In the land of Gods and Monsters

Irina took a sharp in with her hands placed on the kitchen counter. Worry had felt her the last few days, and she had felt herself being slightly distant. She knew everyone in the household had felt it too, she had even heard Mila say stuff like: she just misses auntie Ana. Which was true to some point, but the full story was way more complicated and she was just happy Mila didn't have to worry her little head with more of that. Mariella had been kind enough to take Mila to school, leaving Irina to think a little. To plan. Anastasia was playing a dangerous game right now, having found someone who was currently helping her escape - it could go both ways. It could end in many ways. So, the fact that she had contacted about a place to stay or meet had Irina's senses all over the place. One thing was trusting your best friend was telling the truth, another was, could she trust no one was listening. After all, Irina was still a runaway. But with all these years in silence, she begged the universe for Bratva had forgotten her. That Matthew had forgotten her, even if it seemed unlikely. If it weren’t for the fact that Wayne had helped her set up her electronics, she would most likely not ever had gotten an actual phone again. All it also had taken for Maya to help alongside Wayne with the laptop was just expressing her worry for it to be hacked, and now she was more set than ever.

Totally caught up in her own thought, she grabbed the mug with coffee and lifted it towards her lips, almost not realizing she wasn't alone in the kitchen anymore. Her eyes just stared out the window, totally caught up in everything. But she picked up his scent rather quickly as well, forcing her back to reality as she turned around. A small smile lifted on her lips, while her eyes remained worried. If Anastasia were coming here to Aston, she couldn't live in secret of this. Nigel wasn't stupid, he had known she would 've had run from something back when they first met, and she was just blessed with the fact he hadn't questioned it. He could have asked her plenty of times. Irina took a sharper breath in, as she made the choice. The choice on it was time to talk about her past. "My friend Ana is running away from Bratva," she started out knowing it didn't really explain a lot, "she is coming here to Aston the day after tomorrow.. and I, I don't know," Irina frowned a bit while taking a sharper breath in. The entire thing had her a bit on edge. It had never been this close to her since she had left. "I'm scared that they will follow her here," she folded her lips together and exhaled. She had spent seven years looking over her shoulders, and now she feared they would just knock on her door - also a reason why she hadn't given Anastasia the right adresse. Irina put Mila first as always, but also Nigel and his family. She wasn't going to risk them either. "And that they will find me."

He approached her and she let him pull her in, it was hard for letting herself be vulnerable, but he also made it so easy for her. She had tried to escape the worry for years, and for a while she hadn't worried. Back in Bulgaria she had Selene and Diego most of the time, there was no need to worry, and there had been no need to worry while staying here. The entire thing with Anastasia was another thing because Ana had been in this deeper than Irina or longer at least. She took a deeper breath in and turned her around, so her eyes locked with his. They should be prepared, but you could only prepare if you knew. It meant opening for all the old books. I’ll be here, remember that, Irina breathed out and nodded a bit. "In that case, you should know what happened," she took a slightly sharper breath in. Thinking back, she always felt stupid and naive, it sounded so crazy in her head she barely believed that she had lived through it.

"Mila's father, Matthew.. For starters, he had a gambling problem, which is never good when you find yourself owing money to the wrong people. I don't have enough fingers on my hands to count the times we almost lost everything because of it, along with the times I had to come up with a way to fix it," she took a deeper breath in. It was many years ago since she had even mentioned Matthew's name. When was the last time, when she had met Selene perhaps, and even that was seven years ago. "He was stupid enough to get us in debt with the mafia," she sighed looking shortly to the side before letting her eyes meet with Nigel's again. Matthew hadn't been looking for her, or maybe he had, she didn't know, but him finding her wasn't what she was afraid off, it was more Bratva and what they would do if they did. She was a loose tread, and everyone knew how they were dealt with.

"There is an endless thing that I've done to keep them away back then, none that I'm proud off - and yet he kept screwing everything up," Irina licked her lips a little frustrated by the memories. "It's in the past, I know that I got out, Mila and I got out, that's why she's never met him. The last week I saw him," she took a deeper breath in, feeling how the blood in her veins started to boil by the thought. "He put us up for a bet, because he was out of money and needed that extra little excitement, luckily he won otherwise I wouldn't know how things would have looked," she shook her head a little bit, placing her restless hands around him, grabbing some of the fabric from his shirt to keep herself steady. It was not her most told story, yet still a story that had shaped her into who she was today. "That's why I why I ran away, Ana helped me set it up, basically got me on the move.. I emptied whatever Matthew and I had on our accounts and I was on the next flight."

