Heading back home was most likely the calmest part of our trip. No incidents, no finding baby hybrid mates in the middle of a Canadian forest, and certainly no potential battles with former friends and allies alike. All in all, things were quite tranquil as Helios and Anora fell asleep lying right next to each other in their bed.

Although many would assume that allowing two mates to sleep next to each other would mean some sort of contact would be made, Heelie and Anora were as platonic as could be, with Marcus checking their bonds to make sure that nothing weird was going on.

Little Anora had proven herself to be much fussier than Heelie had ever been, often screaming whenever my son left the room or tried to hand her over to Rose, who could barely get her to stop crying when her mate had to do something or bring her food. The mated pair always had to be together, especially at night. Anora wouldn't sleep otherwise and would just scream at everyone and even pull at her bonds to make people do what she wanted, often causing discomfort when she did so. Pulling at someone's very soul didn't sound pleasant at all, the opposite actually.

"Grab her bottle and she should be fine," Rose muttered to herself, grabbing one of the many blood filled baby bottles that she would constantly have to use to feed her child since Anora wasn't taking it straight from the bag. "Honey please don't cry, Mommy has food coming right now."

"Telling her to stop crying isn't going to help, babe," Rose glared at her mate before handing her the blood, which she took happily. Sucking down most of the contents, the little hybrid smiled and giggled, sticking out her tongue. "Why does she do that?"

"Probably just a happy baby," I say, picking her up in my arms, "Aren't you a happy little baby?" Anora cooed in glee and wrapped her warm hand around my finger. "God you are the cutest little thing since Helios came around. Too bad you'll grow up so fast. I want you small forever."

Anora let out a loud coo as Heelie entered the room, carrying some of his school stuff. Rushing over to meet his mate, he kissed her head and took her out of my arms. Placing her down on one of her favorite yellow mats, he started in on his homework, working away as Anora cooed and played with some of her toys. She would stay quiet and happy as long as he was there to help her when she couldn't quite figure out the baby blocks, something that caused her a lot of stress.

"Mamma, what's the cubed root of 729?" My son asks, looking down at his homework.

"9. What level are you at? I was doing that only a few years ago," He shrugs and continues on with his homework. "How is a 6 month old smarter than me? That isn't fair."

"It is what it is, Mamma."

____________________________________________

Six months later

Bringing the last bit of my son's dessert to the table, I relished in what was going to be my last day as a newborn vampire. For the past three months I felt my hunger start to settle, but now I could barely feel it, only a ghost of the past. The sudden shock that I wasn't going to be as powerful as before hit me before anything else. No longer would I have the power to demolish my enemies as I once could, now having to rely on strategy above all else.

These last few days felt like nothing I had ever felt before. My emotions were finally sorting themselves out, if that was even the best way to describe it. The euphoria while feeding was still there, but no longer was I a savage animal while eating my meals. Looking back at what I had been doing to get the most blood in my system, I really was an animal who had been starved. Not that I would have changed what I had done, but the feelings of hunger did overwhelm me.

Watching over Anora and Helios had become my main job when I wasn't at trial, which didn't seem like the worst way to spend my time. My son and his mate, who was the daughter of one of my closest friends, had their own air of light and happiness that surrounded them at all times, bringing those who had the pleasure of being in their midst to feel the same.

Anora had not stopped being obsessive and clingy towards her mate, even now that she looked and sounded about 8 years old. Her abilities had grown exponentially, now able to pull any one of the guards towards her during training. Since she had formed bonds with everyone, we were all at her mercy. It seemed that she could also pull the bonds of other people, often able to mess with those who annoyed her in this manner. Even as Marcus tried to tell her to stop, she would ignore him and continue on with this habit. My poor mate couldn't do anything to actually stop her, as he could only see the bonds and not interact with them the way that she can.

"Child, please don't do that!" I heard Marcus call out from the other side of the hallway. "What has poor Afton done to deserve his bonds pulled like that?"

"He stole my book," she sassed back, flipping her hair and grabbing at what I assumed was their bond, or just one of his other bonds. "I told him to stop and he won't stop, so now he's gonna pay the price of his thievery! If you won't deal with him don't get mad at me for doing it myself!"

Marcus hissed under his breath and looked to see if Afton had been harmed by her aggressive tug. I heard Afton yelp from the courtyard and Anora giggle down the large corridor.

My mate shook his head and frowned at his daughter-in-soul, who never really did anything he told her to do. She was a free spirit and only actually listened and obeyed her parents and her mate, who she never would want to disappoint. Unfortunately Emmett had refrained from doing anything about some of her odd habits, meaning that she did whatever she pleased in the castle. Usually this wouldn't be a problem, as Anora only harassed bonds when she was pushed too far.

