't give a single fuck.
I breathed in the scent of him, realizing with a jolt that I'd missed it.
Such a short amount of time with him not being there and I'd missed everything. He let out a soft sound and I looked up to see pain in his eyes, a glaze that hinted at tears, but there were none to really be seen. My heart cracked and I immediately twisted, touching his cheek.
"What's wrong?" I whispered. "I heard about what happened with your hand, Baby... why would you do that?"
"Jasper," he whispered, swallowing the name as if it were ash. "I was having nightmares about what Jasper made me do to you, I couldn't tell what was real and what wasn't, they wouldn't go get you so I thought I... I... fuck. I'm a fool."
"No," I murmured, and he turned as much as his collar would allow him, amber eyes flitting to my face; I slowly reached up, setting my hand on his cheek even as I rose to my knees and gently straddled him, being careful not to rub him too much. He stared at me with eyes that were definitely not lucid... he looked like he'd been very heavily drugged.
"No, what?" he asked, lips barely moving. "Please tell me."
"No, you're not a fool," I murmured, basking in the feeling of warmth that crested from my core and spread through me, eliciting a smile that made my face break. His eyes widened, suddenly looking more lucid, as I leaned close to his face and brushed his lips with my own.
Electricity sparked through me, tingling, and I shivered violently.
I sighed, kissing him gently, relishing in the overwhelming heat of his sturdy frame.
I melted into him, melted against his chest, relaxing and feeling comforted by his presence. Maybe there was some sort of truth to what Diana and Sebastian had both been wondering about... maybe at some point or another I had, in fact, done something that had unwittingly burned this man into my brain. I didn't know if that was the case.
To be honest, I didn't really care, either.
What mattered to me was how he made me feel in the present.
Safe. Loved. Like everything would be okay.
"Beloved?" he asked, looking down at me. "What are you doing?"
"Thinking about how much you mean to me," I said, shifting my head to peek up at him through my lashes; my chin dug into his breastbone as I did so, which made him shiver. "I missed you."
"What have you been up to?" he asked, sniffing, then frowning and sniffing again. "Why do you smell of so many other males? Leo? Jak? Woody? Horst? Why have they been touching you--?"
"Hugs," I said, giving him a loving grin. "I gave them hugs, and they gave me hugs. I have a lot I wanna talk with you about, but I'm not sure if you'll remember."
"I won't, most likely," he said, giving me a lazy smirk. "Unless its shocking. I'm so drugged it'd be enough to kill an elephant."
"How's your heat?" I asked, careful, and he licked his teeth before bouncing his hips, that unmistakable banana brushing my back through the towel.
"What do you think?" he flatly asked, mischievous and also miserable at the same time. "I will admit, the entire time you were gone I remained completely soft. No matter what I tried to do, I couldn't... get turned on. Which was good, I guess, since Diana and Cassidy were both actively doing their best to reduce the effects of my situation... but still."
I set my head against his chest.
"You know?" I murmured. "I went grocery shopping yesterday... I took Jak, and Horst, and two of the doctors you hired to help Louise, Rachel and Ray... we all went to get food for Thanksgiving."
"Oh?" he asked, sounding surprised. "Really now?"
"Yeah," I chuckled, nuzzling him and pressing kisses against his hot skin; I shivered as an odd feeling went through me, a protective and almost overwhelming hunger I couldn't really put my finger on, desperation that clawed its way through my skin and made me want him. I fought those wild, uncontrollable feelings down and settled for loving him gently, a kiss here, a nip there, a little lick everywhere... he shuddered beneath me and my chest swelled with pride.
A rush of something hot flooded my cheeks and ears as I leaned back.
"I found my niece on the net," I said sternly, and he blinked. "She's being stalked by a group of vampires, and its been going on for a while. I called her and talked to her about it, one thing led to another, and now my family is on their way here... for Thanksgiving."
He froze, eyes going blank. "Beloved... what?"
"You heard me," I murmured, cupping his hips and running my fingers up across over his muscled waist, digging in and holding him tight. He arched slightly, broad shoulders tensing, mouth coming open and revealing the glint of his teeth.
