Skyler took a deep breath before opening her eyes, knowing already what was coming. A bouncy little girl with dark hair and violet eyes bounced into her room.
"Happy birthday sky!" Tamara giggled in excitement.
Oh yes, happy birthday to me. 18 years old. Skyler's heart skipped a beat in fear as she thought about what that meant. Dimitri could claim her now, should he so choose. She struggled not to reach out to him and find him, scared that he might be closer than she wanted him to be.
Skyler, honey, why don't you come down here so we can celebrate as a family? came Francesca's gentle question. She seemed slightly apprehensive, which was unusual for her, though not unheard of. Just a minute.
Skyler walked to her private bathroom after making sure an exuberant Tamara made it safely down the stairs to her parents. She turned on the shower and removed her nightgown, stepping into the calming spray. She cherished everything about her life, including showers.
She began reflecting on her past, and now what her future was going to hold for her. From everything that she had heard, there was no choice for her but to go with Dimitri, but that scared the living daylight out of her.
No sooner had she begun to think of her past, and how much it would always going to impact her than she felt a familiar, light touch. He had never done more than that. It was as if he wanted to reassure her that he would love her no matter what, and tell her that she was beautiful, but was to scared that she would flit away before he had the chance to earn her trust.
Today, though, the light touch didn't go away. Like he was asking permission to speak with her. Skyler allowed her mind to touch his briefly, a tentative acknowledgement and acceptance of his wish, if that was really what he wanted.
Moya lyubovʹ I want only to wish you the happiest of days, and that you remember that I will never push you to come to me. Release your fears, even if just for today. He left a trail of kisses leading from her jaw line just to the corner of her mouth. That was the most they had actually communicated in the last year and a half since the Christmas gathering.
Skyler felt him drifting away, and called out to him quickly because she could not communicate with him over such a distance by herself. Dimitri! Wait! She felt him give a mental pause before returning to her, immediately giving her his undivided attention. Thank you for not pressuring me. And I'm sorry if I'm not ready for you yet. I wish I could be. I still feel your grief, even though you try to hide it. I know that this hurts you. Skyler hesitated before making her next statement. Asking the man that she both feared and needed could have disastrous consequences for the both of them, but she felt as if she owed him something. Gabriel—her father -- would be none too happy, but if this man was really her lifemate, then what was there that he would really do about it? I would like to see you. To get to know you. I don't think that I could be totally alone with you right now, but I feel as if I need to give you something in return for all the waiting you have had to do on my behalf.
He tried to interrupt You owe me nothing, little one, I pro-
No. That's wrong, Dimitri. I do owe you something. I always have. I remember feeling you try to reach me, and then I pushed you away, foolishly because I was young and did not fully understand that you were real and you were trying to help me unlike everyone else. I really want you to come. I feel the connection that we have, and I want to grow to know you and learn what you need me to be.
Skyler felt him chuckle slightly, but it was a heartbreaking kind of chuckle. Love, I need you to be just who you are. You are beautiful in and of yourself. With all of your battles and scars, and the fact that you made it through what you did I already know that you will ALWAYS be enough for me. Never doubt that. Dimitri's voice was full of conviction that brought tears to Skyler's eyes. If you are sure of this, if you have thought this through, then I will come to you. Then sun has only now just set, and I must feed, but rest assured that before the night has turned to dawn, I will stand in front of you.
Thank you, Dimitri. Skyler turned off the water, and only then was she aware of the tears that were streaking down her face. As scared as she might be of Dimitri, he had always made her feel good about sighed and reached for her towel, shocked to find that someone was actually handing it to her. Skyler grabbed the curtain and held it closed.
"Who's there?" she asked. There was a youthful giggle, and Skyler relaxed. "Tamara, baby, what on earth are you doing with my towel?"
"I don't know, " was her innocent reply.
" Go sit downstairs with Mommy and Daddy while I get dressed, ok? And leave my towel here munchkin. "
"'Kay!" With that, Tamara dropped her towel on the floor and rushed out of the room.
Skyler picked her towel up, in a hurry to dry off and dress so that she could join her family. She swept her long hair back into a pony tail to avoid having to blow dry the entire thing, knowing Francesca would probably dry it for her anyway. She grabbed a dark blue v-neck tee shirt from a drawer and her favorite pair of jeans to wear before she headed downstairs.
