Damon’s P.O.V

I didn’t expect this.

When I was preparing to come home and face everything I left behind, I didn’t expect my leaving to create even more issues.

I thought I’d just have to face four people; Dad, Pops, Levi, and Amelia. I thought I’d see them and it would be hard but we’d work things out somehow because there wasn’t any other option but to fix what was broken. And it’d be okay because Will would be by my side and everything would be okay.

But then Josey was yelling yesterday, blaming me for what happened when I left, blaming me for things I didn’t want to happen. She was hurt and so was Hagen and Peter, they were in the crossfires of all this even if I didn’t realize it.

“What do you want to talk about?” Josey says as she turns to face me with crossed arms to match the walls she was building around herself.

I look around the room that was supposed to be her bedroom.

“Dad spent months trying to get this right,” I tell her as I look around the familiar space, a smile tugging on my lips as memories began to play out right before my eyes. “He was so damn scared of having a girl and messing up, it was the most frantic I’ve ever seen him.”

I look to Josey, the hard-line to her eyes softening just a bit as she listened silently from her spot.

“Somewhere during Pops’ pregnancy, he convinced himself that if he could get the bedroom just right then he could handle raising a girl.” I continue with a small chuckle because the reasoning was just as dumb now as it sounded before. “He’d spend hours in here, decorating it and then redecorating it. Only to wake up the next day and start all over again.”

“He’s got a problem.” Josey remarks with a smirk that could have only come from Pops.

“It was blue once, then yellow, he was happy with red for a while and I don’t even know why he tried black.” I list as the images of the room’s varying appearances slip through my mind. “He went through every color in the fucking rainbow trying to get this shit right.”

I run a hand along the white wardrobe top, not surprised to find a single spec of dust there.

“He chose lavender in the end,” I say while running my eyes over the room. Lavender coated the walls on all sides, white and silver accent pieces sitting perfectly all around the match the large, white queen bed in the center. “He said it was ‘graceful’ like you would be, ‘subtly elegant and refined’ which would make you a great warrior. He said it represented ‘beauty’ and that you’d be the most beautiful thing in this world.”

“I think I missed the mark on all those things,” Josey comments as she glances around the room she sparsely used.

“I don’t know, I think there’s still time to see if you do,” I reply as I lean against the wardrobe and face her. “Either way, he got it just right and now, now you use it as a second closet.”

“I have a problem, you know I do.” She replies defensively in reference to her shopping addiction that only seemed to worsen as time went on.

“I know,” I admit as I focus my eyes on her dark ones. “But I also know that you’d find space if you had to. You share Hagen’s room with him because you know the little shit doesn’t like sleeping on his own.”

Josey just shrugs, his eyes leaving mine as she looks out the window.

“Is that what you wanted to talk about?” She asks with feigned disinterest. “Dad’s panic attacks over me and Hagen’s sleeping habits?”

“You’re like me,” I tell her, drawing her eyes right back to me. “We got a chip on our shoulder for no fucking reason and we love this family more than anything, I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t have to… I wouldn’t have hurt you guys like my leaving did If I didn’t have to go.”

Silence.

“I had to go, Josey,” I tell her, making her entire body tense with thick rage as her jaw clenches. “I had to.”

“Sure, maybe you had to leave,” She spits angrily, her eyes fire lit and now burning into mine. “But a text Damon, you couldn’t send a fucking text? One fucking text to say I’m safe, I’m okay.”

“I wasn’t okay,” I reply honestly, the words making her anger flutter for a moment. “I was not okay and I didn’t feel safe, I felt broken from every side.”

When she doesn’t reply I carry on.

“Things weren’t okay Josey, I was not okay and everything hurt,” I explain, hating the way my voice trembled at the admission. “It started before I left, but that night was too much and I couldn’t just keep pushing through it anymore. I couldn’t. When it all happened, I couldn’t even think of you guys without falling apart.

I did try, once. I tried to call because I wanted to, don’t doubt that I didn’t miss all of you too. It fucking hurt to stay away and not hear your voices, so I tried and I didn’t even see a single text before I was ripping into a rogue in the woods. I didn’t try again after that, not until I was ready, because I had to think of me because thinking of anything else was agony.”

Josey stares at me, pity mixing in with the everpresent anger she wore so openly. I didn’t want her to feel sorry for me, I just wanted her to understand so she could see why I couldn’t come home, even when we both wanted me to.

