142 Alfarus's Stand

Alfarus's POV:

It's been a few days since the wedding when Rei called me out on sleeping with his son yet again, and normally I would've ripped someone to shreds for telling me what I can and cannot do, but this time, it's different. He's the father of my little mate I want to keep, and his species is different from mine. I don't want them crawling up into my nest every week to make me fight for him, and if I kill them, Hesper would be so upset. I frowned as I fluttered my wings in the tree I was sitting in, looking towards the Suoh manor where my little mate was and then growled softly. It would be so easy to take him, but he'd whine, and then I'd have to deal with his parents again. Shifting on the branch, I glanced to the garden where Rei was looking at his koi fish and taking care of everything, and then I tensed before I expanded my wings and glided from the branch to the ground gracefully. I'll tell him exactly what I think, and if he has a problem with it, I'll still take Hesper back with me.

I'm not putting up with this. I started for the garden then, keeping low to the ground in my smaller form as I did my best not to be spotted by his servants that were taking care of the grounds of his manor then got into the garden, slinking between the bushes up to where he was standing. His eyes hit where I was then and sent a small glare. "Well?" He asked. I growled softly at him before I jumped up onto the edge of his koi fish pond and looked him over. His fish darted away from me quickly at the sight of me and went to the other side where they started to swim a little more calmly.

"I don't care if you told me to stay away," I hissed at him then picked my head up high. "You're not keeping me away either. I'm staying in Hesper's life, and you can either like it or you can try to fight it, but I'll win." He looked me over.

"Did Silas approach you?" He asked.

"Why the hell would your mate approach me?" I asked him and growled. "He's just as bad as you about this." He leaned over before grabbing my chin and yanked it up.

"You touch my boy again sexually before he's eighteen or at least sixteen and I'll have Charles change you into a girl until he is of age." He let my chin go. "I want to make this clear to you that he's a boy- not a man. No matter his appearance. He's only been in this world for eleven years. Years, not decades, not centuries. He's eleven years old Alfarus. He's my child still. So if you're sticking around, respect me. I'm glad though you decided you're sticking around. That shows me you do care for him- not just as a prize to be won." I frowned at him then looked him over before I shifted my weight then jumped up onto his shoulder, beating my wings slightly to make it in my form.

"I'm not going to touch your son again like that till he's of age, but the belt goes. It's uncomfortable for him," I hissed lightly then laid down on his shoulder, watching as the koi fish gradually started to come back to where I had been. "It's cruel."

"I'm not sure I should take it off him. He hasn't learned why he's wearing it yet."

"It's not fair to him," I muttered and then looked towards Rei. "I won't mate with him till he's older, but you need to take it off him. It's unhygienic too. If it comes down to it, I'll tell him why we can't mate anymore, but you're taking it off."

"I told you, I'm teaching him a lesson... You're not helping by taking it off him. He's earning my trust right now and learning he can't mate because he's too young." I shook my head then.

"How can he earn your trust if you don't give him a chance?" I asked him then laid my head down in the crook of his neck.

"His chance was given a long time ago, Alfarus. Now I'm having to watch him like a hawk. You don't understand. You're just a dragon." I hissed at him lightly.

"We understand a lot more than your kind. We don't sell our own kind to each other, and we've been here a long time. I'm probably almost as old as you," I told him then sat up on his shoulder.

"Hey," Rei hissed at me. "I don't affiliate with beasts that sell your kind.... but I do love having your kind as my cute little companions." He rubbed my head and smirked. "You had a lot anyways to share~" I purred as he rubbed my head and leaned into his hand before I looked at him, relaxing.

"I do appreciate you taking care of Baby. None of the dragons in our realm have come to me of his kind saying their eggs have been stolen. I wouldn't be able to return him to his nest... and his kind have a hard life anyways in our realm. They get bullied because of their size, and they hardly ever get mates because they have to get their tiny claws on a gold coin first to impress possible mates," I told him then went past his hand, going towards his neck then rubbed my head against it with a louder purr. "In his case, it's probably better he winded up in your hands."

