The days of being nice are over.

You might be asking me: Oh Anna what brought this on? Well I'll tell you what the hell brought this on. Those damn mates of mine haven't been seen all day. Here I am, stuck with our child and his mate who may as well be my daughter, without food. Irresponsible little immortal shits-

"Momma, where are my dads?" You know I wish I knew the answer to that, honey, but it seems that they've forfeited all parental responsibility to which they throw that onto their mate. What kind of woman do they think I am? A housewife? Hell no! I swear if I had Rose or Jasper here I would have them knock some sense into them. "Momma, are you mad at them? You look like you're gonna blow a fuse any second. Do you need more blood? Is that where they are?"

There are moments as a parent that you will experience. When your child is asking for their father, or fathers in my case, and you don't know. The child is smart enough (bless his soul) to know that something is wrong but you can't vent to your child about the issues with their father because that would be terrible and inappropriate. Helios knows something's up and he knows the cause of it, but can he do anything? No, not unless he decides to get out of the house for a while and find his dads. He would drag them back home if he did find them, but I don't know if they would appreciate their mate sending a 13 year old out on that quest for food and Volturi kings.

"Have you tried texting them yet?" I nodded. My son sighed and curled himself up on my chest like he often did when I got overwhelmed or upset. "Well then you did your job. If my dads are being stupid then there's nothing you can do about it. They can be stupid, I know that. Hopefully they come home soon so you can hit them on the head. After you do that you'll fulfill that other step I can't figure out and then - BOOM - all better."

Oh if only it were that easy, I thought. My mates, as wonderful as they are, have a habit of keeping me out of the loop. That's been amplified with this trip. I love their surprises, but they drag on the surprise part out too long. I know that they're planning something together, but I can't pinpoint what it's about. Are they taking me out to a private island? That wouldn't make much sense. Who would care for the kids? Those two still want me to bring blood to them. I get it. Lazy teenage years. Better to not push them. They'll resent me later if I do. They don't get a long enough childhood anyways.

Now I have to step up my game with those three. After everything that we've gone through these past few months, I deserve more than sneaking off to God knows where. Did they think that now Maeve is keeping me company that they can shimmy on out and explore their former homeland? Probably, knowing Aro and Caius. Idiots, both of them sometimes. Although I would expect more from Marcus. My sweet, understanding Marcus. He's supposed to reel those two in when they're drunk or just being stupid.

"Wait," I realized what my son just said to me suddenly, "what do you mean by the other step you can't figure out? What do you think we do...." He gave me an innocent look of confusion and shrugged. "Oh... Oh no. Just don't think about that. Mate things. Adult mate things. Don't you have homework you need to do? It may be summer, but I was sure your fathers assigned summer reading. Are you caught up on that," I quickly changed the subject to hide my embarrassment. He's thirteen, he doesn't need to know that stuff about mates yet. He's barely 5"5!

"Honestly, I don't think I need to do that right now. I can read a book in five minutes."

"You were assigned 200 books. That's hours of reading. It's July, Helios. You have school starting in August!" Procrastination at it's finest. Even vampires aren't immune to it, clearly. "Get a few books done while I find those pesky kings you have as fathers." Helios giggled at me as I pushed him into his room. "Now, read to Anora as well. She likes the stories you read to her. Be a good mate. I'll be back once I find those buggers."

---

It took me far too long to find my mates. When I did, it was only one of them. I guess the right way to phrase it is that I found a mate. Splendid! Except he tried to scurry away from me. There's no hiding from me, Caius. Accept your fate.

"What are you doing out here?" I tried to ask without completely blowing a fuse. They should've been back last night, but they'd been off for over a day now. With the night scene, I smelt the air clearer than in daylight. The water in the air is so clear to vampires. It feels calming on our skin. "You'd better be ready to explain yourself, Caius. Not only did our son not know where you were, you left no message saying you would be gone in the first place! He was asking for you, you know."

Go easy on him, Anna, he's just trying to do something nice for you. You're going to hurt his feelings. And you decided to just tell me this now? Come on, Maeve! You can't just hop around in there. What could possibly be occupying your time right now? A great many things that I can't share. Be nicer to Caius and wait for what's coming. I think you'll love the effort. It's all for you.

Even with what Maeve said, I couldn't help but be annoyed. I've never claimed to be a patient person, and that comes out a lot in our bond. I'm impatient, quick-tempered because my mind works at a hundred miles an hour, and anxious over impending doom that may never happen. Just the day in the life of a Queen.

"I promise we're all coming back after..." Caius paused for a second before looking back at something. Or someone. "This. We were about to get you. Well, Aro was." He gave an anxious smile. Completely unlike him. When is Caius Volturi ever worried about anything? He plows himself into danger like it's nothing! Kills werewolves by himself like a warrior. What could he be scared of? Certainly not me. I'm skinny. He could beat me in a fight anyday, verbal or not. But he can't be scared of anything like that, can he?

