She nodded. “Let me know when you leave, please.”
“I will.”
She shot me a smile before going back into the room, and her voice drifted back to us. “Now, where were we? On a safari?”
A bunch of kids yelled, “No!” with laughter, and one voice said, “We were on a pirate ship!”
“Oh, that’s right. Silly me, I forgo—” Her voice cut off as the doors closed behind her.
“Come on, baby,” Ailin said, pulling me along, tucking the box he’d brought under his arm and the paper in his pocket. He managed to do that without releasing my hand, which was a good thing since I was clinging to it.
“Is that a list of things for you to fix?” I asked as we walked under the Love is Stronger sign.
“Yes. Since I’ve been coming here once a week, I told her to start writing things down that I can fix with my magic.”
I nodded, then got distracted by the huge room we walked into. It was light and bright and colorful, and full of happy children that were eating on one side of the room while the other side had a game of tag going on. I had to blink at the sight. I hadn’t even realized those windows were there when I was here. It used to be so dark and dreary in here. They must’ve had curtains or been covered in paint when I was a kid. The sunlight made it feel like a different place entirely.
“The art room is on the other side of the hall, come on.” Ailin pulled me through the center of the hall, and a few of the kids waved to him.
I shouldn’t have been surprised. Ailin loved kids, he always had, and I knew he wished he could take home each and every one of them. Seeing how many kids were waving and how happy Ailin seemed made me feel a little bad for calling him an asshole before we came inside.
Ailin rolled his eyes at me, shaking his head. Don’t feel bad. If this room was full of adults, you bet your ass I wouldn’t be acting like this.
That is true. I grinned at him.
He knocked on a door and a voice yelled, “Come in,” so he opened it, dragging me inside an art studio that was covered in artwork and lots and lots of paint drips all over the place. It kinda looked like someone flicked paint around on purpose.
“Ms. Summers, this is my viramore, Sebastian,” Ailin said to the art teacher, who I could tell was a werewolf.
“Nice to meet ya,” she said to me, shooting me a grin and not trying to shake my hand.
“You too.”
She nodded toward the back of the room. “The girls are over there.”
“Thanks.” Ailin pulled me to the back of the room where two very adorable little girls were.
Since Ailin had been talking about them for weeks, I knew that Leilani was eleven years old, and her younger sister Niya was only four. I also knew that they were half-human, half-nymph. They both had bright blue eyes that stood out against their dark skin and brown hair, although Leilani’s was loosely curled while Niya’s was super curly and cute.
Niya glanced up from her painting as we walked over, and as soon as her eyes landed on Ailin, her whole face lit up. She threw her paintbrush down and came running. Ailin released my hand to squat down and catch the little girl as she launched into his arms, and as soon as I saw Ailin hug her, as soon as I felt how much he already loved this little one, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was meant to be our daughter.
Ailin’s gaze snapped to mine over Niya’s head, his eyes wide and questioning. He’d heard my thoughts.
I nodded to him, and said through our link, Yeah, sweetheart. She’s ours.
He closed his eyes and hugged the little girl tighter, kissing the side of her head. They stayed that way for a long time, and seeing it, seeing and feeling his love and joy, it made me wish I would’ve come here with him sooner.
You’re here now.
I know, but we could’ve had her home with—
It doesn’t matter. Come meet her. He leaned back and quietly said to the little girl, “I want you to meet someone.” He gestured to me. “This is Sebastian. He’s my viramore, do you know what that is?”
She nodded. “Leilani said it’s a soulmate.”
We both smiled, and I said, “That’s right. I’m Ailin’s soulmate. He’s told me so much about you, it’s nice to finally meet you.” I squatted down beside them so I was on their level.
She eyed me for a few long moments before smiling. “Do you like to paint?”
“I do, but I’m not very good at it.”
“I can teach you!” She hopped off Ailin and grabbed my hand, pulling me over to her easel.
“She’s never going to let you go now,” he said with a laugh before he walked over to the eleven-year-old. He fist-bumped her. “Hey, Leilani. How have you been this week?”
The girl shrugged and continued drawing in her sketchbook.
“You looked like you were running low on pencils, so I brought you some new ones.” Ailin put the box he’d been carrying on the table and Leilani eyed it.
“You did?”
“Yep.” He nudged the box over, and when she took it, he grinned, then pulled a small watercolor paint set out of his back pocket—I hadn’t even known he’d had it there—and tossed it to me. “For Niya.”
I held the little paints out to her. “This is from Ailin.”
“And Seb,” Ailin added without glancing up from whatever Leilani was showing him in her sketchbook.
Niya took the paints from me with a smile, yelling, “Thank you!” before she set it on the table. She handed me a paintbrush that she’d already had out and said, “You can paint the grass. I’mma make a butterfly.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to mess up your painting.”
“You won’t, silly. It’ll be fun.”
“Okay.” I dipped the brush into the green and started painting at the bottom of her paper while she made a huge blue blob that I guessed was her butterfly. “That’s really pretty. You’re a good artist.”
“Thank you. Ms. Summers teaches me a lot.”
“Does your sister like to paint?”
She shrugged. “She likes her pencils more. But… but she paints wif me sometimes.”
“What else do you like to do?”
“I like climbing trees, but Mrs. Hunley always yells at me to get down.” She leaned in like she was telling me a secret. “But I do it an-way.”
With a chuckle, I kept painting.
A few minutes in, Ailin walked over with the eleven-year-old, and said, “Seb, this is Leilani.”
I smiled at her. “Hi, Leilani. It’s nice to meet you.” She waved a tiny bit, obviously being shy, and I knew that feeling, so I nodded at her sketchpad in her arms. “Ailin tells me you’re a really great artist.”
She glanced at Ailin, then back at me. “He does?”
“Yes. He told me you drew a really gorgeous satyr picture the other day, and one of your sister sleeping that he thought was really good.”
Her eyes widened before she glanced at Ailin, asking, “You said that?”
“Yeah, sweetie, I did. I told you that you’re really good.” He offered a gentle smile. “Do you want to show Seb?”
She glanced between us before her gaze landed on me. “You would want to see?”