96: Family meeting.

96: Family meeting.
Enzo pov

I should’ve known the storage room would not be the end of it.

Khan had been suspiciously well-behaved for almost an hour after I dragged him out of the yarn and his greedy hands eventually got exactly what he wanted - me. I was still sore and had a slight limp to my step, because when my mate really wanted something, he took it without thinking, all animal instincts, strength, force and passion. 

But, despite feeling a little off after he, as he put it in, proved how much he truly loved me, I still followed him around to ensure he didn’t do anything stupid. 

Khan bathed, ate and even let me pick the pink bits out of his hair without turning it into a speech. That silence and obedience should’ve been my first warning.

Which, obviously, wasn’t, because I didn’t see the disaster coming until he stood up, clapped his hands, and said, “we need a family meeting.”

I stared at him. “No.”

“Yes.” Khan said, already putting on a bright vest that looked like one of those safety things the construction workers were wearing on job sites. Shit, this didn’t look like anything good was about to happen. 

“Khan, my love,” I tried, but he raised one hand to stop me from talking.

“Willow is carrying too much, we need to focus on her first. Her mate and father are gone, so she needs her strong man figures in her life more than ever today. And the castle is boring, it feels like we’re having a prolonged funeral. So, my idea is that we’ll gather the family, speak, and remind her she’s not alone.”

“That sounds reasonable until you are the one running it.” I grumbled under my breath, half hoping he won’t hear me.

Khan gasped, slapping a hand over his chest. “I’m an excellent facilitator.”

“First of all, I don’t even want to know where you’ve been learning the big words you’re using lately. Second, you once facilitated a breakfast by roaring the menu, that’s about how wonderfully it went.” I told him, not really believing he’ll listen to me. 

Khan didn’t look surprised or wounded by my words. Instead, he simply shrugged, “everyone ate,” he announced as if that settled the argument and walked out. 

I followed him because the alternative was letting him do it unsupervised and there was no way I was letting him out of my sight, knowing how much trouble Khan could cause if left to his own devices for even a minute too long. 

Khan moved through the castle halls like he already had a plan and honestly, I wasn’t surprised that the first person he sought out was Aife. 

We found her in the hallway outside the King’s office, already turning and heading wherever she had to be, but Khan stepped in her way and opened his arms. “Emergency family meeting,” he said, for once, sounding serious. “Attendance is mandatory, my cub. You bring emotions and I will provide snacks.” 

Aife looked at me past Khan, so I shook my head slowly, hoping she would understand someone had to talk sense into Khan and she might be the only person who actually succeeds. 

“Khan,” Aife groaned his name like it physically pained her. “Willow is tired, the last thing she, or this family, needs is another one of your crazy ideas. Can we have one, quiet, calm day? Please?” 

“She needs love,” Khan insisted, dismissing every word that left Aife’s lips. “Loud and organized love is exactly what she needs the most now. Besides, I have an agenda.” 

“You have an agenda?” I asked and my hand was already twitching with the need to slap it against my face as hard as I could, preferably enough to knock me out. 

Khan didn’t seem bothered. In fact, he pulled a folded piece of paper from his vest, showing it off - huge letters and all. 

1\. HUGS  
2\. TRUTH  
3\. HONEY CAKES  
4\. NO SADNESS ALLOWED  
5\. POSSIBLE GRAND BABY UPDATE

Aife pinched the bridge of her nose. “There will be no grandbaby update.”

“We shall see,” Khan said proudly and moved on.

Aife and I followed after him as he went to seek out Kala. Once he found her, Khan showed off his agenda - Kala took one look at the paper and laughed. “Oh, this is going to be a disaster.”

“Not a disaster, this is healing,” Khan corrected. 

“I get that your intentions are nothing but good, but those two things can be the same in this family,” Khala told him and to my horror she agreed to join in on his plans.

By the time we reached Willow’s door, I was dragging my feet, but when Khan raised his hand to knock, I threw myself in front of him, trying to block his way. Unfortunately, as many times before, I failed. 