Irina closed her eyes shortly taking a deeper breath in. "But I'm okay," she nodded a bit and breathe out. "I've been lucky enough to find people in my life that I love, and I don't want to be without," she kept her eyes locked with his, tilting it a bit to the side, looking closely after the response of her story. She knew her story was crazy, and most likely make people run away as fast as they could, if they weren't able to handle it. It was a lot, but they both had bagage - they both knew how to deal with things no other person should be able to handle.

Irina breathed out as his hand reached her cheek, and a smaller smile formed on her lips. It was like a long heavy weighted burden was lifted from her shoulders, and her heart felt at peace by him not looking at her any different than before. "They would be pretty fucking stupid to attempt to cross us," she replied with a small chuckle that made a little curl appear on her lips. It was a truth of the matter that sometimes she had felt alone in it, even if Selene had been there since the day she had found Irina after just her second ful moon. But still, it had been a burden not being able to tell anyone else what was going on. "That is true," she breathed out feeling herself settle a little more down. Overthinking and over worrying about something could easily make a storm happen and unleash all the chaos without reasons. Cecilia didn't even know about the entire Matthew show, but if Cecilia could deal with all the chaos that of the supernatural - perhaps this wasn't too crazy to wrap your head around either. "I'm very happy that I have you, have I ever told you that?" Irina took a slightly deeper breath in keeping her eyes on his. "I trust you, more than I trust anyone," she added folding her lips together shortly, before leaning a little in placing her lips on his right cheek, letting her head rest close to him, as she just let herself be close to him.

Her feelings for Nigel were intense, she couldn't even recall ever having felt anything remotely close to Matthew despite how much she once had loved him as well. She closed her eyes and took a deeper breath in, putting her thoughts to rest for a while before loosening her grip a little, pulling her face back just enough to be able to look into his eyes again.

His comment made her laugh as she gently rolled her eyes at him, as she stepped out of their embrace. "Oh yeah, I mean - who would complain?" she teased back, letting her eyes drop over his body before letting them return to his eyes again, as he walked towards her again. Irina placed her arms around him, as she felt his lips on hers again, dragging a tender smile across her lips as he pulled away.

I’m also very happy to have you, Irina chortled a bit as she licked her lips. "Good, because I'm not really planning on going anywhere," she confessed with a slightly lower voice, keeping her hazel colered eyes locked with his. "Besides, someone needs to look out for you, might as well be me," Irina made a small shrug as the tender smile stayed on her lips. Her hands gently placed themselves on his jaw, cupping his face slightly. Irina had spent weeks trying to figure out how he had managed to crawl under her skin, but she had also accepted it a long time ago.

She tilted her head slightly to the side squeezing her nose a little as he mentioned he needed her to look out for him. Irina slightly folded her lips in a smile by the addition to that sentence."Yeah, I can't really let does people down now can I? That would be a shame," she replied pulling her lip up in a little half smirk. It was crazy how this entire event had started, who would have thought this would be the outcome of where they had started. Started in a field of blood and him aiming his shotgun at her not knowing whether she was a friend or foe. She had blindly trusted him regarding Mila's safety, by letting him help her. It was crazy to even imagine what would have happened, if she hadn't dialed his number after getting lost - where would she had ended up, and would she even had seen him again? And if yes, then where or when? All she knew by now was, whenever he was around she felt like she was home. She felt warm, safe and like they could go through everything and come back on the other side of it. This type of love was new to her. It was refreshing, scary but overall she knew what she wanted, and he was standing right in front of her. Everything about him had completely consumed her. And if anything she had come to realize, it was also not letting things go unsaid. With all the chaos going on the world, you never knew. You never knew what was going to happen. "Like, I mean there is a lot of perks on staying around.. most importantly. Mila absolutely adores you, sometimes more than I think she loves me, second of all, Mariella is really nice - Katelyn makes amazing pancakes, I will give her that! Maya is just a tiny genius, and I love you, so - its .. It's win."

