Unwanted Mates

Chapter 12

William awoke with a start. The door to Willa’s hospital room had opened, and Rebecca was quietly entering with two fabric tote bags. She smiled at William as she checked the bags and handed one to him.

“Your brother will be landing soon. Darla and Damian went to your house and picked up some fresh clothing and toiletries for you and Lia. That way, you can freshen up if you like. If you don’t, that’s OK too. We have all seen worse than the two of you,” Rebecca said, barely above a whisper.

“Thank you,” William said as he tucked the bag beside him. “Lia might want to shower, but I am fine. My brother has seen me far worse than I am now. He doesn’t have children, but I am sure he understands what it is like for a parent not to leave their child when they are ill.”

“If he doesn’t understand by now, there is no hope for him. But my wolf is in my head, offering to teach him a lesson about it if he needs one,” Rebecca said with an evil grin.

“You won’t have to, Aunt Bex,” Amelia said with a yawn. She kissed Willa on the cheek before she got off the bed to sit beside William. “Lily has already promised to take a bite out of Robert’s backside if he starts being a jerk.”

“Good for her, but she will have to stand in line. Dr. Clark has already promised that he will not tolerate disrespect directed towards anyone here in Obsidian,” Rebecca said.

“I would expect nothing less from Dr. Clark. However, I doubt it will be needed. From what my brother said to me, he wants to sincerely apologize to Amelia and do everything he can to help Willa,” William said as he kissed Amelia’s head.

Rebecca’s eyes briefly lost focus before she said, “Robert will be landing soon. The pilot just radioed to say they were about ten minutes out. Eric is part of the welcoming committee waiting for him to arrive.”

Amelia giggled, “Welcoming committee? More like half the family is there to put the fear of the goddess in him.”

“That would be closer,” Rebecca snickered. “I will check on Willa while I’m here. That way, everything will be up-to-date for Robert when he arrives.”

“Thank you, Aunt Bex,” Amelia sighed as she snuggled into William’s side on the sofa.

“No thanks are needed,” Rebecca said as she checked on Willa, sleeping contentedly in the hospital bed. “You will need to thank the family members who keep their cool out at the airport.”

-

Olivia was pensive as she waited with Tyson and the others at the airfield. She had been mind linking with her sister-in-law, Rebecca, to get information on Willa and Amelia. Rebecca was the nurse overseeing Willa’s care and was happy to pass the information along so Amelia would not be bothered. Olivia understood what it was like to sit in the hospital with your child and sleep in sporadic naps when possible. The last thing she wanted to do was wake Amelia.

Tyson put his arm around Olivia’s shoulders and pulled her close. He kissed her head and said, “Try not to worry. Willa, will be alright. Robert would not be coming here if he did not feel he could help her.”

“I know,” Olivia sighed as she wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest.

“Yeah, Livie. Try not to worry,” Kevin smirked as he leaned against one of the SUVs. “This guy might be a jerk, but he knows his stuff. From what I have found, he is the best in the world.”

“Exactly, which is why we are not letting him leave until he has fixed whatever is wrong with Willa,” Logan said as he grinned at Kevin.

“Right!” Kevin grinned as he snatched an orange fey dragon from midair as it flew past him. He tucked it under his arm as if it were normal for him and continued, “Robert will not be allowed to leave until Willa is back to her normal rambunctious self. We have already decided.”

“Who is “we”?” Tyson questioned.

Everyone in the group raised their hands except Tyson and Olivia. Olivia laughed as Tyson dropped his head and shook it. It did not surprise him that Kevin, Nick, Damian, Logan, Eric, and Jake had all raised their hands in support. It was seeing Amber, Emma, Darla, and Everly also raise their hands in support of essentially holding the man hostage until he cured Willa.

Tyson chuckled, “All we need to do is add the rest of the grandparents to that, and we'll be set.”

“They are all on board. They all want a piece of Dr. Stone if he does anything wrong. Marie and Joe have asked not to take part in physically hurting him, but they are more than happy to be seated in the cheering section and watch,” Kevin laughed as he placed the orange fey dragon on the roof of the SUV and shook his finger at it.

“Is that one yours, or have you just adopted all the stray fey dragons in Obsidian?” Everly giggled as she watched the little dragon playfully nip at his finger and prance.

“This one is Mango. She is from the first invasion that took place during LiLi’s big community party for her eighteenth birthday. She is one of the seven Katherine befriended and took home,” Kevin sighed. We have picked up a few extras since then. Thankfully, most of them just do their thing and come to the house when it is time to eat or sleep. It isn’t much different from what my kids do, other than the fey dragons sometimes have better table manners.”

“Hey! I heard that!” Julian laughed as he strode to where the group waited. “I will have you know that I have excellent table manners, thanks to my mate.”

“Speaking of your mate, tell Jonah thank you for me. Jonah, taking your kids to the art center to play with Isla to help keep her mind off things is working wonders,” Olivia grinned as she released her grip on Tyson to hug Julian and kiss his cheek.

“I will tell him, but he would not have it any other way. He loves being an architect, but there are times when I think he would love to quit that and be a full-time stay-at-home dad or work at the daycare,” Julian smiled as he thought of his mate.

“If he wants to do something like that, have him come and see me after we get Willa where she is stable. He can work or be wherever he is happiest,” Tyson said as a plane came into view.

“I’ll let him know. He agrees that right now, Willa is the priority over him, changing his chosen field. I think he should be a professional hair braider,” Julian grinned as he pointed to his blonde hair, which was intricately braided. “He went above and beyond to impress Dr. Robert Stone today.”

“Anna will help him pick up some freelance work doing that if he wants, especially around prom season,” Kevin laughed. “You, Sophia, and Arianna can all model for him.”

“Hey! What about me? I have my senior prom coming up soon,” Darla laughed as the plane began to make its approach to land.

“I’ll make a deal with you for him. He will braid your hair if you take Arianna to bake cookies with Lucy,” Julian chuckled.

“Deal! Give me a time and place, and consider it done,” Darla agreed eagerly.

Julian just shook his head at Darla’s excitement. Arianna was half werewolf and half human and feeling somewhat lost, although she would not tell her fathers she was anything but happy. Julian hoped spending time with Darla might help her feel less alone since Darla was also only half werewolf.

Julian sighed and shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind as he watched the plane touch down at the end of the runway. The aircraft glided to a stop in front of where the group was waiting. Everyone was tense as they waited for the door to open.

Robert Stone was growing impatient as they taxied into position. He waited for the flight attendant to open the door and lower the steps so he could disembark. He grabbed his bag containing his niece’s medical records and, as soon as the stairs were down, hurried off the plane toward the group he saw gathered nearby.

When he reached Tyson, he extended his hand and said, “I’m Dr. Robert Stone. I would appreciate being taken straight to Willa so I can get started.”