A/N: Alright, we're in Scotland Lads and Lassies! Time to meet the rest of the Rekeseau family. I wonder how they'll react to Jazmine trying to kill them? 🤔

Enjoy, little Bees and let me know what you think in the comments.

Thanks for reading!

Language Key:
Tu maj anui [Too mahzh Ah-noo-ee] I burn for you

Elaeti [Ee-lay-tee] - Daughter

--------------------------------

Darius gave me a quick tour of the house before we found our way into the kitchen. This house wasn't as open as the one in Italy but it had an old world charm, as if it were built during the medieval times.

I slid my fingers over the exposed stone walls, smiling at the energy pulsing through it. The house was built with rocks and boulders that have lived in the Highlands for millenia and they were all too happy to be serving as a dwelling.

I smiled, sitting on a high back brown leather stool at the stone island in the middle of the expansive kitchen and looked around wondering where everyone is. Now that I think of it, I haven't heard anyone either, why is it so quiet? 

"Darius, where is everyone?" I asked as he chuckled opening the refrigerator.

"They're at the main house, we're in our house." He smiled back at me taking out some eggs, bacon, avocados and milk.

"Our house? How....how many homes do we have?" I asked and watched his face turn beet red.

"Enough...." He mumbled cracking some eggs into a bowl.

"How many is enough?"

"Jaz, does it really matter? I mean we have more important things to worry about—

"Darius, I want to know how many houses you built. Why won't you tell me?" I asked trying to search his brain for the answer but that particular fact kept eluding me as if he was keeping it locked up tight.

"It was a phase. All men go through it, it's our nesting phase when we're preparing for our dejaina. Most guys only build one or two homes for their lifemate that's socially acceptable, but not me. I built you ten." He laughed at himself still blushing.

"That's nothing to be embarrassed about, I don't think. But how did you know where to put them?" 

"Well, I started with this one because I figured we would mainly live here. All the other ones came from my visions of you and what you wanted. Sometimes well, all the time I'd get glimpses of your thoughts and a lot of the time they were places you wanted to go so I built you a home in every one of those places." He shrugged.

"Obviously Italy, but Prague?" I asked as he nodded.

"Greece?" He nodded.

"France?" He nodded

"Egypt?" He nodded. 

"Australia?" He nodded.

"Brazil?" He nodded.

"Hawaii?" He nodded. This is insane he knew every place I wanted to live but there's no way he could know my absolute favorite place I've always wanted to live. I never told anyone or talked about it or hardly even thought about it but it was always in the back of my mind.

"Japan?" I asked as he laughed.

"Yes, Japan." He nodded as my mouth dropped to the floor, but no one. NO ONE knew I've always wanted to live in Japan. How could he possibly dig that deep into my mind to find it?

"I'm your dejaino, Jazmine; I'm supposed to know these things. Building a house in Japan was one of the hardest things I did, do you know how hard it is to buy land over there as a foreigner? I spent months there just trying to get the damn land and then the zoning and what type of products I could use. My family thought I'd completely gone insane when I told why I was spending so much time in Japan." He half smiled as I slid off the bar stool and wrapped my arms around his waist.

"Thank you," I whispered into his back,"thank you for everything. You've been nothing like I expected you to be and everything that I needed you to be. I really don't deserve you and you don't deserve to be put through all of this shit we're going to have to go through." I said as he sighed turning around in my arms, putting his hands on my cheeks.

"Everything I've been through before I met you has prepared me for this. I'm not sorry that we have to do this, the only thing I'm sorry about is that you have to fight and you do deserve me, we deserve each other." He smiled kissing my forehead.

"Can I ask why you're not so...so domineering and chauvinistic like other kues I've heard about?" I asked as he laughed, turning back to the stove while I stood by and watched him cook.

"I was never the type to want to grab my woman over the shoulder and force her to bond with me." He shrugged shaking his head. 

