58. What’s the Matter With Our Granddaughter? (Kaito & Darrol)

Heading upstairs, Darrol headed to his granddaughter's room. It was a familiar route since this very room had once upon a time been his daughter's room while she was growing up in this house. He smiled as he recalled her excitement picking out this very room when Asher and he had still been dating with the intention of marriage in mind. It had been before his husband had adopted her, but even back then, he had thought of her like his own daughter and had raised her well by his side. 

Now his daughter was a mother herself and his oldest granddaughter was now an adult. It felt like it was just yesterday that she was dating his son-in-law, Leon, and keeping that a secret from him and her dad. He smiled as he recalled his husband and mate's woe about being the last to know. He had been so stuck in the past, thinking that their daughter would stay their little princess forever. However, she grew up into a responsible adult, became a mother, and had raised such wonderful children herself. She got to experience all the joys and woes of parenthood and had to come to him and Kaito often early on when it came to raising Liona. 

Knocking on the door, he announced himself, "Liona, it's Grandpa Darr, can I come in?" He only needed to wait a moment before the door opened for him. He was immediately overwhelmed by the scent of his granddaughter in heat, as well as being glomped in a big hug. He laughed at Liona's enthusiasm.

"Grandpa Darr! You made it! But I can't leave my room! Why won't it go away?!" She looked near tears.

"Glad you could make it, Darr." Kaito, his best friend in the whole world, mother to his son-in-law, and equal part grandparent to their grandkids, greeted him.

"What's this about a rogue heat that I hear about? The alphas are all downstairs scratching their heads in confusion!" He laughed.

"It seems that Liona let her omega take control in a fit of anger and it triggered her heat. Didn't you used to get rogue heats when you let your omega out? Or was that just the influence of a certain alpha?" Kaito winked at him and held a finger to his lips. It was as if he was saying don't ask their granddaughter about it directly. He understood the real cause now, but it seemed his granddaughter might not be ready to admit that. For now, he would play along, but he preferred to be more direct.

"Liona, you know your mother used to get rogue heats when she was your age as well. I didn't start to get rogue heats until I met your grandfather, though. Before then, I was about as predictable as could be." Darrol tried to convey to his granddaughter that she wasn't alone in having an alpha trigger her heat.

"Really Grandpa? Both you and Grandpa Kai both went into heat when you met your fated mate?" Liona's eyes widened.

"Yes, we did. Your Grandfather, Ash, sent me into heat quite a few times, before I was ready to accept that we were fated mates." Darrol smiled at the memory of his younger self's stubbornness.

"As for me, your Grandpa Lionel, triggered my very first heat the moment our eyes met. Just by being in his presence, he triggered my second heat, which was when I conceived your Dad and Aunt Noel. By my third heat, we had decided to bond." Kaito explained.

"Wow! What was it like when you both realized that Grandpas Ash and Lionel were the ones for you?" Liona was curious.

"Well as for your Grandpa Ash, I was completely drunk out of my mind and then blacked out, so I don't really remember. You'll have to ask him about what happened that night." Darrol laughed. He could tell her what Asher had told him about that night, but it would be secondhand information. It was better when Asher explained it anyway.

"That's funny? Why is getting blackout drunk funny? Mom says alcohol isn't to be underestimated! It's bad if you don't drink it in moderation, like sugar and caffeine are if you have too much of them." Darrol thought Liona was so adorable when she pouted. She looked just like her mother had at that age.

"Well, as for me, I also blacked out after meeting your grandfather Lionel. He not only triggered my first heat, but he also caused me to present. Before I met your grandfather, I had lived my life as a beta. I hadn't presented my secondary gender characteristics until I met him. After that, he was such a gentleman and wanted to make sure I was alright. He offered to make me tailored suppressants and the rest is history." Kaito explained.

"Well, that's not really of any help!" Liona tucked herself into a ball on her bed and looked up at them.

"Liona, every fateful meeting is different for everyone. Did you ask your Mom and Dad about their fateful meeting?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, I did. They both said that eye contact as well as physical contact triggered their fateful moment. I wouldn't call theirs a meeting since they grew up together. I mean you and Grandpa Darr, raised Mom and Dad together practically! They were so close that Dad said that he thought Mom was his real cousin until he was old enough to understand that it was just a familial title like I call my Auntie's." Liona told them before she continued as more of a mumble. "But is this really 'cause I kissed him?"

"What was that, Liona?" Kaito winked at Darrol again.

"What has got you so down, Liona? Perhaps this sudden interest in fated mates is because you think you've found one for yourself?" Darrol asked. This beating around the bush wasn't really his style.

"I don't think, I know!" Liona burst out to their slight surprise. "Everything you two and Mom and Dad and even Auntie Emma have told me, say this is because I kissed a boy and my omega said he was my mate! But I did something horrible! I forced that kiss on him and now he's going to hate me forever!" Liona sobbed as she stayed curled in a ball, this time burying her face in her knees.

"You forced yourself on a boy? Are you sure he thinks that way?" Kaito asked.

"He's absolutely going to think that way, Grandpa! You won't understand!"

"Liona, what about it won't I understand? If you don't explain, I really won't be able to understand what you're talking about." Kaito said, looking at Darrol to see if he had a clue.

Darrol shook his head at Kaito's unasked question. He was as much in the dark as his friend was at the moment.

Liona tearfully looked up at her grandpas. She then launched into a brief explanation about Erik's past without saying who he was to them. She somehow didn't want to give up his name. He was special and all hers and her possessive omega didn't want to share that name when that was all it had of their fated mate at the moment.

"Liona, I understand a lot better than you may think. I wasn't always this well off. In fact, for many years, from the time I was a little younger than you, I lived a very frugal lifestyle. I had to balance my budget very carefully to live off of. I made less money than you get for an allowance now and I had to make that last the whole month with things like my cell phone, transportation, and any entertainment I had to pay for. I also tried to save as much as possible so that I could eventually survive on my own without your great-grandmother's support." Kaito explained.

"That's right, Liona. Your Grandpa Kai was very frugal with his money as a kid. Even as an adult he kept up that practice of being careful with his money. If your Grandpa Lionel hadn't met Kai, then he would probably still be living in our tiny apartment where your mom spent the first six years of her life in."

"But this boy isn't just supporting himself, he's helping to support his family too, I think. He's also been hurt by people with money before and that's left an invisible mark on him that I want to heal. I told him that I wasn't in the habit of ignoring another person's feelings when I told him I liked him and that I would wait for him to be ready to accept me or even reject me, if it came down to that. Then today I broke that vow, and I just forced a kiss on him! How can he not hate me after what I did! I just know that I hurt him in a very bad way, and I don't even know if I can ever apologize to him! He might not even be willing to see me after what I did!" Liona sobbed until she fell asleep.