Silvia pulls up her chair beside mine as I take my seat from across Verando. Helen tended to like being on his left and I wanted a chance to settle from our time together in the hall. "Did I hear correctly that you've been able to participate in some teachings here?" Rhea asks, they'd only been in town for a few days, I was surprised to hear that. 

Silvia nods. "My teacher is nice." Of course, she would focus on the positives, the opposite of her more timid sister. Briley shrugs, not interested in answering as she taps on her phone. Legardo cuts into his steak and attempts to look happy about it. 

"A movement has started close by to bring magical children and... normal.. humans together." His voice is tight but he does his best to sound positive about it. "It'll be a new world when this is all over, they both wanted to give it a try." 

Why was this the first time I heard about this? It hadn't much pertained to me, perhaps it was best I didn't know, I was public enemy number one and any risk of Bet and Landon using the school as a political standing point would put everyone in it at risk. 

Silvia frowns at the term 'normal' and Briley rolls her eyes. "Thanks, Dad." She grumbles. Legardo earns a glare from Pascal and Rhea. 

"Being normal is a lot less fun than being a lycan," I interject, appreciating the annoyed look from my husband as he takes a swallow of his wine. I knew he and Legardo shared many of the same views. "Did you not go to school in the States?"

Briley shakes her head. "It was illegal. Mom homeschooled us. Something about our blood, it was too risky." 

Legardo purses his lips. "It's been quite an experience for all of us, it's only been one day so.. best not to get too wound up about it. It was nice to have some peace, even for only a few hours." 

Pascal winks and he sighs at her. A chuckle slips out and I clear my throat to prevent it from turning into actual laughter. He's too much like his father, even if they hadn't spent much time together, the genetics were startling in their consistency. 

As I eat and listen to the idle conversation, it does a good deal to invigorate me. I hadn't seen much progress with my depth into the 'battle' side of things. Even with the raids and the constant threat of attack, the people of this city were trying to form back into some semblance of normal. 

"Do you like school?" I ask Silvia gently as she picks at her food. 

Her light eyes glance up at me and she shrugs more dramatically than necessary as she pops a spoonful of potatoes into her mouth. "I made some friends. I don't have any of those." 

Tilting my head, I carefully brush a strand of her heavy curls out of her face. "Since you came to France? It's hard to leave friends behind."

Silvia pokes at her plate, twisting her feet back and forth under the table as she kicks back and forth.

 Legardo sighed, looking as though he was unsure if he wanted to protect his child from me or just succumb to the fact that people would ask questions, "We weren't exactly able to mingle in New York, we were involved in a lot of illegal activity trying to get you here, Nicolas. Not as if it mattered, if we were seen on the surface and our blood came back positive- life has been quite different since you arrived. Once Helen disappeared into the void... she was gone for almost two years, we had to pull back."

 The table falls silent and Helen clears her throat. 

"But that's all different now. Change is happening all over, people are starting to realize that the stories we used to hear weren't just stories, they are true. People used to drive and go to the store without risking being picked up by the government. The world didn't always look this way." 

I settle back into my chair as she speaks, spying my husband finishing his glass of wine and Pascal pouring him more after she takes a drink herself straight from the bottle. War-torn veterans were horrified by the realities that they faced on the streets, while we didn't often talk about it, they had seen too much bloodshed to get comfortable.

It caused them both a great deal of stress, the weight of trusting others to love their family resting on their shoulders. I hadn't experienced much discrimination, beyond my ethnicity, I looked normal. Pascal, however, with her unique appearance, and Verando with his inhuman hair color and size, his family sharing those same traits, were all at risk. 

I wanted to believe that that world would exist. I had to. Turning my attention back to Silvia, I bend to kiss the top of her head. "Thank you, Silvia. You do have friends you know, your Papa and I are your friends."

 She grins broadly at me as she scoops up more potatoes. I brush her hair back, admiring her soft features and her white eyelashes. The conversation drifts to one of hope, and talks of afterward, and what type of world we would have. There would be equality, we would no longer separate magic users from humans and we would strive for a level of openness about our differences.

 Helen touched on the thought of allowing for a program for those who wanted to be changed, those who wanted to donate blood to feed vampires, and all varieties of inclusive systems that would take away the 'us and them'. 

The frown rolls onto my features as I notice Verando downing his second glass of wine. 

Did it make him uncomfortable? What did he want when all this was over? 

