“That’s great, who is it?” Harley asked and James took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“Well it’s my son,” He said plainly and Harley froze, gawking at him that made him smile a little.
“Your son? But… how… I thought you couldn’t…” Harley started, reminding him of his reaction but just like Eliza she threw herself into his arms giving him a strong hug. “Oh James congratulations,” she cheered then looked confused. “Why am I finding out I’m an Aunt now?” She asked with a frown and with some of his anger returning James explained more or less his conversation with Lily.
“How could she do that to you?” His sister demanded with indignation, practically shouting, and Koen put his hands on her shoulders.
“Easy babe, you don’t know what’s going on. You know that sometimes families make stupid decisions in an attempt to protect those they love,” he told her and Harley shot him a glare. James knew he was talking about their parents. Once they discovered what James was, they refused to Harley and James be around each other… for her own safety of course.
“It’s just not fair,” Harley huffed and James shrugged and he hugged her again, not wanting to think about it lest he gets too angry again.
“Yeah well life hasn’t been exactly fair to her either,” James stated before he realized it. Harley mirrored his surprise at him defending her. He had no idea why he felt the need to defend Lily. Harley suddenly smiled a mischievous smile at him.
“Aw my brother is in love,” Harley cooed and James glared at her.
“Don’t,” James warned her. “Not today okay sis. I’m holding on by a thread as it is,” he explained and Harley snorted with a dry laugh.
“Well duh, you got yourself mixed up with Lily Crazy Horse Nawasa,” Harley told him and James looked at her in surprise. “She made quite the name for herself in the public school system. That girl could go cool to crazy in point zero five nanoseconds if you pissed her off,” she explained and James couldn’t help a smirk.
“Figures,” he replied with a shake of his head. “Let me go inside so you can see my son,” he finished with a smile, guiding his sister up and into the house. Time for round two, he thought a little bitterly.
That could have gone better; Lily thought as she closed the porch door and walked towards the fire place. But when she really thought about it Lily couldn’t say she was surprised. Deep down she knew he was right. She was being selfish and… a coward. With a sigh Lily warmed her icy hands. She didn’t feel the cold while she gave her vampire more control than the lycan. Lily had learned how to play with the balance between them and herself to work to her advantage. As soon lunch was over Lily quickly excused herself, claiming she had to unpack. The truth was, she needed some space to recover from all the lectures she had received in the few hours she had come home. No one was happy to discover she hadn’t told them sooner about A. J. and no one thought her excuses were really valid. With a sigh, Lily knew they were right but it only made her feel unwanted and unwelcome, how she hated feeling like that.
Angrily, she unzipped her suitcase and began unpacking her clothes. Just remember why you’re here, Lily told herself. A loud knock broke her silent but angry musings and she called for whoever it was to come in but she regretted it as soon as his scent hit her. Lily turned to face James. He really did look good, she had to admit as she watched him come in her room and close the door behind him.
James was well over six feet and with a muscled athletic tone typical of werewolves. His hair was dark, not as dark as hers, and bright hazel eyes that she thought were just pretty but his best feature in her opinion was his smile. Even when she was furious at the annoying man his smile could do things to her.
Lily shook her head to break her train of thought. She did not need to be thinking of his virtues, not when he could detect the changes some of them caused in her pulse or scent. “We need to talk,” James said in a hard tone, helping her come back down to the here and now. Time for round two, she thought silently and prepared for another verbal assault. Might as well let him get it out all in one day.
“You have no idea how mad I am at you” he growled, but Lily thought he indicated that very well in their last conversation though telling him so might not be such a good idea.
“Let’s get some things straight. You’re not going to take A. J. from me,” he practically barked at her.
“I wasn’t planning on it,” Lily replied, crossing her arms and James’s narrowed his eyes at her ever so slightly. He must have thought she was playing with him, she realized. “Good,” he snapped after a moment of silence, looking as if he had a whole speech planned out but she had just ruined it and now he wasn’t sure how to proceed. “Cause if you try I will just hunt you down and take him back. You can’t stop me!” He told her and she simply nodded in reply.
“Now I’m reasonable man, you’re his mother so he can live with you here until we figure something more permanent out, but I get see him whenever I want,” James continued and Lily tightened her arms across her chest. Her anger starting to rise at being ordered around. She hated people telling her what to do. With her jaw clenched she took a couple of slow deep breaths, refusing to speak, knowing if she said anything now she would regret it.
“I have no intention now or did I ever plan on keeping him from you,” Lily said after a few breaths, concentrating on what she was saying and how she was saying it. She had no desire to fight with James on this and wanted him to know, to really know that. “But yes, don’t worry I get the message James, loud and clear,” she explained, feeling proud of herself when her voice sounded normal. “Do you need anything else?”
James was silent for a while and she was just about to demand what his problem was when he blurted, “That’s it?” The surprise was marked all over his face. “You accept what I said and that’s it?” He asked and the look of disbelieve on his face made her smile a little. Wow, this is kind of fun, she thought, amused.
“Yeah James, that’s it,” she replied, but he still looked surprised. Deciding now might be as good as time as any to test the waters she pulled her arms from over her chest and stuck her hands in her pockets. “You know I think we got off on the wrong foot James. Things got complicated so quickly,” she started, her voice trailing off, referring not only to A. J. but the whole complicated mess that was their past.
“Yeah they did,” James said, looking at her as if she had just grown a second head. Well so far so good, she thought and decided to go a little farther.
“I think it’d be a good idea, for A. J.’s sake, if we could to start fresh… maybe we can actually be friends,” She explained, putting some emphasis on “for A. J.’s sake,” so he wouldn’t think she was trying to flirt with him or anything. She simply wanted to try to be friends with him instead of hating him for things that really weren’t even his fault like she did in the past.