The Human and their Mates

Chapter 19

Shay's POV

I stretch in bed, having slept heavily through the night. I roll to my side, to look at my beautiful Mates. I see Ethan's face, still sleeping. So peaceful. I reach across to brush his cheekbones. His face twitches a little, but he stays asleep. I notice that Taylor isn't in bed.

I get out of bed and look around. I don't see them in the bedroom, so I make my way to the ensuite, to see if they were maybe in the bathroom. No luck. I do my business and continue looking for them.

"Taylor? Baby, where are you?" I softly call, trying to not wake Ethan up. I walk through the house, looking for them. I make it downstairs and see them curled up on the couch. "Taylor? Honey? Are you okay?" They're laying on the couch with a blank expression and their eyes glazed over.

I walk over and gently shake their shoulder. "Taylor? What's going on, baby?" I say, as they come out of their stupor.

"Mm." The look up at me. "Oh, hey, Daddy." They say as they yawn and sit up. "I had a nightmare and came down here a while ago. I don't know what time it was."

I sit down next to them and pull them onto my lap. "Baby, you know you can wake us up if you have a bad dream." I kiss their head as I cradle them into my chest. "We would never consider it a burden or an annoyance. We are here for you and to take care of you."

They sniff and take a deep breath. "I know. But it's something I haven't told you guys what it was about yet. It's something that isn't very pleasant and I don't like to talk about it."

"Oh, baby." I rock them. "It's okay. You don't have to share anything that makes you uncomfortable."

"I know." They lean into me, but I can see them fidgeting with their fingers. "I know. But I also know I need to share this with the two of you. So you know me better. And why I react a certain way sometimes."

"Whenever you're ready, Dear." I kiss their head. "Don't rush yourself."

They hum happily. "I know. I want to tell you guys though." They tilt their head to kiss my cheek. "Can you tell Ethan to come down here? Or should we go back upstairs?"

I simply stand and carry them. "We're going back upstairs. This seems like you're going to need a bunch of cuddles afterwards."

They nod their head and lean into me. We get upstairs into the bedroom and Ethan is just waking up."Hey, Babycakes." I say as I set Taylor on the bed and I crawl in next to them. "Taylor says they want to share something with us. Are you awake enough?"

Ethan stretches and yawns. "Yeah, lemme just use the toilet really quick." He gets up and uses the bathroom. He washes his hands and settles back into bed on the other side of Taylor. "Alright, Darling. Whenever you're ready."

Taylor takes a deep breath, and scoots up so they're leaning against the headboard and pulls a pillow into their lap to hug it. "It starts with my family. I have three older brothers. One passed away a few years ago. The other two... They were not good brothers. When I was not even two years old, they pushed me down a flight of stairs and even shoved me in a dryer. I don't know if it was turned on or not, but that doesn't really matter much. Anyways, our biological father would hit them. I don't remember if he ever hit me or not. I was too young.

"When my biological father and my mom divorced, I was about two years old. When she remarried, my biological father gave up his visitation rights. So, I never knew him. My dad, the man my mom married when I was about four, is an alcoholic. He would regularly scream and yell at my mom, and when it came to punishing us, he would use a leather belt to spank us while making us bend over to touch our toes.