"Hannah, can I ask you a question?" Alois asked later that night as Hannah straightened up the living room.

"Of course, you can always come to me dearest one." She put down the vase and turned to him. Alois sighed, he didn't dare look at her when he posed his question.

"Have you ever had a mate?" Hannah didn't answer right away and Alois knew it was painful for her to think about."

"A very, very long time ago, yes." She said finally.

"I'm sorry Hannah, I didn't mean to hurt you, I just hoped that you could tell me how you knew when you found your mate, I mean, did it feel different or -" Claude laughed maliciously.

"You can't be serious, you couldn't find a mate if you-" Hannah became angry and threw the newly polished vase, hitting Claude in the face.

"You will not speak to my boys that way!" Claude fell silent.

"Please, sit down. You have not hurt me, I will answer your question as best I can." Alois sat down next to her.

"It is different for all of us, in my experience, My mate made me feel as if I was the only female in existence, he never allowed a day to go by when he didn't tell me he loved me, he took care of me and I felt as though I could do anything in the world. I could always see the love he had for me in his eyes. They would sparkle and shine as though they were amber diamonds." Alois smiled at the description, it was clear that Hannah had loved him. It also brought to mind Naveen, whose eyes also sparkled.

"He sounds like he really loved you."

"Yes, we were very much in love. But you must understand Alois, having a mate is a difficult task. It is an eternal job to keep them, some are harder to please than others and-"

"You don't like Naveen at all do you?" Alois stared down to the floor.

"You idiot, are you so blind that you cannot see what is the true pain, even I know."

"Claude, hold your tongue!" Hannah said.

"I am sure that Naveen is nice, however, I cannot-" she wasn't sure how to say it. She felt as if he was being taken from her, and that was something she would never accept.

"Hannah, It's important to me that you and Luca like my mate, if you don't think Naveen is right for me, I trust you. You only want what's best for me and Luca, so if that really is what you think, I'll tell him tomorrow that I won't-"

"Alois, does Naveen make you happy?"

"I don't want you to be sad."

"Does he make yoi happy?" Hannah repeated.

"Yes."

"Tell me about him."

"Well, he's very accepting, he knows everything and he still likes me for who I am. He always thinks about me and sometimes he holds me close and I feel loved, truly loved." Hannah noticed the smile on the boy's face as he spoke and there was no denying that Alois loved him.

"Perhaps I judged him too quickly, if he is all that to you, I would like for you to invite him over for an evening, I will give him a fair judgement to the best of my ability, at the end of the evening, I will give my opinion and allow you to make your choice on your own. Please remember that I love you dearly and would never want you hurt." Alois gave her a hug.

"I know Hannah, I love you too. I promise I'll always love you, no matter what."

"I hope so my dear one, you and Luca mean the world to me." Hannah felt a tear slide down her cheek as she stroked the boy's golden hair. The realization was hitting her that this maybe one of the last times she would hold Alois like this, her little boy was growing up.

Alois sat down on the grass by the stream, his tears mixed with the water as he stared down at his relection. Luca shed several of his own tears having been unable to help his brother.

"Won't you tell me brother?" Alois looked at the younger boy and pulled him into a hug.

"Don't cry, I'm alright. It's just, I feel sad today."

"Is it because Hannah was crying when she thought we couldn't hear her last night?"

"Yes, It's my fault, I asked her something and then- "

"Luca!" Victor cried excitedly as he rushed toward the boy. Luca didn't move away from Alois.

"Go on then Luca, go play while you can." Alois encouraged. The younger boy nodded and walked over to his friend. Alois dried his tears and splashed a bit of water on his face, wiping it with his sleeve.

"Hello Beautiful one." Naveen's soft voice called from behind.

"Hello Naveen." The dark haired demon tilted his head, Alois had not turned to greet him, nor had he called him 'love' as he normally did. Something was wrong and Naveen couldn't allow it to go unnoticed.

"Alois, is everything...alright?" He asked cautiously.

"It's fine."

"Don't take this the wrong way precious but, I'm not convinced you are telling me the truth."

"You don't want to hear about it." Alois sighed.

"If it has you this upset, then of course I want you to tell me. May I join you?" Alois nodded. Naveen placed a hand inside his pocket and felt for the small box. He had made up his mind months prior to this day but had not been sure what to say. He sat down close to Alois.

"Is it Claude again, if I have to go over there I-"

"Not really. I hurt Hannah."

"You-hurt her?" The blonde boy nodded.

"I brought up the subject of mates and I asked what it was like to find one, she got upset, cried all night. I feel terrible."

"I'm sorry, is there anything I can do to make things better for either of you?"

"Hannah wants you to come over for an evening some time soon. She said she wants to be fair about getting to know you. Maybe that would make her feel better."

"Of course I'll come, everything will work out you'll see. Miss Hannah loves you very much, if she's upset, it is probably because she thinks I'm going to take you from her, I promise you Alois, that will never, ever happen. Hannah and Luca are family and I won't make you chose." Alois looked up onto his eyes.

"I hope you mean that because if you ever do make it come down to that, you'll lose every time, love doesn't make you chose like that "

"You're absolutely right, it would be terrible to do such a thing to you. I could never hurt you Alois. I'll talk with miss Hannah and we'll go from there." Naveen took his hand out of his pocket, leaving the box inside. He would wait, it was in the best interest of his mate to do so. He only hoped that Hannah could see how much Alois meant to him, and he did like Hannah, she was protective of Alois, a mother figure and although Naveen was a member of the royal family, he was no one to stand between a mother and her child.