"Well.... I love having a little baby around to take care of. Even if it is a dragon." He picked me up and threw me into the pond then. I yelped as I hit the water then quickly got out of it, growling at him as his fish started to swim in a fear induced frenzy. I picked my head up high and puffed smoke at him angrily, showing him my teeth.

"Don't look at me like that. Oh, you sleep out here." He started for his table that was being set up for his tea.

"No I don't," I hissed at him then went after him, thinking about nipping his feet to prove a point. "I sleep inside with Hesper in my dragon form."

"Why should I let a dragon like you into my home?" He asked. "Give me a better reason than you're just a mate of Hesper."

"Because I'm going to marry your son one day, and you're going to have to deal with me as your son in law! That's how it works for your kind, right?" I told him then growled slightly. "Besides, if you want my help with defeating those little thieves that your mate is currently trying to use, then you're going to have to deal with me anyways."

"Oh yeah? But why? You're no more than a common little mouse right now in a household. You're not a more.... formal appearance." He sat down at the table and crossed his legs. "If you want to be an animal than you can be treated as one." I glared at him then before I walked up and shifted into a human form.

"Being in one form or another doesn't matter," I hissed lightly. "I take the dragon form because it's safer, and it's my symbol of power. I keep small to make you more comfortable that way you're not having a giant dragon staring down at you."

"Oh yeah? You think I'll be intimidated by a giant dragon?" He asked me and smirked. "I'll feed you fish and keep you distracted." I frowned at him then.

"Fish doesn't distract me," I told him then looked him over before I smirked and grabbed his hand, yanking him to his feet. "Come with me. I want to show you something," I purred to him then started to pull him out of his garden so I could transform without hurting his precious plants.

"Where are we going?" He asked and frowned.

"To the dragon realm~ You're going to meet my hatchlings so I can prove a point," I told him and smirked. "They're getting a little bigger." I let his hand go then shifted before I snatched him up into my claws and took off into the air before he could protest, carrying him away swiftly as I slipped him onto my back.

I flew into my nest, landing softly on the gold and saw my mates look up at me with a loud, loving pur. Lilith got up quickly and came up, nuzzling her head against me. "Hey~ We have a guest," I told her then licked her head before I pulled away and got Rei off me before I shifted into my human form. She looked towards Rei with wide eyes then growled.

"Egg snatchers!" She hissed loudly, the others starting to growl as they caught Rei's scent and hunkered down into their nests, hiding their hatchlings from him quickly as Lilith glared Rei down. Night looked us over from his nest and snorted as he saw Rei.

"Why'd you bring him here?" Night asked. "He's going to steal one of your hatchlings."

"You've been gone so long," Lyndi mumbled from her nest. "I missed you. We all do." I looked towards Lyndi then frowned before I purred her way.

"I'm sorry. I've been having troubles with the littlest mate," I told her then looked towards Night and the rest. "He's not going to take a hatchling, and if he does, then we'll get him and punish him," I told them. Lilith looked Rei over with distrust before she hissed lightly and went back to her nest where her hatchlings were wrestling. "He's only here to meet them, and then he will be going," I purred. I suddenly felt my feet get tackled and three of my little hatchlings were playfully growling at my feet, nipping at each other before they crawled up onto my shoulders for my attention. I laughed and then grabbed a red one, looking her over. She transformed into a little toddler then giggled in delight, reaching for me. Purring, I leaned in and kissed her head. "Hello~" Lyndi watched us in amusement and giggled.

"I want hatchlings," she whispered. I looked towards her then purred.

"You do?" I asked her then rubbed my little hatchlings' heads before I passed Rei the toddler. "We'll see about it then." I gave her a smile before I looked towards Rei and watched as my little hatchling was staring at him with huge eyes, looking afraid to be in his hands. Whoops. Rei looked my hatchling over before looking at me.

"How many kids do you have?" He asked and frowned.