He was wild, part beast in a way, and viciously strong.
He was the humanized form of a wolf, a creature whose destruction and true power had instilled in me a type of fear more concentrated than any I'd ever felt before. He was feral, he was untamed, and yet, he was also that softness and loving gaze he wore on so many occasions.
He was a man capable of more than I could fathom, one that could go from doting and amused to ruthless and ferocious in the blink of an eye. He was diverse and there was always something more I could learn about him.
He was a wild man, even if I knew him as the guy who now lovingly rolled his eyes when I made a dumb mistake or said something stupid. I reached up and arched, threading my fingers through his own, looking at our clashing skin... the claws of a wolf were intertwining with my fingers.
He was everything to me.
Wolf or not. Beast or not. Human or not, I loved him... loved him so much that I could and would protect him with my life.
I loved the feral side of him just as much as I loved the stoic, bad-at-communicating version.
I loved all of him, inside and out, because while I knew full well that underneath the skin of the man I loved resided a beast, it was one that it seemed only I could tame.
"When my family comes," I said in a low, throaty voice, looking down at him through heavy lids, heat burning my cheeks and making me smile, "I want you to be there. Maybe not tonight... but hopefully by Thanksgiving or after. If things go well, they'll be staying for a few days."
"If that's what you want, so be it," he grunted, leaning forward and inhaling my smell. "God... I want you. So badly."
I wanted him too, but we couldn't.
"I know," I whispered, kissing his forehead, and then his eyelashes, and then his nose and his cheeks before catching his mouth. His breath fled his lungs right into my own as I trailed my hands firmly and lovingly across his sides, holding him tight. He was flushed and his lips looked swollen when I finally pulled away, face lax with want and sheer, masculine adoration.
I settled down against him, stretching my broken arm out against my side before relaxing.
I sank into his torso, pillowing my cheek against his pecs, listening to his thundering heart.
The rhythmic rising and falling of his chest lulled me, and for a while I spun in circles, sinking into a place that faded out. I smiled, comforted, feeling completely at ease for the first time in a while. He said nothing, just let me rest against him, sinking into warmth and life.
I didn't remember falling asleep, but I did.
It felt like only seconds later that someone was shaking my arm, rousing me from my cocoon, pulling my exhausted and bleary brain away from the place of comfort it had been hiding in. I swallowed, disheveled, and jerkily turned my noodle-neck to see Diana looking at me.
Her gaze was soft.
"Sorry to wake you," she murmured, glancing at Sebastian, who was snoring with his mouth wide open. "It's been about four hours. I know you're probably feeling even more wiped out than before you crashed, but your family is here. The notification request went off."
My mind became electric and I was immediately wide awake.
A feeling of horrible anxiety and delightful excitement and worry flooded me. Sebastian snorted and his eyes slowly creaked open; he sniffed, then sniffed again, turning his head as he inhaled. His eyes sleepily zeroed in on me and his lips quirked.
"What's going on?" he lowly demanded. "Why are you so excited?"
"My family is here," I whispered, shaking with awe. "They're here. It's time."
His eyes widened and he almost seemed lucid.
"Let me loose," he said, but Diana sadly shook her head. "Diana, I mean it... I am not missing such an important moment with him! Even if it means I have to suffer for a short amount of time, I am going to fucking be there for my mate when his family meets him for the first time!"
"Bash, you know you can't," she whispered. "You're still covered in heat scent. Its not your self control that I'm worried about, its everyone else's!"
"But I must!" he barked, desperate, eyes twinging with rage. "Please!"
Diana looked shocked and I felt my heart sink since I could see barely leashed panic behind those normally stoic and fearless amber eyes. He looked at me, pleading silently, mouth pulled tight as if he were begging me not to let me face this situation alone.
I took a deep breath and let it out before reaching up and unfastening the collar keeping his neck in place. Diana jerked but didn't make a single move to stop me when I did the same for the others, slowly and methodically unchaining him. He shifted once he was free, rubbing his thick wrists, and I could see his neck bulging almost immediately, flushing hot with blood.
