~Serge~

Zinniah and I walked arm in arm as we wandered the castle. I have to say, it was a lovely castle. However, it would never compare to my wonderful house in France. That place was indeed much smaller than the palace, but it was home. A home I planned on starting a family in with Zinniah. I'm actually glad to have become a vampire at this point. I never would have met Zinniah and who knows who my mate would have been. As we walked towards her parent's quarters, Zinniah made sure to stay as close to me as possible due to all the women that were gawking at me. I chuckled and made sure to grab her ass every now and then to show the girls that I already had someone special. After a few more minutes, we reached her parent's room. We knocked and after a moment it was her father who answered.

"Zinniah! Serge, come in! Come in!" Zander was excited to see his daughter. I know he probably doesn't like me, but as long as he is happy to see his daughter, that is all I care about.

"Darling, Serge! What a surprise!" Lilac was ecstatic to see her daughter. I was happy her parents wanted her after all this time.

"Hi, mom, dad. How are you guys?" Zinniah sat down on the love seat with me as we all talked to her parents. We were all laughing and smiling at the stories Zander and Lilac were telling.

"You guys were best friends as kids?" Zinniah put her head on her hands, intrigued by what they were telling her.

"Yes! We were best friends and your father actually had a crush on me for the longest time. Now, since we aren't werewolves we don't feel the tingles or sparks. Werewolves feel the bond before they are of age, they can tell that something is there. And then when they turn sixteen, then they feel the tingles and can definitely tell who their mate is. Well for us shapeshifters, we do not know who our mate is until we are about sixteen as well. We can't feel the tingles, but we just feel a very strong infatuation and feeling of love towards someone. It only happens around sixteen so if it happens before then, that person has a 50/50 chance of being your mate. And if by the time of sixteen comes and you lose feelings for that person, they are not your mate. And we know that since you're fifteen, you might not be able to tell one hundred percent, but Serge can and that's all that matters." Lilac smiled at Zinniah and me as my water lily sighed.

"I mean, I can kind of tell. I do feel very strong feelings for him and I feel safe when I'm around him. He's everything to me." I smiled and kissed her forehead.

"You're everything to me as well, cherry blossom." She giggled and snuggled more into me.

"Well, what are your other plans for the day?" Zander sat close to Lilac as he asked.

"Well, we were gonna visit Amorelli and Alistair in the hospital." Lilac sighed and walked to get tea.

"What was that face for?" Zinniah sat up.

"Nothing, it's just that I don't understand Werewolves and this inner wolf crap. Does he really have an inner wolf named Alistair that's that rude? Why would she want to be with someone like that?" Lilac looked concerned and Zinnniah grew protective.

"He's her mate. And he loves her. With every werewolf, they have a wolf to shift into and they have the inner wolf that is always angry. It's a 100% chance that their inner wolves will be rude and aggressive. You can't change that but he loves her and he saved her from ultimate death from her father." Zinniah grew angrier as she spoke, defending Amorelli and Alistair's honor. Lilac saw this and challenged her a bit.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to be with anyone like that. Anyone who is like that would have to go through us." Zinniah grew angry and the wrapping on her arm started to bleed through.

"Zinniah? What happened to your arm?" I grew stiff as her parents grew angry.

"You drank my daughter's blood, didn't you?" I got up and put Zinniah behind me.

"She offered it to me. I was about to go mad because I hadn't had a feed in a while because I was constantly at her side. I didn't want to leave her alone and I never brought it up. She saved my life and even though I told her no, she insisted." Lilac and Zander looked infuriated. You could feel their anger.

"How dare you feed off my baby! You have no right!"

"I will have to mark her at some point! That requires me drinking her blood and then biting her! How dare you tell a king he can't mark his mate? It was her decision!" I felt my fangs come out and knew my eyes were red from anger.

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"You will not violate our daughter like that! I forbid it!" Zander was about to shift into something when Zinniah stepped in front of me. I grew confused but wrapped my arms around her.

"How dare you tell me what to do! How dare you try and control a daughter you never raised! You have no right to try and control who I'm with, especially since you failed to protect me whereas he has done a spectacular job. Hell, if he was my father he's obviously done a better job than you!" Zinniah screamed at her father and we heard footsteps from the guards walking towards the room in caution.

All of a sudden a slap resonated throughout the room.

"You will not disrespect your father like that! Now you are going to stay here and live with us. Say goodbye to Serge." Lilac crossed her arms and that's when Zinniah officially lost it.

