It was very late by the time Abel finally came back. He looked utterly confused for a second, that everyone was there and then he was by my side immediately. I had taken up the sofa, bandages around my torso. I hadn't just broken ribs, I was scratched a bunch too and I had bled all over Cal's jumper, so she was in the middle of rinsing that out in my kitchen sink, but to little avail.

"What happened? I left for like three hours!" Abel exclaimed and gently removed the blanket, showing off more bandages.

"Uh, so I ran into a dryad when you had left. And Liam. Turns out they don't like banshee screams," I explained and took his hand in mine.

"And you're not wearing a shirt," he murmured softly.

"I had to put some bandages on."

"More scars," he said with so much pain in his voice.

"It's alright," I said and put my free hand to his cheek. "Now we know who the real killer is, Abel. It must be the dryad. It tried to kill me and Liam."

"How hurt are you?" He put his hand on the top of my belly, softly resting on top of the bandages.

"Some broken ribs and some minor lacerations. I'll be fine. I'm already healing on my own much faster than I should've been if I had been human. Fred estimates it'll take a week before I'm back to normal."

"I shouldn't have left you." He was whispering now and moved up to kiss me. "I'm so sorry, Gael."

"Abel, it's not your fault. You wouldn't have been able to fight off the dryad anyways. It didn't leave me alone until Creek screamed."

"I could've helped. You don't know everything I can do." He pulled back and tried to smile. A common joke between us. Since he liked trickle-truthing about his abilities.

"You'll have to tell me one day. I'm still very curious."

"I'll tell you first thing tomorrow."

"Good, I don't wanna go to an early grave with this curiosity."

He snorted. "Gallows humour is so inappropriate but it's so very you."

"And you like me," I said, my eyes softly closing.

"I love you, Gael, you moron. Now rest, alright? We'll probably all be here tomorrow. So, I'll make some beds ready upstairs."

"Bed... That sounds amazing."

"Mmh, yeah, I bet it does. Come on then. I'll help you to bed." He put his arm around my shoulders, the other under my knees and carefully lifted me from the sofa.

"Careful!" Fred hissed from the kitchen, poking her head out through the doorless frame. "Don't rip his stitches or I'll maul you."

"I know how to carry my boyfriend," Abel said and rolled his eyes as he went for the stairs. He was so careful as he walked, and it mustn't have been easy to walk with me like this, but he didn't rip a single stitch. Not even when he had put me to bed.

"Now, sleep. I'll join you when I've made up the beds in the guest room and the sofa downstairs."

I nodded and grabbed my duvet, hugging it close.

"Actually, how did the rest of the exhibition go?" I asked as I filled my mug with coffee.

"We got an award," Fred said and shrugged a shoulder as she bit into her toast. "Kind of pales in comparison to fighting off a dryad though, doesn't it?"

"I've never gotten an award."

"I've never gotten an award," Creek repeated, sounding more like the leading lady from an old film than himself.

"That's not how I said it at all," I laughed, and Creek shrugged and poured sugar into their coffee.

"It was totally how you said it. With stars in your eyes and all."

I rolled my apparently starry eyes and returned to spreading butter on my toast.

"What're we doing about the dryad?" Abel asked and handed me the jam, after me having failed to stretch my arm far enough over the table. My ribs were still killing me and moving around too much, which apparently going for jam was, did a number on my torso.

"I told my mum about it and she's gathering the elders. Since Abel's mum is here, my mum thinks it's going to be easier to get the vampires back in line. Not a lot of vampiric elders here, so they desperately needed some sort of leader," Creek explained.

"Yeah, so uh... My mum has called all of their mums and everyone's getting an earful," Abel said and moved a little closer to me. "We all know there's tension between the communities and there always has been. But this? It's medieval. My mum remembers when things were truly bad. Like when one kind would actively hunt the other. When it was socially acceptable to hang and show off a wolf's pelt in your living room. She doesn't like medieval. She likes the world moving on to something better. She has lived through all of the major civil rights movements. Hell, she has participated in most of them. For her, this isn't just some kids doing dumb shit, you know?" He took a deep breath. "So, she has called all the elders. Some are as serious about this as her, others aren't. But she's doing her hardest to get everyone back in line. Which also meant I had to un-banish Liam." He shrugged and took a sip of his coffee. "Can't build a community on banishing members from it. But he knows it's still an option. He's walking on a very thin line here. His mum is also coming to have a talk with him, so we'll probably not see much of him for the rest of the term."

