Ander laid in bed, his thoughts going back to the last question Eric had asked him before Hayden had come to get them, “So you’ll stay here, with me?” he didn’t answer him, he didn’t have the time because of Hayden bursting through the door and looking like she had to kick it in. The sun was slowly rising and casting its warm rays on his face, it was the first time that he was awake before it; his thoughts had kept him up, he couldn’t decide what to answer to Eric’s question, if he said no then the boy would never forgive him, but if he said yes then he was abandoning his mother and the trust she placed in him.

Deciding that he would think better after a walk he got up and got ready for the day ahead, walking to the kitchen where Hayden always was this time of day preparing breakfast. When Ander came closer though he heard talking, Hayden was talking to someone he didn’t recognize, he walked towards and into the kitchen until he could see who it was, the woman looked just as old as Hayden, but that meant nothing if she was also a witch and something told him that she was. Her copper brown hair stopping at her shoulders and shook as she laughed at something Hayden had said, “Poor boy won’t be sitting for a while…” when Hayden noticed him the woman also turned around and set her stone grey eyes on him, her gaze unnerving him and though she didn’t say anything she did smirk before taking a package wrapped in brown paper off of the kitchen island and headed for the door, “I’ll be right back, just going to say goodbye” Somehow Ander thought that he made the woman leave and when he heard them talking outside, hearing his name a few times to, he could tell that he was right.

“Who was that?” he asked Hayden when she returned to the kitchen, she looked at him for a second before getting on with making breakfast, “Ignoring me won’t make me go away” he slipped up behind her and held her against him, his hands around her waist. “Seduction, our ancestors would be proud” she joked as she turn in his hold, she kissed him quick, it wasn’t more than just a peck to throw him off but it only made him smile and follow her retreat.

Their kissing got a bit heated as Ander moved his hands from her hips to her thighs and picked her up and placed her on the counter she had been making breakfast on, he moved closer and not once did they break apart. Hayden’s hands threaded through his black hair and held firm as she too wanted more of him just like he craved more of her, “Not here too, is everybody in this house in a kissing mood today” they broke apart at the voice, Hayden getting down from the counter with red cheeks while she looked at Maddie, the little girl was about to leave but she stopped when Hayden asked, “Us to, who else was kissing?” the girl smiled before she pointed to the hallway that led to Eric’s and Drew’s room.

Hayden looked at Ander, “Think we should go talk to them?” she asked but he just gave a smile that made her heart skip a beat before saying, “I talked to Eric yesterday, gave him some advice so we should leave them to work things out, besides he told me that they would go slow and I trust him to keep that promise” Hayden only thought one thing, she was falling for this person and she was falling hard. In Hayden’s eyes Ander had changed so much in the few short days that he had been here, from someone who only came to take his brother away to be used as a weapon to the person that his younger brother had come to for advice about the feelings he had, she couldn’t have felt prouder of him as she pecked him on the lips again before walking off to the boy’s room.

“Never believe two horny boys will be able to keep their hands off of each other just because one of them promised you they would” Ander heard as he followed her, he almost couldn’t hold back his smile or laughter but he did his best. Hayden only knocked once before opening the door and couldn’t believe what she saw, Eric and Drew were both fully dressed, they were laying in each other’s embrace yes but it didn’t even seem like they had been kissing, “Told you so” she heard Ander whisper into her ear and she felt the blush from a few minutes return as the two boys looked at the ones who had disturbed their talk, “As you were” Ander said as he pulled Hayden out along with him and closed the door, “Don’t be late to breakfast…” Hayden said before the door closed.

Ander’s cocky smile he was wearing made Hayden want to go get her frying pan and whack him a few times and see if anything came out, but when he took her hand and led her back to the kitchen she forwent such thoughts. “Don’t look at me like that, there are mouths to feed and niños who don’t need to be scared for life” Hayden said when she saw a familiar glint in the eyes she lost herself in but when that cocky smile came back she couldn’t help herself, she leaned in and made to kiss him, only though she had made a small frozen cube with magic behind her back and slipped it into the back of his t-shirt.

