145. Aurora

CHAPTER 145

Aurora

Four Months Later-

Morning, my least favorite time of day, ranks right up there with pack politics. I wake up in a tangle of limbs between my mates and my five children. I can barely move. Today is the day we return to my mother's castle and see how far Kaden and the Bears have gotten.

I wiggle myself free and tiptoe across the floor to the bathroom and take care of my morning necessities. A quick shower later and I feel like a new woman. The only thing missing is my coffee. I come out of the main part of the Alpha House and into the kitchen, catching my mother-in-law and my father sitting at the table having a quiet breakfast together.

"Good morning, everyone," I say with my semi-serious grump. They murmur their good mornings, barely forming words. I guess they are having a morning like I am. Jennifer brings me my coffee as well as my favorite—French toast with bacon. I'm halfway through my first cup of coffee when Dimitri makes it upstairs from our little love nest.

"Good morning, love," he says softly as he kisses my temple and hugs me to his body gently. He sits next to me at the island table, and Jennifer brings him his coffee and his honey-covered toast. I can't help but start to giggle, seeing what he's having for breakfast. "What seems to be so funny, my love?" Dimitri asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, you see, I just find it funny what you're having for breakfast. Little stereotypical, don't you think?" As I scrunch my nose, looking at him, then down to the honey-covered toast, then back up again, I tilt my head to the side and smile trying not to laugh.

Dimitri looks at his toast before taking a bite, and then it hits him. He smirks while chewing his bite and then starts shaking his head slowly. "Yeah, you got me. I can't help it. I love sweet, sticky things." I almost inhale my coffee, my poor father wasn't so lucky as he does inhale his coffee, and my stepmom laughs hysterically at him. Poor Jennifer comes back to the counter three shades of red as she wipes up after my father's mess.

I'm just shaking my head, trying not to spit or inhale my coffee. I settle down enough to finally swallow the gulp that I have in my mouth, and then I look over at poor Jennifer. "Yeah, you guys really need to learn not to drink when I'm involved in a conversation." My father, of all people, should know this by now since he's almost drowned at least six times. I start laughing softly before taking another sip of my coffee.

"The things that come out of your mouth… your mother would have been blushing," Nicodeamus says semi-sternly but with a smile on his face, so I'm quite confused.

"Really, Dad?" I tilt my head, looking around Dimitri at my dad. "You helped to create me, and you're telling me she would have been blushing about what I said." I lightly touch my chin with my index finger as I stare at him. "I've overheard some of the things you've said to Helle; you're definitely not innocent."

I raise an eyebrow staring at him as he starts to stutter. "Well, yeah. I guess you have a point there," Nicodeamus says, trying to hide his blush as he goes back to sipping his coffee.

I lean forward a little further to try to catch Helle's eyes. "I know what Daddy said to you the other day that had you blushing furiously," I say with a sadistic smirk and smile like Harley Quinn.

Helle starts to sputter and cough and then turns a bright shade of crimson. "Um, I don't know what to say to that, daughter." She looks frantically between my father and me. Dimitri has his hand up, not wanting to look in their direction, trying to shield his eyes.

"It's all good, Mom. Besides, you gave me the twins. Life can get no better than this." I smile broadly and throw my arms out dramatically in a tada motion. I'm still smiling broadly as I stare at her, and again her face goes through several shades of pink and red before she looks down at her food.

"You're welcome?" She sighs softly then starts laughing. "I've heard what my boys have said to you," she says and smirks. I shrug because quite honestly, there's no shame in my game. I've got six mates, and I somehow manage to juggle them all.

"And?" I smile, tilting my head, looking at her.

"Did they give you any brilliant ideas of what to do with Daddy dearest?" I ask as I purse my lips looking at her. Dad again starts to choke on his coffee. Dimitri starts smacking him on his back, trying to help him clear the coffee from his lungs. Helle and I look at each other and then bust out hysterically laughing.

Several coughs later, my father looks angry. "I'm glad my misery is bringing you guys such great, jovial moments." he says sarcastically as he looks between the two of us.