He growled low in the back of his throat and rose, holding the towel in front of his groin.
Diana stepped back and actually moved behind me, which caught me off guard.
"Please," he said, looking right at her. "Do me a favor and go into my room. Top drawer. The black leather pants with the cloth interior, and any shirt you may or may not find. And... the jacket, the one he made for me with everyone's help. Grab them."
"Are you sure?" she asked, concerned. "What do you want me to tell the others?"
He heaved, rolling his jaw before squaring his shoulders and tossing the towel aside; Diana looked away to preserve his modesty, but I took in and even savored my eye candy.
"Tell every male you see to stick onion slivers up his nose," he said, then swatted his ass with a forced, angry-looking smirk, "because the only one who'll ever get to see it is the one you're currently hiding behind, Diana."
"You and your bluntness," she sighed, raising her eyes to the ceiling while using her hand as a shield. "All right, I'll let them know what's happening, but for heaven's sake you had better be showered and clean before I get back."
"You have my word," he grunted, giving me a tight glance. "I won't allow this to be ruined. I simply wish to experience it with him, to be there by his side as one of his dreams comes true."
My heart melted and my mouth quivered.
"You're the best!" I squeaked, and this time he smirked for real, features softening.
"I know," he said, inclining his head.
"Fine, but once they're introduced and everything is going well, you and I are coming right back down here and you're not setting foot outside of this chamber until your rut ends!" she scolded, hastily walking out of the room; at the last second she paused. "We'll have to make this quick since they're already on the property, but Leo and Louise will be ready to greet them at the door. They're stalling so Aerin can be present as soon as possible."
"Then hurry," Bash called, instantly hobbling towards the bathroom with his chiseled glutes clenched tight.
"Same to you," she shouted, already heading up the stairs, "but for heaven's sake, don't touch anything once you're up there! I'm gonna spread the word along about the onions! They're gonna hate it and there's gonna be a lot of weepy wolf boys 'crying' over this precious reunion, but they'll do it for you since this is important. Just don't overdo it and keep quiet!"
"Yep!" he barked, closing the door. "Aerin, I want you to head up there and wait for me. I can shower and get clean on my own."
"Are you sure?" I loudly asked, worried.
"Damn straight," he snarled. "As your mate, it's my responsibility to look presentable since I am, in fact, meeting your family for the first time. However this goes, I refuse to show up looking like a bum. I'm going to walk into this looking like you deserve to have me on your arm. So, go."
"Okay, just as long as you're fashionably late!" I crowed, biting my lips to curb my excitement before I bolted for the stairs, taking them two at a time. My hair bounced around my shirt, but then I froze, remembering that my clothes were gross and sort of damp with his sweat.
Oh, shit! I need to make sure I'm presentable, too! I mentally wailed, horrified; with a deep intake of air, I sang a soft melody and lunged, blurring through the house. Stairs, a turn, a hallway blurring by, more stairs, another turn, even more stairs, another turn, and then I was making a beeline for the room I shared with Sebastian.
Our room.
My first stop was the bathroom.
I was very quick at peeling off my clothes and checking to make sure that my freaky moon-white hair hadn't strayed from the braid Louise had put it in hours and hours ago. For safety's sake, I put on some deodorant and a tiny splash of cologne.
After that, I rummaged around completely naked, frantically pulling on my cutest pair of denim short shorts before pulling my favorite pastel pink hooded sweatshirt with the over-long sleeves. They bunched near my hands, showing off the barest hint of finger, but I liked the way the fabric hung in a draping manner to my thighs while still clinging to my chest and shoulders.
I also liked the fact that it completely hid my cast.
Unless you were looking closely you couldn't tell I even had one. I fluffed my hair out of the neckline, pulling my braid out into the open before I looked at myself in the mirror. After a moment I pulled on my knee-high white socks and sneakers as an afterthought.
It was cold out, after all.
Still, it hit me as I looked at myself that this was really happening: I was about to meet my family, officially.
My blood was buzzing in my veins, tingling my skin.
