My Not Yet Mate

Chapter 61

Lily eyed the clock as it started ticking down the seconds of the last minute of the school day. She began to shove everything into her bookbag and as soon as the bell rang she snatched it up. She eagerly sprinted out of the room. She was so excited to get home to see if they had really brought Lucianna home.

“HEY, NO RUNNING IN THE HALLSI,” a teacher yelled at her.

She rolled her eyes, slowing down. Someone fell into step beside her as she neared the stairs.

“Hey, Lily. How was your first day?”

“Fine,” she answered as she glanced at Kenny,

“So, I was thinking, I know that you have a mate and all, but obviously you two must not be close since he is not around. I was wondering if you would like to go out Friday night with me.”

Her vision narrowed on the door at the end of the hallway leading to the outside.

“Yeah, Yeah. Sure,” she called as she took the stairs two at a time.

She threw the doors open and took off running again. She spotted Sommer waiting for her on the sidewalk outside of the school. She leaped the four stairs, landing gracefully a few feet from her cousin.

“Hey, Sommer! How’s it going?”

“Good. How was your first day?”

“It was f

et her h

hack for me?”

fine.” She bounced on the balls of her feet. “Is she there? Did they get

Sommer laughed. “Yes, she just got there, but we need to walk. Jo is there.”

Lily paused to stare at Sommer. “Why is Jo there?”

She stuck her hands in her pockets. “Clan business.”

Lily started walking towards the street as her excitement rose. She glanced at Sommer who was watching their surroundings.

“Hey, Sommer, can you hold my bag for a minute?”

She held out her bag which Sommer took. Lily tumed and started racing in the direction of the castle. She leapt into the sky and let Gemma take over shifting while her cousin angrily yelled behind her.

“Come back here! You can’t shift on school property,” she screamed through their link.

Lily and Gemma both ignored her as they hurried towards home. The castle came into view and Gemma angled to the ground. Lily shifted back and fell to the ground. She somersaulted, bouncing up quickly. The door opened and Sasha, Aiden and lo came out. They all froze, before Aiden and Sasha stepped in front of Jo. Lily ran up the stairs, her excitement was almost tangible.

“Hey, Jo. Hey, Sasha, Aiden. I hope you guys had a great day. Where is she?”

Shock crossed their faces.

“She’s in your room with Kalani, Lily.”

She hugged Jo. “It’s good to see y

you, Jo,” she called over her shoulder as she ran upstairs to her room.

She opened the door and her breath whooshed out. Kalani had her daughter on the floor on her stomach and was playing with her legs. Kalani watched her slow, anxious approach. Lily sank to her knees and she reached out to stroke her daughter’s soft smooth hair with a trembling hand.

“Lucianna,” she whispered. “Can.. can I hold her?”

Kalani smiled. “She’s your daughter, sweetie. You can pick her up if you want.”

Lily swallowed hard as she gently picked her daughter up. Lucianna smiled and reached her chubby little hand up to bat at Lily’s hair. Lily shifted so that she was sitting cross legged, staring down at her daughter. A tear crept out of her eye and she lowered her head to press a kiss to the little girl’s forehead. She rocked her back and forth, murmuring softly to her. She smiled at Lucianna.

“Hello, pretty girl. I have missed you so much.”

Kalani stood and headed towards the door, leaving it open. Lily laid her back on the floor and laid on her stomach in front of her. She picked up the rattle and shook it in front of Lucianna’s face. Her eyes lit up and she let out a giggle as she reached out her pudgy arm for the toy. Lily moved it closer and Lucianna took it. She put it on the floor and moved it a little. Lily’s heart swelled.

“Oh, Lucy, you have gotten so big.” She reached out to touch her face. “Mommy is so sorry she gave you up.

The little girl looked at her with her big blue doll–like eyes, making Lily melt even more. Lily spent the

e next several hours on the floor playing with her daughter with her family checking on her every half an hour. She could smell Kalani out in the hallway, but she didn’t care. The only thing that mattered was that her perfect little daughter was there with her. A soft knock on the door made her look up.

