Old Version Shatter Pieces

Chapter 63: Coloring

Carter

Alpha Zayden and Alpha Marcus embraced and they both began to cry. The fact they were brothers was not new information to anyone except for Elinn. Every wolf was familiar with the names and territories of the different Alpha's so they also know who was related to who. After all having two Alpha's rule at the same time from the same family was uncommon.

As the family reunion commenced I noticed Elinn's breathing pattern had changed. She looked up at me shyly and I rolled my eyes a little and gave her a fake sigh, she giggled at my actions. The sound was so innocent and pure that I couldn't control myself when I leaned down and planted a quick kiss on her lips.

"Hey now, none of that while I'm around! That's my little girl your kissing there Carter. If you don't watch it I might have to go all Alpha on you." Zayden teased me as I straightened.

"Well you can get mad at him all you want, but you can't get mad at Elinn. What are you gonna do if she decides to kiss me, then what?" I asked watching Elinn's face turn red and she hid her face in her hands.

"If that were to ever happen, which I'm sure it never will. I think I'll have a heart attack on the spot and die!" He exclaimed dramatically.

His comments caused Elinn to giggle once again and her family smiled over at her. It was obvious that her parents had missed her, Xander and Darius had already proved their loyalty, her uncle loved her just as much as the others. After all, she had been through I was glad that my mate had such a solid family to be a part of.

"H...h....how are y....y....you?" Elinn managed to get out. Her voice still sounded as though a piece of sandpaper had been polishing it, but it was better than when she had gone to bed.

"We're fine sweetie, but shouldn't we be asking you that? After all, you're the one who is stuck in the hospital bed." Adara said and took Elinn's had in her own. Elinn didn't tense up as much as she normally did when someone touched her.

"That's progress!" My wolf yelled in out head and began to dance around.

"Your Mom and I decided you would probably be bored up here with nothing to do so we got you something. You used to enjoy them so much when you were younger and we figured if nothing else it wouldn't run out for a long time." Her Dad said pulling away from his brother and joining us in the chairs around Elinn's hospital bed. He chose the one next to his wife and handed Elinn a bag bursting with pink tissue paper.

Elinn looked from her parents to the bag and back again. Then she looked up at me excitedly as if asking if she was really allowed to open it. I nodded and she carefully took the present in her hands and stared at if for a few seconds before tearing into it. After digging through the piles of paper Elinn held up her gift. A coloring book and a pack of markers. She tore into the markers and looked up at all of us a big smile on her face.

"D....d....do you all w....w....want to color with m....m....me?" She asked as she extended a marker to each of us. We all nodded even Marcus as we expected some markers and a page and started coloring.

I watched as Elinn began to become more comfortable with her family. They put in a great effort not to push her past her limits and I appreciated that. After about a half an hour her brothers showed up as well and the whole family was there coloring.

"So Xander tell me what have you and your brother been up to today?" Adara asked her boys as she colored.

"Well, Darius and I caught up on some of the paperwork that some of the guards brought from the castle. We also started planning a welcome home ball if Elinn wants one." Xander confided as he kept coloring a picture of Hello Kitty.

I looked over at Elinn trying to gauge what her reaction to the idea was. She seemed like she wasn't upset at least that was something. Then I realized that my mate was actually considering this option, she was seriously thinking about this.

"M....m....maybe when I get b....b....better. If you p....p....promise that if it gets t....t...to hard that I can l....l....leave." I was astonished that she was doing this. I was so happy that she was finally beginning to put herself out there and hoped this wasn't just a one-time thing.

"That can be arranged, we will do whatever you want. After all, it's a party for you," I told her while trying to contain my joy. My wolf was running around in my head and just kept yelling "better, this is better!" over and over again.

"Yes, when you start to feel better me and you can start planning it. We will plan to have the ball just before Valentines, that is three weeks from now. It will be a perfect time, it was always your favorite holiday." Her Mom promised her. I could tell she was already mentally planning all of the things she was going to have to get organized in the next three weeks.

"It's good to see how much you've changed since the last time I saw you," Marcus said after a few more minutes of silence. This time Elinn did stiffen at the comment, she still wasn't comfortable talking about or remembering them. I prayed that she would be able to handle this.

"Yeah, it w....w....wasn't exactly my fault t....t....though. I wasn't exactly in the b....b....best place at t....t....the time." Elinn said trying to quickly close the subject.

"I want you to know that I tried to figure out how to get you out of there. I actually attempted it a couple times but I was always caught before I could do anything. Every time they dragged you down there I tried to figure out how to get their attention off of you. I'm so sorry that I couldn't do more." There were tears in the man's eyes as he tried to explain why he hadn't been able to help his niece more.

"It's o....o....okay, I know that you w....w....were doing your best," Elinn whispered and then turned to me.

"C....c....can I have a g....g....glass of w....w....water?" My mate asked staring down at her half colored picture of a puppy.

"You can have whatever you want sweetheart. I'm glad you asked for something you wanted, that's a good thing." I encouraged her as I got up and walked over to one of the cupboards and rummaged through it trying to find a cup. As I began to fill it I could hear the boys talking to Elinn.

"I remember this one time when we all bought you coloring books for Christmas and you had used them all by May. You worked so hard to make sure that each picture was colored and there were no white spaces. You gave each of us back the finished coloring books on our birthdays. It was so cute and we all kept them, I'm pretty sure we all still have them." Darius told Elinn breaking the tense atmosphere.

"Yeah I still have mine, I think Mom actually brought them along with the pictures from when you were still with us. I was hoping that you would come up to our rooms sometimes and look through them with us. You can bring Carter with you if you would like to then he can see all of your embarrassing pictures. Doesn't that sound great Dad?" Xander asked but his Dad didn't seem to pay any attention.

"Marcus, can you please explain to me exactly how your pack got taken over?" Zayden questioned and Marcus's head bowed. I took the water over to Elinn and sat down to hear this explanation.

"Well, it's a long story but seeing as how we all have plenty of time to explain...."

AN: Thank you all for being so patient with me these past couple of weeks. I really appreciate it!