A tall, fit, Latina woman walked up to us.
“Luna,” she nodded and I smiled back at her. She hooked her arm around Socorro.
“Violeta, have you ever met my wife?” he asked, to which I shook my head.
“Isabella,” she smiled and I copied her expression.
“Nice to meet you,” I greeted and I felt Lana kick my arm.
… What is with them?…
I gave a concerned glance at her jerky motions as I tried to soothe her.
“She might be overstimulated?” Isabella suggested, “our youngest experienced that a lot when he had visits. Too many people,” I nodded and excused myself, finding Benlyam.
He was talking to a group of men that I amused were warriors, even though he mentioned this region didn’t have warrior packs, all Regional Alphas had an army. Layton was waving his arms and Benlyam kept grabbing his hand so he wouldn’t hit himself. He was jerky. I walked up to their group and gave a light smile to the men and they bowed their heads.
“Luna,” Benlyam glanced down at me and saw that Lana was upset as well.
“I think…” I trailed but Benlyam automatically knew and announced we were leaving.
We were trying to walk home quickly but soon Lana cried out from utter annoyance and Layton followed.
“No, shh, sweets, it’s okay,” I cooed as I tried to wipe away her tears. It was too cold for her to be crying. She jerked her head away from me and I felt my heart get stabbed.
… Please don’t cry…
I frowned and looked over at Layton who kept kicking Benlyam’s arm. We ascended the porch and Benlyam opened the door for us, letting me go in first.
“Overstimulated,” Benlyam confirmed as he followed me up the stairs while trying to quiet Layton.
I nodded, doubting he was paying attention. We carefully went into their room and turned on one of the lamps and drew the blinds. Undressing them was easy, they were calming down. Lana stopped crying, Layton didn’t, I expected that.
“Swaddle him,” I motioned and Benlyam nodded, holding Layton’s fists to his chest in the meantime.
“Blanket?” he asked and I reached over to grab one while Lana calmed.
“Here,” I whispered and he swaddled Layton, and then picked him back up, going over to a rocking chair. I followed with Lana and the room fell into a comfortable silence.
“Warriors liked Layton, said he looks like me,” Benlyam added and I smiled. “Which reminds me, my brothers are coming over next week. They’re excited to meet their niece and nephew.”
“Is there also a meeting? Or are they just dropping by?” I asked lightly.
“They’ll be staying for two days, to meet them, then they’re heading back, it’s just family,” I nodded, “Zachary found his mate last week.”
“That’s nice, is she coming?” he denied and I was somewhat thankful, maybe it was rude of me, but I didn’t care.
“Speaking of their family,” he shifted Layton in his arms, “obviously, Garret and Hannah are basically second parents.”
I nodded as I glanced down at Lana who was now asleep in my arms. Of course, who else?
“And they have two uncles, and you mentioned you don’t have siblings, right?” I shrugged, I didn’t know. It honestly felt like so long ago, I do believe when my parents left, I was their only kid. But they could’ve had more, I’m not sure.
“And grandparents?”
I blinked at him and tilted my head.
“Didn’t you say yours passed?” I said, cautiously, trying not to hit a spot.
He nodded, “I’m talking about yours, Flower.” Again, I blinked.
“I-I don’t know,” I couldn’t look at him, I glanced down at my sock-covered feet. I know our relationship was getting better, we made a lot of progress, but anything regarding parts of my past, I wasn’t comfortable talking about.
Like when he wanted to discuss what he planned with his pack, I’d just shake my head. I felt like talking about it made me seem weaker, it brought back up memories. Benlyam offered to take me to Socorro, and I liked the idea, just not right away.
“Well, if it was possible, do you think you’d want to meet your parents?” I glanced up at him, confused. What was he trying to say?
“I mean, yeah…” I raised an eyebrow as he took in my words, “I have questions, obviously, but it’s just a what-if,” I shrugged at him.
“Well, Flower. Your parents are alive, I found them, it wasn’t too hard,” I felt some color drain from my face. “They live in South Ohio. Do you want me to contact them?”
Everyone needs closure in life. I never thought I would get the option, I just kinda got used to not knowing. I stuck with ‘they left’ because I truly couldn’t remember a lot before him, even when I was enduring him I couldn’t remember everything.
But, I nodded. “Okay.”