Page 15

Chapter Fifteen

“Mama!” Elrith shouted and jumped onto the bed.

I shot upright, looking for what had caused his fear.

“It’s alright,” Trey said from the doorway where he stood with a towel over one shoulder.

“He’s trying to drown me!” Elrith cried and crawled into my lap.

My brain finally caught up to the situation and I pet his hair between his horns, the understanding slow due to my just awakened state. “He’s not trying to drown you, Elrith. He’s trying to give you a bath, to clean you. It’s important to take baths and be clean.”

“What?” he tilted his face up, a frown pulling down his cute lips.

“We all wash at least every other day,” I explained. “If you don’t want to take a bath, you can take a shower. I prefer showers.”

“I don’t understand,” he admitted.

Trey held out his hand. “I’ll show you. You can stand next to me in the bathroom while I show you what the water will do and explain the process, okay?”

“Go on,” I urged. “Once you’re done cleaning yourself, we’re going to run some errands and you’ll get to see more of this world.”

After a moment of hesitation, he crawled out of the bed and walked to Trey, though it was obvious he was still reluctant to do so.

Now awake, I went about changing and freshening up. Downstairs, I could hear Kayden humming as he moved pans and things about, which meant he must be cooking breakfast.

Skipping down the stairs, I almost ran into Kayden who caught me around the waist and spun us in a circle to set my feet on the ground. “Hello, beautiful.”

Pressing a quick kiss to his cheek, I smiled at him. “Morning, handsome.”

“Breakfast is ready for you. I was on my way up to wake you, but seems our little imp was first to reach you.”

“He was scared of bathing,” I explained.

Kayden frowned. “Scared of bathing?”

I nodded and stepped out of his arms to go to the kitchen to get my food. “He thought Trey was trying to drown him, apparently.”

Kayden laughed. “That had to have hurt his pride.”

My brows furrowed, as I hadn’t even thought of how that interaction might have upset Trey. I needed to be more aware of my mates’ and their feelings. The bonds had randomly opened, surprising all of us as we’d been relaxing and watching a movie. I’d locked down the bonds pretty tight in order to sleep last night, so I hadn’t felt Trey’s emotion this morning.

Opening them now, I felt happiness from him, so Elrith must have stopped being scared.

“How are you feeling?” Mason asked as he made his plate next to me.

“Fine,” I replied immediately.

He scowled at me. “Lily.”

“Honestly?” I asked and looked up at him. “I’m still weak. I can’t seem to recharge fully and definitely not as quickly as I can in the demon world.”

“We could go back until you feel better,” he suggested, concern making his brows furrow.

The desire to go back was strong, but I didn’t want to make that decision yet. I knew Trey wasn’t as on board about moving there as Mason was.

I wasn’t sure what Kayden felt about the possibility of us living there, either. His dad was here, after all.

“I’m fine for now,” I said. “We have things to do here.”

“It’s a discussion we need to have,” Mason whispered and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “And you recuperating fully is the most important thing right now.”

“Right now, I want to focus on Elrith,” I said and headed to the table to eat.

Elrith and Trey joined us shortly after, Elrith wearing baggy clothes, which solidified my plan to take him shopping today.

When everyone had finished eating, we climbed into Kayden’s SUV and headed to the mall.

Elrith pressed his nose against the window, staring with wide eyes at everything we drove by. When a dragon flew by overhead, he gasped and cowered down.

I set a hand on his back and said, “You don’t need to fear a dragon flying overhead.”

He raised his head slowly. “No?”

“They’re part of my clan,” Trey said. “I’m a dragon prince and as my son, they won’t harm you or they know they’ll face not just my wrath, but my family’s as well.”

Yet, that wasn’t fully true, was it? I’d been attacked and so had he, just for being part of the royal family.

Trey glanced at me with a frown.

Had my emotions leaked through the bond? Whoops.

“We are taking you to a place that will have a lot of people, so I need you to stay close to us, so you don’t get lost. Okay?”

Elrith looked back at me. “What are we doing there?”

“We’re going to buy you some clothes and other items that you need,” Mason explained.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” he asked and looked down.

“Those don’t fit you and you need several different outfits,” I answered.

“Okay,” he replied and looked back out the window.

Honestly, he was handling all this much better than I had anticipated. He’d been curious about the cars, but hadn’t freaked out like I’d expected.

After parking, Trey got a call and held up his hand to stop us from exiting the vehicle. “Yes?” With a sigh, he asked, “Really? You know … fine. Fine.” He hung up, irritation obvious, but he smiled as he said, “Looks like we’ll have a friend with us on this shopping trip.”

My eyes widened as I realized what must have happened. “Who?”

“Ezio,” Trey answered.

Kayden’s brows furrowed. “Why didn’t he call me?”

“It was Caleb who called to inform me,” Trey said. He glanced over at Elrith. “Apparently, they wanted him to tag along, just in case.”

“He’s probably also mad that we haven’t visited him or introduced him to Elrith,” I whispered.

