DOUBLE UPDATE!!!!!! YOU BETTER LOVE ME!

HAHA, jk, hope you enjoy and comment as usual, please!!!!

Song – Four Dimensions by Ludovico Einaudi. Please listen to the song for the beginning of the chapter.

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Damon’s P.O.V

“Damon,” Papa calls making me look up from my book for the week, I grin when I find him smiling extra wide at me from the door. “Come with me for a bit, I have something to show you.”

I fold the edge of the page before shutting the book, jumping off the bed to run to him. Papa picks me up and throws me over his shoulder making me laugh as I hit his back as hard as I can.

“I wanna use my legs! Put me down!” I yell as I kick my feet while punching his back, but papa didn’t feel it all.

Papa was the best alpha in the world; he was the strongest and everyone loved Papa. I wanted to be like papa when I became alpha.

“Should I put you down?” Papa asks as he pulls me from over his shoulder to look at me.

Papa had black hair and black eyes, they went together unless he made them red. I didn’t look like papa at all, but that was okay because I looked just like dad. Dad said I was the perfect mix cause I looked like him but was like papa.

I nod and cross my arms, giving him the best version of his angry look that I could do. Papa just stares at me extra long and then smiles as he begins biting on my neck making me scream and laugh as I try to push away from him.

“Stop!” I yell but he doesn’t. “Dad help me! Papa is being a bad dad!”

“Aiden, stop being a bad dad!” Dad yells from the kitchen where he was playing with Peter.

Dad was always with Peter now that he was awake.

He still did all the things he did before he went to sleep with me and Levi, but now Peter was there to love dad too. Dad still read to me at night and played with us all the time, but not outside.

Dad didn’t really go outside anymore…

But that was okay, because Papa was always outside, looking for the monster that hurt dad. He wouldn’t let me go with him, no matter how much I begged. This was super unfair because he said I was getting better at fighting and was even better than Levi now, but he also said not to tell Levi that part so I didn’t.

“A bad dad huh?” Papa repeats as he finally lets me breathe. I nod and stick out my tongue as he raises one of his eyebrows. “If I’m such a bad dad maybe I shouldn’t take you out on the extra special secret adventure that I prepared just for you.”

I bite my lip as papa stops, my eyes going wide as he turns around. I quickly bang on his chest and climb around him until I was on his back, pulling at his neck with everything I had to turn him around.

“I want to go on a secret adventure!” I scream as I squeeze harder.

“Not much of a secret if you tell everyone about it.” Papa chokes out with a cough, pulling at my hands for me to stop pulling. When he turns back the way he was going I stop and smile as I push my head into his neck and smile into him.

I love papa.

“Go faster Fossil Dad!” I demand, pointing the way with my finger. I giggle when Dad groans and leans back to pinch me a little.

“I’m going to have to talk to Julian about the words he’s teaching you and how to use them,” Papa grumbles angrily. “We are the same age, exactly the same age – I am not a fossil.”

“Dad said a fossil can be ‘a markedly outdated or old-fashioned person or thing.’” I say, smiling that I got it right. If it got it right on quiz night, then Dad would take me out on his wolf for a run. “So, that means that you are a fossil. A Fossil Dad.”

“I need new children.”

———————–

I watch with wide eyes as we get closer and closer to the pack’s armory.

Levi said it was the place where all the pack’s weapons were, the one that had the best weapons for the strongest warriors in the pack. He said those types of warriors were called Specialists. Maybe that’s why the building was so big, to fit them all inside.

I look up at dad, not believing that he would really take me inside. I asked dad to take me here but he always said no, no matter how many new words I learned. And no matter which way I tried to get in, the guards always found me.

It was like they were always watching me – they were weirdos.

My grin only grows when I find papa already watching me. He looked just excited as I felt, so I gripped his hand extra hard as he walked us through the large, wooden doors that had all the pack’s rules carved into them.

I make sure to show as many teeth as I could as we passed the guards.

My mouth falls open as I look around the large space, eyes going straight up to the ceiling that was made out of windows and covered by tree leaves, so the sunlight came sprinkling down to put patterns on all our faces.