Willow opened the door, saw him, then saw me behind him, and immediately gave us all a suspicious look. “What did he do?” She asked and turned to me.

“Nothing yet,” I said. “That’s the problem.”

Khan beamed. “Family meeting, mandatory, now. You’re the guest of honor.”

“I don’t want a meeting.” Willow grumbled and tried to step back in the room.

Khan’s hand shot out before any of us could react, grabbing Willow with surprising gentleness and pulling her out of the room. “That’s exactly what a person that needs one would say.” 

Willow looked at me again, clearly needing help, but everything had gone so far that I didn’t think I could stop Khan even if I tried my best. 

“I can try to stop him,” I eventually sighed and made no move to step in. “But we both know I won’t succeed.” 

Willow scanned everyone’s faces, stopping a moment longer on Aife, who suddenly decided the ceiling was more interesting than the mess Khan was creating again. Eventually, she sighed, her shoulders dropping, “fine, but if he mentions babies again, I’m leaving.” 

“Noted,” I said.

Khan leaned closer to me and whispered, “not noted.”

Soon, Khan led us all to the living room and made everyone change their seats three times after he sent one of the servants to tell the King about the family meeting. The King, to his credit, didn’t even come around to check out the situation and simply sent back a note that said: Absolutely not.

Khan read the note, tossed it and stood in the middle of the room like he was about to give a war speech. “Thank you all for coming,” he began.

“You did not give us a choice,” Aife interjected.

“Choice is a luxury, cub, but family is a duty.” Khan told her and turned on Willow. “You. How are you feeling, on a scale from one to roaring?”

Willow looked at him like he was losing his mind, which honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised about. “That’s not a scale, grandpa.”

Khan crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking genuinely offended as he huffed, “it is now.”

“Okay, fine, I’m fine. Can we stop this now? I’d much rather sleep,” Willow groaned. 

Khan took a step closer to her and lowered his voice as he hissed, “lie.”

Unable to take more of this nonsense, I stepped in before he could escalate and do something incredibly stupid like try to shake her. “Khan, Willow doesn’t have to perform for us. If you called this meeting to interrogate her, we’re done here. Come, let’s get you back to the room, you look like you could use a nap.” 

Khan turned to me and looked at me like I just betrayed him, “Enzo, I’m not. I’m only trying to create a safe space for Willow to speak about her feelings.” 

“You’re standing on a table,” Kala pointed out.

He looked down, realized she was right, and stepped off it, his cheeks burning bright red.

“Willow,” Aife finally spoke up and turned to face her daughter, taking over this nonsense of a family meeting. “You can say as much or as little as you want. No one here will force you to take the stage and give a speech. Grandpa Khan is excited, you know how he is, don’t mind him too much.” 

Willow looked down at her lap and nodded, “I know. I just… I don’t need a meeting. I need them to come home, that’s it.”

The room immediately went silent, even Khan, for one rare second, didn’t fill the silence. But, as everything nice in life, his silence ended far too soon, “yes, Willow is speaking the truth. They both should be home - the tall broody mate and father, but they’re both out there in the same stupid forest, chasing the same stupid trouble.”

Every head in the room turned, all eyes focused on Khan. 

“Grandpa, what do you know? What do you mean, the same forest?” Willow demanded. 

Khan opened his mouth and I saw the exact moment he realized he had said more than he meant to. “I mean,” he said quickly, raising his hands in surrender, “forests in general. There are many forests, more than people - trees, dirt, danger, very common I heard.”

Aife stood from her seat and set her hands on her hips, giving him an angry glare, “Khan.” 

“I know nothing official, I only have instincts, excellent instincts,” Khan tried to backtrack.

We all exchanged glances but none of us knew how to react to his words. The only one who actually could form a decent question turned out to be Willow. “Are you saying they’re near each other?”

Khan hesitated and after all the years I’d been with this man, I knew that the silence for him was a confession. Before anyone could ask more questions, he clapped his hands and grinned, “anyway, enough talk about trees, it’s making me hungry. Honey cakes is item three on my agenda, very important. Sugar first, panic later.”