Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

~~

Star

~~

After the hug, we sat down to eat. My father started to pull out several dishes that he had apparently asked to be made just for us. There were lots of things that I had never seen before, and I was excited to try them.

I had spent a lot of my time since I was rescued trying new foods so I wasn't afraid to taste them right now. Artem had made so many new things for me to try, that I was used to it already.

The first dish that I tried looked like potato salad. I had tried it with Artem and Chay when they wanted to 'grill' not that long ago. It was good, and I would eat it anytime that I was given it. This was a similar consistency, but it was purple. My father explained to me that it was their version of the salad. It did indeed have potatoes and other vegetables in it, along with the mayonnaise that it was made with, but it also had crushed flower petals that changed the flavor and gave it a magical property. The food was great for the Fae and still safe for non Fae since the magic was for good health and a calm mind.

After I tried that, I moved on to what I thought was fried chicken breast, but was actually a vegetable. It was one of those vegetables that only the Fae could grow in their enchanted gardens. This one had been sliced into small pieces, battered and fried. It had a texture and taste that made me think about zucchini. It was really good, and I wanted to keep eating more of it, but I made myself move on an try some more. 

There were more dishes that were just spins on human versions of them, along with food you could only get when you were with the Fae. I would definitely look forward to eating these wonderful dishes when I come back here for visits in the future. I think that I would like that very much. And it would be something to help me focus on between family visits.

After we were done eating though, it seemed that my father wanted to talk. I thought that we were going to work on magic control. I wonder what it is that he wanted to discuss?

"Star?" He looked at me with eyes that wavered for a moment. "How have you liked being here for these last few days?"

"To be honest, I thought I was going to hate it before I got here. I was so afraid before we left the house that I was tense and on edge. I did my best not to let it show, and I am sure that I hid it well from almost everyone. But I have to admit that the moment we crossed over the border to the compound, I felt lighter. It was like I was closer to where I belong, and I was somehow home."

"So, you don't want to leave?" He looked at me confused now. It was like he thought I wanted to stay here permanently.

"No, I wouldn't say that I don't want to leave. I want to go home, I want to see the people there. It's more like, I don't want to lose the people I gained here either. I want both worlds. I am both worlds. The problem is, I can't have both worlds. I can't be in both places." 

I hung my head, trying to not let him see me tear up at the heartache that I was feeling right then. I didn't want him to know that I was hurting so bad.

"Is it the people that you will be missing the most?" He sounded just as heartbroken as I did.

"Yes." I heard my voice crack a little. "I don't want to lose the family that I just gained. I know that the Fae live for a long time, but that doesn't mean that I will. I don't know if I will live longer than a normal wolf. I don't know if I will get a lot of chances to come back here and visit with everyone. I don't know if I will get to see y-." I stopped myself and looked away. I stared out at the stream to keep myself from finishing the words that I was about to say.

"You don't know if you will be able to come back to visit me all that often, right?" He knew what I was going to say even though I didn't actually say it. 

"That's right. I just met you, I just got you in my life. I don't want you to leave me now. I don't want to end up losing my father without ever getting to spend much time with him. I know that's stupid and selfish of me. I know you have a life of your own to live somewhere else, and you have things to do that have nothing to do with me. I know all of that, but I still, I can't stop myself from thinking about all of it."

"You don't have to worry, Star." He smiled at me and put a hand on my shoulder. It was the hand that caused me to look at him and see that tender look in his eyes.

"I will try not to." I grimaced in an attempt to smile at him. "I will try to accept it, Dad. I promise I will."

"That's not what I was meaning, Star." He looked like he wanted to laugh, but held it back. "What I meant, Star, is that you don't have to worry about seeing me. I wanted to ask you if you would mind if I came back with you. I want to come back to California with you. I want to live with you and Artem. I want to be there for you. I know you are grown already, but I can be there for the baby as he gets older, and any future children you will have. I want to be a part of your life, Star. I missed too much of it already."

I saw that my Dad was crying now, thinking about the parts of our lives that we had missed. I was so happy that he wanted to go with me, so happy that it brought tears of joy to my eyes.

"If you want me there with you, Star, I want to come back with you. I already asked Artem as well, and he was all for it."

"Yes, Dad, please come back with us!" As I grinned at him, I noticed that I had started calling and thinking about him as Dad more than Father. I know that the more formal term still went through my head sometimes, but more often than not the informal word flitted through. Did that mean that I was getting more used to it? Did that mean I was more comfortable with all of this? I hoped so.

"Oh!" I had a sudden thought as I remembered what coming home with us really meant for my dad.

"What?!" I think I scared him since he jumped away from me, a little afraid.

"When you come home with us, you can meet the other children." I was happy that this meant he could be part of our really big family.

"What other children? Isn't this your first child? I know you mentioned the children back home, but I don't know who they are."

"They are the boys that Artem and his friends rescued. He saved them the same as he saved me. And now that the issues back home are over, we are going to adopt them."

Well, that seemed to shock him for a moment, but then there was a happy smile on his face. It looked like he was still uneasy, but that was only a small part of it.

"I think that is great. You didn't have a family when you were younger, so now you have all that love to share with children. And so, your first baby will have an instant large family. That is truly nice if you ask me. I can't wait to meet them!"

I was happy to see that he was accepting and supportive of what we were doing. He was going to love the boys. Even if he didn't look like he was old enough to be a grandfather, he was, I mean, he was one hundred and nineteen years old. If that wasn't old enough to be a grandfather, then I don't know what was. And in this case, the grandfather would still be young enough (physically, if not chronologically) to play with all the kids. They are going to have a lot of fun together, I just knew it. I couldn't wait to get him home and introduce him to everyone. Wait until he found out that the baby I was having was going to be his fourteenth grandchild.