Chapter Thirty-Three

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"It's nice to see you, Marva, you're looking well," Dante's voice was strained, he was no doubt in a fair amount of pain from his shoulder. Fionn couldn't think straight, his thoughts jumbling together until one stood out from the rest, shining a light into his confusion.

"The fucking painter?" Fionn scoffed bitterly, returning his attention to his grimacing husband, "of course, I should have known it was you. Why the fuck wouldn't you tell me that? Why am I always the one that's lied to, or that never gets the full story? Were you ever gonna tell me?"

"Of course, Fi-"

"How much more have you lied to me about?" Fionn whirled around when he felt a hand on his arm, his glare softening ever so slightly as it landed on his mother.

"Could you make me a tea, sweetheart? I'll tend to Dante and then we'll explain everything," Marva's tone was very gentle, she was obviously trying not to provoke Fionn anymore. Fionn sighed, raking his fingers through his hair.

"Yeah," he mumbled, picking up a rag and pressing it to his neck as he filled up the kettle, "you can fucking dehydrate for all I care," he growled at Alpheus when he looked as though he was going to speak.

"May I?" Marva took hold of the knife when Dante nodded, wrenching it from his shoulder. The vampire merely grunted but Fionn heard the string of curses in his mind.

"Thank you," Dante winced when Fionn pressed the rag a little too hard onto the open wound, "I'm sorry, Fionn, I should have-"

"Forget it, just fucking forget it," Fionn snapped, collecting Marva's herbal tea from the cupboard. He knew he shouldn't feel so angry, Dante didn't have to tell him about his past and he had never really asked.

"You haven't aged a day," Fionn saw Marva out of the corner of his eye, studying Dante's face, "you look almost exactly the same, except for this," Fionn clenched his fists as Marva ran her fingers down Dante's scar. He hated himself everytime someone brought it up. There was a sudden shattering noise and a whine of pain from the alpha.

"Fuck!" Fionn took a deep breath, squeezing his eyes closed as pain flowed into his hand. Blood mixed with pieces of ceramic and even a few tears whilst Fionn tried to calm himself down.

"Stay the hell away from my son!" Alpheus barked, blocking Dante's path to Fionn.

"Alpheus, so far I have remained very calm with you but my patience is running dry. Fionn is in pain, let me help him."

"Alpheus, you need to stop this behaviour, it's gone too far," Marva added, "Dante isn't going to hurt Fionn, he wants to help, let him," there were a few seconds of silence then Fionn felt Dante's cool hand on his back.

"Let me see, puppy," Dante's voice was quiet, soothing even, calming Fionn to his core. The wolf whimpered softly as he very slowly unfurled his fingers, afraid to open his eyes and see the state of his hand.

"They're not that deep, puppy, stay still for me whilst I take them out," Fionn grimaced as the shards of ceramic were tugged free from his skin, "I'm sorry, puppy, you're doing great."

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Fionn whispered, opening his eyes, keeping his gaze on Dante rather than his hand.

"I deserved it, I shouldn't have kept things from you," Fionn frowned a little as Dante ran his thumb over the tip of his fang, collecting a drop of clear liquid and rubbing it very gingerly over the cuts on Fionn's palm, "it should be healed in about an hour, no scarring."

"Thank you," Fionn wrapped a clean rag around his hand, pressing a chaste kiss to Dante's lips, "I love you."

"I love you too, puppy."

Dante cleaned up the pieces of mug, despite Marva insisting that he had to be careful with his shoulder, then set about trying to make a coffee for Fionn whilst he sat with his parents. They were supposed to be talking but Fionn couldn't help watching Dante struggle.

"Is there coffee grounds in it?" Fionn queried, sat next to Marva at the dinner table. The two wolves were smiling, with Alpheus still glowering at the vampire.

"Fionn, I don't know what that is, I thought coffee was a bean," Fionn chuckled, "can't you just drink water? Water is easy. In fact, I'll just turn you, then I never have to figure any of this stuff out," Marva laughed, which Fionn thought was good, whereas Alpheus' frown grew darker, "it's buzzing, I think I broke it."

"It's supposed to buzz, it's grinding the coffee."

"Oh," Dante turned around, a triumphant little smile on his lips, "then that's good, you might actually get a coffee before midnight. Turning you is still my first option, I wouldn't have to learn how to cook."

"You would have to turn Arlo too."

"Who's Arlo?" Marva chimed in, sipping her tea. Fionn bit the inside of his cheek, he couldn't believe he had just slipped up like that.

"Arlo is um..." Fionn cleared his throat, forcing a smile, "I guess Arlo is your grandson," Marva's eyes widened and a grin split across her face.

"You have a child? I mean, we've met Kastor, he's a lovely young man. I didn't realise you had another," Marva beamed at Dante as he placed the mug of coffee in front of Fionn and sat next to him, far away from Alpheus.