It was close enough now that these questions had actual merit, perhaps it was time for a discussion. Stretching my leg, I carefully stroke the inside of his ankle, capturing his eyes and spotting the rosey coloring on his cheeks from downing two glasses in quick succession.

"I just want a vacation," I tell them with a small smile, we hadn't quite had one together before. "I don't know what it'll be like to have nothing to do but I think I'd like to give a shot for a few days."

It pulls him out of his despair, the corner of his lip turning up. "Where would you go?" He asks, still palming the empty wine glass. 

I consider it, I haven't done much travel. Sighing, I know my answer before I even have to roll through the possibilities. "Home." Even if I didn't have one anymore. 

"Will you move back to Romania?" Rhea questions, raising an eyebrow as if she was insinuating I'd go back alone.

Verando shrugs, "It had rather good hunting." He tops off his glass once more and Helen considers this. It touched my heart to hear him include himself, answering that lifelong question, would he follow me? Would he prefer to be anywhere else?

"There isn't much for hunting around here is there?" Helen frowns. Feeding a lycan army was a continuous burden, keeping them stimulated was a whole other chore altogether. 

"I don't want to hurt any animals." Silvia frowns. Briley rolls her eyes once more. 

"You're not even a real lycan yet, dummy. And if you are, you'll have to." 

I can't help but swallow. Legardo snaps me out of my pause, scolding Briley sharply and forcing her to apologize. 

Would I be able to hunt animals? 

A shudder runs through my body and I push my plate away, finished with this socializing aspect of the evening. I was ready to retire to my room. 

Excusing myself, I move to stand and Verando rounds the table to join me, much as he's unsteady on his feet, he seemed in his right mind enough to know he didn't want to be alone with these members of his family. He slips his fingers into my belt loops as he walks behind me back to our bedroom, pulling back against him as we walk. 

I grunt as my back hits his firm chest and shake my head at his antics. "You're drunk," I whisper as I open the door. 

"I'm mildly intoxicated." He bends to kiss my neck and I barely slip out of his grasp to sneak over to the crib and check on Xavier. I feel him before he reaches me and I quickly spin around to place my hand over his mouth as his hands rest on either side of my body on the crib. 

His tongue drags over my palm and I wrinkle my nose as I press my other hand to his chest. "You're being too loud." I hiss. The boyish snicker brings a groan from my chest and I push him roughly to knock him back onto the bed. "I'm taking a shower."

Pulling out of my clothes, it doesn't surprise me when he appears in the doorway, his shirt gone, his pants undone, loose on his hips. He haphazardly leans on the door frame, narrowly placing his shoulder on the junction after a near miss. "Are you hoping to shower alone?" 

The hungry tone brings color to my cheeks and I quickly yank him into the bathroom to shut the door and block out the light as Xavier squeaks. 

My ear presses to the door, listening to see if the baby remains asleep. "Honestly, Randy! Why did you drink so much?"

I wasn't often so actively pursued, lately, it had been me hunting him. His hands grope my chest, as if he couldn't gather enough of me, hovering his lips over mine as he pins me against the door. "Because you keep not asking me what I'm dreading you're going to say." In one quick maneuver, he jerks me up onto his body.

My lips part as he drags his teeth over my neck and I shut my eyes as I lean back into him.

"So you drink?"

His hips grind into me, there's no escape pressed so firmly against the door. "I know Helen made you an offer." He growls low against my ear, avoiding my question. 

"You're going to wake up Xavier-" In a quick motion, he moves us and I grunt as I'm shoved against the countertop, forcing me to face the mirror as my hands support me against the ledge while he rests his own beside them. His gaze meets mine in the mirror as he looks over my shoulder, kissing my neck once more then tracing the bitemark with his lips. He wasn't going to quit until I answered. 

"Yes." I finally managed. 

"Did you think I wouldn't find out?" One of his hands slips downward, resting over my groin and kneading through my pants, stroking, rolling my manhood in his palm as I harden under his grasp. "Why would you possibly want this?"

Was it a trick question? I glare at him in disbelief in the mirror, pressing back against his hips as I fight for control of the situation. 

"Why wouldn't I? I don't care what it is, I want you. I want to be with you. I want to be alive to see this dream come to fruition." 

"You have no idea what you're asking for." The temptation halts, those piercing icy eyes ravage mine as we stare each other down through this mirror. 

