Chapter 1 #2
She looked more like he remembered from when he was a kid.
It wasn't just that she seemed happy; she also seemed thirty years younger.
The man next to her seemed about her age.
Power emanated from him, and Darren couldn't explain exactly what that meant.
Who was he? He needed to know, and he hoped that his mom would explain it to him and tell him the truth.
It was true that he'd hidden from some of the truth because he simply hadn't wanted to know, but now, he needed to.
He had a feeling that this was connected to what was going on with his daughters.
What would he do if the rumors were true and the paranormal world truly existed?
Darren didn't see how it would affect him, but having the legendary blood running through their veins would affect his daughters and already had.
Facing something like this head-on would not be easy, but now it was necessary.
He would speak to his mother first, but he would eventually have to speak to Ariel.
Even if he had tried to ignore much of what was being said, it was impossible to ignore the fact that they called her the white wolf.
Even he could not deny that she was the matriarch of their family.
His mother assured them, and they went to the dining room table as the young man took their luggage to wherever it was going. Darren hoped to be close to his daughters because they needed him. Food was on the table because it was supper time, and they all began to eat.
“I hope you had no problems for the rest of the trip. Tyne is investigating the issue you had at the hotel, and hopefully, he will figure out who was behind it.” His mother explained.
“It was scary,” Adele said, and Ellis nodded.
“I'm sure it was, but you two were so brave,” Flo observed.
“That was because Daddy protected us,” Adele said, and Ellis once again nodded.
Ellis didn't speak much because Adele often spoke for both of them. When Ellis was alone, she spoke a lot more. Darren was glad that his girls seemed calm now and that the fear had fled.
“In the morning, we are going to introduce you to someone who will help take care of you and protect you. That will be especially important if your daddy must go somewhere for work. Her name is Carlotta, and she will be like a nanny and a guard all wrapped up into one.” Flo explained.
“Does she speak Spanish because I am learning Spanish? That would help a lot if I could talk to someone who spoke it,” Adele offered.
“She does speak Spanish, and so do I,” Carlos said.
“Are you married to my grandmother?” Ellis asked.
“I am,” Carlos answered.
“What does that make you to me?” Adele asked.
“Your grandfather, if you want me to be, or just Carlos, if you prefer.”
“I'd like to have a grandfather. Should I call you Papa?” Ellis asked.
“Me too,” Adele added.
“Of course,” Carlos answered.
“For now, since you are done eating, why don't you let Aaron take you to your room. You'll be right next to your dad's room.” Flo observed.
His girls seemed excited to go to their room and see what it looked like and what might be in it.
He also noticed that they were tired from the long trip, and he knew he was, but there was some adult stuff that needed to be discussed before he could go to bed.
Once his girls were out of sight, he turned to his mother.
“Why would someone offer $1,000,000 for each of my girls? And why would somebody try to abduct them?” Darren asked.
“Are you sure you want to know?” Flo asked.
“Is that crazy white wolf stuff, isn't it?”
“That's exactly what it is, and I can prove to you that it's true if you truly want to know.”
Darren nodded, and his mother changed right in front of him into a white wolf. There were other colors present because she had a little white in some spots and a touch of gray. He knew his mouth dropped open as he saw what had happened right in front of his own eyes.
“I never thought it was true, and if I ever thought about it, I hoped it wasn't,” Darren explained.
“Why would anyone lie about that?” Carlos asked.
“You're one of them, aren't you?”
“I am, and now your mother is too.”
“I don't know how to handle this. There are dangerous people after my daughters, and I don't know how to protect them.” Darren explained.
“We will help you. They don't normally come after young girls, but your ex-wife promised them to her, and now, even though he probably has not paid yet, he looks at them as his. That means he may not stop. In the morning, after breakfast, I will introduce you to your new nanny. Carlotta will be here for breakfast.”
“Is she one of you?”
“She needs to have the strength to protect. Paranormals are stronger and faster than humans. If you want to keep your girls safe, you need paranormals as guards. There are a few humans who can manage to protect against one of them.” Carlos explained.
“OK. The trip was tiring, and if I can be shown to my room and which one the girls are in, I can get some rest. What time is breakfast in the morning?”
