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Theo
“Heaven?” Sienna says as she places a hand on Heaven’s shoulder. We all turn to her; there was something about her aura earlier that just felt… different.
“Oi, Blondie, you alright?” I ask, looking at the whip that is attached to her hip. Is that the source of the power I just sensed? I try to reach out with my powers, but the energy from the whip feels like it’s radiating light, entirely different from what I felt moments earlier.
And it’s gone. That aura.
I frown as Heaven flicks her hair over her shoulder.
I’m fine, she writes, before signing something in sign language to Sienna. To my complete annoyance, Sienna signs back.
Fucking over-achieving Rossis. Yeah, I’m more annoyed I don’t know what she’s saying. Sienna then hugs her before they both get up. I watch as Allie looks at the ends of her hair.
“Hmm, I miss my hair,” she says gloomily.
“Or are you jealous you lost how much you had up there?” I remark.
She simply gives me the middle finger.
“So, now that we’re back, where to?” Renji asks.
“Nowhere.” An icy voice from behind us makes us turn as Leo steps out from the shadows, a gun in hand.
“We’re not dead, and we have Sienna. That is enough to give us all a happy smile and a confession about how much you fucking love us,” I remark.
“I’m going home,” Ares declares, ignoring Leo, whose wolf is clearly as pissed.
“Me, too…” Carter adds.
Renji looks between Jayce and Ares, as if wondering if he’d be able to get away with sneaking off.
“Boys!”
I turn in surprise to see Ma running towards us.
Reaching Carter, who is closest to her, she hugs him, pulling his head down as she cups his cheek, kissing him all over his face and head.
I hate that she’s crying, that we made her so worried.
And her hair dye is washed out, which means she hasn’t bothered about herself because of us.
I shove my hands into the pockets of my pants.
She meets Ares next, then Renji, before looking between Jayce and me.
I step back, winking at her with a smile.
She always struggled with having to hug one of us last; she has since we started to get big, and she wasn’t able to hug us at the same time, so I got into a habit of making it easier for her, always pulling away.
She smiles at me, shaking her head. She never knew why I did it, she still doesn’t, but hey, it made her life easier. She hugs Jayce, showering him with kisses and says how she missed him before she cups Allie’s face, then hugs Sienna and Heaven together.
“Shorties,” I snicker.
“Theo,” Ma says, before kissing Sienna’s forehead. “I’m so glad you’re back.”
Sienna nods, looking down. “Thanks to everyone,” Sienna replies softly. I glance at Jayce, but he really doesn’t want to spice up my show, simply refusing to look her way.
Ma smiles before she now approaches me. I groan as I bend down to hug her tiny frame. She kisses me, cupping my face and stroking my hair before hugging me again.
I inhale her hair; she smells of home and safety.
“Missed me?” I ask.
“Of course I did!”
“What are you doing here, Ma?” Jayce asks.
“Waiting for you guys to come back,” she replies, crossing her arms.
“There was a hike in radiation here, although no portal appeared, but we kept an eye on it just in case, and Raven decided to volunteer to take charge of watch duty,” Leo says as he looks at his Schattensicht and types something on the small hologram screen that pops up.
“How long were we gone?” Ahren asks from the shadows as he leans against a tree.
“Oh, Ahren, I didn’t see you!” Ma says as she lets go of me and goes over, hugging him around his waist. My mumsy is damn tiny.
“You were gone for ten weeks and five days,” Leo informs us, his voice crisp.
That was way longer than it felt like there…
“Damn, so I ain’t taken a piss in-”
“THEO, SHUT UP!” Carter, Allie and Ares say at the same time.
Sienna smiles as Ma laughs. “Nothing has changed…”
“Well, let’s head to the Academy; it’s closest,” Leo says.
“Obviously,” Ares mutters. “So, we missed the fucking holidays, too.”
“It’s going to be a long night,” Allie grumbles.
“Alright, you guys go ahead. I’ll catch up,” I say.
What are you up to? Heaven asks suspiciously. My brothers and Allie are smart enough not to ask.
So damn innocent, Blondie.
I smirk, pointing at my crotch. “Going to take a much-missed leak, init?”
She pulls a disgusted face as she spins around and storms off. I snicker as I walk in the other direction and into the trees until I find a good spot and pull out my dick. I tilt my head back as I relieve myself.
Now that feels damn good.
Once I’m done, I shove my dick back in and zip up my pants before I head back out to where the others are. Ahren is tapping his foot. Clearly, he’s teleporting us back.
“He is not touching me.” Allie shudders with disgust as she looks at me. “Ares, do something!”
“You’re such a girl,” Ares grunts. “I ain’t doing shit.”
Sienna sighs as she whispers a spell, and a stream of water appears in front of me.
