Jaxson

"Freddy, turn that music down," I shout across the hall of the castle. Freddy’s room is at the very end of the corridor, which has the guy’s rooms and Winter’s in the middle. I want him close to us.

"He is acting like a teenager already," Wyatt says coming to stand next to me.

"I'm just glad Anna has taken Marie to visit her parents for the day and they’re on other side of the castle," I tell him. I did offer Anna a room on this corridor but she decided to stay with the block of rooms the wolves are taking over. She says it’s nice to have the help all the time. Marie looks so much like Fergus, it’s haunting. I wish I could have saved him.

"Winter is coming soon," Wyatt replies and I nod swallowing my grief at both my brother and sister being gone.

"She has mated to Dabriel," I tell Wyatt. I'm not surprised he felt the change too, yesterday. I felt when she mated to Wyatt as well. It’s like Winter is a link between us all. There has always been a link, a reason we all got along, but its stronger now. I would die for any of them, to protect them.

"So, you think I should tell him?" Wyatt asks me. I know what he’s referring too.

"Yes. We both had shit fathers, Freddy deserves to know he has a good fucking one," I say and Wyatt pats me on the shoulder. 

"Thank you. Come train with me. I’ve missed kicking your ass," he says and I laugh.

"I could do with some sword training," I say and walk out the door. We go to the training room, which is outside the castle and actually just a huge room inside a stone building. The room is full of wolves and a few vampires. None of them are fighting together and there’s a clear divide. Every one of them bows when they see us both. At least they do that together. The amount of fucking fights we’ve had is unreal. I know they hate each other but all of them are hiding here. Many of the wolves look at Wyatt with distrust, I feel their worry in my bond and I try to send calm to them. 

"A fight between the vampire king and wolf king. Should be interesting to watch," I shout and a few wolves cheer, the vampires stop what they are doing to watch. I grab two heavy swords and chuck one at Wyatt who catches it perfectly. The wolves move away to make a large circle in the middle of the room. I stand a distance away from Wyatt and hold my sword up. 

"Come on then, vampire," I grin and he laughs before he charges with his own sword. I swerve to avoid him and swing around but he is as quick as me and meets my swing.

We fight for ages, neither one of us giving up and both of us dripping with sweat.

"Hey," Winter says, making me turn and I feel the sword pressed against my neck a second later.

"Unfair distraction," I say.

"Never be distracted," Wyatt shrugs and drops his sword. 

"Fucker," I mutter and walk over to Winter who smiles.

"Did Atti bring you?" I ask as I kiss her.

"Yes, and Milo came too but he went to hang out with Freddy," she says. She treats Milo like her own child and not a mini-demon. I'm thankful Milo is nothing like the rest of his alcoholic kind but it’s still strange how well trained she has him. They are way too alike; both of them eat my food and adore chocolate.

"Hey sweetheart," Wyatt says as he comes over and he leans down to kiss her. I always hated the idea of sharing her. Fucking hated it, but I don't anymore. 

It seems right.

"Hey, how’s everything going?" She asks us both. 

"Good, the castle isn't far from being done and the wolves are settling a little better with the vampires. Freddy and his friend Mich have made friends with a vampire child their age. It’s a start," I tell her. Wyatt seems to like this information as he smirks a little. 

"That's great," she grins.

"I have a present for Freddy," she holds up a paper bag.

"Let’s go then," I say and link my hand with hers. Wyatt walks behind us as we go to the castle. The few wolves we cross bow to us, the vampires do the same. The music is still loud outside Freddy’s room and I knock loudly.

"A girl is about to come into that mess of room you call a bedroom," 

I hear the music being turned off before Freddy opens the door. His hair is all over the place and his crinkled clothes are the same he slept in.

"Hey Winter," his little face lights up. 

"I got you something, can I come in?" She asks and he opens the door. It's not too bad but I still have to pick some clothes off the floor and bed. I chuck them in the basket by the door and close it. Wyatt leans on the wall by the dresser and Freddy glares at him.

Winter sits on the end of his bed and Milo flies over to her shoulder as Freddy sits next to her and opens the bag.

"Wow, it's a wand," Freddy holds it up. 

"It's made from a witch stone. It's a spirit wand, I thought it looked Harry Potter like," Winter says and he nods. The wand starts glowing and Winter tries to pull it out his hand as Freddy’s eyes roll back, going fully white.

"Freddy!" Winter shouts as I move in front of him, I hold his head in my hands, he doesn’t even respond. Wyatt pulls the wand with Winter but it's stuck in his grip and I shake his head a little.

"Freddy!" I shout, holding his chin up and he finally snaps out of it. The wand stops glowing and Freddy lets it fall to the ground. Standing, Freddy pulls away from me.

