ꜱᴏ ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴀɴᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ᴅᴏᴜʙʟᴇ ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ᴛʜᴏᴜɢʜ ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ꜱᴄʜᴏᴏʟ ᴛᴏᴍᴏʀʀᴏᴡ.

ᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ ᴍᴏᴛɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ ᴍᴇ ꜱᴏ ᴍᴜᴄʜ. ʟᴇɢɪᴛ ʏᴀʟʟ ᴀʀᴇ ɢɪᴠɪɴɢ ᴍᴇ ʟɪꜰᴇ.

ʏᴇꜱ, ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ᴄᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜ ᴏᴜᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰɪɴᴅ ɪᴛ. ʏᴏᴜ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴡʜᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ᴀʀᴇ.

By the time that we had come back home it was sunset. No trials would be held for over a week in the Volturi castle. All criminals would be held in the dungeons to await their trials. Our allies were also notified that we would be closing our doors for a month or two to give everyone some time to relax and calm down after the extreme battle that the guard had fought. While nobody was permanently lost, many guard members had their limbs detached and some even had their heads torn off. The entire battle could have gone so much worse. I should be more grateful that the Romanians didn't find a way to kill anyone. I don't know what I would do without Demetri. Or Renata. Or Corin. Or Felix.

The second that I got on land I leaped out of Caius' arms and ran to Aro, who was holding Helios in his arms, making sure that he was warm and comfortable, which to my relief he was just that. Letting out a shocked whine, Aro allowed me to take Helios from his arms. My mate whined, wanting more time with his son before his mate scooped him up.

"Il mio amore, I want to hold him as well," my raven-haired mate tried to plead with me. I shook my head, moving towards the castle. Both Marcus and Caius laughed behind me, quite amused that I had taken away my baby from my own mate. "Would you please let me hold him before he gets big?"

I shrug, finding myself ignoring his cries of protest behind me. I smirked as Helios grabbed at my hair, putting it in his mouth, biting at it. Unfortunately, I could smell the venom leaking out of his teeth, proving that he did in fact have venom coming through those baby teeth of his. Sighing, I take my brunette hair out of his mouth, causing Helios to fuss slightly, wriggling in my arms, trying to find food or something else to put in his mouth.

"Helios, please wait until I can get you a blood bag or even human food. Amore, I promise that food will be on the way," Helios looks up at me, giggling at the promise of food. "I hope that you understand me and become some sort of super baby. Hell, maybe Daddy Aro can hear your thoughts when he holds you."

My son coos up at me, hitting his little baby hands at my chest before letting out a loud yawn. So you wanna eat and sleep, baby? We can do that. Rubbing his cheek, I race him to the kitchens, where a few of the human workers let out screams of terror when they take a look at Helios.

"He won't hurt you, humans, I promise. I need a blood bag. No, he isn't one of the immortal children that you have heard so much about," I explain. One worker nods his head and goes to the back room, bringing back an O+ blood bag upon his return. "Thank you."

"Of course, my queen," he says politely.

Taking a sip of the blood bag myself, I ran Helios and I back to my mates and I's nest, the place that would familiarize my son with our scent, as it was all over the place. Just the way I remembered, I sat down on one of our couches and held the blood bag to Helios' lips.

My son let out a coo and almost held up the bag by himself, taking big gulps of the red liquid, nearly spilling the bag on himself. Once he had finished the entire bag, he looked up at me, some blood running down his chin. I take my finger and wipe it back into his mouth. The young prince giggled and fell back onto me, hugging my chest.

I let out a hum as I watched Helios fall asleep on my chest. I guess if you're only half immortal, you can enjoy the prospects of falling asleep on your mommy as well as drink blood. I mean, I wouldn't complain, little Helios, you are the sweetest little thing I have ever seen. Mates incoming. Oh, so now you decide to show up, Maeve? Yeah, bitch, I'm here and I... I am here and I am trying to tell you that your mates are quite happy with themselves and are ready to see you now. What were you about to say? Nothin'.

"Cara mia," my blonde mate rushes over to the couch, "What happened to Helios? Why is he just there?"

"Darling, calm down, baby is asleep. Also, venomous. Also, really liked that blood bag I gave him," Caius groans at the idea that the young prince could give him a permanent scar if he bit him during a tantrum. "He can't help the venom in his mouth, Caius."

"I know, amore," He whines, "But I just don't want to get bit by him when he eventually gets mad at me for something. I have seen my fair share of vampire bites and none of them look pretty."

"No, bites are not the best experience in the world, but they are also not the worst. As I remember, brother, you have been decapitated over five times in your vampire life. I will note that the experience of decapitation is much worse. The recovery," Marcus pauses before continuing again, "Is horrendous."

All three of my mates shiver at the thought. Aro has decapitated Marcus before, once on accident and once because Marcus asked him to. Why the hell would my mate want to be decapitated? He just wanted to put the cripple back in crippling depression. Oh. Oh thats just-my poor baby.

