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The morning after

The morning after Seph had begun to tell the twins her story, she woke in bed with both twins; it was more like a pile of bodies like the twins had been fighting over her overnight. Theo had a death grip around Seph’s shoulders, holding her head against his chest, while Kayla was wrapped around her middle, her head on Seph’s back and her legs wrapped around Seph’s. Dextra had come over at some point, too. She was laid diagonally from Kayla’s shoulder to Theo’s, with her wings extended to their fullest extent. Seph felt like she was sleeping next to a bonfire. She was surrounded by heat; the twins and Dextra were all like radiators. Dextra huffed out a puff of smoke as she tried to move, and the twins both growled at her.

Flopping back down for a few minutes, she tried again, only to get the same response from everyone. “Seriously?” She huffed. Fighting again at the restraints of her mates and familiar. After struggling for a few more minutes, being growled at and huffed smoke at, Seph finally gave up. “You guys need to wake up before you boil me alive! Or do I need to shove you out of this bloody bed?” She growled back at the trio in general. Dextra opened her eyes and peeked at Seph before scampering onto the pillows and curling around Theo’s head. The twins were much slower to wake up; it took them a good few minutes to come round and start to peel themselves off Seph. “Oh, thank fuck for that”, Seph groaned as she scrambled from the bed and into the bathroom. Drinking a glass full of cold water before turning on the shower. “Thank you for staying with me, guys… but now I need a shower because you are like a pair of radiators, and you had me wrapped in blankets”, both Theo and Kayla grumbled at her, nodding sleepily. Seph knew that they both understood. They would need to be out of the room when she got out of the shower.

An hour later, all 3 washed and changed; Seph was sitting at a table in the dining room; her half-eaten breakfast had just been cleared away, and her sketch pad and pencils were spread out around her. She wasn’t sure where the twins were, probably training or something; she figured, after all, they did have a pack to run. Seph didn’t recall consciously deciding to draw something, but when she looked down at the page on the table, it was filled with an image of Jaimie, his face distorted into a grimace of hate and disgust. Seph knew precisely when it was without even looking any further. Turning back a page, there was Peter’s face. Then her parents, her mother in tears, being held by her father. Charlie and her parents around Jaimie. Brooklyn from school and the other coven bitches. When she got to these drawings, Seph was in tears again. She pulled the pages from her sketch pad, tearing them into tiny little pieces, throwing them across the room, unsuccessfully, and screaming loudly.

Kayla was there in minutes, her face flushed and panting slightly. She had clearly run from wherever she was to get to Seph as fast as she could. Kayla looked around the room, clearly ready to take on any threat. Only once she was sure there was no threat did she seem to calm, turning Seph to face her and hugging her tightly. “Shhh baby, shhh, it’s ok. I’m here. I’ve got you,” Kayla repeatedly whispered until Seph seemed to calm down slightly. Managing to pack up the art supplies one-handed as Seph dried her eyes, leaning on Kayla’s side. “I drew them… I don’t know why I didn’t decide to draw them,” Seph mumbled as she began to pack up with Kayla. Still looking pale and shaky.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Kayla asked softly as she zipped up the pencil case on the table and moved away to gather the torn-up bits of pages.

“I don’t know how to put it into words”, Seph replied softly. Theo burst into the room at this point, also spinning around and looking for any threat. Once he had satisfied himself that all was as it should be and there was no threat that he could beat, he hurried over to Seph’s side, kneeling down by her, his eyes wide with concern “you needed us?… Dextra reached out to me… I’m sorry I wasn’t here, baby… what happened?”

Seph shook her head, brushing away the apology. They had other things to do besides babysitting her all day. “It’s fine, Theo… don’t worry,” Seph told him quietly, unsure how to explain what had happened to him.

“I think you need to finish telling us the story… if you want to, and you are ready,” Kayla said with a hand on Seph’s shoulder. Giving Theo a significant look. Kayla was pretty sure that Seph was drawing these people because she was halfway through her story; she was struggling with the next bit, perhaps? And telling a story will always make it stick out more in your mind, especially when it’s traumatic memories like these.

Seph’s eyes went wide as she looked between Kayla and Theo; they could hear her heart rate increase as she began to panic. Shaking her head softly, she began to gather up her belongings with shaky hands “n…no… please… not yet… I can’t, I can’t, not yet” she was backing away as she spoke shakily.

“It’s ok, it’s ok, Sephie, you can have all the time you need. We won’t push,” Theo said as he stood up, holding out a hand to her. “Kay didn’t mean to push you, little butterfly. There is no pressure here… do you want to go and see who we can find for you to draw instead?”


A few weeks had passed since the incident in the dining room. Seph was still asking both the twins to sleep with her in her room; she had tried to sleep without them but found that she woke up screaming, and they came running regardless. She hadn’t tried to do more sketching since those she did in the dining room, retreating into other books and photography and helping in the clinic instead.

This Tuesday morning, she was in the clinic, helping give the children their vaccinations. They wouldn’t get their full healing powers and immunity to disease until they got their wolves at around 14 or 15. So until then, it was only wise to protect them, primarily since they would interact with humans at school.

She was sitting on the floor in the middle of the reception, making random objects float and glow while she cuddled the first of a pair of twins who had just had their injections. Theo walked into the clinic just as a tennis ball swooped low and drifted towards the door, Seph losing concentration as a crying toddler wandered over and attempted to settle himself in her lap.

The tennis ball hit Theo right in the middle of his forehead. He wasn’t really concentrating; he had been too busy looking for Seph, her contentment and peace bleeding through their slowly blossoming bond; it was precisely what Theo needed right now. Blinking and rubbing his head, he looked up and around. Laughing at the giant mobile of stuff his fantastic mate had clearly created to keep the children entertained. He could see toys and teddies, a set of keys, a stethoscope, a pencil case and a notebook in the medley. She must have been stealing objects from all over the clinic for this project. Theo had to admit that it did seem to be keeping the children calm, there wasn’t much crying, and the baby in Seph’s arms appeared to be sound asleep and very comfortable. “What are you like?” Theo chuckled, a large smile on his face, despite the recent assault by flying tennis ball, as he too took a seat on the floor at Seph’s side, picking up the toddler and settling him in his own lap “what is your new luna like, little one? Making all these things fly for you and your friends” he said softly to the child.

Seph looked up at Theo, blinking innocently. She hadn’t thought twice about using her powers to distract the children; why would she? It wasn’t hurting anyone and didn’t cost her anything. She knew that Theo wasn’t mad, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of being caught doing something wrong or bad. It seemed to hit her when she was found doing something new or that she hadn’t explicitly been asked to do. She figured it was a leftover from her time in the coven. Theo smiled down at her kindly. They didn’t make much conversation; Seph could tell that Theo needed some time away from something upsetting him, though she wasn’t sure what it was, so they sat together while Seph played with lights and made things fly to amuse the children. Seph liked to play with her powers like this, it was a fun, gentle way to learn how to make things work for her plus, the kids didn’t know what she was trying to do, so if it didn’t go right, they didn’t know. It also showed the older pack members who were anxious about having a witch for Luna that magic wasn’t evil, and Seph used it to help the pack.

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