Chapter Forty Three - Babysitting
Lincoln's P.O.V -
"Why did I even bother coming?" I grumbled tossing my suitcase onto the hotel bed. "I'm just going to wallow in my room, I could've done that at home."
"I'm not going to let you wallow in here." Wyatt told me. "Once Lucy gets here we are all going to get out of this hotel and have a good time."
"It's going to be awful." I grumbled.
"You don't need Milo to have a good time." Wyatt insisted. "And it's about time you realize that. I haven't seen Lucy in days but you don't see me moping around."
"It's not the same." I sighed.
"How is it not the same?" Wyatt questioned crossing his arms.
"Because Lucy isn't injured with a healing bullet wound in her chest." I growled.
"Lincoln you need to realize that Milo is fine." Wyatt told me. "He is safe with his family."
"Is he?" I spoke through gritted teeth. "Because it was his family who shot him."
"His father not his family." Wyatt argued. "Milo knew about his father, he knew not to trust him. He'd tell you if there was someone else putting him in danger."
"Would he?" I glared at Wyatt. "He didn't tell me about his father, how do I know he's not keeping something else from me?"
"You need to trust your mate Lincoln." Wyatt frowned. "If you can't trust Milo then who can you trust?"
"Exactly." I stared at him blankly. "Who can I trust?"
It was meant to be a rhetorical question but Wyatt spoke anyway.
"Milo, Me, Lucy, your family." Wyatt answered confidently. "You can trust us Lincoln, you just need to let us in."
I shook my head not sure how to respond. Somebody knocked on the door and I felt some relief knowing that this conversation was over.
Wyatt sniffed the air before a grin spread across his face as he rushed towards the door. Lucy must have arrived.
Wyatt pulled open the door instantly pulling her into a hug, they stayed in each other's embrace for a few moments before pulling apart.
"Hi Lincoln." Lucy smiled at me.
"Hey." I gave her a small nod as I sat down on my bed pulling my phone out of my pocket.
I found Milo's contact sending a quick message to tell him I reached the hotel. He replied instantly.
'That's great. Is it nice?' He sent me.
'Yes' I replied shortly.
I glanced around the room quickly, I had requested a good room for Milo and I. I felt he deserved the best room here.
'Has Lucy got there yet?'
'Yes.'
She was staring at me with a raised brow but didn't say anything.
'Can we call soon?'
'Maybe.'
I tossed my phone on the bed ignoring as it buzzed with a new message.
"Who's that?" Lucy asked with a knowing expression.
"Milo." I mumbled standing up and unzipping my suitcase.
"I thought you'd still be mad at him." Lucy said.
"I am." I sighed glancing at her quickly. "I was just letting him know that I got to the hotel."
"How come you're so annoyed?" Lucy crossed her arms. "Did you let him explain why he didn't come?"
I clenched my jaw feeling my wolf begin to surface.
"Lucy, how about we let Lincoln and Milo sort this out on their own." Wyatt suggested.
"You've probably been meddling too." Lucy insisted.
"Yeah well, if Lincoln gets mad I'm much more capable of defending myself than you." Wyatt replied watching my dark eyes with caution.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Lucy furrowed her eyebrows.
"It means you're a human who doesn't stand a chance against a pissed off alpha werewolf." Wyatt spoke slowly.
Lucy looked over to me and her eyes widened slightly. "Right, I forget that you two are werewolves sometimes."
Her eyes didn't move away from mine. I would have usually suppressed my wolf by now but I didn't want to in this moment. The longer my wolf was present the more Lucy and Wyatt would decide not to talk about Milo and I.
"Lucy, why don't you take your suitcase to our room." Wyatt suggested handing her the room card. "It's just down the hall."
Lucy nodded pulling her eyes away from me before grabbing her suitcase and leaving the room.
Wyatt turned to me with a tired look. "Lincoln put your wolf away."
I pushed my wolf to the back my head feeling my eyes return to normal.
"Do not let your wolf take control around my mate, it's dangerous Lincoln." Wyatt glared at me.
I rolled my eyes. "I had control, he wasn't going to do anything."
"If I wasn't your friend I'd see that as you threatening my mate." Wyatt grumbled. "But I know you didn't mean it that way right?"
His expression dared me to disagree with him.
I narrowed my eyes at him. "Right." I stretched out the word to show a hint of sarcasm.
He clenched his fists but didn't move. "I'll see you in the morning, have a good night."
He turned and left before I could reply closing the door loudly behind him. I sighed pulling some shorts from my suitcase before pushing my suitcase onto the floor.
Three more days until I can see Milo.
***
Milo's P.O.V -
My mum and Marco had gone out grocery shopping, and Roberto and Zola had spent the night at a hotel and weren't meant to come back until later today. It wasn't their honey moon, they said it was just a small break where they could spend some time alone before returning to reality.
They had explained that they would have a longer honeymoon abroad when things were more settled down, or possibly when the kids are slightly older. I took settled down to mean Nonno and Nonna dying.
With all the adults gone it meant that Emilia, Aria, Alfie and I were left to look after our grandparents along with all of Roberto's children.