There were stairs that twist and turned all the way to the top of the building, each level seemed to be filled with warriors who were laughing and smiling. I look across at the walls filled with all the weapons I saw the warriors carrying sometimes; the swords, the bows, big knives, the axes.

I open my mouth to ask papa a question but stop when my eyes stick on Uncle Beckett. He was sitting by himself in the corner, sharpening his knives slowly. There were people close to him, but like always, Uncle Beckett wasn’t talking.

I take a step to go to him but papa tightens his hold on my hand, I look up at him with a frown but he was already wearing one so I couldn’t. He shook his head and pulled me away, I follow, looking back at Uncle Beckett one last time. I find him looking at me so I smile at him, he doesn’t smile back.

Uncle Beckett never smiled back.

“So what do you think?” Papa asks as he walks through the space people parted for us. “After all the times you tried to sneak in here, was it all you thought it would be?”

“Better,” I say immediately making him laugh. “Am I getting a weapon today?”

“I said it was a surprise, so don’t try to spoil it for yourself,” Papa replies making me frown.

“No, you said it was an extra special secret adventure.” I correct, tugging his hand so he’d look at me. “You never said it was a surprise.”

“Why did you have to be born with Julian’s brain?” Papa groans making me beam up at him proudly. Dad was the smartest wolf in the pack and maybe the world, if I was smart like dad and strong like papa, I’d be perfect. “It doesn’t matter what I said, be quiet until we get there or I’ll take you right back home and eat your piece of salmon.”

“We’re having salmon tonight?!” I shout as I jump next to him.

“I am,” Papa replies with a smirk. “Your meal depends on you.”

I zip my lips and push the key in papa’s pocket. He pats it with a grin and looks back up to lead us to the secret location.

It doesn’t take too long for us to move through the building and all the people, we finally ended up stopping outside a black door. Papa opened it and lead me inside, I follow him inside and all the way to the large table in the middle of the room that took up almost all the room.

My lips part as I look over the wooden top that was covered with different weapons, some big and some small. Some steel and other silver, some colored and others black like papa’s eyes. I look up at Papa and he nods as he lets my hand go, letting me walk around the edges to look at all of them.

I make sure not to get too close, I didn’t want to do anything wrong when papa did all this.

When I made my way all around, Papa bent down to look at me. His eyes meeting mine he rests one head on my shoulder, letting the other caress my face gently. I stare at him as his eyes study my face with a slightly narrowed gaze, his eyes not looking as brave as they usually did.

“I’m going to let you in on a secret Damon,” Papa starts, his voice soft so only I could hear. “Out there, outside the pack walls, they don’t play by the rules. There are some people who would do anything to hurt the ones you love and others who hurt because they can, and those people don’t care who they hurt on the way.”

“But we get them,” I say quickly, putting my hand to his. “We protect the pack and get the ones who try to hurt them, cause that’s what alpha’s do.”

Dad’s lips pull up, but only a little. My eyebrows pull as I look at him, he looked sad and I didn’t get why I hadn’t done anything wrong today. I didn’t hit anyone but him and did all my chores, but he still looked sad. He wipes my cheek with his thumb and takes in a big gulp of air before continuing.

“You’re right… but sometimes… sometimes our best isn’t enough.” Papa says as he looks me straight in my eyes. “Sometimes we need help and not nearly of us get it when we need it.”

“I don’t understand,” I say with a frown.

“You know most wolves don’t use weapons,” Papa says and I nod quickly. “We believe the wolf to be enough, but it wasn’t for me and I don’t want to risk it not being enough for you.”

Papa’s eyes were glowing now, turning that bright red they always did when he was angry.

“Okay,” I say not wanting him to be upset anymore.

“An alpha is already the strongest, an alpha with a weapon behind him is even stronger,” Papa says finally smiling a little now.

“What’s yours?”

“Your father. And I am his,” Papa says immediately. “They don’t train alphas to use weapons much anymore, but I’m going to make sure you’re better than all of them on your own and twice as good with your weapon.”

I nod eagerly, smiling at papa when the red went away and he was okay again. He presses a kiss to my head and stands again, putting a hand out to the table.

“Take your time and choose something that feels right to you,” Papa says picking up one of the axes and tossing it between his hands before striking the air. “We’ll go with whatever you choose and if it doesn’t feel right, we can always try something else. We’ll keep trying until you find an extension of yourself to fight with.”

