This time, he pulls away, giving me a pouty expression, but I don’t give in. He has no choice but to pull his hands higher up, although he still wraps them tightly around my waist, and puts his chin on my head. I turn around, leaning against him while staring at the delicious looking donuts ahead. I hear him sigh faintly.
“...I wish we had met sooner. We could have gone to school together… Damn, if I had a girlfriend like you in high school, I wouldn’t have missed a single class!”
“Are you sure? Nathaniel told me you were quite the runaway.”
“Damn it, Nate told you that? Since when did you guys get so close?!”
I chuckle. Liam has no idea… He often falls asleep first when we stay late at Nora’s or Selena’s place, so I can chat all I want with Nathaniel or Damian, and both of them have tons of stories about their little brother… They obviously love him, and are glad to share his cuteness with me. Let’s just hope he never finds out that I have some of his baby pictures.
“We would probably have missed classes together,” I chuckle. “If I had you in my class, I would never be able to focus…”
He holds me a bit tighter, agreeing with me in a chuckle, and we stay like this for a little while, waiting for all the teenagers to be done ordering. Some keep sending glances toward us, either because we’re shamelessly snuggling in public or because I am visibly a witch… I’ve gotten used to it, though. It’s not nearly as bad as it was a few months ago, either. I went from the most hated person on the campus to overnight celebrity, which was somewhat more annoying. Some girls even harassed me about becoming a witch, as if all it took was getting a pointy hat and a couple of lessons…
Finally, the young ones leave and it’s our turn to order. I have to remind Liam a couple of times that we're not ordering for ourselves, but we still leave with a large box and a donut in each of our hands. My werewolf stomach got the better of me… We take our time going to Nora’s house as we’ll be there early anyway.
As soon as we get to the familiar, less crowded streets leading to their house, I can’t help but smile. This feels like visiting the family, our big, warm family. It’s strange yet sweet how close I’ve gotten with each member of that big family. Regardless of whether we are blood-related or not, I just feel at ease as soon as I see the big, white house and its fence and, as usual, some wolves scattered in the garden.
Liam parks his bike, and sure enough, as soon as we get off, a bunch of young wolves and children run to us. I can’t believe how fast they grow up! James is already all about Liam’s bike while we make our way to the garden, ready to greet all of the Black children. Lily, Will, Estelle, Aurora, and Rose are all there, playing in the garden on a large cloth. Boyan is there in his wolf form with his daughter, Mary, right next to him, entertaining the younger kids. Rose is the first to get up and run to me, and I open up my arms to hug her.
“Hi, Mara…” she says with her cute voice, hugging me back.
“Hi, sweetie. How are you?”
I put a strand of her long, dark hair behind her ear. She’s growing up so fast… She stares at me with those big blue eyes of hers, definitely getting cuter each time.
“I’m okay…”
“How is Mommy?”
“Mommy is okay,” she nods.
“That’s good.”
She nods again, and suddenly jumps on me to hug me again, almost making me fall back. Moon Goddess, she’s the cutest little girl ever! Ever since I discovered my connection with her dad and Rose herself, I’ve been visiting Rose a lot and chatting with her mom, Tiffany. Although she is too young to understand, Rose can feel that connection between us, and her wolf probably lets her feel that I’m part of her family… that I’m related to her dad. I will explain it properly when she’s older, but for now, I’m just glad to be part of her life like this.
“How are you, Boyan?” I ask the big brown wolf.
He simply nods, and his daughter leans against him. Surrounded by kids like this, he probably can’t get much rest, but Boyan is definitely happier when he’s babysitting this rocky bunch. I chuckle and sit among them, and sure enough, the rest of the group comes back, James making a bit of a fuss behind Liam.
“Mara!”
Nora comes out of the house, looking a bit exhausted but with a large smile on.
“Need help?” I chuckle.
“Everyone inside!” she shouts at the children first. “It’s getting late and cold now, you should play inside…”
The children obediently get up and most follow Boyan inside, except for Rose, still holding my hand, and James. After a few seconds, Liam sighs and grabs his nephew to carry him inside for the second half of his tantrum. Nora sighs, following them with her eyes.
“This boy… He can be an angel at times, but Moon Goddess, he is so wilful!”
“Alpha blood,” I chuckle. “You’d better be ready…”
“Oh, you should see Lily, she’s the little princess of the house already, Damian can’t ever say no to her… I don’t know how Nathaniel does it with two girls.”
Rose giggles, and I brush her hair with a little wink. She definitely knows how to get her way with her uncles too…
“Mara, I have a little thing for you…”
