~ Chapter Twenty-Six ~

What should have been simple turned into an hour-long excursion, as now that Xanthe knew why I wanted new clothes, all she did was criticise the ones I'd picked out. In a final desperate attempt to be able to go out on my date before nightfall, I stopped listening to her and picked out the clothes that I liked the best. Only one item showed much of my body, but they were all "cute" in their own way. I'd decided already what I would be wearing tonight, so once I got to Dimitri's bedroom, I took a shower and changed straight into it. My hair naturally sprung out into intense curls down my back, full of volume, and whilst I usually made an effort to tame it, this time I let it hang there. It looked quite pretty. When I walked into the living room in search of my mate to head out on our date, I was pleasantly surprised by the looks on his subordinates' faces.

"Wow, Keller, I wish my hair did that," said Dylan as he stared at me with his mouth open.

A soft rumble felt like it shook the room.

"Really, Dimitri, you think I'm gonna try and steal her?"

Dimitri didn't answer, walking around the couch toward me. I quickly took in his expression, the depth of his beautiful eyes as they took me in, too. He grabbed me by the hips, catching my hair, and gently rubbed his thumbs against my sides; he was asking for permission to put his claim on me right there in front of the most important people in the pack. I didn't want to give in so easily, but my body was craving him and a part of me wanted to be owned, just a little. I tilted my head up toward him, glancing down at his lips. He leaned down for a soft kiss, sliding his hands up to my waist, pulling the shirt's hem up slightly.

Somebody whistled, and I pulled away feeling hot in the face. "Let's go," I suggested.

He nodded. "Probably a good idea."

"I hope you guys have fun!" Dylan teased as he leaned over the back of the couch.

We collectively ignored him, heading through the hallway and then outside. He led me to a large vehicle sitting next to the house that I hadn't noticed before, combatting the cold with a blast of hot air from the AC. No music played when the engine started, despite a song displayed on the small screen, paused and nothing I'd heard of before. My interest was piqued. "What song is that?"

"Uh" - he glanced at the screen - "I don't know. Taylor used this car last."

"You're lying to me," I accused, staring at his face. It was so obvious, little Jake from Roger's pack could have spotted it. I smiled. "Come on, play the song, Dima. I want to know what you listen to."

"I-I don't listen to *that*," he stuttered. "It's just... I..."

"You're doing an awful job at keeping calm." I quickly pressed the play button before he could stop me, and a series of soft guitar notes filled the space around us. The song had barely started, but there was an up-coming thrum of another guitar in the background, and the low hum of a man with a very raspy voice. I noticed instantly that the artist slot had "Rock and Stone", but it didn't click with me for a second. However, the moment a young man spoke through the speakers in a teasing, cringily country way, I recognised a hint of an accent that I'd heard in Dimitri's voice long before.

"Rock and *Stone*?" I gasped.

Dimitri smacked the play button, shutting up the music. "It isn't me," he insisted instantly. "It's... I said no to it. I didn't want to do it."

"You sing?" I was momentarily side-tracked.

"I can but I don't."

My mouth gaped open. "So who's playing through your speakers right now?"

"My brother and my... dad." His jaw clicked into place. "I'm not exactly proud of it, so can we forget you noticed anything?"

"No, absolutely not. You can't just dismiss that. Your family has got to be a little bit famous, unless they don't actually have a fan base?"

"They do," he admitted begrudgingly.

I frowned. "So why are you so quick to dismiss them?"

"It's... embarrassing, Erika. Really embarrassing."

"I don't think so." I pressed play on the song again, but turned down the volume for his sake. Guitar riffs filled the car once more, sending vibrations through the seats. It was a beautiful song, if a little bit cliche. After barely a minute, when I had a smile on my face, Dimitri leaned across the car, stole my face in his hands, and kissed me so hard that I lost the ability to think in an instant. I didn't even hear the music anymore, I was entirely focusing on him and his body, the way he was tugging me against him.

I gasped out for air and leaned my forehead on his. "Um... *wow*." It came out as a question.

"I'm so mad at myself for before," he murmured back, ignoring me, his eyes darting from feature to feature. He stopped at my hair and lifted a hand to it, pulling carefully around the curly strands. "I should have just given you every damn thing you wanted."

"I agree but what brought this on?" I asked in disbelief.