"How many have I had over the years or how many are living here now?" I asked him and purred. "There's eighteen hatchlings in this hoard right now... maybe twenty soon if Lyndi still wants her hatchlings she missed out on. We both have lots of kids, huh?" I asked and smirked at him.

"Yeah but I've only had nineteen in my whole existence." He grumbled.

"You only recently found your mate though, and you don't have multiple lovers that each want their own hatchlings," I reminded him. "You'll end up having more in the future when yours grow up on you and they all move out and you realize the house is lonely without kids," I purred then watched as my little hatchling started to relax before she reached up and touched Rei's nose curiously. Rei handed her back to me quickly.

"No, I wanted fifteen from Silas. I may have gotten one over and it's been great raising them." He shook his head. "But fifteen has always been enough for me. It's hard raising my younger ones when I have things to do myself and take care of making sure my elder ones don't run off on me." I watched him then nodded before I kissed the top of her head and sat her back in the gold, watching as she ran off.

"One day, Hesper is going to have his own little hatchling, and that one will succeed my throne when I step down," I whispered to him then watched as my others abandoned me to go play. "You'll be a grandfather to hatchlings, and I hope that you don't think of them as little animals." I looked his way then and crossed my arms.

"Maybe if you didn't live in a cave full of gold with my little boy," he suggested. "I might think of you as higher than a rat." I raised an eyebrow at him then.

"We're more like you than you think," I told him then turned to the entrance to my hoard. "I have my plans for Hesper to live here. He's getting a castle here to live in with me. He's special to me, and you're going to quit calling us rats or else you're going to be stuck one day with hurting your grandchildren's spirits and you'll find them crying and running away from you like you're an egg snatcher that they've been told about as monsters in scary stories. Just because we turn into dragons doesn't mean anything about us. Our ways are different from yours because they have to be. We can't be the same as you, but we're similar. We think, we breath, and we eat, just like any living creature does. You only think of us as beasts because you've been raised with that misconception since childhood. That misconception has existed ever since medieval times when kings were stupid and gold lusty themselves, having their knights kill our kind because we were attracted to their own hoard. It's worse today because your kind sells us like pets, and your kind finds our children adorable and rare because we hide here from humanity where it's safer.

It was your kind that started to come here after we went into hiding, and it was your kind that snuck into our nests to steal our babies while we slept only to make a profit off them like they were slaves to be sold. I know not all of you are that way, but the idea that we are beasts in your kind's eyes still stands. Only a few of you see us as equals to you when it really should be that those egg snatchers should be at our feet begging for our forgiveness for causing so much misery to parents. I believe I heard they even do it to your kind- cradle snatchers is what they call them. Imagine finding out that while you slept, someone came into your place, took your small infant, and sold it, claiming it was just a beast that could be sold. You'd be more sympathetic if they did, but they don't call them beasts, do they? They sell them as blood bags and for entertainment to older sleaze bags of your kind that have no morals."

"Alfarus, I've said it before..... I don't affiliate myself with them. So quit calling them my kind. I'm not interested in stealing babies. I have enough as it is with Baby making it as another child of mine, twenty." I looked towards him then.

"Then quit lumping dragons with beasts," I told him and tilted my head up. "We clearly are not just merely beasts. Everything is not black and white like that." I turned to him and looked him over. "We could easily come back to your world, but we're happy here where it's safe." I walked up to him then and grabbed his hand. "So don't look at things so narrowly like that. Keep an open mind or else you'll be in a rut one day. Your son doesn't think of me as a beast or an animal. He thinks of me like another person, a special being with two forms."

"He's only eleven and his favorite animal is a dragon. Hesper is special anyways. You know that. He's attractive to your kind. He's had dragons trying to take him since he was an infant." He sent me a small glare. I raised an eyebrow at him.

"One day, that attitude towards dragons is going to break his heart when he ends up with a little hatchling and you're looking at it in disgust," I told him then let his hand go. "I brought you here so you could see we're not that different from you, but you're just as stubborn as before Rei. You can't see it, and you will never see it. You're too old to see it."

