To protect what’s mine Chapter 53

I feel terrible. Uncle Mike had smacked my hand, lightly, and it had scarred Rose. She was still crying as she burrowed into Amalie’s chest. She had been crying for thirty minutes now. Rose let out a few hiccups as she cried.

I knew that Uncle Mike felt worse. He hadn’t meant to scar her. Mike had always smacked my hands when I had snatched food before we were supposed to. It was never a hard hit, most times I never felt it. It was all for fun, and we always laughed. Rose hasn’t watched us do this yet. Now I am glad that we hadn’t done this yet. I don’t think we would have been able to comfort Rose the way she needed to be.

Ama continued to rub Rose’s back soothingly and whisper to her. Rose’s crying was finally starting to slow down. She let a few sniffles slip.

“Rose, I’m sorry I scared you,” Uncle Mike whispered. “I promise that I will never hurt you. I had been messing with Markus. He steals the food, and I tap his hands to shoo him away.”

“I promise that he didn’t hurt me,” I tell her.

Rose lets out one more sniffle before she turns her head to look at me and then Uncle Mike. She looks over Mike. Rose offers her pinky to Uncle Mike. “Pwomise,” she said softly.

Making slow movements, he reached out and wrapped his pinky around hers. “I promise sweetheart. I will never hurt you. If anyone tries to hurt you, they will have to go through Metin and me.”

All of us let out a sigh of relief as Rose started to calm down.

“What did I miss?” Uncle Will asks as he joins us.

“Nothing,” Uncle Mike smiles as his eyes glaze over, he’s mind linking his mate as Uncle Will’s eyes glaze over.

“Well, I don’t know about ya’ll, but I’m hungry,” I say as I carefully grab a sandwich. I make sure that Uncle Mike is not going to smack my hand again.

He shakes his head at me and finishes getting the food out. Cal fills a plate for Ama and Rose. Once their plate is done, the rest of us fill our plates. Uncle Mike grumbles to himself about feeding extra people. I know he is joking because he tosses James his favorite chips that he had packed.

“You are the best!” James exclaims as he snags the bag from the air.

“I know,” he smirks as he fixes himself a plate.

“So Rose, did you have fun?” Uncle Will asks as he eats a bite of potato salad.

“I was princess,” she whispers.

“We will have to get you a crown to wear,” James laughs as he is happily munching on his chips.

“Can be green and blue?” Rose asks, eyes wide and hopeful.

“It can be what ever color you want it to be,” I tell her. I start to think about what kind of tiara I wan to get her. It will not be a fake plastic one. No, I will get her a real looking one, with real looking gems.

‘We should get her one with real gems,’ Aziz tells me.

‘That will be perfect,’ I agree with a smile on my face.

“Whatever you are thinking about, stop right now,” Ama orders as she takes a bite of her half of the sandwich.

“I have no idea what you are talking about?” I tell her innocently. I have noticed that she will only eat about half of what we put on her plate. The other half, typically the bigger portion, she gives to Rose or encourages Rose to eat. I know it has to be ingrained behavior to make sure Rose gets enough food. It is only after Rose eats her fill, does she finish what is left. She never goes back for seconds.

As Ama is distracted by Cal and Sam, I slide some more food onto her plate, adding to what was already there so she doesn’t notice. Rose gives me an inquisitive look. I place my finger to my lips to tell her to keep quiet. Rose smiles and happily munches on her portion. Once done, she climbs onto my lap so Ama can finish her meal.

Ama is still distracted by talking, all she does is place a kiss on Rose’s head and then continues to eat. Aziz and I practically purr in delight as we notice she eats the rest of the plate, never noticing that she had a second helping. Uncle Will had told Cal and I when we had rescued Ama that she was under weight and would need to eat more. If slipping more food onto her plate was the way to go, I would gladly do it at every meal.

“I guess you six need to be heading towards the pack house,” Uncle Mike tells us, interrupting the different conversations that were going on.

“Thank you for lunch,” I tell him as I stand up. I adjust my grip on Rose who was asleep. After she ate, he started to doze in my lap as we talked.

“We’ll meet you there,” Uncle Will tells us with a smile.

Ama goes to stand up, Cal sweeps her up into his arms. Our beautiful mate lets out a squawk of protest before she settles down herself. I watch Cal press a kiss to her forehead before he takes off towards the pack house.

Sam utters a sigh as he grabs Ama’s crutches and follows behind. James laughs and takes off running towards the pack house. I can only imagine the chaos that is going to cause.