“We didn’t hurt you.” She comments as her arms unfold to hang limply at her sides, her tight features relaxing some. “Peter, Hagen and I, we didn’t hurt you as they did.”

“No, but you did hurt me.” I correct, the words making her eyes widen in surprise. “I don’t blame you and I know it wasn’t intentional, but you guys didn’t treat much better than everyone else. I know you guys love me, and I love you too, but the violence was all any of you saw. Peter was better, he was kind to me even when I wasn’t to him.”

“I-I…” Her words crumble as the truth in my words settle in, a thousand interactions proving it to be valid.

“I didn’t help my own case much, so I know it was my fault as well,” I admit offering her a weak smile to let her know I wasn’t mad at her.

“I’m sorry,” She manages after swallowing deeply, her eyes filling with tears as all the anger seeps from her veins. “I-I’m sorry Damon.”

I lean off the wardrobe and open my arms, she doesn’t hesitate to run into them. Her hug was as vicious and suffocating as she squeezed me so hard she almost lifted me from the ground. I pat her back with a cough, struggling to breathe and see straight.

“If you hug your mate like this, you’ll kill them before they even learn your name.” I tease making her laugh as she pulls back to punch me in my stomach. “Shit!” I cough as I double over to hold my shattered intestines. “How are you stronger than before?”

“Someone had to keep things running with you gone.” She replies with a fading smile as her eyes search mine. “I’m really sorry Damon, I wish you had said something to us, when you talked to dad… but I understand why now, I think. Maybe, when you can, you can explain it all to me. Either way, I’m sorry you got stuck with such shitbags as siblings.”

“It’s okay, I’m a shitbag too,” I admit with a laugh that she picked up without any trouble. “Can I ask you something, Jo?”

“Depends on what the question is.” She replies with narrowing eyes filled with suspicion.

“Do you think we’ll be okay? After all this, do you think things will get better?” I ask, voicing some of the fears that I held tight to my chest.

“We’re the fucking Calderons and Heils, we’ll be more than okay Damon.” She replies with enough confidence to lift the weight from my shoulders. “Now let’s go back before Hagen scares Will away.”

My aching stumble rumbles with laughter because it wasn’t too far off the truth, Hagen was a loveable kid but sometimes he could say the weirdest shit.

“He seems cool by the way,” She comments with a small nod to herself. “He acts like nothing here bothers him, he’s just calm… I dig it.”

I open my mouth to reply but stop when the feeling of ice-like claws scrape their way over my lungs, every instinct pricking to alert calling, screaming for my mate. Theo howls loudly in discomfort, the sound sending goosebumps all over my skin as my feet begin to move before my brain fully caught up with what was happening.

Will. Will. Will. Something is wrong with Will.

“Damon!” Hagen screams making my heart clamp down on itself as fear ricochets through me.

I push my way down the hallway, eyes already glued to the open door at the end of it that held my mate, my mate who I could in my bones and soul was scared.

My steps falter as I turn into the room, the sight of this morning’s breakfast covering the bedroom floor making my entire stomach flip over as Will’s curled body hovers over the horrible sight.

Every inch of me blanches with Will, who I knew to be strong and confident, now such a small thing shaking on the floor. His head cast down as his weaken body made every attempt to distance himself from Hagen who was still advancing on him with open hands.

“What did you do?” I growl as I push Hagen aside to bring Will’s trembling body into my arms.

I wipe his tears away with stiff fingers, his racing heart pounding into my skull like a cruel drum singing a melody of his agony. I hold his face close to mine as small sobs break their way through him, his body dry-heaving while his quivering fingers clench onto my shirt.

“I-I just t-took his hand a-and he…” Hagen’s words trail off as he looks between the two of us with frantic eyes full of sorrow and regret.

“You can’t touch him!” I boom, anger making its way through me despite Theo’s whispered words of his innocent ignorance of this situation. “You don’t ever fucking touch him!”

“I-I didn’t k-know,” He stutters out, “D-Damon, I-I didn’t k-know.”

I pull Will closer, ignoring the heavy sound of footsteps scaling the stares and focus on him. Wrapping my arms around him tightly and letting him hide his face in my neck as his tiny body curled in mine, begging to be put away.

“I’m right here Will, it’s okay,” I whisper gently to him, a soft whine pulling from my lips as I prayed with everything inside of me that Goddess would ease his pain.

