Chapter 6: Being Protective
1208 Words
-Octavia-
“So, for someone who doesn’t want to have kids, you have suddenly become a mom!” Lily joked.
I shook my head.
“I am no one’s mom!” I stated, and we both chuckled. “Just a guardian. It seems like I am going to handle the legal business.”
Lily nodded and looked down at the little boy on her lap, smiling at him and making him laugh. Why didn’t Chris choose them? Lily and Garrett. Lily couldn’t have kids, but it was clear she wanted them, and Garrett was Chris’s best friend. So, why me? Why was I suddenly Ethan’s guardian? It made no sense.
“We know she isn’t coming back, right?” Lily inquired and looked at me. “Kate, I mean.”
I nodded. “Yeah…”
“What the hell are we going to tell Maddy?” Lily questioned.
“She will most likely be at the meeting too. Valerio will tell her.”
“She has lost so much too, and now her sister as well? It just doesn’t seem fair.”
“This world isn’t fair,” I remarked.
“Yes, but I like to think there is some kind of balance here, and I… just don’t see it,” Lily remarked.
“Maybe there is no balance.”
We were quiet for a little while, but then Lily started to shake her head.
“No, there is,” she stated with a little smile.
“How can you be sure?” I asked.
“I can’t, but I refuse to believe there isn’t.”
I sighed, but I wasn’t going to argue about this. People were allowed to be hopeful or have faith, and who was I to tell her there was no balance in the world? I couldn’t be a hundred percent sure.
“So, what exactly is your plan?” Lily queried.
“About what?”
“About Ethan. Being queen. All of this,” she said.
“Honestly?”
She nodded.
“I have no plan,” I admitted. “Right now, I actually just want to drown in my own misery and self-hate.”
“Sounds destructive,” Lily remarked, smiling a little.
I couldn’t help but smile too, even though I was trying to be serious. Lily always brought something good out in me. I wasn’t sure how she did it, but she always knew how to cheer me up.
“It’s just not okay that Chris had to die for me,” I said. “And now his son doesn’t have any parents.”
“You and Valerio could be.”
“Oh, yeah, sure,” I said sarcastically. “What would I teach the kid? How to shoot? How to kill? It is really all I am good at.”
Lily shook her head.
“Well, that’s a big fat lie,” she commented.
“How so?”
“Remember when I left?” she asked.
I nodded.
“Who came to get me?”
I sighed, looking away, not really wanting to answer that question.
“And who made sure Isabella felt included when she joined? Or Kate? Or Maddy? Or even Selene,” she stated.
I didn’t respond to any of her inquiries because we already knew who.
“You are so much kinder than you think,” Lily remarked.
I shook my head slowly.
“I don’t see it,” I admitted. “I just don’t…”
“Because you were taught not to see the good in you. You were taught to find that killer inside of you, and who says Ethan won’t need that?”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe you are exactly what he needs,” she suggested. “Maybe you can teach him things no one else can, and it might just fix the whole heir thing.”
“Wow, hold on!” I interjected.
Lily just smiled.
“Right now, I am just his guardian. You are suggesting both Valerio and I adopt him and make him the next heir?” I queried.
“Why not?” Lily asked.
“Because… because…”
“Yes?” she prompted.
“It’s… putting a target on the poor kid’s back! He has suffered enough! Besides, it would be Rider’s kids who are next in line,” I stated.
“Fine, then don’t make him the next heir,” Lily proposed. “But he does need you.”
“I’m just not a mom.”
“You don’t have to be,” she reassured. “You just need to be there for him.”
“Why not you and Garrett?” I asked.
Lily shrugged. “Chris and Kate made their choice. I mean, if I could have kids, I would have chosen you too.”
“Why?”
“Because I believe in you,” she articulated.
“What does that mean?” I inquired.
“Why don’t you think about it?” she suggested.
“I hate mysteries,” I stated.
Lily chuckled, clearly having a rather fun time with my crazy and messed-up situation, but I didn’t blame her. Being able to see the good when everything seemed dark was a gift. I was always drowning in the darkness, and I could never really find the light on my own again.
“You aren’t alone, Octavia,” Lily assured. “Just remember that.”
“He deserves parents like you two,” I said.
“Well, if it is really what you decide, Garrett and I will gladly take care of him, you know that,” she said. “But I think you should give it a chance.”
I shook my head slowly.
“Fine, then I guess I’m taking him.”
I wasn’t sure what it was, but when Lily stood up with the boy, a growl left me involuntarily. Yet it just made Lily smile.
“Oh, just admit it!” she exclaimed. “You are already feeling protective over him.”
“I’m not!”
She chuckled and walked over to me before handing me Ethan. I really didn’t feel safe holding him. He was so small right now and fragile, and I wasn’t a very careful person.
“Just hold him!” Lily urged, trying to help me.
“I am!”
“No, you’re acting like he is a bomb.”
“Close enough,” I remarked.
Lily shook her head at me.
“He is just a kid right now,” she said.
“Yeah, and I would find him easier to deal with if he was a grown alpha,” I commented.
“I think you are the only one who thinks that. You know how stubborn alphas are!”
I smiled and nodded. “Yeah, they are difficult, but I find them easier.”
Lily stepped back and looked at Ethan, who seemed to be quite comfortable right on my lap, and he quickly found an interest in my braid again, tugging on it.
“I’m seriously the worst choice,” I remarked, but I still kept a protective arm around him.
“I don’t think so,” Lily said, smiling. “I think you might be perfect.”
- Writer
