Mated to the Wizard

5 - Make Pancakes

Everest walks over to the bed and places me down on it, more gently than I thought he would, before walking over to the boy and ruffling his hair.

"Hey Ben." His tone shocks me. Soft, gentle, caring. A voice I've never heard on him in my life. A voice I never thought I'd hear in my life.

"Who's that?" he asks accusingly, pointing at me with his tiny outstretched hand. He looks so similar to Everest it's not even funny.

"Uh, this is a friend. Her name's Avery." He replies, scratching the back of his neck and watching the current exchange between the boy and I. So far, it's just us staring at each other. "And, um, Avery, this is Ben. My son."

He has a son. Already? What is he, like, twenty?

"Uh, hi." I give a tiny wave and flinch when the wound on my chest stretches because of it. I don't really pay a lot of mind to the pain, though. I'm more interested in the fact that Everest has a son. With another woman. Did he not think he would get a mate because he's half wizard? Is he married? Oh God, what if she's pregnant with more of his babies? What if he raped her?

Please, Moon Goddess, I'm begging you, please let him be adopted.

Okay, Everest adopting a kid? That would never happen.

"Why is she wearing your shirt?" Ben asks his dad, not even sparing another look at me.

"There was a problem with a nasty man, but he's gone now, it's fine." Everest answers, smiling down at him in reassurance.

"Is that why she smells funny?" I glare at my mate when his lips tilt up at the sides, trying to contain a smirk. I took a shower this morning, so it must be the werewolf smell this kid is on about. Which means he's not werewolf... is he full wizard? No, that doesn't make sense. Everest is half werewolf, which means if Ben is closely related to him then he must have werewolf blood too. I guess his senses haven't developed properly yet.

"It doesn't matter, Ben. Go to your room and I'll come play cars with you in a bit. Just give me a minute to talk to Avery."

"Okay." Ben agrees, adjusting his glasses on his face. "Can we watch Harry Potter later as well?"

"I don't understand why you like that rubbish." Everest sighs, while I fight to hide a chuckle.

"Please?" Ben begs, lips turning up to form a cute pout. Everest gives a huff and nods reluctantly, causing Ben to smile evilly and run out of the room.

"You need to explain. Now." I state as soon as the kid's out of ear shot. He runs a hand through his hair and walks over to the bedside table, retrieving a pair of his boxers and throwing them at me.

"Go put these on in there; I need to treat the wounds before they get infected." He replies, ignoring my question. I sigh but do as he says, knowing he will try and treat my wounds if he wants to no matter what, and since I'm only wearing his shirt and a bra, I don't want to be naked when he does so. I stumble to the bathroom and lock the door behind me. Guess what colour this room is? I bet you can't guess...

Grey! Again with the fucking grey.

It's a relatively small room with a shower in the corner and a toilet right next to it. There's a sink with a perfectly normal tap and soap. The only thing letting it down is the colour; otherwise I would think a normal person might live here.

I pull the boxers on, saying a silent thank you that they have an elastic waistband and don't seem to be falling down too much. Then I grab hold of the sink to keep me up while I unlock and open the door since my leg is pretty busted. I know it will heal faster than if I was human, but I need to clean it so it doesn't get infected.