"Alfarus, I don't have a bad attitude. If Hesper wants a dragon for a mate then sure.... but he's going to give my boy everything he deserves in a mate and home. I have rights to worry too about him being stuck out here alone when he's older surrounded by horny dragons that are attracted to him." I frowned at him then.

"No one is going to touch him but me," I growled at him. "I have respect for all my mates, and if another dragon touches them, I kill them. Hesper will always be safe with me, and the other dragons know that. They'd never risk it, and if they did, they know the consequences for it. He has my mark on him, and it's a warning to anyone else who dares go after him. It's not just a simple 'I love you' mark. It'll never leave him. He'll be safe here with me."

"But he won't be near any other vampires or humans or other supernatural. He might be lonely and it's not easy getting back to civilization." I frowned at that then watched him.

"I'll let him socialize with his own kind. I'll bring him to see his family in your world once a month, and if he asks to go back more than that, I won't deny it for him. I'll take him to little balls too, and I'll hold a few here in his castle when it's built, but it'll only be open to his family to come. I won't invite those who have no business here, but his family and friends may come to visit him. I'm not that cruel to cut him off completely from seeing those he loves."

"Fine.... then I don't think you should see him too much until he's eighteen. You're his mate and you shouldn't be around while I'm raising him. But you may visit once a month." I frowned at him and shook my head.

"No way, I'm still going to see him when I please. Once a month is not enough. He'll be upset, and I promise I won't touch him sexually till he's eighteen. You have my word on that. I'm going to spoil him."

"I don't know.... You touched him multiple times and you know how I feel about that. I could have your head for what you done to him. I could tell Ross to eat you up and I'll tell Hesper you didn't actually love him... You'll be another bedtime story." I growled at him then.

"Ross couldn't eat me if he tried," I hissed then looked him over in anger. "I'm not going to stop coming to see him, and you're not going to stop me either. He's my mate, and he'll be with me for life, not with his parents for life. I have my rights to him to see him when I please, and my word should be enough for you- especially since you already invade your children's privacy with security cameras everywhere," I told him then grabbed him. "Now come on, and let's stop arguing. I'm going to go tell Hesper the good news that he's going to marry me when he's of age."

"What? They're my children. They don't get privacy until they're eighteen. It's called parenting. You wouldn't know because you weren't raised up in my world where children are mischievous. Plus it helps me make sure they're always safe. After all, I don't want my out of wed lock children to come into my house and give them bad ideas." I raised an eyebrow at him then smirked.

"Well, my mates do watch their hatchlings closely," I purred then looked past him then towards Lyndi, looking her over. I could give her a few hatchlings before I marry Hesper.... I looked back at him then before I shifted and scooped him off, taking him back home.

Once I was back in his world and at his manor, I shifted into my human form and started for the doors with a loud purr before I went in. "HESPER!" I called out, smelling the air for him. He's going to be pleased when I tell him that he's going to marry me.

"Grah, you ruined my vid," I heard one of Rei's children grumble as he looked over and pressed pause on his camera. I looked towards him and frowned before I went past him and started for Hesper's bedroom, using the elevator. I went in as I reached the door and looked for him.

"Hesper?" I called out and frowned. I paused as I saw him then purred, running up to him before I pulled him into a hug then kissed the top of his head. "Hesper~ When you're eighteen, you're marrying me," I whispered to him with a loving purr. He's small again.... He sniffled and pressed his face against my chest.

"Really?" He asked.

"Uh huh, we're getting married," I purred to him then pulled him over to the bed and cradled him in my arms. "I'm sorry I left your side for those few days. I was watching over you though," I whispered in his ear then kissed the top of his head again. "I wasn't far away, and I talked to your father." I rubbed his back then and purred softly. "Did you miss me?" He nodded and rubbed at his eyes.

"I missed you... and I hate him," he mumbled and started to cry again. I frowned then held him close, wiping at his tears and kissing his head.

"I love you," I mumbled to him then ran my fingers through his hair before I rubbed his lips slightly with my thumb before I laid down with him and cuddled him to me, getting under the covers with him. He looked up into my eyes and gave a small smile.

