"Unbelievable!" I exclaimed, flopping down onto Matteo's bed. "I can't believe everyone worked on the surprise party for me."

Matteo chuckled. "I had a feeling you'd forgotten your own birthday, Master. Although we had to do it half a year late."

I grinned up at him. "That's all right. Thank you so much, Mattie."

He smiled happily and knelt down next to the bed by my head, then pressed his face onto my chest. I hugged his neck and kissed his forehead, my body and mind still buzzing with excitement from my extremely belated birthday party. That also means today marks a full year and a half since I arrived at this home of ours. And, to be honest, it feels like I have been here longer than that.

While petting Matteo's dark brown curls, I thought about today's activities. I wore a special outfit, played fun games with everyone (inside and outside), received innumerable kisses, at least fifteen presents, ate lots of good food that Gavin and Blaine worked hard to make, consumed a very large piece of the huge sheet cake that my daddy bought, and even ate a little of the special pie that Zaire had to eat due to his allergies/intolerances. But Zaire didn't feel left out, thankfully. I think all of us were happy to spend time together.

Daddy did let Papa attend with my biological paternal grandparents, and Emrys (my uncle Andros) invited his and Daddy's sister, Athena. I hadn't seen or heard about her in over a year, but I got to know her a little more and learned that she's getting married in the fall. Baron, my maternal grandfather, also came with Papa. The latter was jealous when Baron scooped me up before Papa could, but my father was relaxed after I gave him a kiss on the cheek. I used my magic to make sure his own wouldn't harm my family, so it was a joyous occasion for everyone.

Russet also brought his very soon-to-be husband, Walter Jr., and Greg to my party. I welcomed the pair of best friends and several of my nearby family members were a little on edge when Walter kissed near my lips. Supposedly, I had grinned cutely, so Russet leapt on me for kisses. Greg was very surprised seeing how kissy everyone was with me, excluding my fifteen beloveds.

Another two attendees were invited, but they only stopped by to wish me a happy birthday and give me a hug before leaving. I knew why Azazel didn't want to be there, but it meant the world to me that my creator did pop in for a minute.

He is still my friend, regardless of the regret and guilt that he holds due to the creation of the Emerged. He doesn't regret creating me, but he knows how much it hurt me to learn of the creation methods for some of my beloveds. Azazel was always kept company by the clingy Kenith Hudd, Ifrit's current body and identity.

"Mattie," I started, but he was already asleep with his head against mine.

I smiled warmly and used my magic to get ourselves ready for bed, then had us tucked into it within a minute. Matteo cuddled my form against his chest, making me smile as I wiggled upwards to kiss his jawline.

"Goodnight, Mattie. I love you." I whispered softly, then squirmed downwards and ducked my head under his chin.

After awakening the next morning, I was feeling exhausted. Matteo was just cupping the back of my head with his hand and keeping his lips pressed to my forehead. I smiled tiredly, then yawned and snuggled closer. Matteo's left fingers began to move through my hair, so I shivered and placed my lips on his warm neck.

"G'morning, Mattie." I said softly, yawning again. "What time is it?"

Matteo cleared his throat to answer, "Eight, Master."

"Mm, so I got about seven hours. I'm so sleepy, Mattie."

He chuckled and cuddled my form closer. "Master, would you like to sleep another hour?"

"Yes, please."

He let me snuggle in how I pleased, then it took less than a minute to properly fall asleep. Within that short time, I heard Matteo murmuring sweet somethings about me, his master, against my head. He made me fall asleep with a smile.

__________________________

I shot awake with my heart pounding, tears in my eyes, and a sense of dread. I moved my hand and felt Matteo at my side, then nearly released a sob when I felt his arm across my lap. Matteo awakened a moment later and sat up, in total confusion and wracked with worry while I tried not to cry.

"M-Master, what's wrong? What happened?"

"I-I had a dream."

Matteo relaxed and tugged my form into his lap. "I see. What was it about?"

I turned more in his arms and hugged his neck tightly. "I'm so sorry, Mattie."

He stiffened. "What?"

I sniffled, tears burning my eyes while I let them fall. "I didn't understand you and I let your assaulter become blameless..."

