Chapter 338: 1-3

. . Chris POV I woke with a start from my short nap, my heart racing as a bloodcurdling scream sounded in the house,  my breathing calming for a minute, as I rise from the couch, stumbling along to go to Kayla. Her cries piercing my heart, a knife with the dullest blade, twisting, as I sprint my way to her room. By the time I open the door slowly, knowing that bursting in wouldn’t help, she was sitting up, crying, heaving, fat tears dropping down her face, as she panted. Her small frame shaking, “Oh, cucciola,” I said feeling someone come in I glanced over my shoulder, to see Rainy, “I’ve got her,” I say and I’m approaching Kayla slowly. Until I’ve reached her and pulled her from her bed, against my body and walked into the large fluffy rocking chair in the corner of her room. “It’s okay, you’re okay cucciola,” her tears socking my shirt, the bright sun dulled by her window treatments, I rock us back and forth. “You’re here. You’re safe. No one can hurt you Kayla,” I don’t ask if she had a nightmare, I don’t say anything else, I murmur what has become a mantra not just for her but also for my sons, other daughters and Rainy. It’s nearing 10am, but in the last twenty-four hours she’s had two terrors. I can’t call them nightmares, because it’s closing in on the afternoon. She already doesn’t sleep much, getting the odd nap here and there, her body tired and drained; I note the dark circles under her eyes. Although I note the tiredness, night terrors after two hours of sleeping always seem to wake her. So now, I just rock my child, I don’t mind that she never fully relaxes, that she holds her body rigid for longer than she should with the lack of energy she has. I just listen to her heart, I concentrate on it, as it slows down, and I can’t help but wonder if her lack of sleep is because she’s found her mate. Already dealing with enough, are her thoughts creating more stress now than ever? “Kayla…” I murmur, waiting for something, a hum, or slight push against my front, and when I feel her nod her head I take a deep breath, “Did you know I’m your momma’s mate?” I wait for something, a push, a nod or hum. I don’t get it but I continue, “When you meet your mate, they smell a certain way to you. You like the smell. But do you want to know something else?” I get a slight nudge. “Mates never hurt each other, they can be your best friends. They never make you do something you don’t want to do.” I stressed my main point leaving it at that, not wanting to overload her with information. So I plant the seed and wait. Rocking watching as minutes go by. Then finally, “Never?” the whisper and longing in her voice, breaks me, but I push that aside, Kayla first. “Never, cucciola. They want to make you laugh, and they want to play and be friends, but never hurt. Never anything you don’t want to do, and just like I won’t hurt you, they won’t hurt you either,” I add on. After more time, Kayla decides to go outside, exhausted, and very lethargic, she takes her tablet and toy wolf with her. Out of all our children, Kayla, Fiona and Quinn were the only ones that got to go outside, the other their eyes not able to hand the sun just yet were getting used to just being inside the house with light curtains. Kayla enjoyed it here, dressing in her cotton clothes and just being in the warm air, while inside we had the air conditioner on low. I saw the soccer ball on the corner of the porch, snorting as Kayla climbed into the wicker egg pod, of course he left it on purpose, Ben was giving himself a reason to come back. I couldn’t hold a grudge though, for such a young child, he seemed to gaze at Kayla with care when he thought no one was looking, when Kayla wasn’t looking. I watched him the day before, eyeing her hands, the scars and I could see the questions in his eyes, and even after noting the slight differences in my baby, he still left something here. A reason to come back. “How is she?” Rainy said coming up behind me, Fiona and Quinn trotting behind her, looking around the room, for Kayla I’m sure. It was crazy just how much they stuck to her, but she never got tired of them, she never pushed them away, and she showed them so much love, that the girls always sought their ‘Wawa,’ out. “She didn’t sleep well, tried to take a nap but… she looks… she’s-” she’s outside but I don’t think we can let the girls with her now, she’s too exhausted, I pointed my chin, outwards at the window. Rainy