"I know better than anyone what I'm asking for." I snap back, steadying my breathing as I swallow back the burn of desire. "I'm just choosing a world where I don't kill you due to my mortality. Where we don't leave Xavier alone with no parents."

A low growl rolls in his throat. "A long time from now."

"Too soon." I retort. 

There would never be enough time, there would never be a point where I had had enough. I would have to change tactics, death meant little to him.

"Randy, I'm going to get old..." I want to turn around, I want to face him but he stops me. He wanted to speak without my bewitchment, I knew the impact I had on him, if I asked him it would be difficult for him to tell me no. "I'm not going to look like this forever."

"Do you take me for a vain creature?"

I sigh heavily, reaching over my shoulder to capture his hair in my hand and jerk his head down to kiss him. Yet I keep my submission, rocking my hips back into him as I tentatively trace his lower lip with my tongue. 

Exhaling roughly, he deepened the kiss and commanded my participation until I was breathless. "Yes." I breathe with a half-hearted laugh. "I don't want you to ever stop wanting me this way."

I feel him hard against my backside, the way his body responds to me, the way I want him so desperately. "I don't want to give this up if I don't have to."

Verando curses under his breath, and his plan backfires. "I love you too much to do this to you. I love you too much to listen to you scream while your bones break, while you fight this... thing.. that possesses me. I would give anything to give this back and be normal for you." 

I wish he didn't see it that way, I wish he saw it as a gift. The wolf had saved us more times than I could count, it'd allowed us to see his family, his complex family that I wanted more than anything to be a part of. 

"But you're not. You're extraordinary. You've never been normal, I'm afraid, and that's why I love you." My resolve is firm as my fingers drag over his stubble, I capture his lips once more with my own, cursing against his lips as he pulls my hips roughly back against him, grinding into my backside as I squirm for more friction. "I'm not willing to lose you."

Shaking his head, he grips my throat, raking his teeth over the corner of my jaw as he glowers at me in the mirror. "The change could kill you." I refused to think about that aspect. "We don't even know what would happen if we combined it with your Solomonari parts. Your magic could be gone forever, you could be gone... forever."

My heart pounds in my chest, it all seemed necessary in my eyes. I was dying anyway, every day was another gift. One day, something would take me, it might as well be for something more. "It's a risk I'm willing to take-" 

Verando cuts me off with a tightening of his fist around my throat."Not me." He responds shortly. "The wolf decides who it infects, the wolf decides who it accepts, I won't risk going through all of this just for Alpha to reject you. I won't risk you dying in pursuit of immortality." In that same moment, he releases, leaving me panting as I melt against him, bowing my head onto the counter while my body ignites. 

I unhook my pants, slipping them off my hips with my boxers. "It's my choice, too," I respond, gasping as I feel his arousal through the strain of his underwear. Verando presses against me, teasing me, I raise my hips as I press my thighs together in an attempt to be taller. "Helen-"

"Helen wouldn't dare." He snarls. I want to face him, I want to turn around but he holds me firmly in place. We wouldn't get anywhere on it tonight, intoxicated, I couldn't access his rational mind. 

I couldn't reason with raw emotion and he knew it. He didn't want to have this conversation sober, he didn't want to be convinced. 

"I need to shower." I conceded. 

"Then we should make sure you're good and dirty first."

I swallow at the phrase and groan as he shoves his pants down, delivering a sharp smack to my ass before leaving me for just a moment to retrieve the lubricant. I receive no prep as he applies the lube to himself before plunging into me. I knew this was punishment for my behavior, and my body trembled as I come unglued at the thought of being disciplined. Sinking my teeth into my arm, it's all I can do not cry out. 

"We have to be quiet," I beg as his fist knots in my hair, he gathers one of my hands, pinning it behind my back as he thrusts into me.

"You can try," Verando growls hot against my ear, I moan and rock back against him as he moves. "Take a good look at what I've reduced you to, I want you to watch." The way his eyes meet mine in the mirror, I'd hide from the image if his grip on my hair wasn't so tight. Trying to hold myself together, I fail miserably as I whimper at the harsh treatment. All I can do is moan in a quiet plea to appease him, he straightens to observe his work as he rams into me. 

"Don't watch." I plead, teasing him, hoping to drive him to the edge before I could awaken our child.

Chuckling, my messy-haired warlord smirks back at me. "It's my favorite view, I love watching you take me." Releasing my hair, his hand moves to my hip instead, moving me back against him as he quickens. I'm grateful for my legs feeling weak, my body surrendering to its fate, overwhelmed by the intensity of the depth against my sensitive core. 