"I love you too," he mumbled. I purred then gave him a smile.

"I can't wait till you're of age and you can come back with me," I told him and curled his hair around my fingers. "Until then, you're going to stay here, and I'll visit you and stay with you for long periods of time. I still have to go back to the dragon realm though to check on things there, but when you're older, we'll never be separated," I promised him then brought the blanket close to his chin.

"I want to go with you now," he mumbled. "Please?"

"I'll talk to your father about taking you back with me once a month," I whispered to him. "We're not mating again though till you're married to me." He whined and looked at me in stress.

"I wanted to though," he mumbled.

"You're too small," I purred to him sweetly then kissed the top of his head. "Besides, think about how good it'll feel after waiting seven years. You'll love it, and we can have an entire week to dedicate to mating if you want."

"Seven years? But... that's a long time Alfarus..... and you're not going to wait to mate.... you have other mates." I frowned slightly at him before I rubbed his cheek.

"I won't have other mates when we're married," I promised him softly. "I told your father I wouldn't, and I know you don't like them being around." I kissed his cheek then and sighed. "I won't mate as much till we're married," I promised him softly. "I am going to provide Lyndi with hatchlings though. She's been wanting them." He gave me a pouty look and turned away from me. I frowned slightly then made him face me again. "I'll only provide her with hatchlings one time... and then I promise I won't mate again till we're married and I'll stick this out with you, happy?" I asked him then rubbed his lips gently. "I won't mate after I give Lyndi three eggs to take care of. She'll be the last I mate with before I dedicate myself to you and you alone."

"You're supposed to be dedicated already," he mumbled softly and sniffled. I frowned then sighed before I kissed his head then.

"Okay, I'll just tell her no then.... She can always go find someone else to mate with when I release all my mates when we get married. I'll just get hatchlings later." From you.

"What? You're going to cheat on me?" He asked and frowned.

"No, I'm going to get little hatchlings from you," I purred to him then held him close. "It'll be a little while after we get married." I rubbed his cheek then and smirked. "They'll be cute~" I kissed his forehead then before I rubbed his lips gently.

"I thought I told you we weren't having hatchlings. I don't want any and you have enough as it is." He gave me a frown.

"They're growing up though," I told him and frowned. "I want my heir to come from you. We'll talk about it when you're older though...."

"But I decided now that I don't want hatchlings.... Why aren't you listening?" I sighed then and rubbed his back.

"Fine," I muttered in disappointment then looked away from him and rested my head on the pillow. "I'll just pick my heir from Lilith's hatchlings then, and he'll continue my line." Hesper nodded and looked away from me, curling up. I frowned at him then sighed, moving my hands away from him. Great.... I'll have to talk him into it when he's older.... Maybe I can make him jealous of the other mates by bringing their hatchlings around him more often and show them affection in front of him. He'll come around and want them when he's older. If that fails, I can always convince him when he's older again... or have hatchlings with him anyways with a wizard's help. "Get some rest," I mumbled and then looked towards the window in disappointment. I can't believe he doesn't want children with me.... I'll have to mark him again and remind him he's my mate... and maybe he'll start to crave kids when he's older and the mark makes him want to mate with me more. I ran my fingers through my hair before I sighed then got to my feet slowly and walked over to the window, looking outside then frowned before I headed for the door to go outside and go fly to stretch my wings.

"Where are you going?" He asked softly. I paused then glanced back at him.

"For a flight," I told him then turned to face him. "Why? Do you want me to stay while you sleep?" I asked and looked him over. He nodded and rubbed his eyes.

"Please? I just got you back." I nodded then walked over, crawling into the bed with him and laid down. I pulled him into my arms and then got under the covers with him, cradling him again as I pulled him onto my chest to let him sleep as I held him close. He settled down against me and kissed my chest.

"I love you," he mumbled. I purred happily then, relaxing under him.

"I love you too, little mate," I whispered to him and rubbed his back gently. Oh, I can't wait till he's of age. I smiled softly and closed my eyes to take a nap with him.