"Even if Afton does annoy you sometimes you aren't supposed to use your gift on people," Anora groaned at the lecture and rolled her eyes, starting to make her way back to her and Helios' very new and very shared mate room, one of which we were not allowed inside. "Dear child, that gift of yours is very invasive and could, at some point, cause us harm! You must learn how to control that temper of yours and not harass the bonds that tie us together."

"Maybe you should be teaching your guards to be good people and not steal my stuff!" She shouted back, running off into her room. I sighed as I watched her leave. I understood why she had done it and why she continued to do things the way she did, but the power struggle between her and Marcus was becoming extreme. In many ways Anora was correct. Afton had been pushing her buttons and stealing her books in his way of joking with her, but Anora made it very clear that she hated when he would do stuff like that.

Marcus sighed, clearly not knowing what to do. Anora is very upset with Afton and I think he needs to apologize. She's a kid and doesn't understand his sense of humor yet. Plus she has already told him to stop. I don't know why he keeps on thinking that she'll find it funny. Believe me, Maeve, I don't know either. She loves those books more than anything because Heelie gave them to her. I don't think they're scenting yet but they definitely remind her of him when he's away. Your son is getting annoyed now. You may want to stop this before it becomes a full blown fight with Afton. They're soul brothers, but his mate bond will always be stronger than their sibling bond.

"Honey, can you check and see if Caius is able to finish up the trials for today? Aro as well," my mate turned to face me down the hallway and nodded, walking away to find his brothers. How did things end up like this? I don't want any bad relationships in our coven but Afton has been taking it too far with Anora for a long time. I know I can't take sides but... No, I know. It's difficult since Heelie is your son and Anora is his mate, but you can get through this. Helios will be angry that his father is going against his mate, but that can be easily mended with a healthy conversation. For Afton... he needs to apologize first. I think he'll feel bad once he knows that he's hurting Anora and Heelie but he won't be able to figure it out unless someone tells him. You know how he is.

Clicking my tongue, I knock on my son's door, hoping that he was also inside there with Anora. I wouldn't be able to get farther than the door frame, but being able to talk to them in any way would help diffuse the tension.

It was funny how they worked, being opposite sides of the same coin. Anora was constantly challenging authority, often breaking every single rule that she could without getting in too much trouble. Heelie almost always followed the rules, not breaking them unless something big was going on, always feeling bad when he did break his parents' rules. They seemed to balance each other out, with Anora telling him when he needed to stand by his ideals and Heelie making sure that she knew when the rules needed to be followed.

Helios was the one to come to the door, looking annoyed at the world as he did so. His eyes brightened a bit when he saw that I was the one to make my way to his room, but the air of blistering hot anger was still prominent.

"What is it?" he mumbled, looking back to his mate, who I could see was curled up in their bed.

"I just wanted to make sure that you and Anora were okay, baby," my son looks down at the ground as I speak, never maintaining eye contact with me. "Are you two doing okay? I heard what happened in the hall."

"Daddy never listens, even when Nora is right," Heelie said. "If he would just get Afton in trouble once for the way he behaves this would have never happened. Jane always uses her power on Afton once he gets annoying, so why can't Nora? It makes no sense. Playing favorites, I'm telling you."

"I don't think it's playing favorites per se, but your father is able to see some of the things that can happen to bonds when Anora messes with them. He's the only one besides Daddy Aro that can, which may explain why he's harder on Anora than anyone else when it comes to using gifts. Now, I'm not saying that what Afton is doing isn't worthy of bond pulling or imaginary pain, but understand that your father always has a reason for the way that he conducts himself and the coven. He always wants what is best for you and Anora and he always will, even if he gets things wrong sometimes," my son nodded before looking back to Anora again, who nodded and let me inside their little den.

The room that had been given to them held so many different shades of yellow that it was hard to keep up. The color had become their obvious favorite, with the entire room being stained custard months prior. All of the sheets and pillows had the same color pattern. One would assume that a Hufflepuff lived in this room, which was halfway true. Anora was most definitely a Gryffindor, with bravery and recklessness sometimes defining her behavior above all else.

"Don't be angry with your daddy. He never wanted to hurt you or Anora," Heelie huffed and found himself next to Anora, running his hands through her long blonde hair. "We can talk this out and get everything fixed up between you and Afton as well. Brothers shouldn't be fighting for extended periods of time. We all love you two and want you to be happy."

"Can you stop Afton from taking my books?" I nod.

"If he takes another book from you, come and tell me so I can make him clean everything in this castle every night for three months. That should straighten him out."