" ... unless she's here too." He says making my eyes widen at his words. "A-And she's finally back home … so we're a family again."
Smiles quickly spread around the table, mine the biggest of them all. I try my hardest to keep my tears back as I give him an appreciative nod with the intent to squeeze the living daylights out of him later.
"Hell, are you crying?" Damon questions making me shoot my head back as I physically will the tears to go away. "I don't remember you being this f*cking emotional."
"And I don't remember you being this f*cking ugly." I snap back as my eyes catch his, a deep frown taking his lips as his eyebrows knotted together.
"I'll have you know Fe-li-ci-a," Why'd he same my name like that? "that I'm sexy as hell." He finishes with so much confidence I almost puked. Sometimes I wondered where it all came from.
"You're welcome." Aiden says with a smirk. Yep, that's the source. Everyone groans their disgust but Dad just shrugs and we all dig in.
"So what are we doing tomorrow?" Josey asks me while holding a roasted drumstick in-between her fingers.
"Nothing." Damon replies and she shoots him an unimpressed look.
"Wasn't talking to you mutt." She spits making Damon growl almost as loudly as Julian. Josey apologizes silently but the conversation continues.
"Call me that one more time, see if I don't show you who's Alpha." Damon threatens leaning over the table making Josey smirk.
Goddess, didn't he know by now you never pick a fight with that girl. The kid would f*cking annihilate you without even blinking.
"Oh you don't need to show me." She scoffs before tearing the meat off the bone with her teeth, flashing her canines in the process. "I already know who's Alpha. Dad is alpha." She says pointing the drumstick to Julian. "Grandpa is alpha." She says pointing to Aiden who mutters profanities under his breath. "Feli is an alpha." She says pointing it to me before redirecting it to Damon. "You … mutt … you're no alpha. You're just a little boy running around in daddy's shoes, but they'll always be too big for you."
"Ooooo." Aiden says with his hand over his mouth as his eyes dart between Damon and Josey.
Josey may have been only fourteen but when she got like this, Jesus Christ. Let's just say it reminded me of why I tried to remain on her good side.
It didn't help that Josey and Damon had one weird *ss relationship. They were always fighting; always trying to demean the other or embarrass each other in the worst way possible. But at the end of the day, they'd be in the gym working out side by side.
I didn't get it at all.
Damon's eyes glow a dark blue with as he opens his mouth with the intent to kill but was quickly interrupted.
"Julian." Dad says suddenly before licking his fingers. "Why did you bare such demonic children? Why didn't we adopt?"
"Firstly, you carried two of them and secondly, we did adopt." He replies, the two of them having a conversation as if we weren't all right here.
"Yeah and he's the only tolerable one." He continues making everyone frown, though we all had a twinkle of amusement in our eyes. "We adopted one tolerable son, made one demonic one, a perfect one, and two … I don't even know."
"But we love them." Julian says with a smile and dad nods.
"We love them." He says as if that were a sin before he looks to us. "It's a pity they don't love each other."
"Oh, we love each other." Hagen confirms while we all nod, his mouth full of just about everything on the table.
"And we love you guys." Josey says looking to Damon who nods. "You either adopted us or made us and now you're stuck with us, and for that we apologize."
"Sincerely." I fill in and they all nod once more.
"But you have to understand, we're stuck with you guys too." She says turning the tables on them. Their eyes widen with smiles tugging at their lips.
"I never thought that Goddess would be mean enough to give me to a pair of lunatics who hate each other as parents." Damon says with amused eyes.
"Hated." Dad quickly corrects.
"Because that's so much better." Josey says sarcastically. "And day and night we suffer through your failed attempt of a bond."
"Ouch." Julian says holding his chest with a smile.
"But it's okay." Josey says quickly.
"Because we love you." Peter finishes, leaving all the kids smiling while our parents struggle to hide their own.
"Goddess I love you guys." Aiden finally says with a chuckles as he smiles at us.
"We love you too." We all say in unison.
Our family dynamic was a weird one, I admit. Few understood it and even less approved of it, but we didn't care. Because at the end of the day, we had each other and that was all that mattered.
***
"No, Pizzaman come back!"
Hagen groans in his sleep while clawing at my chest. I wince but ignore it as I carry him on my back. Josey laid in the same state of deep sleep but in Damon's arms.
We lay them down in their beds, tucking them in under their large covers before closing the doors behind us and returning downstairs to the large lounge where everyone else was watching movies.
Julian was seated comfortably in Aiden's lap while Peter sat in his designated armchair. They look up to us when return after putting the snoring twins to bed.
"Is it cool if I go hang out with Amelia?" Damon asks and our parents nod. He tosses them a small smile before he turns to go, stopping as he rests his hand on my shoulder. "It's uh … it's really good to have you back, Feli." He says without meeting my eyes. I open my mouth to reply but he's already out the door and gone.
"He really missed you." Julian says making me look to them.
"I missed him too." I say with a smile before I snap out of my little haze. "I'm going to sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning."
"Me too." Peter mumbles as he stands up and quickly walks over to my side.
"We'll see you two in the morning." Julian says with a smile.
"I'd say sleep tight but that doesn't make any sense." Aiden says making dad roll his eyes. "How can you sleep tight?- it just doesn't work. So I'm going to say something more logical … sleep."
"Thanks, dad?" I say as more of a question. I throw my hand over Peter's shoulder and lead us out of the room. It burned a little to hold him but it was totally worth it the way he snuggled into me. He didn't show it a lot but he liked his hugs and cuddles.
"You doing okay?" I question, taking the opportunity to talk to him- just the two of us. "I know the house can get a little crazy."
"A little?" He counters softly and I smile.
"But you're fine?" He nods. "And school? No one's bothering you right?"
"I'm fine Feli." He says as we go up the stairs. I look down at him to make sure and he rolls his eyes before nodding once more.
I decide to trust him for now as we keep walking, unusually slow as if we were trying to extend the time we had together. It's silent for a long time before he says something.
"I meant what I said earlier." He whispers and I quirk my eyebrow. "We're not a family unless you're here."
"When did you become so f*cking cute?" I question as I squeeze him tighter, pressing him into my chest as an effort to hide the emotions rushing to the surface way too quickly. He pushes against me after a while, muffled groans showing I was suffocating him again. When I let him go, he frowns at me as he rubs his nose before a small sneeze comes out.
"I'm not cute." He mumbles as he speed-walks to his room. I follow after him, holding the door before he could shut it and lock himself in for Goddess knows how long.
"Thank you Peter." I say seriously. "I really appreciate that."
He gives a small nod and I release the door, allowing him to close it. I walk to my room, diving straight onto the black sheets that were freshly washed. I roll onto my side so that I'm facing my large window, the moon shining down on me in all its lunar goodness. I stare at it until I slowly drift to sleep under the comfort of the night sky.