“What man, I didn’t touch the piss,” I inform them, but I still wash my hands.
“He still ain’t touching me,” Allie says.
Leo exhales in irritation. “You guys are fucking annoying. Now stop acting like fucking kids and get your shit together. Your entire families have been acting like fucking assholes, throwing temper tantrums in all fucking directions. So, get the hell over here; let’s get back to the Academy so they can see their damn spawn are fucking breathing so I can get back to my own shit. ”
I raise an eyebrow as everyone stares at Leo.
“Someone’s pissed,” I whisper loudly.
“Theo,” Jayce warns.
Ahren nods. “Well, in our defence, we went on a rescue mission, we’ve returned safely, and it wasn’t that long for us.”
“Save it for Alejandro,” Leo says coldly.
“At times like this, Dad’s age really shows through,” Allie mutters.
We all hold on to each other, and yup, I’m stuck right between my brothers since the girls all made sure to move far away. I smirk at that. Next time, I’m just going to say I never wash my hands, even if that’s a lie.
I mean, Blondie probably thinks I do have piss bottles in my room. I mean, I did try it once when I was nine or ten, but Ma scared the shit out of me, threatening that I better not do that ever again since that dumbass Carter almost drank it, and ever since then, I never did it again.
I feel the familiar pull as we teleport, and then we’re outside the Academy gates, but there’s one huge difference from when we left: the front walls are completely charred.
“What happened?” Jayce is the first to ask.
“There’s been a couple of attacks. They didn’t get through, but things have gotten worse. Let’s get inside; we can talk then,” Leo says curtly.
We’re silent as we follow him in, and I look back at the burned walls.
A reminder of the power of the enemy...
It’s about twenty minutes later, and Aunty Maria, Raihana, and Delsanra have met their kids, and they’re fucking emotional. Uncle Al is here, and Aunty Kiara, and yeah, they were emotional, too.
The door now swings open, and Uncle Rayhan enters first, with Dad right behind him, and then there’s Gramps and Grandma right behind them.
Uncle Rayhan looks at Sienna, who is staring at him before she begins crying, running to him. He catches her in his arms, holding her close, and I’m fucking sure he’s crying, too.
I know she fucked up, and the cunt Helios tricked her, but anyone would do the same in her spot. I’d do it for my ma or dad, and the rest of my weird family.
“Jayce! Renji! Ares! Guys!” Katara says as she rushes straight to Renji, hugging him before doing the same to Jayce.
“And I’m just ‘guys’…” I say, but Carter and I are definitely at the bottom of her list.
Carter’s strict with her, and well, I’m fucking lovable but always chosen last. I have no fucking clue why, man.
She walks past to hug Ares, and I stick my foot out, and she stumbles, almost falling.
“Theo,” Ares says, frowning as he steadies her. Katara glares at me before she hugs Ares.
“I missed you all, aside from this idiot.” She gives me a scornful glare before she turns to Allie, giving her a nod. Allie returns it with one of her own. They are kinda cordial now, but these two clashed like fucking wasps for most of their lives.
Gramps and Grandma meet us all as Sienna and her father talk in what sounds like Arabic.
Like I said, fucking over-achievers.
“Yo, Zombilesandra, why the fuck aren’t you an overachiever like this lot? Uncle Al, you’re slacking.”
“I never understood the need to learn so many fucking languages,” Uncle Al replies, caressing Aunty Kiara’s back.
“I know more than you do,” Allie points out.
“Do you, though?” I taunt.
“Well, it’s clear that going to the Realm of the Gods didn’t change you,” Dad says as he slaps my back and takes a seat.
“Yeah, well, how the hell do you change something that’s perfect?” I ask. “I’m perfect.”
Ahren sighs, and Ares shakes his head. “Imagine being with him 24/7; I’m surprised I’m still sane.”
Allie snickers, and I glance at Heaven, sitting beside her mom, who is holding her hand in between her own.
“Is Azura with the children?” Aunty Kiara asks.
“Yeah, Katriona’s been sick.”
We all stare at him. “You got another pup?” Allie asks, shocked.
“Two more,” Leo replies, arms crossed as he smokes from where he stands against the door.
“Leo and Azura adopted a pair of twins from one of the last attacks. They have no surviving family,” Aunty Maria explains.
“Damn…” Renji says.
“More packs, huh...” Renji says, sadness washing over his face.
“So, are they doing ok without their parents?” Sienna asks.
“Katriona and Elena are a few weeks old,” Leo replies.
“And what about the boy?” Uncle Al asks.
Leo shakes his head. “If there’s no family, I’ll take him in, too.”
“Damn boy, you just going around adopting every orphan child, you better get a huge-ass city or something, cus this war is going to leave 70-80 percent of kids orphans,” I remark.