I look around the table again, not knowing where to start because there was so much to choose from. I pick up one of the arrows and twist it around, arrows weren’t good because if they ran out then you’d be in trouble. I put it down and then look at a chain, touching it with the tip of my finger but pull away when my skin burned from the silver.

“Some wolves use it and build a tolerance,” Papa says with crossed arms, looking just as put-off by the silver as I felt.

I continue looking at all the different weapons, picking them up even trying to move with them the way papa taught me to for fighting. They all felt wrong and weird, no matter how many I went through.

Minutes turned to hours and before I knew it, when I looked out the window the sun was coming down. Papa didn’t look bored or tired, he was watching me with as much attention as he was when I started, so I kept going.

My eyes pull a little when I find a pair of knives resting in the center of the table, hidden under the swords that were there before. I stretch across to get them and pull them back, picking up the first one and pulling the case from it. A shiny, steel blade comes out with a pointy edge that made me gulp.

I spin it carefully and blink when I realize that they kind of looked like the ones Uncle Beckett has earlier, but these were smaller. I take the second one and find it to be the same, I hold them both and try to move with it.

It felt weird, but not wrong like the others.

I move a bit more and smile when I move into a normal striking position for my fists but it ended with the tip of the knife instead. I try it again and smile when my grip tightens, chest racing as it worked with some of my movements. I turn and land on into the table, making it shake a little. I pull it out and turn to papa, smiling as I held them tight in my hands.

“Those?” He asks his finger tapping his crossed arms a little.

“Yeah,” I say while nodding. “These are perfect.”

“Alright, then let’s get to work,” Papa says with a wide grin that I immediately matched.

“Love you,” I say when I was back at his side, the cased knives in one hand.

“I love you too Damon,” Papa says.

“Bet I love you more,” I say as we walk out of the room.

“Bet that’s impossible,” Papa replies with a chuckle. “I feed you and am yet to throw you out, if that isn’t unconditional love then I don’t know what is.”

“And where do you think that came from?”

“Mine is stronger,” I promise, raising my head a bit.

“Where do you think the violence came from?”

“Oh yeah? And how do you know this oh-great-one?” Papa asks turning to face me.

“Who told me that being this way made me strong?!”

“It just is,” I say with a grin. “I love you wayyyy more.”

“Who took me out to hunt and taught me how to fight when everyone else was being normal! Who do you think did this to me!”

“Damon, you could never love me as much as I love you and that is final,” Papa says as he rubs my head. “But you are more than welcomed to try.”

“You were the one who did this to me and then left me alone to deal with it! It was you!”

My eyes open as I take in a deep lungful of air, blinking repeatedly to wash away the onslaught of memories that blended together in the most torturous way.

Eyes full of pride of love shifted to ones wet with tears and shame, a smile so wide it warmed my heart morphed into a look of guilt and pain. I slip out from the covers and try to settle my breathing, try to clear my mind, try to not think about it.

But it was there.

All the hurt and pain I’d caused, all the pain I’d felt. The looks of regret and the ones of disgust. The proud ones that seemed so distant now against the disappointed ones I’d come to expect. Their gazes shot by in my mind, reminding me of the world I’d left behind, the tormented one I tried to bury and the blissful one I’d almost forgotten.

They were there, all of it there as it buzzed and spun until it settled on the one image that hurt the most. The broken face, the one covered in tears, the one with shame and sadness, the one I’d taken the light from.

I grab for a glass in the kitchen, filling it quickly in an attempt to distract myself. I down one glance and then another until my stomach was heavy with it. My eyes trail over the bags and suitcases by the door, the ones Will had triple-checked the night before… well hours before.

The ones we’d be taking with us today when I finally faced all I’d run from all those months ago.

“What are you doing?” Will’s voice calls drawing my gaze from the luggage to his sleepy form that stood in the middle of the room. His hair in complete disarray as he rubbed at one of his eyes, the other narrowed at me with suspicion.

The sight of him calms the brewing storm some, letting me breathe easier as my mind focused on him. Things were always easier when Will was close, problems didn’t seem so big with him by my side. It wasn’t so dark out there when he was with me.

