Their Troubled Love

Chapter 7: Fae

“I can do this. I can do this.” I say to myself out loud, as I apply mascara and eyeliner, to make my eyes look alive and not-so-dead. 

“Can you bring the kids down, Fae. Dem wants to see them,” The Alpha had mind linked me.

I hesitated for a second and responded, “Of course, Alpha. We will be down shortly.”

I jumped off the bed and pulled a new blank, tank-top off the hanger and a clean pair of tight, white jeans. I quickly changed and looked at myself in the mirror.

My hair wasn’t so bad, so I decided to keep it down. But my eyes looked dead. Hence..the mascara.

My heart was thumping a hundred miles a second. I was going to see him. 

“You, okay, Nana Fae?” Layla asks me, looking up from the baby book in her lap.

“Of course, honey. Why do you ask?” I ask, nonchalantly, even though I know she can tell how nervous I am. 

“You, look diffent.” she says with a tooth, smile.

I look back in the mirror and decide I look somewhat decent.

“Are you ready, beautiful? Guess who wants to see you?” I turn and say to Layla.

“Uncle Dem!” she yells out and stands to jump on the bed, excitedly.

“Shhh,” I say with a smile. “Your mate is sleeping, my dear.” 

Layla quickly quiets down and bounces off the bed. She tiptoes over to the Alpha Cub’s crib, in the corner of my room.  She reaches through the crib rails and pats Luca’s hand.

Luca turns on his side and opens his eyes to look at her, almost as if she had summoned him. Their connection is so strong and we can only guess how strong of a power couple they will be.  

Luca, as an infant cub, has already started to show signs of his hybrid roots. 

He is able to live off both blood and food. 

When he was only one month old, he levitated over his crib while he slept, which showed us he would be able to fly like his mother. He shifted into his wolf form for the first time, at three months old, when he rolled off the Luna's bed and landed in a ball of charcoal-gray fur on the floor. It took Layla, coaxing the infant, for him to shift back to human form. 

We also figured out that his special vampire gift was telekinesis when a few weeks ago, I had both children in the back lawn and Layla and I were chasing each other, while baby Luca was sitting in his donut pillow on a blanket with toys surrounding him. Only he didn’t want his toys, he wanted Layla. He kept yelling for her and she was too entertained with me. He got tired of screaming her name and decided to grab her attention by doing something else. He moved his hand and in a blink of an eye, Layla was moving towards him, completely shocked all of us watching. She cried at first then realized in what direction she was being pulled by some invisible power and then she crossed her arms and put a look of annoyance on her face. Once Baby Luca had succeeded to sit Layla next to him, he touched her hand and smiled up at her. 

Yes, their connection would be strong indeed. 

I picked up Luca and carried him facing forward like he liked to be held. A quick feel of his diaper and I saw he was dry, he was good to go. 

“Let’s go see your uncle, sweet girl,” I said, holding my hand out to Layla.

She quickly grabbed it and led me to the door.

With each step I took, I felt more and more nervous. 

We were about to take the first steps on the staircase when I noticed Lady Victoria heading up the stairs. 

“Hello, Lady Victoria. It is nice to see you again,” I said to her, with a smile.

“Likewise, Fae,” she said in a sarcastic tone and walked by us.

“Is something the matter, Lady Victoria?” I asked curiously. 

“As a matter of a fact there is, Fae,” she said swinging her head around to me and that is when I noticed the anger in her eyes. “He is a good male! A male of f*****g worth! And you ignoring him and breaking his f*****g heart time and time again is sickening. You should be ashamed of yourself. You know he is your mate! Why you keep making him suffer time and time again is disgusting and you are going to regret it. When he chooses to be with someone else, who knows how to treat him right, you will f*****g regret it!” She yelled at me with tears streaming down her face.

I stood there in utter shock.

She looked down at the children and then back up at me.

“I….I…” she tried to speak, my guess an apology by the sad look in her eyes, but instead of finishing what she was trying to say, she turned and ran up the next flight of stairs to her room, I assumed.

“Is she sad, Nana Fae?” Layla asked me.

“I believe so, honey,” I said to Layla. “Come, let’s go see this male of worth, that she is defending with such fierceness,” I said sourly.

Layla shrugged her shoulder and we walked hand in hand down the stairs. 

How dare Lady Victoria yell at me so? She has no idea what I am going through or what I have been through.  If only she knew that I love Dem with all my heart. That even though I fought hard, he wiggled his way into my heart.  

I took a deep breath at the bottom of the stairs before we turned around the corner to enter the dining hall.

Layla patted my hand and smiled at me in encouragement as if she knew how hard this moment was for me.

“Thanks, baby,” I whispered to her. 

Another deep breath and we turned the corner.  As soon as I walked into the hall, I locked eyes with Dem across the table. 

There was no escaping his stare or denying the pull that I felt for him. He was my mate, even though we were a few feet apart, I could my body tingled, begging for his touch.  For the few seconds that our eyes locked, I felt everyone else in the room disappear. I couldn’t help but smile at his face.

His face, that I had missed so much.  He had changed some. He had facial hair now, in the form of a trimmed goatee and his hair was longer, sitting in a ponytail at the base of his neck.  I loved this new look of his. He seemed well and I envied that it looked like he was doing ok without me.

He cut off a low growl that I could hear rising in his throat, when he broke eye contact with me after Layla squealed, “Uncle Dem!” and ran around the table to him.