"Are you going to stay with our child here for the rest of the night?" Aro asks.

"Of course. Stay with me. We can all swoon over Helios and watch a movie. I don't think he's going to be getting off of me for a while. So cozy, little man."

__________________________________________________

"Tesoro, he's waking up," Marcus mumbles, watching as Helios starts to stir in my arms, his eyes suddenly opening wide. The young prince turned his head to Marcus, who smiled and kissed his little head. Helios grumbled before letting out his first real laugh. He looked so pretty and his laugh was just so cute.

"Little man," I mumble, "Do you want to snuggle here all day or what?"

All three of my mates laugh. Aro flipped the channel to something more child friendly, as before we had been watching Scream, a movie unfit for the eyes of a child only a day old. We would scar the child for life when he was older, not as a baby.

"You know, snuggles all day sound kind of nice," Marcus mumbled into my neck, kissing my jawline sweetly. "The two of you look adorable, amore."

"Such a sweet talker, brother," Caius huffs, kissing Helios' head as he watched his parents interact with curiosity. My mate kissed his cheek before running his finger on the top of the baby's head, making Helios let out fits of giggles.

Even at a day old, he was progressing so much faster than any normal child. He looked to be almost a month old. At this rate, he would be done aging in a few years instead of almost two decades. I just wanna know, how long do I get him before he finishes aging? Give or take a year, seven years, Anna. Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, make sure that Helios doesn't get into the cookie jars. I know he's going to love those just like every baby ever. Good lord, I'm going to have to stop a half vampy child from getting cookies? Yup, darling.

"Allow me to show my love for our mate and our son, Caius, not everyone is as callous as you," Marcus kisses my cheek and yelps as Helios whines out of nowhere. "Helios, my young prince, whatever is the matter?"

"He is a baby, Marcus, he can't talk back, even if he could hear us," Caius reminds his brother. "Aro, do your gift for him and figure out what he wants."

"I mean," I give Aro a look, not wanting my baby to be upset, "I'll see if I can see anything."

Aro places his hand on Helios' warm cheek, his eyes glazing over as he reads the memories and thoughts of our newborn son. Pulling back, Aro places a hand on his small shoulder, giving him a smile. "I'll get you some more blood, little prince."

"I literally just fed you, little man," I pick him up off my lap and hold him up higher on my chest. "Helios, you are the sweetest little thing. I don't even care. Feed all you want. As long as you don't break laws and look so damn cute I will be the happiest woman alive."

All three of my mates let out content purrs. My raven-haired mate leaves the nest to go and get Helios some more food, leaving Caius and Marcus to tend to the two of us.

"Baby, when is the crib going to come in? Or the toddler bed? He's growing so fast," I question Marcus, who shushes me and huddles into my side, cooing and playing with Helios. "Am I going to have to ask Maeve or are you going to tell me?"

Tomorrow, sweets. Don't be fussy at 2 AM in the morning. Bitch, I don't sleep. I don't give a fuck, lemme have some time to sort through what I need to. You're literally a fucking voice in my head, what do you need to sort out? My sanity, my existence, my reason to live. You're even more dramatic than my mates. I know, it's a fact.

I groan as I stop listening to what Maeve was saying, allowing her voice to get drowned out by the other sounds in the room.

"Cara mia," Caius whines, "I wanna snuggle with you as well."

"Get over here, you whiny baby," Caius growls at the nickname but still huddles on the other side of my body, opposite to where Marcus was already curled up. "You all are single handedly the second, third, and fourth most dramatic people on the planet."

"Who could possibly be number one?" Marcus mumbles.

"Maeve. She said so herself. Went off about needing to sort out her life choices. What life choices, Maeve? What possible life choices could you have made?" That is for me to know and for you to guess at, my queen. Stop, tell me. No. Must you always be like this? Yes. One word answers now. Maybe. Fuck you, Maeve. I mean, I am in your head, you could just fuck yourself. You sneaky bitch. Hehehe.

I shudder at Maeve's creepy laughter inside of my head. Aro comes back into the room.

"No spot for me?" He asks sadly.

"No," Caius and Marcus say in unison.

"So mean," Aro whines, giving Helios the blood bag. The young boy drank it all up as quickly as he could, letting out a coo at the end as he dropped the bag on my chest. I sigh, picking it up and putting it down on the end table. "He really does like human blood, doesn't he?"

"He needs it to grow and be a big and strong lil' man," I coo, wiping all of the blood he had spilled from his face and putting it back in his mouth, not wanting him to waste any of his meal. Helios cooed back at me, putting his hand on my face, squeezing my cold cheek. I let out a happy cry and picked him up from my chest, nuzzling our noses together. "My best lil' man."

"He loves you, Anna," Marcus chuckles.

"Awwwww, I love you too, my sweet sunny boy," I put him back down on me before looking at Marcus, "I love you, Marcus. And you Aro and Caius. You are not being left out of my unyielding love."

"We love you too, Anna."