I was impossibly close, my body on fire, tight as I struggled to keep it together. 

"One might think you're trying to escape." He chuckles, "You're melting. Stand up." Smacking my ass once more, I struggle onto my toes, folding my arms as I bury my face with a desperate cry that frankly embarrasses me. "You're so hot, Nic. Gods I love you."

 "Randy.." I groan, supporting myself on my hands against the counter, wanting more, wanting it to never end despite my body being so close to its limit.

I was out of my mind, desperate, I forced myself to straighten, reaching back to grip his neck as I collapsed onto him in an attempt to get him to hold me up. "This conversation isn't over... but you feel so good." I remind him, watching him through my lashes as he increases his pace with my disobedience. He leaves my hip to hook my leg in his arm, filling me entirely as I sink my teeth into his neck, gripping the hair at the nape of his neck as I cling to him. 

 "I'd love to have this discussion with you any time. Every day. For the rest of your life." Lifting my other leg, I'm supported in his arms, entirely at his mercy. "Now who's being filthy?" he groans, cursing against my hair as I blink away the euphoria and realize my eyes are locked on the way our bodies intertwined. 

I'm dangerously close, my body shakes from the intensity, from trying so hard to not beg and plead for it to never end. Flushed, I want to look away but I can't. He was so strong, so powerful to hold me up this way, I craned my head back with an airy gasp. "You're so beautiful." he manages, I feel him getting close.

Unable to hold on any longer, my body is wracked with the shattering orgasm that threatens to stop my heart. He spills himself deep inside of me, while we ride out the waves and pant collectively in an attempt to come to terms with the animalistic lovemaking we engaged in. "Oh my god." I manage, unable to stand as he lowers me, supporting me with his arms as I lean on him, unshamed. 

My body feels numb, I wrap my arms around him, murmuring in my mother tongue a string of curses for my desire to tangle with lycans with such an unworthy body. 

"Was that Romanian for, I'm sorry for being a brat?" He teases, kissing the top of my head. I quickly cover his mouth with my hand, weak but intentional. I couldn't take anything else, no more contact, I was still trembling from the aftershocks. 

"You're a wicked, wicked man, Mr.Mercer." I threaten, pointing at the shower for him to take me there. 

We shower, using the last of his intoxication to allow him to be near the water. It cripples me to see him shake, to see him struggle with the concept of rinsing. Fear looked foreign on his face and it devastated me to no end. Caspian would pay dearly for this. 

I help him, as best I can, and release him to the bedroom to retreat and settle his pounding pulse. While I'm entirely limp, he's practically recovered as he makes his escape.

As I turn to finish toweling off, I feel a presence and can only assume he'd returned yet when I look up, I see the redhead before me. Jumping, I manage to knock the shampoo bottles off the shelf and nearly fall to the floor. 

Xavier squeals and Verando moves to soothe him, I curse at my nerves as she stares at me. "Really?!" I spit. "You weren't watching were you? I was literally just- there needs to be boundaries!"

She shakes her head. 

"Nic, who're you talking to?" Verando stands in the doorway, sampling the air, confused at my retort. Her eyes lock on him, pained. I sighed, it was time to say something. 

"I'm... seeing a spirit since I was in the dragon realm. I won't be able to speak with her until I know her name, according to Kestrel. It's an unfortunate side effect that Gabriel deals with too. I just wish I could hear what she was saying."

I don't know why I expected him to be judgemental, he'd been possessed by a god for the majority of his life. 

"What does she look like?" I hadn't thought to utilize his vast knowledge of people from our time. Perhaps he had seen her before? I motion to her to stand still and she seems reluctant. Curiously, I tilt my head. "What?" he asks through a yawn, the way his eyes trace of my body, I flush and glare at him to behave. 

I was covered in bite marks from the savage man. 

"She... doesn't want me to scan her?"

This sends him on high alert and he frowns, moving to stand beside me. "Well, now you need to show me her. She could be dangerous." 

Her expression didn't look afraid, it looked sad. She takes a step back, and I see the edges of her form fading but as she watches him, slowly she sighs and finally, she nods. 

I freeze her where she stands, scanning her body. Verando's expression falls. 

"Oh." The word is muted. 

"Do you know her?"

His expression is unreadable as if he'd forgotten how to breathe, how to exist. "She looks just like my mother."