“There’s my little princess,” focusing his attention on her.

The curls of her pigtails bounced and her dress flounced as she raced to his open arms.  When she reached him, she threw herself at him and wrapped her small arms as much around him as she could.

“I missed you, baby girl,” he said, hugging her tightly.

She pulled on his ponytail, “Uncle Dem, why you got a ponytail like me?” she asked him, curiously.

Everyone around the table laughed, including me. 

Luna Karime and Camila smiled sadly in my direction.  I smiled kindly back at them. It had been a while since I had laughed and they both noticed it. They truly are good friends to me. 

“Yeah, doll face. I missed yours so much, I decided to grow one of my own. What do you think?” he asked her.

“I like. But your face hair is scratchy,” she said, backing her face away from his.

“The better with to kiss you, my dear,” he said, rubbing his chin on her and making her giggle out loud.

“Stop, Uncle Dem. It tickles.” Layla begged in a fit of giggles. 

Dem gave a throaty laugh.

His laugh was like music to my ears. I closed my eyes and cherished the sound of it.

I opened my eyes suddenly when Luca squealed and levitated out of my arms towards Demetrio.

“What the…” he looked up and said in a shocked voice.

Luca smiled with his arms stretched out as he flew over the table and Dem quickly reached for him, while Layla sat on his lap.

Everyone around the table laughed again.

“Yep, bro. You have missed a lot,” Beta Marcos said to Dem.

“You that right,” Dem answered.

“How the hell did he do that?” Dem asked Luna Karime.

“He can do a lot of things. Just ask, Fae. He surprises us every day with something new and terrifying.” Luna Karime said to him.

“I bet he keeps you on your toes,” Dem said. 

Then I saw Luna Karime and Alpha Damian looking in my direction.

“He’s talking to you, Fae,” Lady Camila whispered to me.

I looked in Dem’s direction and sure enough, his question was directed at me.

“Y..yes, he does.” I stammered, stupidly.

“Fae can work some magic with him, though. She is the only one that knows the secrets to get him to sleep in no time at all.” Alpha Damian said.

“I don’t doubt that for a second,” Dem answered, still looking at me.

I knew I was blushing because I could feel my cheeks warming up.

“Uncle Dem, come see mine and Luca’s playroom,” Layla said, as she hopped off his lap and extended her hand out to him.

“Layla, mamita, your Uncle Dem is tired.” Lady Camila tried persuading her.

“It’s all good, Cami,” Dem said to Lady Camila, putting his hand out to her. “I would love to see your playroom, honey. Show me.” 

Layla clapped excitedly and led the way around the table when she reached me, she grabbed my hand and pulled me with her, “Let’s go, Nana Fae. We show Uncle Dem our fun room.”

I hesitated for a second as Demetrio came closer.  I looked at him, waiting for his cue. Maybe he didn’t want to be around me.

“Yeah, let’s go, Nana Fae,” he said with a tight smile.

I felt like fainting right then and there, Layla’s warm hand was the only thing keeping me grounded in that moment. 

“Of course, Sir Demetrio, follow us,” I said with a smile and led the way with Layla.

I could feel him staring at me as we walked towards the back playroom that was installed a few months ago, to accommodate the kids when it was raining outside, Lady Camila and Lady Kate had enchanted it with a protection spell for the children.

“See, Uncle Dem. It so big,” Layla said as she dropped my hand and ran in the room.

“It looks great, baby girl. If I put you down buddy, you aren’t going to run or something crazy like that?” Dem asked Luca and Luca laughed at him as if he understood him.  Making Dem hesitate before sitting him down.  

Luca phased into his wolf form and chased Layla around the room.

“Holy s**t!” Dem exclaimed. 

I laughed at his expression. “I know,” I said.

“How long has he been able to do that?” he asked me, his breath brushing my skin, with how close he was to me.

“A few months now.  He scared us something awful when he did it the first time and Miss Layla was the only one that was able to get him to shift back.” I said to Dem, the sound of life in my voice was new to my ears.  It made me smile.

Layla stopped running and smiled at me. She must have noticed the change too, I winked at her and she went back to running and pulling Luca’s tail.

“I take it, wolf pups aren’t supposed to shift that young?” Dem said, looking at me.

I looked back at him and was at a loss for words as I took him in.

Oh, how I had missed him.

I realized he had asked me a question and I shook my head to answer it, not being able to form any words.

“Are you ok?” he asked, taking an involuntary step closer to me.

“I missed you,” I blurted out.

He went still and I felt like face-palming myself for my idiocy. 

“Uh..” he looked like he was at a loss for words, too.

“No. Please. You don’t have to say anything. I don’t know where that came from. I am sorry. I know I shouldn’t have said that. Even though it's true. I shouldn’t have…” I rambled and then let my sentence trail off. 

“Fae,” he said to me and it took all of my self-control not to run out of the room, crying.

I looked up at him and for a second I forgot everything.

All the negative thoughts that were running through my head.  All the doubts that screamed in my head, telling me to stop. To let him go. To let him be free to love another. 

But dammit, I didn’t want that!

I wanted him to be mine!

He is mine!

I threw doubts and caution to the wind and stood on my tippy toes and kissed him. RIght on the mouth.

Putting all my love, self-doubts and desperation into this one kiss.

For this second in time, I could pretend Demetrio was mine.