He’d told me about this, delivered through nervous words over a dinner table once, he’d told me about how it was like for him when other people touched him. How he felt sick to the bone, sometimes froze or broke out in hives, or at the worst of times, how he’d vomit.

“I’m right here, it’ll be okay,” I promise, holding him even tighter to me as his tremors carry on.

“What happened?” Pops heavy voice rings through the room as I stand to my feet while cradling Will in my arms.

“We’re leaving.” I manage around the lump in my throat, guilt quickly building from not warning them of this earlier.

“What? Is Will okay? What happened?” Dad asks as I move towards them, their bodies already parting to let us through.

I don’t reply, not because I didn’t want to but because I faired what I would say if I did. I knew it wasn’t intentional, I could feel it through the bond that Hagen was remorseful and rapidly filling with guilt. But all I could see, taste, feel and smell, was Will’s heady fear and anxiety that only seemed to be growing as the seconds ticked on.

“D-Damon,” He whimpers through his tremours, his head lifting slightly to reveal a soft face I’d come to love now paler than I’d ever seen it and fresh with new tears. “Damon.”

“I’m here, I’m right here,” I answer quickly, speeding up my steps to take him back to the suite. “We’re going to the suite right now, give me a few minutes and I-”

“N-No,” He manages through quick, sharp pants as heavy-lidded eyes found mind. “I can’t..g-go with a-all…..the p-people…”

My steps come to an immediate stop as his words settle in, their meaning making my legs as heavy as dried cement. I frown down at him, hating that I’d put him in this situation, hating that I put him in this state.

I couldn’t take him to the suite because he wouldn’t be able to make it through without having his anxiety only skyrocket with all the people who laid outside. He’d almost had a panic attack last time and this morning had been no better, doing it again as he was now would only serve to make things that much worse.

We had to stay.

“Okay,” I say once my thoughts catch back up to me. I turn and make my way to my bedroom, not letting myself think about the pain the space piled on me from just thinking about it. “Okay, i-it’s okay. We’ll go to my room, is that okay?”

Will nods slowly, his body relaxing some as his breathing fans out.

I close the door behind us, not in any state to answer my family’s questions or give them the reassurance I knew they needed. I couldn’t think of them, not when Will was so…

Pushing the thoughts away I climb onto my bed with Will still in my arms, backing up until my back was resting against the headboard.

“It’s just us,” I whisper as I press a kiss to his head, closing my eyes as I keep my lips there. “I have you, Will. I’m right here, no one will hurt you, I promise.”

I continue whispering eternal promises, not letting my hold on him loosen for even a moment. Slowly Will found his way back around, his tears quieting down to steady breathes as his body finally melted into my own.

“I’m sorry,” He mumbles, voice slightly rasped now.

“Please don’t apologize,” I beg, the thought of it only adding to my regret. “Please don’t.”

“It was supposed to be a day for you and your family,” He continues despite my pleas, “and I ruined it.”

“You didn’t ruin anything,” I insist, some of my own distress spilling out of me. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Will, I promise.”

Will doesn’t reply, he only pulls himself closer to me and breathes me in deeply like a wolf.

The scent of a mate brought comfort to wolves, tied knots of endless love and solid support all around us.

It was a way of remembering one was safe and protected – I hoped Will felt those things when he took my scent in. I hoped it’d help him.

Will fell asleep soon after, with his body curved into all my spaces and his soft feathers brushing against my skin.

I’m worried Theo – I call out while running my fingers through Will’s soft hair that curled at the tips.

He’ll be okay, he just needs a bit more time to adjust – Theo replies surely, his voice dripping with confidence even through its fractures.

That’s not what I’m worried about – I reply watching Will’s features tense and relax. I’m worried about what I’ll do to them when I find them, whoever did this to him. I’m worried about what I’ll do.

—————

“He’s sleeping,” I explain as I move around the kitchen, filling a glass of cold water for when Will woke.

Dad’s bright blue eyes soften a little as they track my silent movements through the kitchen.

“Hagen’s sorry,” He offers, his voice too fragile to mirror the person I’d grown up with. “He didn’t know, none of us knew.”

“I know,” I whisper with a sigh because I did know that Hagen would never hurt someone intentionally.

I turn around to face Dad, letting him see the exhaustion, anger, fear and anything else that he could probably already feel.

“Do you want to talk Damon?” Dad asks kindly, his words an extended olive branch. “We can talk about it if you want or anything else, we can just talk.”