"I've seen it happen many times and over time the dejaina grew to love her lifemate but it was always so shaky and unstable in the beginning, I just told myself I'd never do that." He said and a grin curled on his lips. 

"And being a Rekeseau, I knew that would never happen, our dejainas aren't likely to be carried off and forced into submission. You heard what Meilyn said." He laughed.

"So Samaria and Amerie aren't pushovers either?" Darius burst out laughing shaking his head at my apparently hilarious question.

"They were nightmares for Adonis and Damon." He grinned putting some bread in the toaster.

"Samaria would run away for weeks on end and Adonis would go crazy trying to find her. She's a master in air so half the time she'd just make herself invisible and she'd be right next to him while he went crazy looking for her.  That went on for fifteen years before she finally accepted that Adonis wasn't going anywhere and he'd always look for her. He never tired of her disappearing acts, she still does it every now and again but since they're bonded Adonis knows where she is but to keep her happy he plays along. 

"Amerie on the other hand was an absolute terror, she's a water master and not too many people would think a water master would be as temperamental as she is." He chuckled peeling and cutting the avocado.

"Damon found her in Hawaii, she was helping to keep dolphins and whales safe from poachers and the moment she saw him she made a tidal wave sweep him into the ocean. If you read up on Hawaiian history there's a point in time they have a record of tsunamis, hurricanes, and tidal waves one after another for a period of about five years. 

"That was Amerie trying to keep Damon away from her. I have to hand it to Damon, he took it like a champ. He'd surf on her tidal waves and tsunamis. He single handedly helped the natives build better huts to keep them safe from the hurricanes. But what really stole Amerie's heart was when he made a reserve for whales and dolphins. 

"To this day poachers can't hunt any marine life two hundred feet from any beach in Hawaii. Luckily, for him and the people, it only took him five years to bond or else Hawaii probably would be nonexistent." He explained and I couldn't stop laughing.

The Rekeseau dejainas are a trip, it amazes me that they are all like me. They didn't want to bond with their dejainos and they didn't make it easy on them at all. I might be taking it too easy on Darius.

"Too easy on me?! Let me remind you that I spent a year searching for you, you almost got yourself killed, almost killed me and my family, I agreed to kill THE de'mujo for you and with you, AND your parents are, our Mother Goddess and her ancient de'mujo dejaino, the two most powerful Mercatijans on this planet. So, no, sesti, you're not going too easy on me at all." He laughed and I smiled.

"Yeah I guess when you put it that way, you've got a hard job ahead of you and I still get to decide when we'll bond. Maybe you're right; maybe dejainas have all the power." I laughed.

"I think you're the only one that realizes that." He laughed.

Darius and I took a walk around the grounds of the compound before we went to the main house.

All the Rekeseau brothers and their dejainas have houses in the compound that surround the main house where their parents' lived. The entire compound was surrounded by a thick forest which is at the base of a large mountain and overlooks the sweeping meadows of the Highlands.

"This place is amazing; did you grow up here too?" I asked as we walked through a trail in the forest.

"Yep, I remember playing here in the forest with my brothers; life was a lot simpler then. We used to come out here and play till the wee hours of the morning and when we got older my dad trained us out here. My mom was so upset that all four of us were Kues. She hoped one of us would be like her, a healer and a fire master and live a normal life instead of fighting de'mujos all the time." He smirked. 

"But my dad was so proud to raise four kues and we ended up being legendary." He shrugged.

"Is your dad a kue?" 

"Yeah, so really my mom should've known she was going to have warrior children." He laughed.

"Do you like being a kue?" I asked as he tried to help me over a fallen tree. Ignoring his offered hands I jumped over the tree on my own. He chuckled shaking his head.

"No, I don't especially now that I found you." He said as I threaded my fingers through his.

"Why not?" 

"I never got to feel anything. I'm a master in every element and I never get to feel it, I just use it as a weapon. I spent six hundred years of my life not feeling anything and now I have you." He said wrapping his arm around my waist, turning me to him. 