"Be still, my heart," I whispered, fighting to slow my rapid pulse; I turned and trotted out of the room, heading for the stairs and taking them two at a time, stuffing my unbroken left hand into the front pocket on my sweatshirt, wringing the cloth and trying oh so hard not to fidget.
Leo and Louise were already standing on the porch, waiting for our guests, when I arrived.
"Finally decided to show up, have you?" the blonde man asked, and I glanced up only to realize he was wearing sunglasses that completely covered his eyes. "I fuckin' hate you right now, for your information. Its because of you that this crazy woman shoved an onion peel up my nose."
My brows shot skyward.
"Oh, come off it, you were the first person to agree it was a good idea," she snapped, swatting his arm. "You're also the one who said you couldn't do it yourself, you big baby."
"Guilty, but it's still his fault," Leo sourly grumped.
"You'll get over it," Louise said, facing forward as a silver mini van finally came into view; the car rolled closer and closer, making my pulse skyrocket, and then it stopped. The people within shifted, and then suddenly a door flew open and a familiar shock of red curls popped out.
I grinned as the girl started walking towards me, laden with suitcases, and I rolled my eyes.
"Wow, you packed heavy! I'm actually amazed that--"
I cut myself off not because of the look the girl gave me, but because I'd finally gotten a good look at her. To my shock, it wasn't Nikki.
It wasn't my eldest grandniece.
The girl I was staring at was similar in the face, but her nose was different and her lips were far fuller than mine or Nikki's could ever dream of being. And instead of brilliant blue, her eyes were the same as Kim's, hazel-blue with green flecks.
I wasn't sure how to act.
She looked shocked, dropping her bags, and then... she suddenly broke out into a run, arms stretched out towards me, squealing like some sort of demon child. Leo tensed and even Louise seemed startled. Me? I cursed and backpedaled quickly, stumbling over my own feet and slamming back into the door.
"GRANNYUNCLEEEEE!" she screeched, grinning from ear to ear as she lunged up the stairs, bolted past Leo and Louise both, and jumped. I gasped, eyes widening, and then she smashed into me, wrapping her legs around my waist and burying her face in my shoulders.
Agony exploded in my back from my stab wound and I actually blacked out.
I came to a few seconds later with Leo holding me upright and patting my cheek.
"Ow," I whispered, cringing in pain. "That hurt."
"Sorry!" she chirped, poking her tongue out at me; she wiggled her fiery eyebrows, frizzy red hair sticking out in every direction, impish face contorted with glee. She looked behind her before leaning close and whispering, "but you're a vampire, so you're okay, right?"
I started, looking at her more seriously, but she only giggled and clutched my face with small, cold, pretty white hands. She pushed my lips back and leaned close, peering at my teeth with wonder, even going as far as poking them. She stopped after a second though.
"Wow!" she hissed, bouncing. "Nik the Dick wasn't lyin'! You're really a vamp! So cool! EE!"
"You're... Erika, aren't you?" I asked, amazed; she gasped, eyes bugging wide as if I'd just told her the apocalypse was tomorrow. She gawked at me like that, then slowly turned her head and gaped at Louise.
"What?" the woman asked, put off by her bug-eyed stare.
Erika lifted a hand and pointed it at me.
"He knows my name," she whispered, as if it were some big secret. "My vampire Grannyuncle knows my name! He knoooowssss!"
"Uh, yeah, your grandma told me," I laughed, cracking the fuck up at her insanity.
"Rikki!" Nikki's voice called from the car. "Come on, get over here, you firecracker! Don't be an annoying little goblin before we start the introductions!"
I looked up to see my eldest grand niece glowering into the path, carrying a single backpack with one arm and holding the hand of a very young and curious-looking little boy. Erika simply quivered in response, putting a hand to her lips; I wasn't sure, but I thought she might have been laughing if the weird sounds escaping her were anything to go by.
"But its fun!" she called. "Get a sense of humor Nik!"
"I have one," Nikki harshly laughed. "It just doesn't involve hugging people who are injured with serious wounds half to death! You've got a dark sense of humor, Little Sister!"
