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7

It's dark. There's Pain. Where is Xenos? No. No, no. I jolted awake, and sweat covered my body. It was hot and sticky.

"Ouch." I heard his voice say.

"Xenos?" I glanced around, then took a breath. "Xenos, I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He was on the ground hugging his knee. I must have pushed him when I was dreaming. I got up immediately, picked up my mate, and put him in bed with me. Cuddling up against him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you. You scared me." I said.

"Did you think I was the bad guy?" He asked.

"Yes. I'm sorry."

"Nico?"

"Xenos."

"Were they the same guys from when we ran away?" He asked.

"How did You know?" I looked at his beautiful face. His blue eyes glimmered in the moonlight that showed through my window. He grabbed my face with his tiny hands.

"I could smell them on you." I kissed his little cheeks and hugged him even tighter.

"Stay here with me. Don't go; just stay here, please."

"Okay, Nico." His soft voice was calming to me. I breathed in his scent and fell back asleep.

--

Birds chirped loudly outside my window. My room is bright from the sun. The best smell ever filled my nostrils. My mate was still snuggled up in my arms. His blonde bedhead stuck out in all sorts of ways. It was warm, and I felt safe. With him, my nightmares went away.

"Nico?"

"Hmmm." I hummed. I smiled at him and hugged him again.

"I gotta pee."

"Okay, then come back so I can sleep some more," I stated.

"I will." He giggled as he crawled out of bed. I grabbed his waist. He was so small it was easy to grab hold of him.

"Nico, I gotta pee." He whined. I could tell he was getting grumpy about it, and I let go. I rolled onto my back. He'll take a while, I think. So, I used my free time to my advantage. I needed to clean up, so I got up and saw my mate standing at the door.

"Nico, are you okay?" He said with tears in his eyes.

"I'm fine. Stop crying." That seemed to make him cry worse.

"Look, come here. I'm fine." I leaned down and hugged him. He wrapped his arms around me.

"See? fine. I also have to pee, so I'll be back." He nodded and walked over to the bed laying back down.

I took a piss and washed my hands. That was too close. This sucks; sometimes, in dreams, I could see him as a man, someone old enough to understand me. But he's so young in reality. The thoughts that took over in that dream state made me feel guilty—fantasizing about his adult self when that just wasn't true. I wasn't attracted to him as a child. I think he's adorable, but his smell sometimes made me get in such a state. It always dissipated as soon as my eyes opened, and I couldn't even love him as I felt I should. It became much more of kinship than anything when I was awake. Since the incident with those rogues, he had become clingy while I became much more depressed. He was often sleeping and making me worry as it wasn't healthy for either of us to sleep so much.

I looked in the mirror to see my bruises slowly fading away. Thank God. I was so different now. I used to party hard and sleep around, and now all I want to do is stay close to my mate. Getting raped by those rogues nearly killed me. It wasn't like they beat me that bad, but my body rejected them, as was familiar with our kind who had a mate.

"Nico! I'm hungry!" Xenos yells.

"Hey, okay. I'll make you some breakfast in bed."

I walked to the kitchen and started frying some eggs. It's just us today. My dad is out doing his Alpha duties, so I get to be by myself with my mate. God, he's cute and honestly reminded me too much of a little sibling.

I served up our breakfast and brought them in on trays. He was wearing my shirt, which was too big for his tiny body. I had to let off a little laugh, given how large it was on him. His blue eyes sparkled when he saw the food.

"Yummy!" He exclaimed.

"You think so?" I said, setting down the tray on the side table. I laid back down next to him and watched as he sat up. He is so much smaller than me. Even when I was his age, I don't think I was this small. He grabbed at the food and munched away. I buried my face into his hip, feeling tired once again.

"Nico. That night you smelt funny. I smelt the rogues who tried to hurt us. They hurt you a lot..." He said sadly.

"Yes, they tried to. But I'm tough because I have you. I love you, Xenos."

"Me too. I had a bad dream that night. My wolf...he was crying too. We heard you calling for help."

"You're amazing; you know that, right?" I sighed.

"Hmm, okay." He said, smiling, grabbing another bite of his food. I opened my mouth wide, and he gave me a taste of his food. It made me chuckle just how innocent he was. It was like I had a little brother sometimes. Nonetheless, being with him was fun. It was safe and made me appreciate things a bit more.

--

We ended up laying in bed all day staring at each other and talking. For his age, he was brilliant. He knew things normal kids wouldn't. He knew a lot about history and seemed to enjoy trucks thoroughly. I had to think he most likely would grow up wanting to be a mechanic or something of the sort.

I held his hand to mine, and he giggled at our different shades. Again, my native American blood showed through, while his European side showed through. He seemed pretty interested in how small his hand was compared to mine. This type of thing made me never even want to leave the room. It was a good bonding moment and made me appreciate such a clear immature thing even more.