Matteo gently pushed my shoulders back and cupped my face. Both his expression and dark blue eyes were filled with confusion. "Master Anwyll, please tell me what your dream was about." he pleaded, gently brushing my tears away with his thumbs.

I sniffled again, so Matteo twisted around and grabbed his tissue box off the side table. He gave me a few as he set the box down beside us. I quietly thanked him, then blew my nose. My face felt puffy from crying, but I should be punished more for not understanding how much I hurt Matteo in the past.

"Hey, Master, I'm fairly certain I know what you're thinking and you need to stop those thoughts right now."

I was cuddled into his lap more firmly and kissed repeatedly by my cute Matteo, so now I'm more calm. He noticed immediately and continued cradling my form while I nuzzled his chest.

"Mattie, I owe you an apology."

He sighed softly. "Master..."

"I know it won't make things right, but I have to apologize for not addressing your sexual assault. I was incredibly unfair and cruel to you, forcing you to keep both Blaine's and Damon's pain along with your own without knowing what happened to you."

His bottom lip trembled and he turned his head as I whispered, "I am so sorry, Matteo."

My bull sniffled and then tears started to roll down his cheeks, so I pushed out of his arms and hugged his neck tightly. Matteo held my body close, resting his right hand on my lower back while he quietly cried into my left shoulder.

I petted his hair and tried to keep myself from letting a fresh batch of tears fall. My dream was probably closer to one of revelation, which was maybe given to me by a higher power. I don't know why I had it to be today specifically, but it laid out all of the memories I'd had of Blaine and Matteo together before the incident happened and showed me things I had forgotten.

I should have recognized the signs, but I was too busy trying to sort my feelings out and insert myself into our family at the time. It had only been the third day since I arrived. I think it would have happened regardless of whether I was at our home or not. Blaine was just too pushy and eager for something he wasn't allowed to have, so he tried to take it without permission.

Of course Matteo is still in the wrong for doing what he did, but I excused Blaine for hurting him before that. I should have figured everything out before condemning Matteo. And it's too late now to make Blaine accountable for his actions. Matteo has suffered enough. I need to take responsibility for what I did to him, too.

"Master," started Matteo, just as I sat back.

I cupped his cheeks and pecked his lips. He blushed and smiled, making my heart pound at his cute expression. Matteo hugged my form tightly and pressed his face against my chest.

"Master, thank you for apologizing. That's always weighed on my mind, but I thought I shouldn't ever bring it up because it caused bad memories for everyone—not just for me and Blaine before you erased his memories of that time. I believed I deserved to suffer in the background because of what I did to Blaine in a mind that was not my own. It was my body doing it to him, but they were not my choices. Even so, I felt like my bit of pain and suffering was nothing compared to Blaine's and that I should just suck it up because I actually hurt him unlike what he did to me."

My heart thudded in my chest. A painful feeling welled there and I found it hard to breathe at first. I took a few deep breaths and slowly let them out. Matteo accepted my kisses to his forehead.

"I'm so sorry, Mattie. No one's trauma should be compared to another's because, regardless of what kind it was or how bad the situation was that caused it, it still affects you personally. It's your trauma. No one else experienced it for you. You went through that situation, you gained it, and you have to fight and overcome it. No one else can do that for you."

Matteo's bottom lips trembled. "B-Blaine tried really hard, didn't he?"

I nodded tearfully. "And so did you."

He sighed softly and put his forehead against my chest. "Master, are you going to erase it from my memories, too?"

"It's an incident that never should have happened. It was initially caused by your sexual assault and ended with an assaulter becoming a victim and the victim becoming a rapist. The latter was not in his right mind, but the former chose to go through with his actions. Neither are blameless and neither are to be blamed for what happened." I whispered, petting his dark brown hair. "Tell me now, Mattie. Do you want to have those memories gone? I think you deserve it. It's been just a few days shy of eighteen months."

Matteo stared unblinkingly into my eyes for a time, then closed his own and quietly nodded. "Aside from you today, Master, no one knew what happened to me. Although I love you and I love having you as my master, a tiny part of myself was crying out for you to notice—to realize that I was not the only person to have done something wrong that day. But it never came to light."