"Who knew you're all such mama's boys," Cal said then after a long moment of silence.

Abel snorted, exposing his fangs. "Don't you say a thing about our mums. It's a matriarchal society I come from. Better show respect for the women who literally shaped our community for the last thousand years."

"Wait, hold up, thousand? Your mum is over a thousand years old?" I asked, my jaw just about hitting the floor.

"Probably older too. I don't know. But yeah, she's one of the oldest." He shrugged so nonchalantly. Like it wasn't a big deal his mum had probably been around for maybe the fall of the Roman empire.

"A dryad," Mags murmured and sighed deeply. "Many have been in this forest before, but none have been hostile. They usually come around for a scarf. They get cold during winters."

"I figured you'd wanna know. If you need a place to stay while it's out here, you know you've got a room in my house," I said and took her hand in both of mine as she reached out for me.

"Dear boy, no one bothers this old lady. Not even feral dryads. They know not to... As you'd say it, fuck with me." She smiled and patted my hands.

"I know, but I thought I'd be polite and offer anyways."

"Such a good boy." She smiled up at Abel. "You watch out for him now, won't you?"

"I'm trying. But he seems to get into trouble whenever I leave him even for a second," Abel said politely. I liked his polite voice. It went up a little.

Mags chuckled with a hoarse voice and patted my hands again. "Don't stray, Gael. Your power is in your pack. The family you've built around you. Strays rarely make it in this world. We all need our own family."

"And you've got one too, Mags, alright? You're not without a family too."

She just smiled at that.

I walked with Abel back to the car, pondering on the whole ordeal. I had hoped we could get Mags to come back to town with us, at least until we had dealt with the dryad, but it was just not what she wanted. And it wasn't like we could force an old woman to do anything. Even if we thought it was for the best. I desperately wanted everyone to be alright and for no more people to die. It was just hard when we couldn't even go out to search for the dryad. The elders had given us strict orders to stay put. Which obviously was hard for someone like me who had a fire burning under their ass and wanted to act now.

"You're very quiet," Abel said.

"Yeah, just thinking..." I muttered and got into the car.

Abel followed and put the key in the ignition but didn't start the engine. "We never talked about what happened after I left."

"We did. We don't gotta talk more... Or do we?" I asked, fearing a huge confrontation. Because I hadn't gone back to our friends as I had promised. I had stayed and fought. Maybe Abel was terribly angry about that.

"I shouldn't have left and I'm really sorry for leaving you in that situation. I... I'd understand if you were angry."

I turned my head slowly, frowning at him. "Angry? With you? I thought you were angry with me."

His brows almost flew straight off his forehead. "Huh? Why would I be angry with you?"

"Because I didn't go back to our friends..."

"Yeah, because you got attacked by a dryad. And held your own against it too. While I was off with mummy."

"I really don't see it that way, Abel. I was afraid you were like really angry because like... I went off into the forest and disappeared and then I went off and got the shit beat out of me by a dryad, defying you again and-"

"Gael," Abel interrupted and put his palm to my cheek. "I'm not here to order you around. You can't defy me, because I'm not your master or king or whatever. You can do whatever you want. I might not always be happy with your choices, but I really do have fuckall say there. Like within reason, obviously."

I was staring up at him and then took the deepest sigh of relief. "So, you're not mad?"

"I wasn't entirely satisfied with you just leaving, and I won't be if you do it again either." He shrugged a shoulder. "Like I can't pretend I wasn't hurt. But I'm also not angry, you know? Anger isn't my first go-to feeling when it comes to you. Usually it's happiness." He smiled a little, running his thumb over my cheek. "Just don't leave me in the dark again, alright?"

"Alright. I promise."

"Now, we gotta get you home because you look just about ready to pass out. I mean, you still look hot obviously, but you need rest."

I snorted and nodded, as Abel turned back to the steering wheel and got the engine going. It didn't take long before we were home and Abel parked me on the sofa, handing me the remote as he made his way to the kitchen to feed the children. Gary was leaping out from under the table immediately screaming at Abel, as he was pouring food in Dave's bowl first. She was always very demanding, and Abel would just chit-chat at her, telling her to be patient, as she curled around his legs.

I hadn't even realised how tired I had been. How much pain I had been in, before I was laying on the sofa, watching some travelling show. It was so nice to just lay there, the woolly blanket over me, listening to Abel chat to the kids and the telly telling me of some foreign land's agriculture.

It was bliss.