"Aw, poor Daddy. You want to take my new mommy to your room and have her kiss it and make it all better?" I say as sweetly and as sarcastically as I can possibly manage. I purse my lips at the end, almost like I'm getting ready to kiss somebody, and then rest both my fists under my chin, trying to look as innocent as possible.

Dimitri just shakes his head and lowers it. I know at this moment he does not know what to do with me. "You know, baby girl, most kids would be grossed out by their parents having sex." He just tilts his head, looking at me, and smiles.

"Yeah, I know. But thankfully for them, I am not the normal child, and I honestly don't give a fuck. I don't care if we walked in on them boning in the middle of the living room. I'd just be happy Dad is alive and able to get laid." I throw my hands up in the "so what" position. My poor father is five shades of red, staring at me jaw dropped, eyes bugged, completely shocked by the words that came out of my mouth.

Alaric apparently came in on the tail end of my tirade. His face is beat red, and he's just looking between myself and my father, trying to figure out what exactly just happened. "Good morning?" he says hesitantly, as he cautiously walks his happy ass into the room and has a seat next to me.

"Morning, babe," I say as I bounce in my seat and lean over and kiss his cheek. "D thinks I'm going to be grossed out by Dad and my new mom going at it like a pair of rabid bunnies in the middle of a heat cycle." I shrug my shoulders as I stare at my husband. He's wearing the exact same expression my father has, jaw dropped, eyes bugged out. I really think I'm missing something here.

My father clears his throat and then turns to face me. "Little one, I know that you were raised in a different time than myself, Alaric, and Dimitri. The level of openness and comfortableness that you have with sex is quite shocking to me." He tries to speak as softly as possible, trying to get me to understand where he's coming from.

"Okay?" I say, still quite puzzled and really just not getting what he's trying to tell me. "So do you want me to like, tone it down a little bit, or just not talk about sex in front of you and my new mom?" I ask as I look at them, my head tilted to the side, my brows furrowed. I am absolutely confused as to where this morning has decided to take a turn to.

Dimitri gently grips both of my shoulders as he turns me fully to face him. "It's not that, my love," he says softly. "Just because you're comfortable talking about them having sex and knowing that they're having sex, doesn't mean that they are comfortable discussing the subject around you." Dimitri is staring at me, hoping I connect the dots and that it makes sense to me.

I ponder what he says for several minutes as I finish eating my French toast. The kitchen is so silent you could hear a pin drop. The rest of my mates slowly emerge from our bedroom, dragging the children along with them. I'm still lost in my own thoughts to the point that I don't even notice everybody filling the room. Jayce and Klaus have the babies sitting around their table off to the island's side along with Tia and Ladon. I briefly look over at my children and notice that Luna is sitting between Tiamat and Ladon. I don't know if it was the way that Tiamat wanted them to sit or if it was Luna's choice to sit between them.

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that Luna wanted to sit there. And upon further pondering, I realized how uncomfortable I made my father and Helle this morning by being okay and open with them having sex. Slowly, I lower my head and sigh. "I'm sorry, Mom and Dad, if I made you uncomfortable. I didn't mean to do it. I really gotta start realizing that not everybody is as comfortable with everything as I am." I get up from my seat and go over and hug it out with my dad and Helle. They tell me that they understand and that they're thankful to know that I do. I move back over to the table where my babies are sitting and check on everybody.

"How's my babies?" I ask as I watch Jayce and Klaus feeding all the little ones. Tiamat has taken it upon herself to sit there and feed Luna. I can't help but laugh, and my heart swells at the amount of love at this table. Ladon occasionally reaches over and helps feed Odette.

After all of the pain and suffering that I've dealt with in my entire life, this singular moment has become one of my favorites. My older children help the younger ones, and two of my mates are taking the time to feed the babies. The others are hanging out with my dad and new stepmom.

Several moments later, Dante and Edgar enter the kitchen dining area and place their orders with Jennifer. Curiously, I look around to see if Marco happened to follow them. My two War Dragons start discussing the planned flight back for today to go see the renovations on my mother's castle with the guys . Halfway through the discussion, Marco makes his appearance.