"And I'm so scared to lose you and stop feeling because I've never felt so alive in my life." I smiled up at him; I never realized that a kue couldn't feel their powers and that a dejaina was the only thing that made them feel anything. No wonder so many Kues take their dejainas without their consent.

"I know I can't help you feel any of your other powers but I can help you feel earth." I said moving away from him to touch my hand to a tree and my other hand over his heart. 

I can feel the tree talking to him through  me and I was so happy the tree recognized what I was trying to do. Darius put his hand over mine, holding it tight.

"The tree is speaking to me." He breathed while I smiled. The tree was telling him that it's watched him grow in the forest since he was a little boy and that it values what he does to protect our race and the Earth is honored to provide him with the power to do it. I let my hand fall from the tree but Darius kept his over mine I can feel him shaking and his heart racing.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" I smiled wiping a stray tear sliding down his cheek.

"Do...do you feel that all the time?" He asked as I nodded.

"You get used to it; the rush of emotions becomes a part of you. Imagine if you were a kue and you could feel every element the way you felt the earth. You wouldn't want to fight. I think that's why you don't feel and why your Kue Dejaina helps you feel a small portion of that through us." I smiled as he pulled me into his arms kissing my hair.

"Thank you for that. You're right I wouldn't be able to fight feeling what you feel," he sighed pushing me away just to see my eyes, "do you think you'll be able to use your powers to fight if you feel that?" He asked as I laughed.

"I'm strong enough to do this, litano; it doesn't hurt me to use it like that." I smiled winking at him as I leveled him to the ground and crouched next to him.

"I did just fight you yesterday, evela me." I smiled patting his chest.

"Fair enough." He smiled as I felt the earth pulling me to the ground next to him. 

"When did you learn to do that?" I gasped as he burst out laughing.

"Your mother taught me, just in case I need to use it on you if you went de'mujo on me again." He smiled. Gaia is such a traitor!

"But you can't use it on me if I'm like that de'mujos are man-made." I frowned as he shook his head.

"But you're only part de'mujo. You're still a mercatija, sesti." He smiled. He's right, I smiled relief washing over me as I looked at him. 

"Thank you, litano." I smiled releasing him, he smiled sliding his hand to my cheek releasing his hold on me as he did. 

"You don't need to thank me for anything, I'll always be your rock, Jazmine." He said kissing me softly. My heart tingled in my chest and for once it doesn't feel like an annoyance. He's already found a way into my heart. 

Yep, and I intend to stay there. He chuckled against my lips. 

"Come on, I want you to meet everyone." He smiled getting up and taking me with him. The happiness shining in his gleeful silver eyes made him look like a giddy teenager and I can't help the laugh that escaped my lips. 

"You're so happy after everything that happened." I laughed and he grinned shaking his head. 

"Normally I wouldn't be, I haven't laughed or smiled this much in my life and I know I shouldn't feel this way." He sighed and I saw the slight worry creep into his eyes. I squeezed his hand shaking my head. 

"You deserve to feel this happy, Darius. Like you said, everything is going to be fine." I said and he smiled bringing my hand to his lips. 

"Evela'tu, litani." He smiled and I blushed looking away from him. I'm still not ready to say that. 

And I'll continue to wait until you are. He whispered against my head. 

 We walked to the main house which was considerably larger than the rest of the houses in the compound. It looked like a damn castle or a fortress! Why do his parents need such an enormous home?

"We have all of our family gatherings here, there's no point in my parents downsizing since we have such a big family when we're all together." He shrugged as he took me on a tour of the house and I marveled at all the family photos scattered around the walls and on top of shelves and sat on top of mantles above the many fireplaces in every room. 

There was a picture of every Rekeseau ever born and I stopped at an old painting of Darius, which was after a long line of the offspring of his brothers and their dejainas. 