“Hey, are you hungry? We got a seat set up for Lucianna.”

She sighed and pressed her fingers into her eyes. “Tm a bad mom. I didn’t even think about what she would eat.” She sat up. “What do babies her age

eat?”

Sasha came over to sit next to them. “The person who has had her told us they just started her on baby food and sent some with her. We can go shopping tomorrow for more if you want.”

Lily picked her up, cradling her into her chest. She cautiously stood up, holding Lucy’s head..

“Will you show me?”

Sasha nodded. “Come on.”

Lily followed her down to the dining hall where a small plastic chair with a tray had been put onto the table. Sasha walked over to it and unclipped the tray. Lily eyed it.

“Are you sure she’s ready for that?”

Sasha nodded. “Dragons speed up the aging process.”

Lily hesitated. “But how do we know she’s even a dragon?”

“You h

have Gemma. She has dragon DNA in her. She’ll be okay. Put her in it, Lily.

She got Lucy in the small, tabletop highchair and buckled her in. Sasha put the tray on and gestured to the chair the two jars of baby food sat in front of next to a pink, plastic baby spoon. Sasha stood behind Lily to show her how to feed Lucianna, Lily dipped the spoon in the jar, before rubbing it gently along the baby’s bottom lip.

Lucy opened her mouth and Lily stuck the spoon in. Lucy spit more than half of it back out and Lily used the spoon to clean her face. Everytime she made a sound, Lily grew happier. She eagerly looked up at Sasha when Lucy ate 3/4 of the jar. Aiden brought them powder formula, a bottle and a jug of water. He showed her how to make the bottle and how to feed her. Lily soaked in all of their knowledge and did her best to make sure she followed everything they told her. Lily yawned and Sasha glanced at Aiden.

“Lily… so, we were thinking that while Lucy was here, that maybe it would be better for you to sleep in our adjoining room.”

Her heart sank. They didn’t trust her. She looked at her daughter and the precious little girl made her even more sad. She knew she had made a mistake when she had given birth, but she wouldn’t hurt her. She loved her with her whole heart. Why couldn’t they see that?

“Lily, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she mumbled.

Sasha sighed. “Lily, don’t lie to me.”

“Oh, Lily. That’s not what this is.”

“Then what is it?”

“You’re 15 and you have school tomorrow. This is your first night with her and we just wanted to make sure we were close in case you needed help.”

“oh”

“You don’t have to sleep in that room if you don’t want to. We can have all of her stuff moved.”

Lily chewed on the inside of her cheek. “No. It’s fine. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll sleep in there.”

“Alright. Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Lily removed her daughter from the small highchair and trailed behind Sasha to her room. Sasha taught her how to bathe Lucy and get her ready for bed. Lily peeked into the adjoining room and was stunned to see a crib set up next to the closet. Lily listened intently to the instructions Sasha gave her as she got Lucy settled into her crib and rubbed her back until she was sound asleep

Lily got into bed after hugging Sasha. She waited until Sasha left to crawl back out of bed to roll the crib right next to the bed. She curled up against the crib and reached through the slats to hold her daughter’s hand. She hummed a lullaby softly and reached for Lukas” link. She closed her eyes to avoid him looking through them. She felt him let her in and she smiled.

“I just wanted to say that I loved you and that I missed you. I hope you sleep well tonight, Lukas.’ She could feel his desire to respond and she smiled.

“You can talk to me.”

He breathed a sigh of relief, ‘I love you, too, Lily. I can’t wait to see you. Whenever that is.” Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

Her smile got bigger as she started to doze off. Soon, I hope

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Chapter Comments

chika brooke

Baby steps she’s getting to know her baby that’s a huge progress Luca is such a strong man. Thus must take such a might toll on him, the mental anguish of being pushed away when all he wants is to be with Lily but he needed to allow her heal nd grow up…..my not yet m

Visitor

that I love you? should love be past tense?