“Are you drinking water?” He asks with disbelief as he walks towards me. “What kind of person drinks water?”

As his words bring to life one of our earliest interactions, my lips tug up slightly, chest warming as the tension eased its way from my body. Will rests his chin on my chest with a smirk, smiling up at me as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me in. I let myself sink into him as his eyes search mine as his fingers gently trail the length of my back.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asks gently, treating the question as if it was as fragile as I felt.

“I’m scared.” I voice, keeping my gaze locked to his to not spiral. “I had a… I remembered how I left things and I’m fucking terrified of how I’m going to find them. I mean I haven’t spoken to them in five months Will, besides that one time with dad, I haven’t…”

A tight fist wraps itself around my heart, squeezing it viscously as the phonecall brings itself to the surface. The tears and apologizes, the hurt and agony… rising rapidly to take me under its weight once more.

“Hey, try not to focus on that.” Will says calmly, pulling back as he stares at me. “You’ll keep crafting the worst scenarios in your head, so don’t think about what they’ll say, think or do. Instead try to focus instead on what you have to say, what you’re feeling or felt.”

I frown at this ready to argue but Will continues before I can.

“I know you love them, Damon, I know you love them so much that you feel guilty for taking the time that you’ve told me yourself that you needed,” Will says clearly, his words no longer as gently delivered as before. “And I know that you’re scared to face them and everything you left behind, I’ll be there to face it all with you. But you can’t forget the reason you left, what they did and how they treated you. I won’t let you put yourself in the wrong, so don’t try to.”

Will’s face with tight, jaws clenched as he glared at me with all the anger he had inside of him as if even thinking of such a fate made him see red. I let his words rest, they were harsh and disconnected but they were true, so I nod. Leaning down to kiss him forehead to quell his worries a little.

“Thank you,” I whisper against him as I rest my chin to his head. “….thank you.”

“You are my entire world Damon,” Will whispers as he presses a gentle kiss to my chest. “I won’t let anything or anyone break you.”

I smile at that, his words contrasting with my original thoughts of what my mate would be like. I thought I’d be the one protecting them, always saw myself comforting them and making all their problems cease to exist. But it was Will who did all those things, Will who always knew what to say and how to make it all not hurt so much.

It was Will, my perfect mate that was a direct opposition to what I wanted but everything that I needed.

“I love you,” I whisper.

“I love you too.”

———————–

When a knock on the door sounds, Will’s head pops out from the bathroom to look at me. I wave him off and head for the door, stepping around Sassy and Blaze who were both tugging on one of my shirts. It seemed like Blaze introduced his new friend to his favorite hobby and Sassy, of course, was all too happy to destroy something linked to me.

I swing the door open and smile a little when I see Mehki standing there chewing a piece of gum as always. With an overside, black and white coat hanging from his shoulders and his hands tucked in his pocket he wore that perfect blend of annoyed and amused that I’d come to learn as Mehki.

Mekhi eyes me for a moment, chewing slowing as he took me in before frowning deeply.

“You got taller.” He comments with a groan.

“Is that why you look smaller?” I retort with a smirk.

“Ha.” He comments blankly before looking over my shoulder. “Ready to go?”

“Almost,” I reply, hating the way my voice trembled slightly at even the mention of returning.

“Am I allowed inside or would you prefer me to wait out here until you are?” Mekhi questions, raising one of his pierced brows. “Either works for me.”

I walk back and leave the door open, letting him come in. As I turn around, I stop when I find Will looking between us, his expression harden and his body stiff in the manner it always seemed to be when we first met. I frown slightly as I make my way to him, hating the feeling his cold gaze caused as it sent me back to how guarded he used to be.

When his eyes finally move away from Mekhi and to me, they soften instantly making relief flood my chest in an all-consuming outpour. I offer my palm and smile once Will takes it, fingers clasped to mine in a tight hold. I turn once I’m sure he’s okay to face Mekhi again, smile only winding when I find him smiling as well.

“I didn’t get to introduce myself last time,” Mekhi says as he leans back a little. “There was a lot of shit happening and I was too swarmed to notice what was really going on here. I’m Mekhi, one of the people Damon finds tolerable.”

“Will.” He replies, barely batting an eye at Mekhi’s version of being friendly. “His mate.”