"I think we should allocate each child to one of us, that way it'll be easier to keep track." Emilia suggested staring at all the children in the room.
They were staring at us with confused and curious expressions.
"We should split into two teams." Alfie said looking at all the children seemingly bored and tired.
"Yeah okay." Aria spoke. "You get Milo."
She pointed over to where I was laid on the couch.
"Should I be offended that you made that sound like a bad thing?" I asked her.
"You're injured, if I get stuck with you I'd have to do everything." Aria shrugged.
"And you think Alfie is actually going to help?" I raised a brow.
"Well that's why you two should be together." Emilia smiled. "It will be funny for us to watch you two."
"Fine." I sighed sitting up. "But we get three and you get four."
"Alright, but because you have less you have to have the baby." We all looked over to where Luca was sat on the ground chewing on a stuffed animal.
"Seriously?" Alfie huffed. "But Milo can't even walk and hold him."
"Do you want an extra kid?" Aria crossed her arms.
"No." Alfie spoke begrudgingly.
He stepped forward and picked up Luca resting him on his hip. "How do we decide on the rest?"
"We get the oldest and middle kid, then you have in between." I offered. "That seems fair."
Emilia and Aria exchanged a look before they finally nodded.
"Isabella, sei con noi." Alfie gestured for her to walk over to us. (Isabella, you're with us.)
The seven year old's eyes widened in horror, she glanced over at Aria and Emilia before slowly moving over to us sulking slightly.
I quickly worked out who the middle child was. "Louis."
He grinned at us with a few missing teeth, he walked over to us happily unlike Isabella.
I looked over at Emilia and Aria as they begun to talk to their group. They had two boys and two girls. There was a set of twins, a boy and a girl, who were six years old. They also had Lara, a three year old girl, and Matteo, a two year old boy named after Nonno.
Emilia had been named after Nonna, she looked up to Nonna greatly and was proud to share her name. My mum had wanted to continue this tradition with me, and so I was named after my grandfather on my Dad's side. Anna was not named after anybody since it was my dad who named her, apparently my mum had lost a bet with him which meant he was allowed to choose her name.
"Quindi cosa vuoi fare?" I turned to the kids. (So what do you want to do?)
***
We were all sat around the table playing snakes and ladders. I was sat with Luca on my lap, he was quite happy eating grapes from a bowl that Alfie had placed in front of him.
"Nonna, è il tuo tun." Alfie looked at Nonna who sat beside him. (Grandmother, it's your turn.)
"Per fare ciò che?" She asked looking at us all confused. (To do what?)
I smiled at her softly. "Per lanciare i dadi, per i serpenti e le scale." (To roll the dice for snakes and ladders.)
She looked at the dice in the middle of the table, her face lit up in realization and she picked them up quickly. She rolled them and her counter landed perfectly at the bottom of a ladder.
She smirked at Alfie and I. "Sono bravo in questo gioco." (I'm great at this game.)
Alfie scoffed. "Ã solo fortuna." (You're just lucky.)
"Sei un cattivo perdente." She said with a glint in her eyes. (You are bad loser.)
I smiled at the exchange, we all went quiet as we continued the game. Isabella ended up winning the game, Nonna had let her win. Nonna cheated rolling the dice to get the number to land on a snake's head.
Louis was sulking because he didn't win, in fact he came last. He didn't seem to have the best luck in that game. Luca was quiet happy throughout except for when he almost ate the dice and I had to take them away from him which resulted in him crying.
I was now sat on the floor with Luca, we were rolling a ball to each other. Alfie was coloring with Louis and Isabella, he seemed bored but didn't outwardly complain.
Nonno was on the couch watching Luca and I, he didn't react in any way. He just watched with a blank face.
Luca clapped excitedly when the ball reached me rather than stopping short like it had the turn before. Nonno made a throaty noise as he looked at us.
Luca's head snapped to Nonno at the sound he crawled over to him and pulled himself up. He grasped onto Nonno's leg and leaned against him. Luca let out a giggle as he stared at his grandfather.
Nonno's mouth twitched in what I could only assume was his attempt at a smile. I lifted Luca up onto the sofa before moving onto it myself. Luca rested his head on Nonno's lap and soon drifted of to sleep. Nonno stared down at him not moving his eyes away.
I felt my eyes water at the scene but I wiped my eyes quickly and looked away. Alfie was looking over at us with a similar expression before he too returned to coloring.
The front door opened and Marco and my mum stepped in looking around curiously. They obviously wanted to see how much of a disaster us looking after the kids was. My mum smiled at me as she carried some grocery bags into the kitchen.
"Alfie, come help." Marco said as he walked past.
Alfie didn't protest, he jumped up and grabbed some bags eager to get away from the kids.
"How was babysitting?" My mum asked as she returned.
I shrugged. "Good."
"So I can expect grandchildren in the future?" She asked teasingly.
"Mum." I whined. "I'm seventeen."
"That's why I said in the future." She stared at me amused. "So?"
"Sure." I mumbled. "You'll probably have two or three."
"Ooh." She smiled. "So you've thought about it."
I rolled my eyes. "I might have."