"They still kept a spot for my family, even though the past few hundred years everyone started to lose hope that would ever happen. My picture will finally be taken down once we have our bonding ceremony." He smiled and I squeezed his hand he must've been so lonely seeing his brothers have children, and their children have children and he was still all alone searching for his mate.

"I was very lonely. You have no idea." He sighed.

"I don't, but I'm glad you're not alone anymore." I smiled up at him. I may not want to bond yet, but I won't leave him. No one should feel that alone and I will spend forever making sure he never feels that way again. 

Darius slid his hands to my cheeks and kissed me.

And I will spend forever making sure you know I love every part of you. Tu maj anui. He said his voice husky with need as he slid his tongue in my mouth. I gasped and moaned at the feel of his heat licking over my skin mixing with my own. I slid my hands to his chest, my fingers fisting the fabric of his shirt, letting myself melt into his fiery kiss. 

"There you two are!" I heard a woman exclaim. My eyes snapped open and my cheeks puffed in a blush jumping away from Darius. He laughed wrapping his arm around my waist pulling me back to his side. 

"Here we are." He grinned. 

"Mm hm, is this why it took you so long to get out of bed?" She grinned and I blushed even harder.

We have nothing to be ashamed of, sesti. He smiled kissing my head. No we don't but I would've preferred not to be caught making out like that. My heart is still racing. 

"I'm only kidding, li'kaeta. You two are quite the pair." The tall chocolate skinned woman with long curly dark brown hair and piercing blues smiled at me. 

"But you two can snog later, we have work to do!" She huffed putting her hands on her hips. Darius laughed kissing my head again.

"Jazmine, this is Samaria, Adonis' dejaina. Samaria this is Jazmine. Sorry to keep you waiting kaeta." He smiled.

"It's nice to meet you Samaria, I'm so sorry about yesterday." I apologized immediately feeling terrible for the thoughts I had about killing them all. She smiled and laughed pulling me into a big hug.

"Don't worry about it, you know Amerie and I were so worried you would be a pushover for that thick headed Dejaino of yours, but after yesterday you've put our minds at ease. " She smiled wrapping her arm around my shoulder and ushering me into the room she came out of. 

"When we heard how young you were we thought Darius, the strongest kue on this Earth, was going to get a wimpy wife! I'm so glad we were wrong! Amerie! Here she is!" Samaria yelled across the laboratory we walked in. A woman with short caramel brown hair and vibrant green eyes squealed as she looked up at us and put down her beaker. 

She ran to me and crushed me with a hug. I will never understand this crazy family, they are happy I tried to kill them?

"Welcome to the family li'kaeta! You are so perfect for Darius; he really got the luck of the draw with you." She beamed squeezing my shoulders.

"Meilyn wouldn't tell us anything about you! I was so upset because I didn't want to have to be nice to you and baby you if you were this young meek little thing. I kept complaining to Samaria that you were going to be so boring and wouldn't even put up a fight with Darius. I'm so glad we were wrong. I didn't want the last Rekeseau dejaina to be weak. We have a reputation to uphold." She sighed.

"I'm glad I don't disappoint?" I asked looking back at Darius who was laughing in the doorway.

"No, never. You're perfect! Now Amerie and I are the lab rats of the Dejainas we don't really get into the whole fighting, blood, and gore thing we're not like you healers, so we've been trying to figure out the best way to extract the parasite from Sol. We have some of your blood so we've been working with that to try and find an antidote. It's going to take us some time." Samaria sighed as I took a look at the parasite and the computer that they were running tests on. I have no idea what I'm looking at; this is all a little too advanced for me.

Don't feel bad, I never know what they're on about either. Darius chuckled.

They are so hilarious, I love them! I don't know why but I thought they would be really mean and bitchy or snooty. But I had your family pictured completely different than this. I laughed.

Wait until you meet my parents. He grinned shaking his head.

"But by the time you finish training we should have a cure. We'll work very hard." Amerie nodded.