"You’re my father," Freddy says with a glare at Wyatt. Wyatt backs up a little but doesn’t take his eyes off Freddy. Fucking hell what did the light up stick tell him? How the hell did it tell him that?

"Yes," Wyatt answers simply.

"You didn't tell me?" Freddy looks at me with anger and a slight bit of fear. I can’t tell him being a half wolf and vampire is safe. I have no idea what he will become when he gets older. When wolves are around sixteen, they go through a change. Their wolves change size, some smaller, but most bigger. This is also the time they get extra abilities. Freddy already has a few, fast healing, immunity to silver and he is so fast for his age.

"I was sworn not to tell you by your mother, she didn’t want you to know until she could tell you but that didn’t happen. After that, it was safer for you not to know, I wanted you to have the most normal upbringing I could give you.” I tell him. His blue eyes, so much like Demi’s watch me. The boy has already been through so much at such a young age, I really didn’t give him that much of a fucking normal upbringing like I wanted to.

“How did you know?" I ask him and Freddy stands up.

"That wand showed me my mother, she was standing right next to me and she told me who he is to me. She said she loved me and loved you," Freddy points at Wyatt. Winter looks down and Wyatt’s jaw is ticking as he watches Freddy.

"You saw Demi's ghost?" Wyatt says, a hint of the love in his voice he had for my sister. I glance at Winter but she doesn't seem to be upset about it, if anything she just looks worried as she glances between Freddy and Wyatt.

Freddy starts shaking, his whole body getting close to shifting in anger.

"Freddy, listen to me." I say, adding a little alpha power and draw his gaze away from Wyatt.

"This, changes nothing, I'm still here for you and so is Winter. Wyatt is your father and a good man. One of the best men I know and I would trust him with my life. I grew up with Wyatt, he might be a stubborn little git but he is my brother. Give him a chance. I’m not telling as your alpha or commanding you. I’m asking as your uncle and your friend." I say. Freddy looks at Wyatt for a long time, the stubbornness in his jaw reminds me of his dad.

"Tell me about my mother and you," Freddy says, the shaking stops and he looks calm. I see Wyatt nod in the corner of my eye. Winter gives me a relieved look and I smile. Fucking hell that could have gone badly.

"Let’s go for a walk, Freddy," Wyatt says and he opens the door, he doesn’t wait as he walks out but he glances at Winter. I see her nod at him before he turns. Freddy follows but stops in front of me,

“Wyatt brought my mum to you, didn’t he?” he asks.

“Yes, and he stayed to protect her. Even when she died, he stayed around and protected the pack. Even you,”

“Okay,” Freddy says and he hugs me. I wrap my arms around him, remembering the late nights where he would wake up crying from his fear of lightning as a baby and the first time we played basketball together. I knew he was never mine but I treated him like he was. He has always been more than my nephew to me; he is a son to me. Freddy lets go and walks out.

"Smart boy," Winter comments watching the doorway, she sits on the end of Freddy’s bed. She picks the wand up.

“Atti put some magic into it. He said it would just shoot white sparks,” Winter admits.
“I'll have a word about giving real magic toys to a kid later,” I say with a groan. I should have known Atti would have something to do with this.

“Sorry wolfman, I should have,” she starts and I wave a hand to cut her off.

“I know. Don’t worry, no harm was really done but Atti is a strong enough witch to know what magic he is fucking with,” I say and sit by her on the bed.

"Family good," Milo says making Winter jump. Even I forgot the little shit was here.

"Do you have family, Milo?" Winter asks him as he flies into her hand in her lap. 

"Yes, but like drink," he says sadly. Winter and Alex have been working on his speech. It isn’t great but I doubt he had much time to learn when he was with the others. Massive parties where they wreck shit aren’t good for learning. I didn’t know they could speak more than two words before I met Milo.

"Why don't you drink and party like them?" I ask him and he turns to look at me. I don’t know how he managed to get the weird pink tutu dress thing he is wearing but fuck he looks weird. I thought he was a guy?

"We used to be different." He says and I nod. 

"You know you’re family to me now, Milo," Winter says and Milo flies to her cheek, he presses a little kiss to her.

"Same," he says and Winter’s whole face lights up. The little thing may be annoying, but if he can make Winter happy then fuck it, we’re keeping him.

"If you stay away from my fucking chocolate brownies and don't make a bed out of them. I’ll keep you around," I say and Winter snorts in laughter.

"They nice and I eat bed," Milo shrugs.

That little fucker.

"Can't be as bad as the bowl he filled with Atti's chocolate milkshake and lay in it naked. Atti said he would never get the image out of his head." Winter tells me.

"Yummy," Milo says and I laugh.

"I've changed my mind, I like him," I say and Winter grins.