Then I felt the crisp air hit my face, and once again I was pulled up into my mate's handsome face. All my worry and annoyance dripped away from me like honey as I melted in his arms, allowing him to run his fingers through my silky brown hair. He sighed deeply, though his breath hitched slightly, burning with that unnatural anxiety of his. If I didn't know he would reject any help from me, I might have asked what was wrong. Caius still doesn't talk about his own emotions as they affect him, just as they affect his work. A product of his time in ancient Greece, on these lands and shores. I love him just the same for it.

"Where are we going?" I murmured into his chest. "There's so much of this island we haven't seen yet. I was worried you all went off without me."

"We didn't find this place we want to take you on our own, cara mia. Alexandros told us about it in his many letters to us over the centuries, and we thought it would make for a good... spot," he danced over the word he wanted to say. I wish he would just say it. Surprises make me anxious. "You look so beautiful in the moonlight, mia amata. I may just have to steal you away for myself, the sight of you is so perfect."

"Flattery for time missed?" He laughed.

"You see right through my schemes, Anna, and I love you for that," he whispered against my ear before taking me off the ground. "The most beautiful queen in all the lands. No woman could tempt me the way you do, amata. Your hair, your face, your blood red eyes that I know were made with love and care. It's all so darling to me, and I will never let you go."

I giggled, which made him smile down at me and kiss my forehead. "There's nobody in this universe I would rather spend my eternity with. You're divine to me and my brothers, utter perfection molded into physical forms. You're most certainly our Aphrodite. I hope I don't get struck down by her for saying that, but it's true," he joked.

"How can you shower me with poetry like this? I can't say anything back because I'm crap with words." That made him laugh. Hard. Wheezing laughter. "It's not funny! I'm no poet like you are. I can't craft lovey dovey notes. The best thing I can call you is baby or honey or sweetie. Maybe some Italian or Greek."

"Oh, but I love everything you give me. You don't need to compare me to Apollo to make me swoon."

"So I do make you swoon."

"Hush, cara mia," he put a finger on my mouth lovingly. "We have places to be. My brothers will be annoyed if I steal you for too long. They're waiting by the cliffs edge with things we want to give you." Oooh, presents! "They won't want to be waiting until daylight. The look of what they set up isn't as nice with the sun in the way. Wrong angle. Just let me carry you."

The way up wasn't full of branches and leaves like I thought. Caius has much more experience with his vampiric body than I do, and so he is more graceful than me. Even if I'm a vampire, I'm prone to falling or messing up my ankle. But instead of bruises I get these awful cracks. It freaks everyone out, including me. They get fixed up by the venom in my veins fast. And then I'll get them yet again. And again. This is a recurring issue easily fixed by being carried around like a Queen. My mates are always willing to do that for me, bless them. So perfect. Gentlemen, all of them, when they want to be. Or when they can be. They're still wild beasts half the time.

Wind brushed up against my skin, whipping around my hair. It would be messed up by the end of the ride. I scorned mother nature for that. We're vampires, why can't we look perfect all of the time?!

The kings are always perfect. Damn them and their elegance.

"So the Queen comes early to the party," Caius announces to his brothers, who are sitting on a few tree stubs. I giggled and playfully hit my mate on the forearm. My blonde mate put me down on the ground so I could get a better look at everything. All around us laid candles, roses, and forget-me-nots. A gorgeous display. Were they planning a secret date for us all the whole time? Caius kissed me kindly on the cheek. "We wanted things to look nice. Perhaps it will sway you."

"Don't give away our secrets, Caius. Just because you're pretty doesn't mean you can betray us so," Marcus muttered. I laughed. Marcus calling Caius pretty. Strange. Is everyone here about to spill over with anxiety? Swaying me? Why, they don't need to sway me on any topic. 99% of the time I agree with everything they say. Mates share morals, obviously. 

Instead of worrying about them, I skipped over to Aro, who was unusually quiet, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He melted against my touch, as per usual, and wrapped his strong arms around my smaller frame. "I love you," I whispered to him, nuzzling my head against him. "And I love what you three have done for me tonight. It looks stunning."

My mates seemed calm at my words. Caius and Marcus cleared their throats.

"We have something we would like to talk about with you."

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Ahh a cliffhanger! I know, I know, I'm mean. But the next chapter won't take three months. I think. I'll work on updating this more. I wrote like all of this today during class because zoom and because I just can.

Also a reminder that if you like this story, check out my profile. I have a ton of Volturi and some Cullen fics plus a Loki fic.

And more to come on my co-writer account 

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