Forget Me Not (Book 3 of Acceptance Series)

Chapter 38

As soon as I turned off the van, Aenes instantly opened the van door and grabbed one of my siblings, a sister, earning a small gasp from her while she placed her arms around his neck and closed her eyes, with her heart skipping a beat, and I couldn't help but grab my steering wheel tighter, the urge to protect her strong. "Sorry, Princess," he muttered under his breath, his voice barely above a whisper and soothing. "Do you forgive me?" He looked at me when he said that, and I could tell that he wanted to make sure that I didn't attack them.

"Yes," she said and nodded, and I relaxed slightly, even though I was still on edge and watched him like a hawk. "You just scared me, that's all. I'm ok."

Aenes chuckled softly and nodded before he gave my sister to one of the warriors that were waiting for us, and the warrior instantly went over to my mother and father with her in their arms.

"Are you sure that you will be able to fix the van?" I asked when Aenes went to collect another sibling. I took a deep breath and tried to relax more, even though for some reason, I couldn't. "Or are we going to have to take some other route home?"

"Your mother suggested you all take a different route home, Young Alpha," Aenes said and grabbed a brother this time, and my brother instantly placed his arms around his neck while Aenes looked at me with a tight smile on his face. "She wants me to take the van back with me to make sure that there is nothing else that I have missed with my first "observation" with it."

I nodded in agreement and pressed my lips into a thin line. I tapped my finger against my steering wheel, hoping that I would be able to get something else to drive so that my parents didn't have to drive us to school and back, especially since I had to pick up Serenity, as well.

Aenes walked over to a different warrior and handed my brother to him. He muttered something under his breath to the warrior, and the warrior nodded and left to bring my brother to safety and back to our parents.

"Why aren't our parents coming over?" Juluis asked, looking between the two of us. He furrowed his brows and cocked his head while he studied us. "I mean, shouldn't they be coming over here?"

"Aenes might be making sure that they stay safe, too," I said and watched as my mother and father kissed the children that were safe in their arms while the warriors came back to get others that were still in the car.

"And that means keeping them over there and not let them come over here to get us themselves?" Julius asked and raised an eyebrow in question.

"Exactly," I said and nodded in confirmation. I cleared my throat and shifted in my seat while I tapped my thumb against the steering wheel some more. I pressed my lips into a thin line while I watched Aenes walk back over to us to get someone else.

"All right, Little Man, come here," Aenes said, looking at Julius. He held out his hands for my brother to take. "It's your turn."

Julius hesitated and looked at me, not saying a word and not going to Aenes like Aenes told him to do. Worry filled his eyes while he looked at me, and he bit the inside of his lip with it quivering a little.

"You'll be fine," I said and offered him a tight smile while I slowly nodded, pressing my lips into a thin line. "Now, go ahead and go with Aenes. Ok?" I raised an eyebrow in question.

Julius hesitated before he slowly nodded, relenting. "Ok," he said, his voice barely above a whisper while he looked at Aenes. He didn't say a word while he went over to Aenes, and Aenes grabbed him from the van and walked him over to my parents, not even putting him down or handing him off to a Warrior.

"I guess Julius is in trouble," Mel said with a small laugh in her voice, and I couldn't help but chuckle while I slowly nodded. "Do you think that Aenes was worried that he would look at the van?"

"Yes," I said and nodded in confirmation. "I am sure that he was nervous about Julius doing that, which is why he did that."

"Why aren't the others taking us out?" one of my other sisters, Lisa, asked, looking at some of our warriors. She cocked her head and studied one of the warriors before she looked at me. "Did Aenes tell them not to?"

"I would assume so," I said and nodded. "I think he wants to make sure everyone stays safe, especially since this was an unexpected event."

"Do we have to go to school tomorrow?" my brother, Paul, asked with a groan in his voice. He leaned his head against the headrest and groaned again. "I mean, shouldn't this count as an emergency?"

I bit back a small chuckle, and my heart ached because a part of me wished that we wouldn't have to go but knowing that we still had to act like nothing happened. "Unfortunately, I think we will have to go to school, but we'll have a lot more eyes on us than usual," I said.

"More importantly you, for some reason," Mel said and looked at me. "I mean, you are the first born to the White and Black Wolf. You might have special powers or something, which is why people are wanting you."

I grabbed my steering wheel tighter and set my jaw. I didn't say a word while I watched Aenes hand Julius over to my mother and said something before he walked back over to us at a fast pace.

There was a look of concern on his face, and I had a feeling that he didn't like being away from the van for that long, especially since there were still many kids in the van besides me and Mel.

"I'm glad there aren't twenty of us that they have to get out of the van," Mel muttered under her breath, and I couldn't help but snort and nodded.

"But it's still a lot of us," I said, "especially since there are only nine of us in high school and then the rest split between elementary and middle."

Mel shrugged and grimaced. "True," she said before she cleared her throat and shifted in her seat. "However, twenty people is more than eleven people."

"Hmph." I slowly nodded and pressed my lips into a thin line while I tapped my steering wheel. I didn't say a word when Aenes made it back to the van and raised an eyebrow in question when I saw the relief flicker his eyes.

"Don't worry about it, TJ," Aenes said when he caught the look on my face. He cleared his throat and shifted on his feet while he stood taller. "Do you mind if I take two children at a time?" he asked and raised an eyebrow in question.

I shook my head because I didn't care. "At least with the rest of the little ones, you," I said. "The middle schoolers might be a little hard for you to handle, and I don't want you to hurt yourself."

Aenes bit back a small chuckle and slowly nodded. "I am sure that it won't be a problem, T," he said softly before he gestured to two of my siblings to go over to him so that he could take them out of the car, and they did what they were told to do.

He grabbed them both when they were close, and they instantly wrapped their arms around his neck and closed their eyes so that they wouldn't look at the van. "I am a lot stronger than I look." He flashed me a small wink and with a small smirk, and I couldn't help but bite back a small chuckle.

"I know," I said and nodded in agreement, "but I'd rather make sure that you still stay safe, no matter what happens to us."