Alexander’s POV
“Goddess, this is so weird,” Fia mumbled.
We were standing in our parents’ room, staring at our mom. She was lying in bed and she was hooked up to all sorts of machines and IVs. She looked so peaceful. She looked like she was sleeping.
She also looked like an 18-year-old girl and it was freaking both Fia and me out. I couldn’t stop staring at her. I couldn’t stop comparing her to Fia. They always looked alike, but seeing them side by side now that my mom was 18 again was just so weird.
Saying that my mom was 18 again was also so fucking weird. No matter how many times I said it, it still sounded completely insane.
“Do you think that she is fighting Dad right now?” Fia mumbled and I looked at her.
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging. “She doesn’t look like she is struggling.”
Fia sighed and furrowed her eyebrows. I placed an arm around her shoulders.
“She is on some meds,” Fia mumbled. “They are keeping her fever under control. Maybe she is struggling, but we can’t see it.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. I wished that she wasn’t struggling. I wished that she would wake up and hold me. I wanted my mom back.
But would she go back to looking like my mom once she woke up? Would she stay like this forever?
I heard footsteps approaching the room and I knew it was my uncle. He opened the door and stepped inside. He sighed and ran his hand over his face.
“Goddess, this is so freaking weird,” he mumbled as he approached the bed.
He kneeled next to my mom and ran his fingers through her hair.
“Did she really look like this when she was 18?” Fia asked, making our uncle look up at her.
“She did,” he said and a small smile spread across his face. “She looked exactly like this.”
He looked back at my mom and shook his head.
“This is just unbelievable,” he mumbled. “She is my little girl again.”
My uncle leaned in and kissed my mom’s forehead. He wrapped his arms around her and leaned his head on hers.
I glanced at Fia and saw her wiping her cheeks. I placed a kiss on the top of her head and took a deep breath. This was weird for all of us, but it was definitely hitting my dad and my uncle the hardest.
“Where is Dad?” Fia asked, drawing our uncle’s attention back to us.
“In the kitchen,” Uncle Andrew said. “Your aunt is forcing him to eat.”
Fia nodded. “Good. He needs to eat something.”
Uncle Andrew looked back down at Emma and sighed.
“Are you fighting, Em?” he mumbled. “Are you kicking their asses right now?”
He caressed her cheek and gulped.
“Don’t trust them, Emma,” he continued talking to her. “They are lying to you. Please don’t trust them. Win and come back to us. We are all waiting for you, Emma.”
I took a deep breath and released it slowly. I tried to remain calm, but it was so hard. I wanted to grab my mom’s shoulders and shake her until she woke up. I wanted her back. I wanted my family back. I wanted everything to just go back to the way it was.
Uncle Andrew sighed and looked up at us. He continued running his fingers through my mom’s hair.
“Did your aunt tell you that everyone is coming back?” our uncle asked.
I furrowed my eyebrows and looked at Fia. She looked confused.
“She didn’t,” Fia said, shaking her head. “Who is coming back?”
“Everyone except your grandma,” Uncle Andrew said, looking back at Emma. “They didn’t want to tell her what happened. She will remain in Drake’s pack until Emma comes back to us.”
I nodded. I didn’t want Grandma here. She loved my mom so much and she would freak out if she saw her like this.
“Oh, I am excited to see Mike,” Fia said as a small smile spread across her face. “I missed him.”
Uncle Andrew smiled at her. “He missed you too. He keeps asking about you.”
Fia’s smile grew. It wasn’t her usual smile, but it was better than that worried look she had lately.
“When are they coming back?” I asked, making Uncle Andrew look at me.
“Tonight,” he said. “They are on their way here. Drake and Amy are coming too. We told them about Emma and Amy almost freaked out. She wanted to see her immediately.”
“Are they bringing their kids?” I asked and Uncle Andrew nodded.
“Yes,” he said. “Both Hayden and Halley are coming.”
“But what about Mom?” Fia asked, furrowing her eyebrows again. “They will want to see her. How will we explain this to them?”
“We won’t,” Uncle Andrew said. “We told the kids that Emma went on a small vacation with your grandma. We told them that your dad had to stay here and work.”
Fia sighed quietly.
“Okay,” she mumbled. “I hope that none of them will figure it out.”
“They won’t,” Uncle Andrew said, looking back at my mom.
He leaned in and kissed her forehead.
“When is Hunter coming back?” he asked, keeping his eyes on my mom.
“He said that he wants to come back tonight, but I think it’s more likely that he will come back tomorrow,” Fia said and I could hear pain in her voice.
She missed him a lot.
I sighed and placed a kiss on her temple.
“Harry and Janet are also coming here,” Uncle Andrew said. “Harry and Mike are just refusing to be without each other.”
Fia and I smiled a little.
“Do you think that they are mates?” I asked my uncle.
“Maybe,” he said, running his fingers through my mom’s hair. “I wouldn’t be surprised. The Goddess is apparently dead set on connecting us to that family in every way possible.”
Fia and I chuckled quietly.
“Would you have a problem if Harry was Mike’s mate?” Fia asked him and our uncle shook his head immediately.
“Of course not,” he said, looking up at us. “I am happy as long as my children are happy. Harry is a good kid, just like Hunter. If he is Mike’s mate, I will be thrilled. I can already tell that he cares about my son. That is all that matters to me.”
Fia and I smiled brightly. I was glad to hear my uncle say that. I was glad that the rivalry between ours and Hunter’s family was over. We didn’t need that anyway. We needed to stick together.
We needed to be united and help my mom go through this. We needed to show her that she wasn’t alone.
