The Story That Followed After

8. The Story That Followed After

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Michael stared out of the window in his office, past the pool area and into the woods.

He breathed out through his nose and ran a hand over his face.

The sound of the door opening was heard, but Michael stayed in the same position.

"You can't beat yourself up for this, Michael."

He shook his head sideways. "I could have done something."

Amanda frowned and walked up to him. She had just put Janice to sleep; Diana and Yvanna had been watching over her and the rest of the children.

"No. You couldn't have, Michael." She said as she stopped right next to him. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up at him. "You were in a state in which you couldn't do anything, Michael. You can't blame yourself for that."

"I let my guard down. What kind of alpha does that?" He asked as he shook his head. His left shoulder was wrapped from the bite wound. James had told him that he was lucky that the vampire was a newborn--he could have lost his arm, or worse, his life, if the vampire was anywhere near his age.

"An alpha who's focused on protecting his pack, Michael." Amanda deadpanned.

"But I didn't protect all of them." He let out as he punched the wall next to him. He clenched the same fist and breathed in deeply.

She stood quiet for a moment, then turned to look out of the window.

She had found out about Mya's death after Janice's birth. She had noticed a stranger holding a knocked out Nya. His name was James and he was a vampire, which is what Michael had hastily explained to her.

"Michael, you couldn't have done anything about that. You couldn't have stopped it—it was too fast for anybody." Amanda reasoned, her voice much softer. She turned to look up at him. "You can't blame yourself on that Michael. You never fought something like that in your life, you guys weren't even trained for it! Why would you think it would be easy?" She shook her head slowly. "Mya's death is hard to process, I know that. But, you can't think that her death was in your hands, Michael."

In a blink of an eye, Amanda was wrapped around his arms.

Michael kissed the top of her head and caressed her hair as she leaned back.

"I love you." He said and Amanda nodded her head.

"I know you do." She said, sighing in content. Michael was no longer going to beat himself up over something that was out of reach for him. "Now, you need to go see Janice. Dominic thinks that you think she's a bad baby because 'Daddy haven see Jani!'"

Michael looked down at Amanda and gave her a questioning look. "How did you know it was Dominic yesterday?

Amanda looked up at Michael with a flat look. "Not only did Lester come back—naked and very startled, by the way—I know my son, Michael. Even if he is ten times larger than his own self."

Michael let out a long breath. "Does he remember anything about yesterday?"

It was Amanda's turn to sigh. "Not one bit." She shook her head slowly. "He doesn't even remember shifting into... whatever he was."

"I don't understand that, either." Michael said as he looked out in thought. He had to train Dominic more than ever now—even if he was a two-year-old. He was now more powerful than he himself knew. "I know somebody who does have answers to that."