"Someone knew, Mattie. I don't think that dream of revelation came to me on a whim. I believe a higher entity that wants me to love and understand you completely gave the dream to me. Aside from the issues with Blaine, I did want you to be happy. But now, I've been given an opportunity to right some wrongs and actually help you recover properly."

Matteo was a little concerned at the idea of a higher power, but he was smiling now. "Thank you, Master."

"Don't thank me yet, Mattie. What's your answer?"

"Yes, please erase that memory." he replied almost breathlessly.

I had him close his eyes and then pressed my forehead to his own. I started to dig into his head and nearly sobbed when I saw what exactly Blaine did to Matteo, what memory Matteo was thrown into, and how his body moved and the lack of control he had of his limbs with Blaine. It was like he had truly become his father in his memory. It was horrifying seeing it from Blaine's perspective, but it was even worse from Matteo's own.

And, after I saw those things, I even glimpsed into the time Matteo was inside Daddy's dungeon. Not only were there realistic visions of snakes and that Lamia there, but he was watching his mother get raped on repeat and feeling the blows of his father's fists again. Matteo never told me about seeing those memories during his time down there, but I think Daddy mentioned that the dungeon shows what people are most afraid of and tortures them with it. It's truly a cruel place of torment.

It's time to take that away as well. No one deserves to have their old trauma on repeat—the same one that was part of the very beginning of the incident with Blaine and Matteo.

And, not much later, I let Matteo sleep. I had put his mind through a lot. I erased the memories and the emotions that came with them, then remnants of those times that could reappear psychosomatically or physically. Now, he's a clean slate from the Blaine/dungeon times. Just like Blaine, I left the old memories alone. Those were their challenges to face.

I rubbed my face and sat back on the bed to go over the possible origin of that dream. Azazel doesn't have any authority with dreams. Could it be one of his siblings? Maybe his mother instructed a dream god/goddess to reveal this information to me? And maybe the reason for that is that she feels pity for me as an unnatural creation and wants to help me love my family as much as possible. Well, that is just speculation.

I looked over at Matteo's sleeping face, then laid down in front of him. His scent was comforting, but it reminds me that I should probably erase the incident from everyone else's minds as well. There's no point in letting that time drag everyone down. It should just be me. I'm the one who have should have noticed. I was the one spewing all that crap about loving everyone equally, yet I couldn't even see the problems practically getting shoved in my face.

There was even that incident with Waltz and Russet which led me to getting injured, but I don't think that weighs on those two as much as it does for me at this point. Again, that happened because I was all over the place. Even though Daddy had let me take care of Russet, I had gone over to Matteo and paid attention to him when he was sick instead of doing my care-taking duty regarding my rabbit Emerged family member.

I sighed softly while I thought about what my beloveds would say. I need to stop thinking so much and blaming myself for basically everything. What happened is in the past, and I have no authority to go back and change things. That much was obvious when I learned that time spent with Waltz and his "past" self was just created with my own magic using some of the false memories Azazel had given him.

I rubbed my face and carefully rolled onto my back, then jumped when Matteo grabbed me. He chuckled as he placed multiple little kisses wherever he could reach. I giggled, my bad thoughts melting away under his touch and thanks to his extremely affectionate nature.

"Mattie," I whispered, then placed my lips on his own. "When did you wake up?"

"Maybe five minutes ago. You were lost in your thoughts again—bad ones, I'm assuming. I hope you're not blaming yourself again."

I couldn't respond. Matteo sighed, then moved over my pelvis and straddled it. My cheeks warmed when he stripped off his shirt. His sexy, thickly muscled big body made me feel hot. Matteo smirked as he spread his thighs wider.

"Master, please take your mind off the past and focus on the present me, your submissive. I want you to take control—of me, specifically."

My cock throbbed and my hole twitched, so I breathed deeply and slowly exhaled as I lifted my violet eyes to Matteo's dark blue ones. "What do you have in mind?" I asked softly, my slight breathlessness making Matteo smile.

"Can you spank me?"

My eyes widened. "What, why?"

He chuckled. "I just want to your hands on me, Master."

I held up my small hands. "Do you want these ones or the ones with my taller self?"