"Stop bickering, girls," their mother kindly called; she had a sweet voice and was currently in the process of pulling their bags out of the trunk. "My word, this stuff is heavy..."
"Ah, let me help," Leo called, instantly trotting down. "It's no trouble at all."
"Oh, would you?" the woman asked, sounding grateful. "Thank you. Very appreciated."
"Mom, I'm thirsty," Ralph, the little boy, my grand nephew, called. "May I have a drink of water and go potty now?"
"Yes, sweetheart, as soon as we get inside, I promise," she called. "Hang in there, honey, I know you're tired but we'll all be able to rest soon. Just like Nikki said."
The redhead glanced at me, immediately looking sheepish, but I grinned widely and trotted down the stairs, making my way over to where she was standing. I was disheartened, however, to realize that she was almost a foot taller than me. She seemed just as surprised by how short I was, even going as far as holding her hand over my head and using it to compare us.
"I imagined you being way taller," she laughed, instantly lunging forward and hugging me; I stiffened, and then I breathed in... and I almost started crying. She smelled like Kim. I hugged her back, rubbing her shirt, feeling like... I was home, somehow, like I had just found myself at home.
"Not all of us can pull off heels," I whispered, and she giggled before pulling back; she glanced down at the little boy, who looked up at me with wide, curious blue eyes, the spitting image of his father, with pieces of Kim and our father in his features and eyes. Beautiful baby. All of them were beautiful, blood of my blood, family...
"You're pretty," he said, and I blinked, doing a double take. "Why's your hair like that? Are you an angel like in the painting at home?"
Nikki laughed loudly and I covered my mouth, sucking my lips in as I fought not to cry.
"So cute!" I whispered, looking at her in adoration. "He's so cute! He's my grandnephew?!"
"I assume so," she whispered excitedly, looking around. "So, this where you live?"
"Yeah," I told her, grinning. "This is my home."
I turned to look at the one person I hadn't greeted... but my nephew, when I locked eyes, was staring straight at me with an expression of bone cold horror on his face. I blinked, doing a double take, because he looked like a man who was literally about to watch his family die.
My heart ached and I felt my excitement falter. I immediately broke away from Nikki, ignoring the question she shot at me in favor of walking right up to Tobias, my sister's son.
My nephew.
"Why?" he whispered. "Why are you doing this? Why, exactly, are we here?"
I decided to respond with actions rather than words and stepped forward, wrapping him up in a very tight hug. He jumped, raising his arms, stiffening like a washboard as I buried my face in the front of his navy blue polo.
"To spend thanksgiving with me, as a family," I said softly, fighting not to cry; I clung to the back of his shirt. "I missed out on most of my sister's life because of what I am. Her passing... its part of the reason my hair looks like this now. A small part, but still, a part. You're here for a number of reasons, but the biggest is that I am done hiding from the people I'm supposed to love."
His muscles slackened a little, and slowly, bit by bit, he relaxed.
"Is that all?" he asked, serious but much, much calmer. "You should have gone about this differently."
"Couldn't," I said, pulling back and looking up at him with a tight face. "Did your daughter tell you about how I contacted her? About why I did? The other reason you're here?"
"No," he said, frowning and casting the girl a glare. "Should she have?"
"Your daughter is being stalked by vampires," I said seriously, and he froze, gaze snapping to meet my own. "The same way that I was when I was around her age."
"How do you know?" he demanded, eyes sharpening in a way that spoke of years of military training; he was alert and on full guard, staring me down with honest intensity. "Talk."
"I only discovered it by sheer chance," I explained. "I saw someone following her in a photo she took the night I was trying to look you guys up on social media, so I contacted her. Things went from there. To be honest, this situation is only happening because of some sort of cosmic good luck or divine intervention. It's a serious blessing that things turned out how they did."
He studied me, gaze flitting to and fro across my face, as if searching for a lie.
"What do you intend for us to do?" he demanded.
