To Love Luca

Chapter 2

5 years later

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Luca, Happy Birthday to you!" The group of boys sang out to the youngest. They sat around the long wooden table staring at the dark-haired boy. Luca laughed with happiness as he blew out the candles.

"Thank you, guys!" Azrael being the mother type he was, began to cut the cake.

"And now for your present!" Magnus exclaimed excitedly. Luca squealed, matching his excitement and Magnus chuckled at the now 12-year-olds eagerness. Magnus reached underneath the table and pulled out a giant stuffed elephant that Luca had begged day and night to have. Luca screamed ear piercingly loud causing them all to wince as he leaped over to Magnus and body slammed into him. Giving him a death hug before refocusing his attention on the elephant.

"I love him, he's my new best friend!" Luca hollered loudly. Magnus knew it was difficult for Luca being the youngest. Ryland who was the second youngest at 16 had outgrown his childish antics leaving Luca no one to really play with him. Ryland turning 16 this year othered Luca even further since he too was indoctrinated into the mate bond.

Over the years one by one when the younger boys turned 16— the age that a creature and its fated are able to feel the fated bonds— they quickly discovered that they were a large group of fated mates. Seemingly unheard of but most likely possible due to them coming together on that horrid day 5 years ago. If Luca was one of their fated mates they still wouldn't know for another four years, so they kept the bond a secret never even telling the young boy what a fated was or the bonds that came with it. Rather they kept him in the dark completely about all things pertaining to love. Over the last 5 years, unexplainable instances occurred when it came to Luca. The group tried not to worry but Magnus knew all too well that the attack as a child had affected Luca's body.

They tried not to dwell on it still. They did their mate...activities... while Luca was asleep. And during the day when he was around, they would show minimal affection. In normal circumstances, they might have been annoyed but all of them felt overly protective of the youngest and were eager to not make him feel like an outsider.

Levi brushed against Magnus' hand squeezing lightly while giving him a hooded gaze. Magnus stiffened momentarily. "Getting me all riled up are you, Levi?" Magnus whispered out. Luca was showing Ryland his elephant and not paying any attention to Magnus and Levi. Luca had exceptional hearing, better than all the wolves in the home and he was only 12 years old. It made it hard to have private conversations with him around.

"You'll have to show me just how riled up tonight." The boys all looked at Magnus and Levi smirking, all except Ryland who now turned away from Luca.

"It's not fair," Ryland grumbled out while Luca was now showcasing his elephant to Azrael with the lack of attention Ryland had given him.

"Hey, the five of us had to wait till we were 18 too," Doz reassured him. Magnus had a strict rule of the older four not bedding the younger ones until they were 18. Mostly for Magnus's sake since it made him uncomfortable, he was the oldest being 19 when they had met. He had raised most of them. In some aspects, he was more of a father figure than a fated, which was a weird situation to be thrown into. When they joined the fated bond at 16 that gave four years for Levi, Aiden, and Azrael who were all 16 when they first met, to start to see them as mates rather than teens they had to care for. Of course, the younger group was allowed to do what they wished with each other.

"Are my kisses not enough to quench you little one?" Magnus murmured in Ryland's ear. Rylands face ignited in a red hue.

"No t-they are." He mumbled out.

"Then there you go." Magnus stood back up and focused on Luca who was happily parading the elephant around the house. Magnus was proud of what he and the oldest three had accomplished. They found an abandoned shack two days after the Elder Forest was burned to nothing. The whole time Luca was unconscious, his body struggling to create harmony between his wolf blood and new demonic blood. They did their best to clean up the shack while the older three searched for any form of civilization. They found a human town another two days away. They left the youngest ones with Bellamy who was 15 at the time and Cassius who was 14 while they worked non-stop for 4 months. They accumulated enough to buy a small two-bedroom apartment at that time. Now 5 years later they had worked their asses off to buy a house 2 hours away from the town in the middle of nowhere. They grew their own crops to help cut down on costs and were finally able to live comfortably. Magnus smiled as he looked around at the family and home they had created. Despite the odds they made it out of that burning forest that night, they fought to live and god was he happy that they did.

For the rest of the day, they were at Luca's disposal. They played hide and seek near the forest behind the house and at night they hunkered down eating the leftover cake and watching Luca's favorite movies. Luca of course was snuggled the entire time into Ryland. The moody teenager tried his best to seem annoyed but he couldn't possibly, he loved that kid too darn much. Finally, at 9 they decided it was time for bed, Levi no longer being able to wait anymore of course. They put Luca to bed and Levi, Aiden, Magnus, and Azrael filed into Magnus' room while the others piled into Cassius'.

As their night activities continued for more than a few hours Aiden heard a whimper coming from outside their door. He rushed to open it and saw Luca leaning against the wall just outside their door shivering violently.

"Luca!" He ran over to him and crouched down.

"What's wrong?" Aiden brushed his hair out of his eyes and peered down at Lucas' bright red sweaty face and scooped him up into his arms. Another door down the hall opened and Doz and Ryland were hurrying towards them while Cassius and Bellamy poked their heads out the hallway.

"What's going on?" Ryland asked in a panic. Aiden shook his head signaling he had no idea before he turned back to Luca who was still held tightly in his arms.

"I feel weird, Levi. I don't like it." Aiden looked at Luca in confusion and worry before out of nowhere Luca hurriedly leaned towards Aiden and smashed his lips against his. Aiden pulled back quickly utterly confused as to what would compel Luca to do such a thing. Yet the one second their lips connected Aiden was in absolute euphoria. He hopped on his feet and backed away screaming for Magnus to come quickly.

"There's something wrong, he- he kissed me and I don't even know how to say this but it didn't feel normal it felt, just utterly fucking insane. Why the fuck does it feel that way what's going on?" Aiden rushed the words out in panic. Horror plastered on his face as he took in what just happened. Magnus only peered down at Luca who was now being consoled by Ryland. Tears streaming down his face.

"I-I'm sorry Levi," Luca said through sobs.

"I've had this theory for a while, it's why we cannot kiss in front of him." Magnus started, "I-I'm going to test something." Magnus turned Aiden's head toward him and kissed him vigorously. A squeak sounded from Luca and Aiden's eyes widened as Magnus pulled away. Magnus crouched down in front of Luca.

"Could you feel that Luca?" He asked calmly. Luca nodded his head. "When you are in your room down the hall can you feel it?"

"Not really, it's when I'm close to your room..." Magnus looked up to Aiden who was putting the pieces together finally.

"Oh my god..." Aiden mumbled out. Ryland still held Luca but was clearly confused Magnus scooped Luca up from him.

"Don't worry it will go away soon. Tomorrow we will move your bedroom downstairs, that should help. And for your safety, I'm going to start locking it at night so you don't have to feel this way again okay?"

30 minutes later Magnus re-entered his room, the three oldest waiting for him.

"I wiped his memory of tonight. Never mention a thing to him I already told the other 5."

They gulped but nodded their heads in agreement. They never realized just how affected Luca would be by the demon blood. Not until now.