Ascension - Book Eight - Man x Man

Chapter 5 (new)

I'm alone with a passel of children and feel outnumbered. 

Silvia is a good helper though she struggles to understand that I can no longer form ice sculptures at her request. Despite my reservations about being left to fend for myself, it feels only fair if this is the expectation. I do insist that he promise me intimacy later if I succeed, working towards pleasing him would give me a goal and motivate me not to lose sight of my focus. 

Sneaking into the kitchen while the children play, I crack open a bottle of wine and take a swig. I'd been told I was too much of a brute for the manliest man I knew, my ego and feminity were wounded. I never thought of myself as someone who prided myself on being more kind and gentle, yet being told I was too purposefully rough had me feeling strangely masculine in a way I didn't like. 

My wolf, however, was quite pleased and seemed to take this as a positive to becoming the dominant male in the house. 

Silvia tilts her head as I take another drink from the bottle. "What's that?"

I nearly choked, coughing and sputtering as I put the cork back on. It was only 10 in the morning and I was drinking, maybe I truly did have a problem?

"An adult drink."

She pulls her lips into a thin line, mimicking her grandfather. Legardo carries groceries inside from the car as I quickly put the wine back in the cabinet. He takes on the same expression and I roll my eyes, not realizing just how hereditary sarcasm and sass are. 

"Day drinking? Great first day, Nic."

"Eat it, Legardo." I spit back, making Silvia tilt her head the other way. 

"Eat what?"

"Nice." Legardo sighs, shaking his head in obvious disappointment as he begins to set things on the counter. 

"All the sugar he can, because your daddy needs to learn to be sweet." I poke the girl's nose, narrowing my eyes at Legardo and flipping him my middle finger as the little girl skips back into the living space. 

Perhaps it was how much he looked like his father or how much he felt I was a lost cause, something made me want to treat Legardo poorly so I opted to fall short in that department and allow temptation to take over. Leading myself back into the kitchen, I put on a movie and flop down on the couch, running my hand through my hair as the children play on the rug. 

This wasn't so bad. A movie, children, I would coast through the day and prove my worth. 

Not ten minutes pass before Darius looks at me, dropping his toys. "Potty." He tells me shortly, holding his shirt. 

"Go potty?" I suggest, only to gasp as he proceeds to have an accident on the floor and I'm forced to rush him to the bathroom. My paternal instincts were lacking, I seemed to be incapable of understanding the needs of a toddler. Holding him over the toilet so he can finish, Silvia stands in the doorway with her hands on her hips. 

"Xavier is playing in that water on the floor."

"Well stop him!" I demand, making her shrug as she disappears. Folding Darius under my arm, I grab a towel from the bathroom and come back into the living area, forgetting he'd been on the rug. I put Darius down and go to get the carpet cleaner, grumbling to myself that the insane were running the asylum. 

"Um, Papa Nic. Darius is naked." Silvia yells from the living room. 

"Just give me a minute." I retort, bringing back the spray and spriting the carpet before putting the towel down, then hesitating to look at the bottle. "Is that how this works?" I grumble, scratching my head, wishing I was better at reading English. "Silvia, can you read?"