16. VANYA: PART OF MY PAST

“My little human is none of your concern,” Obsidian hissed.
The stare-off between the two men continued for a few more minutes until it was broken by Devrim’s arrival.
“Devrim,” the man greeted him.
“Red.” He nodded at the man but didn’t turn to face him like Obsidian was doing.
Opening the back door, Devrim gestured for me to climb in. I glanced at Obsidian before I followed Devrim’s silent order. The moment I was seated, he handed me a bag I didn’t even notice he held and closed the door.
Placing the bag on my lap, I opened it and smiled when I spotted the chocolate bar. There were three water bottles, a big bag of potato chips, a chocolate bar, and something I never expected any of them to even consider buying.
Seeing the box made me pause. I mentally calculated how long it had been since I last had my period. Throwing the bag aside, I reached for the door handle but paused when Devrim climbed into the car.
He glanced at me and frowned. “What’s wrong?”
“Uhm. . .what are the chances of you knocking me up?” I asked him.
“What?” His frown deepened. “I don’t understand that term.”
“Okay.” I tried not to panic.
Ezra had asked me the other night if I wanted kids and that couldn’t have been a coincidence, right?
Obsidian climbed in behind the wheel. He started the car and pulled out of the garage without a glance in my direction.
“Vanya?”
I swallowed. “You said that you mate in your. . .other form, yet Obsidian mated me without shifting. So, uhm. . .what are the chances of you getting me pregnant?”
Devrim blinked. “I don’t. . .why are you asking?”
“I saw the condoms”—I pointed at the bag—“and it had me thinking about my period which I haven’t had in nearly two months.”
“You were kidnapped, assaulted, and instead of taking care of yourself, you were focused on me. The stress and everything else happening, isn’t a missed period normal?” Obsidian asked.
I stared at the side of his face for a few seconds before I slumped in the seat. He was right. My body has been through the wringer and stress was a factor of missed periods.
“You bonded her,” Devrim said. “Can we get her pregnant?”
Obsidian shrugged.
“How did you bond her?” Devrim sounded anything but thrilled about the prospect of knocking me up.
“You don’t want kids, do you?” I asked him.
“I’m not ready to share you.”
I frowned. “You’re sharing me with Ezra and Devrim,” I pointed out.
“It’s not the same,” he muttered.
“What about you Obsidian?” I asked him.
“I don’t want pups,” he growled.
And here I thought that only human men were assholes. Ezra was the only one of the three of them who wanted kids.
Why the hell hadn’t I thought of this when we started having sex? We should have talked about it!
“How long do you think it’s going to take for Ezra to find answers?” I asked softly after a few minutes of silence.
Neither of them answered. Grabbing the chocolate bar from the bag, I started seating it as I curled up on the seat. I could feel the need to have one of them filling my pussy start again but I ignored it.
“How much further?” I whispered.
“Not that long,” Devrim said softly.
It left like hours before the car finally started to slow. I sat up and leaned forward between the front two seats to get a look out the front window.
At first, all I saw was a bunch of trees but they cleared a few minutes later to reveal Darial’s house.
“Wow,” I breathed.
It looked like something out of a fairy-tale. The house hadn’t been completed, that much you could tell but that didn’t take anything away from the beauty of it.
Built a few feet away from the edge of the cliff, between two tall trees and a few smaller ones, stood a two-story house. It had a triangle roof above the door and a flat roof over the rest of the house. There were only two windows at the front of the house but they were covered with something that prevented me from seeing inside.
Obsidian parked near the house but neither of them made any move to get out.
I couldn’t contain my curiosity; I wanted to explore the inside to find out whether it looked just as amazing as the outside.
“Can I go in?” I questioned, reaching for the door handle.
“Don’t go out the back,” Devrim warned.
Nodding, I slipped out of the car. Should I be worried about the fact that they were allowing me to explore on my own?
Later, I would question things.
I paused in front of the door and stared at the panther that had been carved into the wood. It was meant to be scary and maybe I would have been too scared to enter the house if it didn’t feel as if I had seen it before.
It was easy to figure out that the place hadn’t been lived in for years and it had nothing to do with the smell. Every surface was covered in a thick layer of dust including the floor.
My eyes darted up to the high ceiling and then the stairs that led up to the loft bedroom.
There was a modern kitchen to my left with a table in the middle of the kitchen that could seat about six people. The front door opened into the living room where the furniture was covered in sheets. A stone fireplace had been built between two massive windows that had a breathtaking view of the surrounding mountains and the ocean.
I found a bedroom off to the side with a bathroom attached that hadn’t been completed. The only furniture in the bedroom was the frame of a king size bed, and there was some wood piled into the corner.
Next to the room down a short hall was another bathroom, completed but much smaller.
I headed for the stairs next but hesitated. It looked sturdy enough but I couldn’t be too sure. Licking my lips, I gripped the railing and placed my foot on the first step to test it. The wood didn’t even creak.
Making my way upstairs, I gasped when I reached the top. It looked nothing like I imagined. The loft was built at the part of the house that had the triangle roof. There was a large skylight in the middle of the room. The floor was covered with a dark grey fluffy carpet. A floor-to-ceiling bookshelf covered one whole wall with a small TV directly in the middle of it.
I took a few more steps forward and tilted my head back to stare out of the skylight. My eyes fluttered closed when a memory surfaced.

***

*“What colour do you want the walls to be?”
I looked up at the man who had taken a seat next to me at the table. His hair was messy and filled with white powder that covered most of his clothes too.
When I remained silent, he turned his head to stare down at me. His eyes were different than the other panthers but still so pretty.
“Do you mean I can choose any colour I want?” I asked.
“Yes.” He smiled. “It’s going to be your room so we can make it exactly the way you want.”
I turned my head to study the mess around us. Mom said that the house was going to be finished in a few months and then we were going to live here.
“I don’t want a rood on my room,” I told him. “I want to see the stars and the sunsets. And I want a thick carpet where I can play on. Oh! And lots of places to put my books.”
Mom’s laugh echoed around the house. She stepped into view a moment later, smiling at me as she sat down next to him.
“You need a roof otherwise you’re going to be freezing,” she told me.
“Oh.” Sadness filled me.
Darial wrapped an arm around my shoulders and tugged me closer. “Don’t worry, Vannie. I’ll figure something out to make sure that you can see the stars.” *

***

“We can sleep up here if you want?”
I spun around to face him. “I’ve been here before,” I told him, “while he was building the house.”
“Are you sure?”
I nodded as I closed the space between us. Wrapping my arms around his waist, I pressed my cheek to his chest. He hugged me but loosened his arms after a few minutes and pulled away slightly to cup my cheek and tilt my face up to his.
“Talk to me, rosebud,” he urged.
“It felt familiar,” I whispered, “when I saw the carving on the door but I don’t remember being here until. . .until I came up here.”
“What do you remember?” he asked.
“Darial asked me what colour I wanted the walls to be.” I turned around and leaned back against his chest. “I think this w-was going my room.”
Devrim’s head lowered and a second later his lips brushed my jaw. “It needs a good clean but it looks cozy,” he muttered. “I can imagine you stuck here with a good book.”
I smiled even though I felt like crying.
*Why can’t I remember my childhood?*