Kayden flinched. “Yeah, that’s most likely why he is the one here.”

“Well, let’s not keep him waiting! Elrith, you’re going to get to meet one of your other grandpas, Ezio is Kayden’s dad.”

His eyes widened as he looked at Kayden. “Your dad?”

Kayden nodded. “He’s a strong werewolf. In fact, he used to be Lily’s guard.”

Elrith turned to me. “You had a guard?”

I nodded. “Most of my life Ezio would go with me places and keep me safe. He’s very strong, though, a bit older now.”

Trey opened the door for us and I took Elrith’s hand after stepping out.

“Is crashing your shopping trips the only way I’ll get to see you four?” Ezio asked as he walked up to us.

“You know where we live,” Trey reminded him.

“It’s good to see you,” I said and hugged him.

He squeezed me tight and pushed me back to give me a stern glare. “Can you not follow in the footsteps of your mom and Jolie by endangering yourself for the world? My heart isn’t as young as it once was and when I saw what was happening, I nearly had a heart attack.”

“Don’t worry, that’s my one and only sacrificial moment.” I held my hand with three fingers up. “Promise.”

Especially since I didn’t have the power to do it again, not that he needed to know that bit of information.

Kayden picked up Elrith and held him with Elrith’s legs wrapped around his stomach. “Pop, meet our imp, Elrith. Elrith, this is Grandpa Ezio,” Kayden introduced.

“Imp?” Ezio whispered, but quickly smiled and took a step closer to them. “Hello, Elrith. You’ve got very nice horns.”

Elrith preened. “They’re pretty large for my age. Even the king praised them.”

Putting my hand over my mouth, I hid my smile and snicker. He was so cute.

“Shall we go shopping? I hear you need some clothes and necessities,” Ezio said and turned to head inside.

“What does he shift into?” Elrith whispered to Kayden.

“A wolf,” I answered. “He can also take a warrior shift, like my dad.”

“Well, similar,” Ezio said. “Caleb’s always been a bit … special.”

“As expected of the only purebred hybrid,” I said with a shrug.

“Right,” Ezio said with a nod.

“Does it hurt you to shift?” he asked.

Ezio shook his head. “No. What about you, imp? Does shifting hurt you?”

Elrith shook his head. “The shadow protects me.”

Ezio raised his brows. “That’s good to hear.” He looked at me. “Shadow seems to run in the family.”

We stepped into the mall and were immediately bombarded by media.

Elrith gasped as the cameras flashed their bright lights and the reporters began shouting questions, and ducked his head into Kayden’s chest.

Trey stepped forward and shouted, “That’s enough!”

The reporters silenced and stopped taking pictures.

“You should be calling for an official request for interview, not bombarding them this way,” Ezio growled as he had stepped up as well. “You’re frightening my grandchild and I won’t have that!” His alpha aura exploded outwards, knocking the reporters who weren’t human back two steps.

“Deep breath,” Mason whispered as he set a hand on my lower back.

I looked over at him and obeyed, quickly realizing that I had shifted into warrior form at the gasp from Elrith. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and relaxed, shifting back to human. “Whoops.”

“Mama,” Elrith whined.

Kayden handed him to me, and my three mates formed a triangle of protection, with Elrith hidden between them.

“It’s alright,” I whispered as I rubbed his back. “They’re not bad people, just loud and bright.”

“Not danger?” he asked and peeked up at me from his lashes.

I smiled. “Not a danger.”

“You shifted,” he commented.

Nodding, I admitted, “It was a reaction to your fear and the loud noises.”

“Mama got a bit overprotective just now,” Mason whispered.

“Hopefully, now she understands why we do it to her,” Trey muttered as we walked through the reporters who had stepped aside to allow us entry.

Perhaps we should have brought guards with us after all, but I’d given them the day off to spend time with their families.

“Clothing store first?” Ezio asked.

“Yes,” I replied.

Now that he knew there was no danger, Elrith sat up and looked around, his eyes wide and mouth open.

A little girl with silver hair and slitted pupils waved at us. “Hi, Princess!”

I waved back. “Hello!”

“She knows you?” Elrith asked.

“Everyone knows her,” Ezio answered. “She’s the hybrid princess who can shift into a giant snake, after all.”

“There aren’t many shake shifters,” I added. “That little girl is one, too, judging by her slitted pupils.”

“She must get picked on,” Elrith said with a scowl. He looked up at me. “Did you get picked on?”

“No,” Mason said immediately. “We made sure to protect her when we were young.”

They had beat up quite a few kids, mostly purebred shifters who hated us for being hybrids anyways, and hated me more for being a snake.

“Good,” Elrith whispered. He looked back over my shoulder. “I hope she has someone to protect her.”

I had a feeling this boy was going to be a lady killer like his adoptive fathers.

“Are you going to put him in the hybrid school or the main school?” Ezio asked as we entered the children’s clothing store.

“Hybrid,” I answered at the same time Trey said, “Main.”

We looked at each other, eyes wide.