"I will not listen to a bitch that doesn't even know what her daughter's favorite color is." I grabbed Zinniah and started to walk out.

"When you learn not to be asshole parent's then maybe we'll come back. Until then stay the hell away from Zinniah, Amorelli, Alistair and I." I opened the door and saw my guards.

"Keep them away from the four people I just mentioned." They nodded as their eyes glowed red for a second, accepting my command as that is now their job. One dashed away to tell others. As Zinniah and I left, I felt a strong surge of proud and arousal for my mate. She stood for what she wanted and she is correct, they can't boss her around as they weren't around to raise her. They couldn't protect her from what was to come and therefore, they can't force her to do anything. How dare they also hit her? Zinniah has been quiet and I sighed.

I didn't do enough to save her. I just wanted to see what she would do standing up for herself.

"Zinniah? Are you okay?" I pulled her aside and lifted her chin. She was crying softly and it broke my heart.

"Baby, I am so sorry I didn't do more to protect you. I wanted to see you stand up for yourself and I promise I will never let anyone hit you again." She sniffled and hugged me.

"It's not even that. It's the fact that since they think that since I'm their daughter they can boss me around, even though they aren't the ones who raised me. Amorelli practically raised me. She held me when I was scared and started to cry, she helped me learn to read and to write and she helped me through my first period when she had no one to help her! She did everything herself and when I came in she took me in and in all reality, it's like Amorelli is my real mother. My birth mother will never mean anything to me as of right now because she didn't help me do anything growing up. Just because I'm back doesn't mean she can control me and act like I'll be willing to abide." By this point in Zinniah's venting, she was sobbing while I held her. I rubbed her back and kissed her head.

"Zinniah we will go back once they apologize. Until then, whatever you want you shall get. I'll be here all the way to protect you. But I will be telling you when I need to feed. I'll be leaving you with Alistair and Amorelli while I hunt so I know you'll be safe." She nodded and kissed my chest softly before laying her head on it. I stroked her hair as she continued to cry silently. I kept shushing her and rubbing her back and kissing her head. Anything to make her feel better.

"Serge?" She looked up after I gave a hum.

"You said you'll have to mark me. How would that work without me becoming a vampire?" I chuckled and we started walking to the hospital wing.

"Well, there's a certain - hormone if you will - that will release when in the process of mating. And that will be replaced - essentially - when I bite you. However, I have to drink your blood at the same time. So when I'm sucking your blood, the venom to turn you into a vampire is put away during the mating process and comes back a few hours after, just in case I were to bite you again, it doesn't turn you into a vampire." She nodded and by the time we finished that conversation, we had reached the hospital wing. The nurses told us which room to go to and when we arrived, Amorelli was peacefully laying on the bed and Alistair went alert. He saw us and calmed down. I knew not to anger or push his buttons.

"Alpha. Good to see you." I sat down and pulled Zinniah down with me to sit on my lap.

"King Serge. Zinniah." He nodded and just kept staring at Amorelli. His eyes were somewhat cloudy and he seemed distracted.

"Alpha?" Zinniah said cautiously. She also knew not to mess with Alistair right now. He and his mate were both vulnerable.

"What?" He sounded so angry. However, this was actually his calm.

"Is Amorelli going to be okay?" Zinniah started to tear up.

"Why wouldn't she?" Alistair got offended in a way and stood up. Zinniah got scared.

"Alpha I was just asking. She's the only thing I have that's family besides Serge and I can't lose her." Alistair sat down in a chair next to her.

"Show me what happened." She nodded and placed her hand on his cheek. I don't know what happened, but after she showed him - I'm assuming what happened with her parents and what me and her talked about, he became angry.

"What the hell? This is unacceptable!" Alistair roared in rage. It scared Zinniah but didn't phase me. Why was he getting so emotional about something that doesn't concern him?

"Alpha, with all due respect, why are you getting so worked up about our situation? It doesn't involve you in any way? Or is it simply because Amorelli and Zinniah are family?" I asked, hoping not to get sliced at in the process.

"Because Amorelli is always talking about how Zinniah and her are like sisters. I didn't realize it went that deep and just thought it was because they were best friends. Amorelli raised you and your parents are trying to take you away from everyone just because you're alive and they have you back. I'm so sorry." His eyes go blurry for a moment before he comes back.

"Just told your guards, didn't you?" He nodded once and I did the same.

"So, when will Amorelli wake up?" I questioned as Zinniah went to stand by her.

"We don't know. She is unconscious but can still hear what goes on around her." We nodded as we sat in silence, waiting patiently for something else to go wrong this time.