"I wouldn't doubt you two," I smiled, "where's Meilyn I thought she was going to help with the cure too?" I asked as Samaria sighed shaking her head.

"She's been arguing with the big blockhead all morning. I'm sure she'll win whatever it is they're arguing about. I'm not sure why he tries to fight with her, she said leaning in to whisper in my ear, I'm not sure why any of them argue with us we always win." She whispered as I laughed and looked back at Darius.

"Oh I know what you mean, it's completely pointless, right Darius?" I asked as he sighed.

"Right." 

"It's so beautiful to see him so submissive." Amerie sighed.

"We should leave you two to work, where's Mom and Dad?" Darius asked taking my hand. 

"Where they always are, in the library." Samaria laughed shaking her head.

"We'll see you later, Jaz!" Amerie smiled waving her scalpel as we walked back into the hallway making our way to the library down the hall.

"They are so fun! Never would've imagined that." I laughed as he smiled.

"I told you, my family is a bunch of misfits. We don't live up to the way the other Mercatija portray us, I'm not sure if that's a bad thing though." He shrugged.

"No, it's not it makes you seem more down to Earth. I feel like I belong here." I said as he beamed.

"It's because you do." He smiled opening the door to the library and I nearly dropped to my knees at the enormity of the place. There were books from floor to ceiling wall to wall staircase to the second floor to get to more books. I could live here and die happy. I really, really could. Darius chuckled next to me wiping a stray tear from my cheek. I'm crying?

"Yes, you're crying. I knew you'd like the library." He smiled kissing my hand.

"I love it." I sighed and finally caught sight of a couple sitting on the couch facing the fireplace. The man had salt and pepper hair and had his arm draped around the woman's shoulder her long cinnamon hair cascading over his arm, his hand tangled in her hair. She leaned over, opening her mouth and bit his shoulder.

"Lana!" He yelped as she giggled.

"You know I like to bite." She purred moving impossibly closer to him and Darius cleared his throat before it went any further. They both turned around and looked at us and jumped up in excitement.

"Oh! You're awake!" Lana smiled her brown eyes sparkling as she rushed over to me crushing me with a hug.

"I'm awake, I laughed, it's so nice to meet you Mrs. Rekeseau." I smiled into her sparkling brown eyes and her flawless coffee colored skin and now I know where Darius and his brothers get their impressive complexion from. 

"Call me Lana; it's so nice to finally meet you! I knew it was you after that Shedu Crusade story you wrote." She chuckled waving her hand over her face to fan her flushed face. 

"I was just reading it again with Jack, how old were you when you wrote that?" She asked and I blushed. 

"Fourteen." I said as her eyes grew wide. 

"That's unbelievable, you pictured Darius so well at such a young age. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but as his mother, I knew you were writing about my baby." She smiled looking at Darius whose face has turned beet red. 

"Well I'm just glad you're really his dejaina, how are you feeling from yesterday?" Jack asked

"I'm fine I just feel terrible for what I did." I sighed.

"Don't you worry about that, Jazmine; it was good for those boys to get a scare like that. They've been getting cocky over the years. I haven't seen them that worked up since their first fight." He laughed.

"Well I'm glad I could give them a challenge, Mr. Rekeseau." I laughed.

"You call me Jack, or Dad whichever one you'd like, elaeti. Welcome to the family." He smiled so bright his eyes turning silver with happiness. 

"You know, I thought for sure Darius was going to be the first to bond out of all my sons. He was the first born, usually they are the first to bond and when he didn't for so many years I thought we were going to lose him. You really are a blessing to this family." Jack smiled giving me a hug.

"Your father and I are going to search the archives for anything that might help you fight Sol while you're training Jazmine." Lana nodded.

"Yeah you might want to get going, a kue's training is a rigorous workout and takes years to master and you're going to have to learn quick. Your brothers are waiting for you two in the field." Jack said as Darius nodded.

"Come on Jaz you need some training clothes." He grinned.