Eric and Drew looked at the door, neither really knew what had just happened but they both thought that Maddie must have said something about the kiss they had shared when she barged in; Eric had promised himself that from now on because he and Drew decided to give being more than friends a chance that he would kiss the boy every morning and every night, that he would show him how he felt when the sun rose and when it set. “That was weird” Drew finally broke the awkward silence that had been created by Hayden and Ander, Eric rolled his eyes, weird was an understatement.

“So now that we decided to, you know, give us a try… how much are we going to try?” Drew asked, his eyes now focused on the boy he had been crushing on, the boy he finally got, Eric looked at him and saw the reason that Hayden had burst in, “I promised we’d take it slow, that we wouldn’t rush anything because we don’t have to” Drew raised an eyebrow at him but he just looked at his friend, boyfriend he guessed would be better suited to say now, he looked him in the eyes and waited for his response. “We can go slow; like you said, we have no reason not to. So kissing then?” Eric couldn’t help himself from smiling at this boy who had pulled him out of himself, “Kissing” he said and allowed the other to lean in and seal their agreement with just that, a kiss that showed each other how they felt and somehow Eric knew that this was the right choice and he silently thanked his brother for his advice as he lost himself in the kiss.

After a few minutes the two boys walked into the kitchen dressed and clean for the day ahead; Ander was sitting on the far side of the kitchen while Hayden cooked, the two not even looking at each other but every time Hayden made any loud noises Ander would jump and both boys knew then that their caretaker had taught him a lesson. “Glad you two could join us” Maddie said, she didn’t sound all too happy with them and didn’t look it when she saw something that they didn’t even know they were doing, they were holding hands and they didn’t even notice, were they already so comfortable that they just did it without thinking.

They of course quickly stopped, Drew going to sit by the table while Eric went to stand by his brother who once he got there said, “I’m happy for you” and the boy again just silently thanked his brother, than a thought came to him and without thinking twice about it he said, “It’s because of you, thank you” Hayden smiled from where she was finishing up, for the first time after their little incident she looked at Ander and saw his smile, saw his eyes light up at the words and she had a feeling that he had never been thanked in a more pure and honest way.

Breakfast was short, but it felt different as Hayden looked around the table and when she reached the other side opposite her she could see why, it now looked like they were a real family with her as the mother and Ander as the father with all of their children between them. Hayden caught Ander’s eyes across the table while he was listening to Drew tell him about the project he and Eric were doing for one of their classes, Eric chiming in every so often to correct him, it all felt so right to her and she could see in his eyes that Ander felt the same, so she made up her mind.

While the kids had their lessons Ander always went to the clearing where they had played paintball, he didn’t want to break the rules but he wanted to stay sharp, so he practiced magic as often as he could, “At it again huh” he already knew who it was but he was too afraid to turn around. “I’m not mad at you; I actually came here to help you… I’ve been thinking and I decided to not let the Hunters control this place anymore” Ander turned around now and saw the fire in her eyes, he could see clearly that she no longer wanted to be controlled and the thought of someone as powerful as her under no control but her own was one that made him shiver, “Will you help me?” he didn’t know, he didn’t come here to stay but now he never wanted to leave. His mother had sent him here to bring his brother back so they could protect him, so they could use him to end the war in the other world but here he could protect his brother too, the only real threat here were the Hunters but he didn’t think they would be able to stand against Hayden, he found himself nodding and his feet carried him towards the person he then decided he would follow anywhere.

Ander stood in front of Hayden, the woman looking at him as if to see if he had any doubts about going further but when she found none she smiled and said, “Then we should prepare, in one month I will teach you everything I can… and then when we are as ready as we’ll ever be we will kindly tell the Hunters to leave, of course we would have to kill most of them first to make a point though” he didn’t know how she did it but he didn’t care, her dark side just made him love her more. “When do we start?” he asked and was sorry he did the second he did, the one moment he was in front of her then the next he was sent flying across the clearing after something that had felt like a bowling ball had hit him in the stomach, “Now I guess” he said as he got back up and readied himself.