"He was an abandoned wolf cub, we found him whilst we were away for Kastor's graduation. The alpha of the local pack couldn't take him so we did, he's adorable, mom, you'll love hi-" Fionn flinched as Alpheus slammed his fist down on the table.

"How can you just sit here with him, Marva?! You know what he is, what he did! He's a monster, you're even condoning him around another child. How can you just sit here and play happy families with him?!"

"Dad, Dante has yet to do anything bad around me, I love him and he's amazing with Arlo. I have no reason to-"

"Fionn, this stupid little affair isn't going to last, I refuse to allow it," Alpheus seethed, his speech becoming suspiciously more strained, as though his control was slipping from him, "I forbid you to be with him."

"Dad, I'm not fourteen, Dante isn't some boy you deem a bad influence on me, you can't just forbid me from seeing him. We're-"

"I don't care about your fucking bond, Fionn! He almost killed you when you were a child!" Alpheus bellowed and Fionn finally looked back at Dante, seeing his vampire with a grim expression on his face. Fionn took a deep breath, hoping somehow it would help him prepare for what he was about to hear. He knew Dante had a bad past, and he knew he didn't often talk much about it, maybe whatever the vampire had done to him was the reason why.

"OK," Fionn said after a moment of Alpheus seething quietly, "I want to hear what happened, and I want to hear it from mom. She's not biased to either of you. Dad, you need to fucking calm down, seriously, because you're pissing me off. Sit down and shut up until I make my own decision on whatever Dante did. Got it?" Fionn chose to speak bluntly, conveying no emotion in his voice, hoping if he could stem the simple ones he would be able to hold back the flow of the more complex.

"I had always been friends with Dante, or Myron as I knew him," Marva began once Alpheus had settled somewhat, "we were very good friends, long before all of this stupid fighting between our kind. I trusted him implicitly, but Alpheus never liked him. I believe he felt threatened by him, though it was pointless, since Dante isn't attracted to women and I was madly in love with your father.

"Dante actually helped me give birth to you," Fionn noticed a very faint smile on Dante's lips, though the vampire kept his eyes on his hands, "your father was out hunting with the pack and I went into labour. I had no idea what to do, I reached out to Alpheus but he was hundreds of miles away, I knew he wasn't going to get back in time.

"Then Dante just appeared and helped me through it. I admit I was a little wary because of the blood but it didn't seem to bother it. It only solidified my trust in him. I allowed him around you a lot as a child, he really adored you and with what happened to Wym. I saw no problem allowing it."

"Wait, who's Wym?" Marva's eyes widened a little, instantly diverting to Dante, whose smile had become but a ghost and looked particularly distant.

"It's fine, Marva, Fionn would have found out about her at some point."

"Great, another secret," Fionn murmured with a roll of his eyes. Dante placed his hand very gently over Fionn's and the wolf suddenly felt a flood of grieving thoughts rush through him. His eyes met Dante's, much more sympathy in them than there had been seconds ago.

"Actually," Dante spoke in a soft voice, faint and wavering ever so slightly, "I did tell you about her, just not in great detail. Wym was the reason I lost control in 256 BC, she was my daughter. Kastor had been wanting a sibling for centuries so when I found her abandoned in the Netherlands I couldn't help but turn her.

"She was beautiful, had this long auburn hair that she always asked me to plait. And Kastor loved her, they were wonderful together. I turned her in 260 BC, she was only two at the time, four when she was murdered, her ageing process didn't start immediately. I had returned from travelling in Italy and found her in Kastor's arms-" at the sight of a single tear rolling down Dante's pale cheek, Fionn engulfed his vampire in a tight hug, pressing tender kisses to his shoulder.

"God, Dant, I'm so sorry," tears prickled in Fionn's eyes when he felt Dante wrap his own trembling arms around the wolf.

"You don't need to apologise, puppy, it was a long time ago," Fionn remained in his embrace with Dante for a few moments, the both of them calming down before he returned to his seat. Fionn slipped his hand into Dante's, offering a reassuring squeeze.

"I did lie to you about the last time I lost control though," Dante continued from where Marva had left off, "I lost control when you were about two. Marva had left you with me whilst she went down with some other women in the pack and Alpheus was out.

"We were in your room, you were just toddling around, babbling about anything you could see. You were a very easy child to watch and I happened to look away for a few seconds. When I looked back you were screaming, bleeding from a cut on your head that, to this day, I still have no idea how you got.

"I always fed before I came to watch you, just to be safe. But that day, when I smelt your blood, I just couldn't control myself. I bit you. I actually bit you, Fi," Dante's gaze dropped to his hands, "Alpheus happened to walk in, dragged me off you. I had barely gotten a few drops but can you really blame him for wanting me dead? I'm the reason wolves hate vampires. All of this fighting and hatred is my fault."

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