"For now, you're just gonna enjoy an amazing thanksgiving," I said, smiling faintly. "We've got a lot of people already here, and we're gonna have a huge feast with lots of awesome food! I even made sure that your wife would be able to enjoy it, too."
His face twitched. "Oh?"
"Yeah, Nikki told me that she has allergies and Celiac disease," I explained. "I made a lot of non-breaded and gluten free stuff for her, including pumpkin desserts. We're actually still cooking food indoors, but it'll all be finished and ready to serve by the time the holiday rolls around."
"And where are we staying?" he asked, looking at the huge mansion. "Do you have room?"
"Yes," I said, nodding. "In fact, we're actually giving you guys the whole guest house so you'll have some privacy. Some of our friends are cooking the hams in there since we were out of space to make everything we needed, but you'll have plenty of space, all to yourself."
He nodded. "And... are there more of you? You know?"
He grinned, wiggling his lips with a raised eyebrow.
"No vampires," I said, then hesitated and allowed, "but... we have two sea sirens, a faery, a satyric werewolf hybrid with the whole lower torso shebang, a centaur, and literally everyone else aside from my therapist and her little brother are full-blown run of the mill werewolves. Including my fiance."
He seemed startled, looking at me more carefully.
"Fiance?" he asked, frowning. "You have a fiance? At your age?"
"Uh, I'm seventy six, but I still function like I'm in my late teens, my dude," I chuckled, rubbing the cast that was hidden beneath my shirt. "Still, I'm gonna need to talk to you with my fiance about what to do later on, okay? You'll be safer here than you would be at your own place."
"All right, but," he said slowly, glancing at his wife, "do not tell my wife anything, at all. I'm going to talk to her tonight with Nikki to discuss everything that's going on. She's... well, she's going to be in shock for a while, and I honestly don't know how she'll react. I think the aftermath... is... well, I'll be blunt, it's mostly going to depend on how you handle her exploding on you."
I winced, but he was being honest so I nodded.
"I'll show her my heart, inside and out," I said, giving him a smile that he stared at. "I'll show her that there's nothing to be afraid of. We're family. I'll guard you and yours with my life if I have to."
He seemed taken aback, but after a second he shook his head and just... looked at me.
"You remind me so much of my mother that it freaks me out," he muttered, mussing up his hair with a sigh of exasperation. "Fuck. Whatever. I'm gonna help my wife cart our stuff to this guest house or whatever. Can you promise there won't be any unexpected surprises?"
"Yep," I said, then looked at Leo and called. "Hey! Can you go and check to see if Jak, Jun, Ray, Chi, and the Meyer brothers can clear out? Whoever's necessary for the cooking should stay to say hello, but I'd appreciate it if you let them know that my family is coming in to unload."
"Ja, sure thing, pipsqueak!" the blonde called, instantly trotting away from a quietly jabbering Erika who sulked when he hastily trotted away. I looked up at the sky when she shifted her focus on me and flounced away from Louise to stop before me, grinning ear to freckled ear.
"Hello again," I greeted.
Erika laughed, but was looking at her dad when she said, "Papa, can we live here? This place is huge! It's like a castle in a fairy tale!"
"No," he said flatly, walking around the back of the car and bending in to help his struggling wife.
"Awww... Daaaaad," she complained, but when he ignored her she returned to glance at me, a smile teasing her pretty lips. "Soooo, what'cha do for fun? Also, can you do my hair for me?"
"Uh... uh, video games, music, and, you know, stuff?" I floundered, awkward. "Also, I'm not sure if I'd be the best for that sort of thing. You really want Tiffany if hair is what you're going for."
"Who?" she asked, bright eyed.
"A very good friend," I explained. "She's like... family to me. Everyone here is like family."
"Well, we are family! Lemme hug you, Grannyuncle!" she gushed, then came right up to me and wrapped me in a hug so tight I felt every vertebrae pop. "Oh, it's so nice to meet you!"
"You too," I wheezed, voice a little higher than normal.
"Erika, come on!" Nikki called. "Grab your stuff! Mom wants to know what's taking so long!"