It’s a win huh? she chuckled a bit, "yeah it is," she responded with a lower voice holding her breath for a second. She knew what she had said, and she meant every word. He pulled her a little closer to him. That you love me, mmh? "Mmh," she took a slightly deeper breath in, and exhaled in a small chuckle by his lips touching her skin. The small whisper melting her. She could actually remember the last time she had heard those words, at least said with that meaning. Her heart head over heels speeding up filling her entire being with warmth. The world just seemed to stop for a while, having them here in a moment she never thought she would be in again, having someone loving her like this. Irina was sure now more than ever that it was because of Nigel that she knew what love was supposed to feel like. He pulled a little away, making Irina move her gaze towards his, feeling his breath dance over her skin. The werewolf couldn't help but smile, the smile reached her eyes. It was like Cecilia had once had made her promise, to be true about how she felt. It had been quite obvious how she felt about Nigel, from talking about him to Evelina, to Cecilia, there wasn't really any doubt in mind that she loved him. There wasn't a fiber in her body that was unsure. Irina broke the space between their faces, placing a deeper kiss upon his lips as she pulled herself closer to him again.

She was completely mesmerized by him, every single touch, the slightest brush from his skin touching hers was like electricity lightly running over her veins. The moment utterly breathtaking, reminding them they needed air to breathe, and their lips broke off once again and she took a smaller breath in. Her lips pulling up in a wider smile, as she felt his forehead leaning against hers. Nigel was the first to break the silence, making open her eyes and look into his. The first question, like the teens, she didn't stop smiling. ..or are we to old to be boyfriend and girlfriend? Her heart fluttered like never before, looking into his eyes, the hazel colored eyes to filled up with love. The last person who had asked her that was Matthew, and she had never loved anyone after him. She had reached the point where she had thought and accepted that it would likely not happen. Who would have thought fate would have send Nigel her way that night. "Well, we are not that old, besides, I would love to be your girlfriend," she responded forming that lovely smile on her lips. When was the last time she had felt this blissful?

Well then, there is no taking that back, now your mine, she hummed underneath her breath by those words, lifting a brow slightly, "I can work with that," she whispered back, his lips so close to hers that she could almost feel them brush against hers. Once again their lips locked, like a burst of passion and love. His hand through her hair, feeling likes small sparkes of electricity tracing through her veins, her left hand grabbing around the fabric of his shirt pulling him closer. The right hand on the back of his head, just keeping herself close to him, feeling how fast her heart was beating, overall hypersensitive to his touch. Their lips parted again, and she took a deeper breath in catching her breath. His question made her chuckle a bit, leaning her forehead against his again. "The day after tomorrow," she replied back with a lower voice, still with her lips so close to his. But I already got a game plan for that," she added, teasingly brushing her lips just a bit closer to his yet not enough for them to touch. She removed her left hand from his shirt and like the left, it ran over his shoulder, locking her hands behind his neck. Irina was exploding with happiness, and all that love she felt got expressed as she once again pulled him into another kiss.

Her lips curved into a little smile in the kiss, as she felt his hands glide down over her sides, only to grab her by the thighs, leaving her to instantly lock her legs over his hips, as he lifted her up on the counter. His hand on each side of her face, gently pulling her face a little bit away. A soft chuckle left the werewolf's lips by the teasing whisper as she opened her eyes, letting the hazel eyes look into the blue. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I distracting you?" Irina whispered back, biting her lower lip for a second, before it lifted up into a warmer smile. "Or maybe you are the one distracting me, not that I mind, but if you want to talk?" she added with the same hushed tone, raising her brows slightly playfully. She had set a house up for Anastasia and Zakarias in the city, just a small house, but it was better meeting up there than risking them coming too close to home - in case of anything. She had went over the risks of every single thing, and if there was anything she did very well, it was overthinking ever plan because she liked going into the smallest detail. But Nigel, he had completely hushed her overthinking mind from the train of thoughts that had been bothering her the past days. She already had called Selene and Diego around her little game plan as well, just to have an extra eye on her general idea, and to have the people closest to her near if anything did happen. Her over analytical mind had even made plans to go see Cecilia on the day, just in case her cousin could come with a vision on how everything would go, just a hunch. Then again, Irina was overthinking every single move.