nodded, sitting and pulling Quinn up to her lap, “you ready for lunch?” she asked brightly, I followed her lead with Fiona. After feeding the girls, and putting them down for their afternoon nap, I kept my eyes out for Kayla on the porch alone, bringing her snacks and a water bottle, watching her fight her sleep, her eyes making me tired. As I went to the sink to fill my glass with water, I notice Ben come up, backpack on his back, paper in his hands, stopping near the pod, holding out a paper to Kayla. He doesn’t come closer, he doesn’t drop his hand, and he keeps his bright smile on his face and blue eyes on her. It’s slow. It’s painfully slow. But eventually Kayla comes form the pod reaching for the paper and opening it, giving me a slight glimpse of a picture of a boat, I hear Ben rambling, gazing at her face. He takes a few steps back, and then goes off the porch, shifting into a white, wolf, with gray patches and a few taps of black on the points of his ears. His clothes however become a problem, wrapped, tangled and twisted around him, he only makes it worse with each move he makes, until he’s trapped in cloth and can only roll around. I duck out from my spot, heading to the sitting room, still with a view of the porch, waiting to see what happens. “Spying dad?” my sister Lucy teases me, coming over to watch, snorting when she sees the dilemma Ben is in. But what I’m focused on is the true smile on my baby’s face, the ends of her lips turned up, she glances towards the kitchen, before turning back to Ben. Slowly going down the porch steps. Guarded, her body stiff. “You need to relax,” Lucy murmurs, but I’m both relieved and proud when Kayla stretches her hands to help Ben out of his clothes. I throw my head back in laughter, leaving my spot when as soon as Ben is free he leaps up and into Kayla’s pod. Eventually I leave my spot when I note Kayla crawling back in, resting her tablet against a pillow. Going to the playroom, I watch Lily have her guitar lesson; its short but calms her and head back to check on Kayla and Ben outside. Hearing nothing, not even the tablet, I peer outside to see Kayla, curled up next to Ben in his wolf form still, fast a sleep as he appears to be. I stand at the window and wavier between going out there and waking her, so that Ben doesn’t witness the terror that is surely going to come within an hour’s time. Her head right on his torso, her wolf toy held against her chest, I note she isn’t as restless, twisting and turning. I left an hour go by, and begin to make dinner, keeping a careful eye on this, tense as ever when the minutes add up and I know, a terror is going to come. I lower the burner and stand near the door, waiting to jump out there and recuse Kayla at the precise moment. My mom and dad come to the kitchen casting curious gazes at me, as my eyes flicker to the clock and back to Kayla and Ben. I rest back, letting my mom take over the cooking as I waited. Minutes pass by. And two hours turns into two hours and twenty minutes. Dinner is ready and everyone that helps with getting each child food comes to help while I am rooted to my spot. On the third hour I’m gaping, unsure what to do. I had known my daughter for less than six months and I had never once witnessed her sleep longer than two hours without a night terror. She was in the same spot, her head still on Ben, asleep… longer than I had known her to be. I wanted her to sleep. Knew she needed it. Knew that it would keep us awake, but we didn’t have regular sleeping patterns anyways. I ate my dinner in the same spot as three hours turned to four… as Kayla stretched out, sitting up, rubbing her eyes, blinking and watching her surroundings. Hugging her wolf to her chest, she ran her hands over Ben’s fur, before doing the same to her wolf. Making some noise, I made my way out to the porch; I brought a plate for Kayla, a juice cup as well. “How did you sleep cucciola?” she didn’t speak much, but the small smile on her lips said enough as I lowered the tray. The silverware clinking woke Ben, who shook, went around Kayla, grabbing his bag in his mouth he trotted around the house. A few moments later he returned in human form, a small smile on his red face. Avoiding my eyes, he came up to the first step on the porch, “Thank you for napping with me Kayla and watching Arthur, it was fun. I have to go to Chelsea’s for dinner,” Kayla nodded. “Goodnight,” he said waving ignoring me all together.