Matteo hummed. "How about both? First with your cute, small hands, then the larger ones."

My face was burning as I quietly agreed. "Anything else?"

"Collar me. Use a leash. Ride me, Master. I'm your bull. I'm fine with basically anything and everything that my master could possibly give me."

I was agape at first. "W-why do you trust me so much?"

He smiled as he curled over me, then pressed a kiss to my forehead. "Because I know my master, I love him so much, and I know he wouldn't go too far in this and actually hurt me."

My tail thumped on the bed while I blushed and covered my face. Matteo is amazing, honestly.

"I love you too, Mattie." I replied breathlessly, then placed my hands on his ridged abdomen. "You're so sexy..."

Matteo chuckled. "Happy to please, Master."

My fingers curled on the waistband of his underwear and tugged the fabric down. Matteo's cock sprang free and he exhaled sharply as I used both hands to completely grasp it.

"Mattie, hold still." I ordered, so he rested his hands on his thighs and tried not to move while I massaged his cock.

He bit his lip when I thumbed his frenulum and palmed his cap. When I grasped his balls, Matteo really shivered and curled his fingers. I rolled my fingers over the heavy sac and very gently squeezed, tugged, and thumbed it. Matteo's whole body was trembling and his muscles were tense.

"How's it feel so far, Mattie?"

"G-good," he squeaked.

I grinned and kept pumping his cock. "Really?" I pressed with a teasing tone.

Matteo nodded and let his head fall back with a short moan after teasing his balls a little more. I let go of everything and sat up, then hugged Matteo's waist and looked up at his flushed face.

"You're so cute, Mattie. Would you like to pick out your collar now?"

He nodded. "Yes, Master. But how?"

I imagined three different kinds of collars with equally unique designs and color schemes, then presented them to Matteo. His eyes widened as his thumbs rolled over the soft interiors, the braided soft rope collar, and even the nice-smelling faux leather one. I didn't want to use real leather because my Mattie is a bull shifter.

Matteo's dark blue eyes gleamed with pleasure while looking at the simplest dark brown one with accents of my hair color and his eye color braided in faux leather around the middle. There was a D-ring at the front, but I can add more rings with magic later if necessary. I made the others disappear while Matteo squeezed his favorite, then he curled down to have me put it on him. I smiled and pecked his lips.

"You're really too cute, Mattie."

He blushed and hugged me tightly while I buckled his collar into place. Once it was comfortable, Matteo climbed off the bed and looked at himself in his bathroom's mirror with joy on his face. I giggled to myself. He's just too cute. I love my adorable bull.

"Mattie, do you want your spankings now or later?"

Matteo's head popped up and he shyly returned to his bedroom. I pointed to the bed. "Bend over and rest your forearms on the bed."

His tanned skin flushed beet-red as I got up onto my knees to partly climb off the bed while he got into position. I chuckled and rubbed his muscular back, my tail brushing his face at his left side. Matteo jumped and trembled after I gently set my hands on his inner thighs, but he slowly calmed down with firm strokes.

"How many spankings would you like, Mattie?"

"F-five first, p-please."

"Across both sides or just one?"

Matteo shivered as my fingers slipped underneath his boxer-briefs. I tugged his underwear down to his knees, then gently thumbed his balls while waiting for Matteo's answer.

I smirked. "One extra spank will be added if you keep your master waiting too long, Mattie. Make up your mind quickly."

"Across both!" he exclaimed, just as his cock oozed another drop of pre-come onto his bed.

"Good boy, Mattie." I praised, then moved my tail along his back. He whimpered when I stopped, but he jolted as my right hand landed on his left asscheek. It turned a little red after the first smack, which made sense.

I gave him the next four smacks across both asscheeks, so Matteo was trembling with his fists clenched. I spied on his cock and it was still rock hard and dripping, so I guess Matteo enjoyed what we did just now. His ass was now reddened, which looked quite enticing with his naturally tan skin. I licked the curve of his muscular ass on both cheeks, making Matteo jump a bit.

"M-Master?"

"You're so damn sexy, Mattie." I groaned, then tapped his inner thighs. "Move your feet apart more."