"I don't think I can answer that right now, my head is air."

My lips twisted upward at the corners.

"My family is half normal, Erika, so they have no real clue about this world." He pulled back to lean his head against the head rest, and I copied him, intent on listening to every word he would say. "My dad's not even a werewolf and my brother has trouble shifting sometimes. He decided it'd be easier if he stayed with humans instead of coming to my pack."

"So, your mom was a werewolf?" I questioned softly. I was terrified of triggering something inside of Dima that would stop the storytime.

"My biological mother, yes. My family gets even more complicated later in life." He paused. "The woman I thought was my mother for most of my life turned out to be just another human; she and my dad married when they were young, before they really figured themselves out. Like any kid, I felt I was a bit lied to and I acted out, but my dad sat me down and eventually explained everything to me.

"Leslie - that's my fake mother - wasn't able to have kids but she had this friend, Kia, who could. They... one way or another - she became pregnant and gave birth to me before, later, giving birth to my little brother, Alek. By then, though, Leslie kind of didn't *know* about it. She thought I would be the only gift Kia could ever give her. She was surprisngly accepting of Alek, though she *did* kick my dad out for a while. I remembered being so confused about why he'd left as a kid, but then he came back and things became normal.

"Kia was a wolf; my dad knew it, Leslie knew it, even I knew something strange was going on with her. And of course when I started to shift, Leslie realised for the first time that I really wasn't her kid, that I was Kia and my dad's, and I guess she got a bit jealous. She went a little mad, destroyed every ounce of respect I could ever have for her. She lashed out at me and Alek; thing was, Alek was really small back then and the hit she gave him could have knocked him out, but Kia happened to be nearby and sensed something was wrong."

I was almost at the edge of my seat, leaning toward Dimitri, lost in his story.

"She happened to injure Leslie in an attempt to save Alek's face. It was a shame, really, I'll admit; I wished she could have stayed sane and figured herself out. She *was* my mother for the first part of my life. I looked up to her once. But after she tried to hurt Alek, I just couldn't forgive her, and neither could my dad."

"Did Kia step in as your mom?"

"No, it can't be as simple as that." Dimitri laughed humourlessly to himself. "No, as it turned out, my dad had also been discovering himself while this drama was going on. He met a guy in a bar, a manly man, the type you'd expect to live in the woods chopping down trees and hunting for his own survival. But against every sterotype I know of, he was gay, and just so happened to be the reason my father discovered he was a little gay, too."

"He's bi?"

Dimitri nodded. "I can't say I'm surprised. I'd seen him checking out men before, even as a child. Looking back, the signs were all there."

"So, he stepped in as the second parent?"

"Jackson is probably the best thing that happened to my family, Erika." Dimitri smiled with a real warmth to his face. "He helped us to deal with Leslie - who is better now, by the way, but hasn't really stopped by to visit us that much. He also helped my biological parents to come to an agreement: Alek and I would take Kia's name, since we got to live with my father."

"Stone," I said, "was Kia's surname?"

"Yes."

"Then what about your dad?"

"Brock. Leslie's kept the name to this day and says she will until she marries again. Jackson took it when he married my dad a few years back."

I reached across the space, rubbing Dimitri's arm over his thin jacket. "Don't you miss having the same surname as your dad?"

"I thought I would when I was a teen," he admitted, "but I've gotten to know Kia really well since then. We're on great terms - I just can't really call her Mom, despite considering her as my mother. That makes it easier.

"As for the... band, well, it kind of split me and my brother up. We don't talk much. But since I managed to get you back here, I decided I should at least try to get to know him again, and listening to this... *trash* is the first step."

I laughed. "You can't say that!"

"Why not?" He smiled softly at me, tilting his head to one side.

"I don't think insulting his music is how you find good terms with your brother."

"We'll figure it out ourselves no matter what I say about the music. But it is awful, you have to admit."

"It's a little cliche," I admitted, "but I would never say it is awful." My body twisted to face the front of the car, pulling me out of our trance for the first time since he'd started his story. "Now, don't you think we should get going on that date?"

Dimitri sighed. "I suppose we should, as you got your hair out for it."

"Where are we going?"

"Somewhere human," he answered, finally starting the car.

**Follow my Twitter :) @GracieMackinto1**