"We only just got here!" Erika screeched back. "I wanna mingle!"
"There will be plenty of time for that!" their mother called. "Come on, Darling, grab your bags and lets get situated! We're gonna be here for a few days since the car needs to be looked at anyway, and I'm not eager to make that long of a drive again anytime soon!"
"Did you come far?" I asked, concerned; she cheerfully popped her head up from the trunk and looked at me with a smile, blue eyes twinkling.
"Very," she chuckled. "We live in New York City."
Whoa. Okay.
"Yikes," I whistled. "Yeah, you guys are welcome to stay as long as you want. Next time, though, I'll make sure things are properly thought through and float you plane tickets."
The woman seemed surprised but nodded, choosing to say nothing but a quiet, "thank you!"
"No problem," I chimed back, but then I spotted Sebastian, standing on the porch. He was waving me over, so I grinned and said, "hold that thought."
I used the opportunity to dart over, lunging up the porch steps and stopping. He looked down at me, face tight and still not at all well, but I saw amusement lace his features as I bounced on my toes, every nerve electrical. I was panicked and delighted at the same time.
"You look like you're having fun," he noted with a smirk. "I'm glad."
"Baby," I hissed, maybe a little too loudly, bouncing up and down. "I'm meeting my whole family. Like, right now. They're here and I'm meeting them!"
"I already knew that," he whispered right back, eyes going wide with mock wonder. "Wow!"
"Oh, shut up!" I seethed, wringing the front of my shirt. "Do you think they'll like me? That they'll like us?"
"Most definitely, because if they don't they're blind," he chuckled, eyes flitting up and then back down to my face with an even more amused crinkle. "They will love you."
"You think?"
"Yes."
"Why are we whispering?" Erika suddenly whispered from right next to my ear, nearly making me jump out of my own skin; I almost pissed myself, which would have been awful, but I managed to get hold of my fright at the last second and turned just as the girl started laughing.
"Not funny!" I squeaked, patting my thumping heart.
"Worth it," she obnoxiously chimed, sticking her tongue out. "Anyway, what'cha talking about?"
"Dinner," I hastily lied. "We were talking about thanksgiving dinner."
"Oh," Erika said, thoughtful. She nodded. "So it's... dinner. We're here for dinner." She paused. "We're not the dinner, are we?"
"Why, are you tasty?" Louise asked with a smirk.
"Lou," I warned.
My therapist just laughed and rolled her eyes before walking back into the house.
"Erika!" the girl's mother called. "Your bags, honey! Don't make me start counting!"
"'Kay, Moooom!" she called, hopping away and down the stairs. "Comiiiiing!"
I turned around instantly, grabbing Bash by the front of the shirt and giving him a desperate shake.
"What do I do?!"
"Be yourself?" he said, amused.
"No, I mean it!!" I gave him one shake that barely even moved him. "What if they hate me?!"
"They won't hate you," Sebastian insisted, rolling his eyes.
"I don't recycle!"
"Well, you should," Sebastian said.
"Or compost!" I exclaimed.
"Hn, you should do that, too," he noted.
"Oh God, they'll hate me!" I covered my face with both hands and crouched in front of him, wishing I could just burrow into the ground. He laughed and bent down in front of me, rubbing one hand along my shoulder and then leaning forward to kiss the top of my head.
"They will love you. All three of those kids like you already, I can tell," he muttered, "and while their father seems nervous and on edge, I can also tell that he will adjust. It'll be fine."
"Promise?" I asked, pulling my hands away and looking up at him. He smiled and kissed me lightly before tugging me up with one huge hand, snagging my own and lacing our fingers together.
"Aerin, you will always be my mate... because you chose me as much as I chose you." He kissed my temple, then tugged on our interlocked hands, heading for the door. "Come on."
I leaned into him and tried not to be nervous about what was going to come my way. After all, I'd survived falling in love with a bonafide Werewolf and gotten through the wrath of his jealous vampire ex husband. By comparison, everything else in life was easy. Even if they did end up hating me, I could at least honestly say that I did everything I could.
All I had to do was stay true to myself.