His eyes lock on Luna immediately. I can see the love and adoration in his eyes that he has for my daughter. He must be in his own personal hell having to watch and wait for his mate to grow and mature. I don't know how he's doing it, and I give him credit for the amount of strength that he must have to be able to wait this long. Jayce notices Marco enter the room and carefully removes Luna from her seat. Presently, Luna's about the size of a two-year-old. We had her stay as her wolf long enough to make it easier for all of us to care for them.

Luna squeals and throws her chubby arms out as she goes running the best she can towards Marco. He opens his arms wide as Luna crashes into him. She squeals and plants fat baby kisses all over his cheek, wrapping her little chubby arms around his neck. I hear his dragon croon to her, showing her the love and affection only a mate can. It makes me emotional watching this moment. Tears slowly trickle down my face as I watch the two of them interact. Selfishly I want to keep her as her wolf and help her grow quickly and mature faster so that they can be together. But it's not fair to Luna to miss out on all the fun things that children get to do. I'll help speed the process up slightly, letting her leapfrog a few years here and there. Instead of an eighteen-year wait, he might only have six.

Marco must have noticed me watching him with Luna because suddenly his stance stiffens. I smile and raise a hand to him, letting him know that everything's okay. He sighs softly, thankful that I'm not angry. My heart aches for the two of them. At least I know one thing: my Omega daughter will be taken care of by one of the best men I know. Marco smiles at me before he kisses the crown of Luna's head and carries her back over to Jayce.

Jayce and Marco hug it out before he leaves Luna's side. Almost instantly, Luna begins to cry because Marco had to go. I sigh softly and call Marco over to me.

"Yes, my Queen?" Marco says to me curiously as his eyes never leave my daughter.

"I would like to make sure that Luna's first flight is a comfortable one." I draw in a deep breath, looking at him before looking back over to Jayce and signaling for him to join us. "I would like to make a request of you, Marco."

"If it's within my power, my Queen, I will do anything that you ask of me." He raises his fist to his heart and bows his head slightly to me.

I slightly bow my head to him and then look over to Jayce. "Marco, will you do me the honor of carrying both of my precious Omegas? I would like for Luna and for Jayce to ride with you on this trip." I smile softly and raise my hand to stop him from speaking. "It'll be Luna's first flight, and it's not natural for a Dire Wolf to be in the air." I lightly rest my hand on his forearm before continuing. "Although your bond with her is fragile, it's still enough that it may keep her wolf settled."

Marco smiles, trying to hide how happy it makes him that he'll be able to carry his young mate. I see the sly smile from her father, Jayce, seeing what I'm doing. Marco drops down to one knee before me and lowers his head. "You honor me and trust me greatly, my Queen. Thank you for this great boon you have given me," he says solemnly. "If there is ever anything that you wish of me, big or small, do not hesitate to ask; it is yours."

Gently, I rest my hand on top of Marco's head and according to his people's custom. I slide my hand down his face to caress his jaw and lightly pull up to allow him to stand again. "You honor me. I am blessed that a man as good as yourself is to be the mate of my most gentle daughter."

Marco blushes then joins Dante and Edgar. I shake my head, slowly watching the guys interact. I send Klaus over to hang out with the others as Jayce and I finish feeding the children and then clean them up. For our benefit, the guys begin to speak louder, projecting their voices. From what I hear from the conversation, we leave in less than an hour. My father plans on meeting us there, he has things to finish after our last visit. Honestly, I don't blame him, I kind of don't want to go either, but I have to because it will be Kirra's castle one day.

The guys start prepping to leave, dividing up who is flying with who. I'm over here with Jayce and the babies trying not to laugh. Marco is taking Jayce, Luna, Dimitri, and Odette. Alaric is taking me and his two children as well as Dominik. More than likely, Arnulf will shift and fly for a bit then land on my gauntlet. Dante is trying to get Klaus and Kirra to fly with Marco so that he and Edgar can be on security. Klaus finally gives in and heads to start packing bags for himself and his daughter. I can't help but shake my head as Jayce and I leave to go pack. The next few hours are going to be the longest hours of my life.