“You can’t seriously think we can send him to the main school?” Mason said.

“He needs to go to the main school, like Caleb did, to prove his rightful place is among the population,” Kayden countered.

Oh, boy. Seems we were divided equally about this issue.

“Obviously, you four have to discuss it more,” Ezio said with a smirk.

Truthfully, I still wanted to move to the demon world.

“We can discuss it later,” I said and set Elrith down to start picking out clothes. “If you see clothes you want to try on, just let one of us know,” I told him.

His eyes widened. “I can try on whatever I want?”

“Yes,” Trey answered. “Any of these that you want.”

“Hello, friends,” a pretty elven woman greeted us, a nametag on her shirt with “Claire” on it.

“Hello, Claire,” I greeted. “The little prince here is in need of some new clothes.”

She smiled at Elrith, who had hidden behind Mason at her approach. “Wonderful! Let me know if there’s anything specific you are looking for that you don’t see here. We can order many things.”

“What about shirts for wings?” Trey asked.

“Right this way, Prince Trey,” she said, bowed, and lead him over to a section marked for dragons.

“Go on,” I urged Elrith. “Go with them.”

Mason nudged him forward with a nod and he quickly jogged over to grip onto Trey’s shirt hem.

After grabbing several different types of shirts and pants, I headed over to the dressing rooms and put them inside one of the empty ones.

Trey and Elrith joined us, their arms full of clothes as well, but from Elrith’s wide smile, he didn’t seem to mind that he’d have to try them all on.

An hour later, we’d purchased an entirely new wardrobe for him.

“Shopping is fun!” Elrith gasped. “I’m thirsty, though.”

“Let’s stop in the food court before we go to the other stores,” I suggested. “I’m a bit thirsty myself.”

Mason found a table for us and pulled out my chair for me. I kissed him on the cheek as I sat and looked at Trey and Kayden as I said, “See? Romantic.”

Mason smiled smugly and sat beside me, reaching over to entwine our fingers together.

“What do you want to drink?” Kayden asked.

“A lemonade,” Ezio answered and scoffed. “No wonder she’s pointing out how unromantic you are, you don’t even know what she likes to drink here.” Ezio held out his hand. “Come on, Elrith. Let’s get you a snack and your mama a drink.”

Elrith glanced at Kayden, who nodded, and he quickly took Ezio’s hand and let him lead him to the line for my favorite lemonade place.

“Cookie!” I shouted.

Ezio held up a hand with his thumb up without turning around to let me know he’d heard.

“It’s not my fault I don’t know what you like here,” Kayden muttered and folded his arms over his chest. “Dad took you out and Mom wouldn’t let me go most times.”

“I’m still convinced she secretly dislikes me,” I whispered, and Mason squeezed my hand.

“She hates me, too, it’s okay,” Trey said.

“That’s just because you’ve always been such a cocky brat,” Mason said.

Trey scowled. “Excuse you?”

“He’s not wrong. You often acted spoiled around Mom,” Kayden agreed.

“He acted like that because she made him nervous,” I said.

All three turned to me.

“How’d you know that?” Trey asked. “I’ve never told anyone that.”

Smiling, I leaned forward and said, “Mate, I’ve known you most of your life. I could tell whenever you were around her that you’d get tense and your responses were always clipped. She thought you were being conceited or that you thought you were better than her, but I knew it was because she scared you.”

“Scared you? My mom is super sweet,” Kayden argued.

“She was sweet to you,” I countered. “She yelled at us when you weren’t nearby.”

His eyes widened. “She what?”

“Actually, she told me I should keep away from you after we graduated. When I told her I was going away for college, she actually breathed out in relief.” I shrugged. “Not sure why she doesn’t like me, but she’s never wanted us to end up together.”

Kayden scowled and sat back in his chair. “I’m going to have to talk to her about that.”

I waved it away. “It doesn’t matter now. You’re mine and she can’t change that. There’s no need to bring it up.”

I was fairly certain it was her concern over the spell I’d taken for Mom when we were on the island. And that Kayden wouldn’t look at other girls when I was around.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Kayden asked with a frown.

I shrugged and said, “Because there’s not much you could do. Plus, I hoped as I grew and changed that she would learn to like me. When we stopped talking, she was nicer to me whenever she saw me, but I bet now that we’re mates, she’ll go back to being annoyed by me.”

“I’ll talk to her,” Kayden whispered.

“It’s okay, Trey’s mom hates me even more.”

Trey sighed. “She doesn’t like me most days.”

“No, she’s always been pissed that you spend your time with us, sullying your pure-blooded-ness with us hybrids,” Mason countered. “She tried to threaten me into stopping our friendship when we were teens.”

“Same,” Kayden said with a nod.

Trey blinked in stunned silence.

“Well, anyway, I’m glad we have family who does approve,” I said, and looked over at Ezio, who was talking to Elrith, both smiling wide.

No matter what their moms thought, their sons were mine now, so they’d just have to accept me. That thought made me smile, earning curious stares from my mates.