Chapter 325

Yanis drives down carefully to Hayden's old street, remembering that he hadn't eaten dinner.

He had gone back and made a call to Shana who was happy to have him over and insisted that he brought enough clothes for a week away.

That had stunned him, he would ask them when he got over, seeing as no one was about to tell him here.

Perhaps instinctively, he had a hunch of what was going on but he desperately needed someone to tell him otherwise, he had just known Hayden's friends were weird when they were dealing with Dale's crazy ex and they both had weird eye colors in a split second and really long, really sharp teeth that couldn't be normal while they were growling at each other.

If he hadn't been with a lot of witnesses who also apparently saw the same thing, he might have thought that maybe he was hallucinating.

Surprisingly, Shana had been quick to tell him everything as long as he wouldn't tell Hayden, honestly he was surprised they still kept him in the dark.

He drives up to Shana's and Mae's house, coming down with his bag in hand, it should be fun living with them for a while.

The door opens as he makes his way up the front stairs, Mae beaming up at him from the door.

"Hi Yanis, I hope you don't mind having to stay with us for a while?" She greets, inviting him inside.

"I should be asking you that." He murmurs, making his way in and already looking around for the energetic bundle of joy that was their daughter.

Mae easily interpretes his not so subtle actions. "She's upstairs with Shana who finally got her to take a shower." She is quick to say leading him to the room he would stay at. "After hearing you were coming over, she refused to leave the front door."

Yanis could definitely picture that happening, letting himself in the room that was given to him, Mae telling him to come down to dinner when he was done settling in.

He dropped his bag and took in the homey and warm room, the decor very different from his apartment back at the Pack house.

Settling in didn't take very long, arranging what few clothes he brought in the wardrobe because Mae seemed like the type to help him do it if he didn't, not that he minded, he just didn't want to be a lousy guest.

Vaguely, he wondered how she figured out that he hadn't eaten dinner yet, he didn't remember telling her that little bit of information, although, it wasn't that late so she could have easily predicted that he hadn't.

He makes his way out again when he's ready and can easily hear Ruby's high pitched voice asking for him and the lower one of an exasperated Mae telling her that he was settling in.

She notices him the instant he walks in the room, dashing from where she was standing beside Mae to rocket herself in his arms. "Yani!!!"

"Hey Ruby." He greets with a small smile, unsurprised when Ruby refuses to come down again after he picks her up, when the time comes to leave, it would be devastating.

"Ru, let Yanis eat dinner, you've already eaten." Mae says sternly.

Ruby listens to her mother, crawling down from Yanis' body a little reluctantly to go over to Shan who easily lets her get on her legs.

They had all eaten dinner already but chose to keep Yanis company, he didn't think it was necessary but they insisted and their company was very welcome…

Well, the conversation revolved around Ruby throwing rapid fire questions at him, like how long he would stay, would he stay forever, and why did he come? 

Mae cuts short her questions each time with a disgruntled expression.

"Nana said it was because Luna Hay Hay is going to get babies!" She pipes up with all the excitement a ten year old could muster.

Yanis chokes on his rice at this, coughing violently as he tries to stop himself from being done in by a plant.

"Shana!" Mae rounds on her mate, quick to offer Yanis water to drink.

"What? She kept asking, I couldn't lie to her." 

Shana's confirmation of Ruby's exclamation doesn't go over Yanis' head and the poor man is choking again on the water that is supposed to relieve him, snorting out the cold liquid as he tries not to die.

"Oh my God." Mae panics, offering Yanis a napkin while Ruby hurries over to comfortingly rub his back and Shana fans him with a tray.

When his choking fit dies down, he looks up at them with red, watery eyes and Mae smiles nervously.

"It's not too late to try somewhere else."

Yanis just shakes his head at this in wry humor, letting Ruby feed him, although Mae kept scolding her and Shana kept directing her on the perfect way to properly feed someone else.

It was chaos but Yanis basked it in, enjoying the loved weaved in every silly action and every soft spoken word.

Dinner rounds up eventually and since it was the weekend, Ruby's moms let her stay up late, quickly retiring to their room while he kept Ruby company.

The little girl is quick to introduce him to all of her favorite cartoons and soon he's invested in it, he can't wrap his head around half of what is going on because for goodness sake, why did cartoons have to be so illogical? but he could definitely see the charm in them.

So he sat still and watched cartoons with Ruby, letting her chatter to her heart's content about her favourite characters until she slowly dozed off.

When she's fast asleep, he picks her up and heads up the stairs before realizing that he has no idea where her room is or if she even sleeps with her parents.

Luckily, Mae makes an appearance at this point, already in her night dress and surprised to see him.

"Just come along with me." She whispers softly to him, walking down the hallway a bit. "Her room is just the one next to ours." She informs him, helping him to hold open the door so he could put her to bed and tuck her in.

"I hope she wasn't much of a bother?" Mae inquires with a kind smile while they make their way back.

"Not at all."

"Great, there are snacks in the kitchen if you're going to stay up and you get snackish, Goodnight Yanis." She waves him off, talking in a quiet voice as she disappears back in her room.

Again, Yanis wondered as he made his way down the stairs to pick off where he left off in his cartoon watching, how she knew he planned to stay up.