I look down in surprise at the slightly possessive ring in Will’s word, the sound of it caressing the animalistic parts of me that craved that exactly from my mate. Will holds Mehki’s surprise gaze as if challenging him to question or oppose the fact, the look filling my heart with so much pride that I feared it’d burst any moment.

“The perfect mate for him I see.” Mekhi comments, glancing across at me with a slight smile. “I’m happy he found you.”

Will’s eyes widen a little at that comment, eyes flashing with surprise at the easy acceptance I knew he didn’t expect. Will never spoke of his past, but he didn’t have to share his experiences for me to devise that acceptance was not a key factor in it.

“Me too,” Will replies, still not smiling but sounding a lot less hostile.

“So how we doing this?” Mekhi asks as bends down the pet Blaze and Sassy who drew themselves to him immediately. “Am I taking you and all your things? You and then all your shit? Your shit and then you? Only your shit?”

“You take our stuff, we’re driving there,” I explain, his eyebrows draw together slightly at this. “Will’s never teleported before, I don’t want him vomiting the second me get there.”

“Um, you never know, I may be special and not get affected at all.” Will combats as he looks up to me.

“Every wolf pukes the first few times.”

“I’m not a wolf.” He replies quickly.

“Yeah, he’s human.” Mekhi supports. “His lungs may implode instead, but the effect doesn’t matter. If you drive you’ll not make it back until night and then everyone would kill me.”

My brain narrows it’s focus in on that one word, the world going quiet as my heart picks up instantly.

“Everyone?” I question, turning my attention fully on him as he nods unsurely.

“Yeah…” He draws cautiously. “You know, your family.”

“You told them we were coming.” I grind out through clenched teeth, fingers tightening around Will’s stiff one.

“I wasn’t supposed to?” Mekhi asks as he tongues his cheek a little. When I shake my head he takes in a deep breathe before offering out his palms. “Well, they know.”

“Mekhi I swea-”

“What were you planning to just show up and surprise them?” Mekhi combats before I could start.

“Ideally,” Will mutters, his racing heart matching mine.

Neither of us was fond of warning them of our arrival, of making that call or text and having to face a prepared crowd. Just going and seeing what happened was what we envisioned…

“Well, that’s no the case. I’m sorry, I messed up on this one.” Mekhi admits with a little shrug. “If it makes you feel any better I didn’t mention that you had a mate.”

When neither of us replies he shrugs again.

“So should I take your shit first? Including your animals?”

“Yeah, in the suite,” I reply with disinterest, wanting him gone for the time being.

Mekhi nods and within the next moment, everything we’d packed and wrapped was gone alone with Blaze and Sassy leaving us in the bare footprint of the apartment I’d come to except I wasn’t the only one inside.

“Not the way I saw this going but that’s life,” Will grumbles as he turns to face me, offering me the best smile he could muster in light of things. “It’s not that bad.”

“You’re adorable when you try to be optimistic,” I reply making his smile ease into a more natural one.

“Is it working?” He asks hopefully.

“It’s not, not working.” I offer and he cheers making me laugh.

“How are you feeling?” Will asks gently, his expression more serious now as he reaches up to palm my cheek.

“I don’t know,” I say uneasily, leaning into his touch as he offers me the support I needed to keep from crumbling. “But it’s time to go home.”

“Then I’m with you,” Will replies with a look of determination that he could never know how much meant to me.

To finally have someone on my side, through it all, no matter the outcome – he couldn’t understand how that put the last pieces of me back together.

When Mekhi returns, neither of us look away from one another as the clock finally ran itself down.

“You are my happiness,” I promise him and he smiles shakily.

“You are my happiness too.” He replies, pressing himself up on his toes to press his lips to mine to seal our eternal vow.

Once we part, Will nods gently so I use his strength and face Mekhi and all that awaited us.

“We’re ready.”

———————————

That was actually a lot of shit for one chapter.

Thoughts??????

Did we like the nightmare/memory scene?

What about Mekhi meeting Will properly????

Also if you’re wondering, Damon was calling Aiden papa instead of Pops like he does now cause he was just a kid then. Random info for those who may have picked up on that.

Vote if you liked and comment thoughts, you know I love to hear them.

Enjoy the next chapter!