I study my father, watching carefully at the way his chest rose and fell in quick succession, his nerves evident now as he waited for an answer I’d already decided on. I wouldn’t pass up this first attempt at fixing a relationship that was not broken, just a little fractured.

“Yeah,” I admit. “Yeah, I do.”

“Peppermint or Camomile?” He asks with brightening eyes, his legs already taking him to the kettle. He wore a wide smile that I could just about catch from this angle and I couldn’t help but let one grow on me too.

“Peppermint,” I reply, leaning against the counter while watching silently as Dad prepared two cups of tea.

He hands me mine once he finishes before propping himself up against the opposite counter, his smile welcoming and open in a way I hadn’t seen it for a while, in a way I’d craved for a while.

“I don’t know much about Will’s past,” I say honestly, the revelation making Dad’s eyes narrow slightly but he didn’t interrupt just listened. “I know everything about who he is and every little detail there is to know about him, but his past isn’t something he likes to talk about. So I don’t know why he doesn’t like to be touched, but he doesn’t. He doesn’t let anyone touch him, no skin to skin contact, he says it makes him feel sick.”

“Thank Goddess it’s different with you,” Dad whispers encouraging a nod from me.

“We didn’t know at first,” I admit, my heart leaping slightly at the memory of the first meal we’d made together. “It was an accident the first time it happened, just our shoulders bumping.”

“And he didn’t freak out?” He asks as more of a statement because that was the only, logical reason.

“Oh no, he did,” I reply with a chuckle. “He screamed and freaked out, but it wasn’t because of that. He told me afterward it was different with others, that he’d either throw up or freeze in his spot, but today was the first time I’ve actually seen it happen.”

“I’m sorry,” Dad whispers, his face contorted into one of distress and frustration as he tries to search for words beyond those. But what more could he say beyond that, nothing felt right when facing something so sorrowful.

We sip at our tea, letting the silence occupy the space neither of us knew how to fill with words.

I glance up at dad, part of me still stunned to find that I was back home with my family instead of in that quiet space Will and I made into a home. That part yearned to go back, to those blissful moments after the storm where Will and I were happy, living day in and day out with nothing but each other’s company.

But the rest of me yearned to stay, the rest of me was happy to stand here with my father who was trying so hard to make things better than they were. It wanted to never leave, to make this place that was always my home just as loved as the one I’d formed with my mate.

I only hoped he would feel the same.

“Whatever happened to him, before he met you,” Dad begins with a tightening jaw, his eyes flashing blue momentarily. “It won’t happen again. William is pack.”

His words touched me like a scorching heat burning its way through my ribs and straight into my heart. It didn’t hurt, not in the slightest. It only filled me with joy and happiness that had me hugging my dad before I could even think about it.

I felt small with his arms wrapped around me, small like a young pup as he held me tight to him with just as much force as I held him. We inhale one another deeply, a soft, primal whine pulling from his lips as he pressed his cheek to mine, rubbing his scent into me.

It was a gesture he often did when we were in our primary form but I knew why he needed to do it now, I felt it too. So I let my worries go, for just this moment, I let everything go and sink into this feeling of being in my father’s arms, his hold just as warm and loving as when I was a kid.

I could feel tears pricking at my eyes but I force them down, not wanting to find myself crying here, not now.

I just wanted my dad.

“I love you Damon,” Dad whispers, the words allowing a single tear to escape as I tightened my grip on him. “I love you very much and I will always be here, for you and for your mate.”

I love you too Dad – I say through the link, because trying to say it out loud would only make me fall apart.

I knew then that whatever or whoever hurt Will wouldn’t have to deal with just me but every person in this house that didn’t take people hurting our family lightly.

Because that was what we were, a family.

——————————————

I actually adore this family and I can’t wait for them to fuck up everyone Will hates.

Thoughts???????????????

Did we like the Josey part or hate it? What about poor Hagen?!! HE DIDN’T KNOWWW *cries*

I wanted to actually end this chapter with smut but you guys know my fingers do their own thing. So we got Julian and Damon drinking tea in the kitchen instead, which might I add, is fucking adorable when you think about it.

Anyways, Vote and comment if you did enjoy this double update, once again, thank you soooooooo much for being amazing and wonderful and spectular.

To everyone who voted soooo much for me in the fiction awards, THANK YOU THANK YOU. You will be getting a gift beyond this double update, it will be my next upload so keep your eyes open.

I hope you guys have a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Happy New Year, love you all and,

Until next time,
Byeeeeeeeee Humansssssssss