“It starts at 6:00 AM, but it continues until ten, so whatever time you get up will be fine,” Flo mentioned.
That was a generous breakfast time, and he hoped to get down there early, but he wasn't sure what time the girls would get up.
It would be best if they came with him so they could meet their new nanny.
He knew both girls were very excited about having someone new to watch over them.
Their last nanny had been a teenager, and she had not let them do very many things.
It had been hard to find anyone to watch over them, so he had been stuck with a college girl who had needed to study all the time, and he hadn't liked it that all she had let them do was watch TV.
Hopefully, this time things will be different.
The young guy led him to his room, which had a connecting door to the room where his girls were.
He went in to check on them, and they were both asleep.
Now it was time for him to go to bed. He left the connecting door open.
That was in case they needed him or just to let them know where he was.
Darren got ready, then lay down in bed and somehow fell asleep.
Darren had slept well and woke up easily when his girls jumped on his bed.
They were so happy, it made him happy regardless of the new paranormal issues he would have to deal with.
They all needed to get ready because they would meet Carlotta this morning.
The girls ran back to their room to get ready, and he went to the bathroom to dress.
He was ready, and when he came out of the bathroom, the girls were waiting.
It was time to go downstairs for breakfast and to meet the nanny.
When he saw Carlotta, he couldn’t breathe.
She was beautiful, and he wanted her. He’d never been affected by a female this way before.
When she looked up at him, he felt as if she were having the same issues he was.
What was he going to do? He'd have to pull himself together and act normal.
“It's nice to meet you. These are my girls, Adele and Ellis. We'll be staying here for now, but I hope to find a nice house soon.” Darren explained.
“I'm pleased to meet you as well, and these are such beautiful little girls. We're going to have a whole lot of fun. You'll have to explain some things to me, like what they do about school.” Carlotta replied.
“Why don't we sit down for breakfast, and we can discuss the other things later?” Flo offered.
They all sat down, and there were plates heaped high of various kinds of breakfast foods on the table.
Everyone began to fix their plates and then eat.
There was a wide selection of food, and everyone was eating well.
It was a family-style meal, but he put the food on the girl's plates.
He felt they were still too young to be piling food on their own plates.
Then his girls ate and chatted as little kids do.
Everyone else was concentrating on eating their food.
Darren wondered what everyone would be doing today.
He wanted to talk to his mother about the best way to find a house and some land to buy.
One of the things that worried him was that right now, being at his mother's house was probably the safest place for all of them.
Still, he understood that whatever place he found would probably need work, and it would probably take weeks, if not months, before they would be ready to move in.
It wasn't so much that he minded living with his mother as he really wanted a house of his own.
He'd been on his own for a long time now, and he wanted to keep things that way.
The girls were used to having their own rooms, and he was sure his mother could provide them with their own rooms, but he wanted them to have rooms they could remodel however they wanted.
Darren didn't think there was anything wrong with that.
When he decided to move back home, he thought about having his own house and a place he could run like a small farm.
Even without selling the house that he'd owned, he could have afforded a pretty decent place down here where land was cheaper.
A farm was something he'd always thought of owning when he was a young boy.
It was a good place to raise children and let them learn about working with animals and growing crops.
A garden was something he always had as a child, and he appreciated the work required to grow food for his family.
That was something he wanted for his own children.
He also planned to see Tyne because, even though he didn't know him personally, he'd heard a lot about him, and he intended to teach his children self-defense and evasion skills.
Darren had heard that some of his cousins whom Tyne had trained had escaped from criminals because they were able to fight enough to run or hide.
He’d feel better if he knew his girls could do the same if they needed to.
In his opinion, he couldn’t do enough to keep them safe when they were under the current threat.
First, he would check with the real estate man that all the cousins used, then he would call Moe, his cousin who had married Tyne, to get classes for his girls.
This afternoon, he had to do his work so he would have the money to do what needed to be done.
It was a good thing that he had a talent for handling investments, and his own personal ones had done well.
Some of his accounts were automatic, with any income automatically added back to them.
Some he dealt with more aggressively, and the potential for large gains or losses was there; he needed to check them daily, and sometimes even more often.