Lucian’s POV

The entire day all of us had spent taking care of Eira and the baby. We made sure both were comfortable and rested well.

Eira was utterly exhausted but couldn’t stop herself from waking up frequently and looking for Kaya.

Maybe what happened after Raven was born still haunted her, and she couldn’t stop herself from being alert in a fear that someone will take Kaya away from her.

Kael had to convince her a few times by saying how important it was for her to rest and promised to not leave her side even for a moment. He had made the couch his sleeping place.

While the rest of us still had to go away to handle other things. We couldn’t forget we had Raven with us as well who had different needs of attention.

As a family, we were taking care of everything perfectly.

The next day was the same for us all as we didn’t want to have nurses around and decided to do everything ourselves from this day onward.

The doctor visited the mother and daughter and left after assuring us that everything was fine with them.

But at noon, all of a sudden Kaya started crying, and wouldn’t stop no matter what.

Eira was utterly worried now, so did we. No one knew what to do.

"Maybe she is hungry again?" Kael suggested.

"She is full and doesn’t want to drink," Eira sounded worried and looked at Jason, trying to coax Kaya in his arms, while pacing around the room.

"Maybe we should call for the kids doctor," Roman suggested.

"Is her stomach hurting?" I asked Jason, "Alice used to cry once in a while because of that."

Jason shook his head, "I had given her drops for that already, checked everything. She is just restless for some reason."

"Give her to me," I offered.

I got her and tried to coax her how I used to do for Alice, but no result. Her cries only grew louder.

Kael and Roman tried to calm her but nothing happened.

"Just call the doctor. You people are just wasting time in case she needs some help," Rafe said, clearly annoyed at us as if we didn’t care for her. "Little life can’t even say a thing and you idiots are just making her cry more."

"We have a doctor with us and he understands the things," I said, "You should trust Jason."

"Then why is she still crying?" he asked, pissed now.

I went to him, holding crying Kaya, "Trying to teach us what to do? Did you even try to hold her and put any effort into calming her? All of us did but you, and you talk about wanting to be a dad, huh? Hold her and try it."

He stepped back, "She might end up crying more."

"Oh, so you only want to hold her, shower her with love only when she is quiet. But you don’t want to take responsibility when she is crying? Not gonna happen. Hold her."

I made him hold Kaya. "You should know what it truly meant to take care of a child, which is more than just standing on the side and admiring it. And finding faults in others."

He held her, a little scared but careful. And just in a few moments her cries slowed down, and they stopped.

Finally the room was quiet and we silently watched him holding her.

"Damn! What did you do?" Roman asked.

"Nothing," Rafe himself looked surprised. "She just stopped crying."

"She must be tired after crying for a long time, and finally stopped," Eira said, "Let me feed her."

Rafe carried her to Eira. But the moment he let her go, she started crying again.

Rafe held her again and she stopped crying.

"What the heck?" I mumbled, "Our daughter wants this bloodsucker over all of us?" I looked at Kael, "She is your blood," and then looked at Roman, "and both of us marked her mother when she was still inside, and should have close bond with her," and looked at Rafe, "but this bastard hit the goal."

"Don’t tell me she has an affinity to vampires?" Roman said, sounding a little annoyed.

"Bullshit," Rafe said coldly, "she can have an affinity to stones, but not with vampires."

The one who hated the vampire kind the most was Rafe himself.

"The only vampire she can feel affinity with is her daddy Rafe. If there is someone else, they have to die," Rafe declared, "I will make sure of it."

"Clm down," Jason intervened. "She was restless and happened to find comfort in Rafe. Tomorrow it will be someone else among us. It’s normal for werewolf babies to act this way."

"I hope that’s the case," I said and looked at Kael who was quietly observing.

Our gazes met, but he said nothing.

"Today seems like your day," Jason told Rafe, "Be around her and Eira."

Rafe agreed. He looked at Kaya in his arms, as if he would do anything for his daughter.

But then he said, "Vampires are bad. Always remember this one fact."

—--

Late in the night when everything was quiet, I finally stepped out. Everything in our lives felt peaceful now and my feet guided me out to the garden where I stood smoking, looking at the starry sky above.

All of a sudden I wished to thank god for bringing these days in our life.

Surrounded by serene quietness for a long time, a finally sensed movement behind me. Without looking I knew who it was.

Rafe.

He stood next to me, got the cigarette pack from my hand with the lighter and lit one for himself.

"Enjoying being a dad?" I asked as Rafe spent the entire day around Kaya.

He hummed and asked, "Aren’t you?"

"That’s not even a question to be asked," I said, "I just asked you because that night you said it’s your dream."

"Indeed feels like a dream whenever I hold her in my hands," he said, "a dream that I never considered myself worthy to even have."

I let out a puff of smoke and looked at him, "You are much more worthy than what you get."

He looked back at me, "Not sure, but for now, I should thank you for that drug. I could be around without getting affected by anything."

"No need to thank me. You are still with us, that’s the reward I get," I said, letting out the smoke that mixed with his.

"Do you need it again?" I asked.

"Not yet," he said. "I feel very much stable."

"When there is even a little sign, let me know. I want to figure out how frequently you might need it so I won’t run out of the stock."

"I will."

There was a quiet silence for a while.

"Kaya was stuck to you the entire day. What if it’s not what Jason said, and if she truly has an affinity towards Vampire?" I asked. "Like your mother had."

"Then I will have to make sure to wipe off that entire vampire race." He sounded serious and resolute.

"That will include the other family of yours," I referred to his father’s side, a vampire side. "Vampire king, your grandfather isn’t easy. I got to know something stirring on their side, if that’s the case, you would be involved as well."

"The only family I have is this. And I will do everything to protect it." He threw the remaining cigarette bud and crushed it under his feet, "that hold hag better not involve me in anything, or he would be inviting his death."

Wordlessly, we continued to smoke cigarettes one after another.