A chorus of "Happy Birthday" hit her as she reached the bottom of the stairs, which explained Francesca's earlier tone. Skyler had been expecting it, although the number of people there surprised her. Not only were Gabriel and Francesca there, but so were Lucian and Jaxon and Gregori and Savannah as well. Savannah and Gregori had brought their own twin daughters along too, and they were happily playing on the floor with Tamara,
"Thanks guys," Skyler replied happily. Although all of these people here were here for her, it might make her little invite a bit more awkward. Just as she was about to tell Francesca that she needed to talk to her, the door bell rang and in walked Josef, Byron, and Antoinetta. "I hope we aren't too late," Byron said exasperatedly, "and if we are I am placing the blame wholly on Josef. He took far too long spiking his hair or whatever it is that he does and we had to leave rather late."
Everyone laughed at Byron's excuse. Of course he would blame the boy. Josef ignored his uncles ribbing and walked over to Skyler to give her the present that he had made. Josef was becoming very adept at gem calling, although he knew that he had nothing on Byron's talents.
"I made this for you, " he said, presenting Skyler with a small box, "I hope you like it. Byron helped me get the form right, and I did the rest."
Skyler opened the box and was astonished to see a small silver bracelet with a single charm on it that matched her necklace from Dimitri. "Josef, I love it! Really I do. It's absolutely perfect." A beaming smile lit Skyler's face, and in an unusual display of affection, she threw her arms around the boy and gave him a hug.
She quickly released him though, all too aware that Dimitri was most likely sharing her mind, and she saw no reason for him to dislike the boy even more than he already did after the little owl incident two Christmases ago.
She smiled briefly at him again, and then decided that while everyone was in such a good mood, she may as well bite the bullet and announce her other invite. She could tell Francesca first and then have her tell Gabriel and Lucian, but that didn't quite seem fair, so she very quickly blurted out in her head to both her father and her uncle Dimitri is coming. I invited him.
The room suddenly grew still as Gabriel and Lucian both let their tempers flare. The intimidating men stalked toward her, completely oblivious of their lifemates' attempts to calm them down and stop crowding Skyler into a corner.
It was Lucian who spoke first, obviously trying to keep his cool and failing miserably. "Why would you invite him here?" he demanded to know. "He has only caused you misery and grief, and I for one refuse to allow him near you." Gabriel very quickly seconded that notion.
Dimitri was close now, Skyler could tell, and there was only one way to resolve this issue. Skyler was going to have to stand up to both of the intimidating males in front of her and put her foot down. She mustered up as much courage as she could and looked both men in the eyes.
"Like it or not, Dimitri is my lifemate. Maybe he has caused me grief, but it was my fault that he was feeling those things. Most of the time I intentionally seek him out in the hopes that touching his mind will alleviate some of the pain that he is feeling. As scared as I might be of him I know for a fact that he would never hurt me or put me in a situation that I was uncomfortable with. I have every right to invite my lifemate into my life then that is my decision. I wish that the both of you would accept him. I'm sure you know better than I do that he needs me. Tell me, would you rather that I have a lifemate, someone who you know will love me and support me and be patient, or would you rather I fall in love with a human male who you would have no choice but to control because your egos would never allow it.
"To top all of this off, I know that you were intending to convert me whether or not I really wanted it. I'm sure that I would have come to that same decision, because I would never want to leave you, but do you really think that I would have ever been happy without someone to stand by my side, like the both of you do for Jax and Francesca?
Skyler lowered her tone a little bit and tried to calm herself before continuing on. " I have no intention of running off with Dimitri, but I absolutely want to get to know him before I do join with him. Is that so wrong?"
Skyler had never spoken so vehemently in her life, and she knew that she had shocked both of the men with her outburst. Thankfully, before they could gather a coherent argument, Francesca and Jaxon both stepped up and defended her position.
"She's right, you know, Gabriel. She has every right to get to know Dimitri before she goes with him. I agree with the fact that he will not arbitrarily take her, but you can't stop them from talking."
"Yeah," Jaxon seconded, "and maybe if you had taken the time to court me and talk to me properly instead of whisking me away I would have accepted you and your brutish ideas a little more quickly."
The women had successfully stopped their lifemates from arguing any more against Dimitri, whether through logic or fear though Skyler couldn't be sure.
The women continued to glare at the men until a soft knock alerted everyone to another arrival.
"He's here…" Skyler said uncertainly.