Erika taps her fingers on her knees as she watches the people sitting in front of her. She tries to look as intimidated as she can but her curiousness wins making her look funny.

"What are you doing with the curse of my life?" she asks to Rose as she points towards her daughter

"Mature, real mature mom" Engel speaks with a sigh.

"I will leave all the serious stuff for you" Erika tightly smiles before she turns towards Rose.

"My son made a special request regarding his mate and we all know he is one of my weaknesses" Rose simply answers it.

"Okay, I get the point about him being your son, her being his mate, you being his mom but why am I dragged into the equation? I was in the middle of nowhere, getting laid for the first time in years...

Unfortunately, one phone call and now here I am in your house which I did not know existed playing house with you and my daughter, when I would rather go get drunk with the twins" she states bored to death.

"You still are the same Erika I met years ago"

"Of course I am what do you want me to do a dance wearing clothes just because I have some kids roaming around?" Erika asks incredulously.

"What's so wrong with spending a few days with us, having some girl's time together while our men are busy with their works?" Rose asks as she passes the plate of cookies towards Erika.

"Everything is wrong. I do not believe in playing house especially with my daughter, why would I when she was absent half of my life, when I needed her by my side...

She was not there when I wanted her to be, just because she has suddenly found this new side of her where she realized what sacrifices we had to go through, I cannot pretend everything is right," Erika shouts dramatically getting up from her seat.

"Should not I be the one telling all of this? I mean you were supposed to be there for me not the other way around mom...

If you have not realized it yet, you are my mother and I am your daughter"

"So, so what, oh god did she just answer me back? Ha-ha, this is not the era where parents should be taking care of their kids; sometimes the kids should grow up and look out for their parents see if they are getting hurt as well...

When I was your age, I was the one looking after my house when my mom was busy stripping off her clothes. I had to go through so much in my life that I can even write a book on it...

Do you know how hard it was for me as a teenager to fool my twin best friends, when I was nothing but an innocent, pure, beautiful, and an extremely talented, out of this world kind of pure human?

I was not born a wolf like you, I had to plan things through so I can get some money out of them, so I can make them my slave, even if they look extremely intelligent now, they were nothing but stupid back at times...

Your father, that evil four eyed, sexy beast of a man, he always saw right through my acts and tried to save his brothers from my evil plans but I always won. I had to make sure my love for him did not come in between my survival and my lust for him...

It was hard for me; I did not have parents like you and very dedicated parents you have though...

So, do not answer me back, I am your mother and I am always right, I have seen more cocks than you for goodness sake," Erika shouts as she hits the table with both her hands.

Rose sighs as she pulls out a napkin and passes it to Engel who just choked on her coffee and was having a coughing fit hearing her mother's outrageous fit.

"I cannot even have a decent conversation with you, anymore" Engel scolds her mother exasperated with her dramatics.

"Why do you even want to have a decent conversation with me? Sorry to burst your bubble but honey; I am not that kind of mother...

Do not think, even for a second that I will pick you up when you fall down, it will, most likely, be the case that I was the one who pushed you down...

The type of knowledge and conversation I have is not for the lighthearted people like you, sweetie. Nevertheless, I can give you a very important advice, I am giving this free to you, just because you are Gio's mate, else I charge for every advice I give" Erika grins as she moves closer to her daughter's ear.

"Never let Gio enter you before he goes down on you and don't let him cum before you orgasm at least twice" she advices her daughter proudly.

"Mom" Engel shouts standing away from her mother outrageously as she blushes profusely.

"What, I am standing right here," Erika snaps as she winces hearing her daughter shout.

"You...you are...Arghhh" she shouts pointing a finger towards her mother before she storms inside the house.

"Hah, this girl, pretending to be mad after she listened to the advice" Erika scoffs watching her daughter rush out of the garden they were in.

"Oh god, Erika please do come to visit every once a while, it's always fun having you around" Rose's laughter rings around the garden for a while.

"I know, may be I should charge for every visit," Erika mumbles taking her seat back.

"That is your advice, oh god Erika I cannot believe, I was actually looking forward to hearing the very first advice you were going to give your daughter as a mother" Rose comments as she shakes her head still laughing a bit.

"That's the best advice any mother can give, it will keep her unconditionally happy. For a long and healthy life with a man, woman must get as much orgasm as she can" Erika sighs before she gets up and walks out the garden.

"Hey, where are you going?" Rose asks stopping her.

"To play around, I don't think I can stay here playing house with you while Enzo is busy with his work. I am sure my daughter will feel good if I leave" Erika states with a shrug.

"Erika, it may not be my place to say but don't you think you should already make up with your daughter before it's too late?" Rose advices to her thoughtfully, while Erika just turns around and continues walking.

*******

Engel splashes water in her face, as she still cannot believe what her mother said. She has known her mother to be a blunt one but sometimes she really makes Engel mad.

It's like she is the child of the house, it's so hard to keep up with her and she must give her father points for keeping up with her mother for so long.

Making her way to her room, she pulls a towel out and dries her face. She stops when she finds her mother at the door waving her way.

"Hey there" Erika waves to her daughter before she makes her way inside the room

"What are you doing here?" Engel asks uncomfortably.

"Don't worry; I did not come to embarrass you. I just came to say good-bye; I will be leaving the house...

Don't know when you father will be back and I get bored easily, so I will go play around till he comes to get me" Erika informs as she bounces on the bed.

"You should stay till he comes back; he will get worried if you are not here when he gets back you know" Engel points out as she puts the towel away.

"He will find me; he always finds me, so no need to worry" Erika states.

"Where will you be going?" Engel asks curiously.

"Hmm...don't know. May be I will go cock-block your cousins, it will be fun or may be I will just go search for the girl I met few nights ago and teach her some tricks" Erika shrugs her shoulders undecided.

"Girl?" Engel asks as her senses heighten as that.

"Yes, I met this girl, who was seeking help in seducing her mate, so I planned to help her. It was fun reminded me of times I tried everything to seduce your father" Erika grins happily.

"You really love dad, don't you?"

"Of course"

"I am sorry to be the one straining your relation for so long" she apologizes sadly.

"Ah, don't worry; it's not your fault. I just wanted to blame you because we all know I can do no wrong...

Your father and I, this time it was our fault, we stopped reaching and pursuing each other like before but it's all well now, I knew sex is the answer from the beginning"

"Mom" Engel whines.

"Fine, fine, be the prude your dad was. Engel, I know I have never been the mother I am suppose to and I know that I will never be the mother I should...

However, no matter what, I love you. You, Eric and Enzo, you all are my life, without any of you I am nothing. I may not be able to give you the best advice about life as I do not follow anyone's advice myself but I listen to my own heart...

I do what I feel is right at that particular moment and you should too, who cares if it is wrong or if that will led to more trouble, right?

You know the secret why I do what I do. Because, I know every time I fall down, take a wrong step, I have your father by my side to scold me and make my wrongs, right. I have my family behind me with their support and love to tell me that it is okay to make mistakes...

It is okay to feel sad, to get hurt, to cry and to be scared. Its okay Engel, it really is okay. Whatever happens we are here for you, it is okay to feel weak because you have us by your side, you do not have to act strong anymore...

When you fall down, do not cry just get up and punch the shit out of that person in the face who pushed you down, when you get hurt, cry your heart out, when you feel sad remember the happy times...

When you feel lonely just turn back, we will always be there for you. I am your mother, and it is my right to love you, no matter how childish I act, no matter how stupid I am...

You are my daughter and I love you without even charging you a penny" Erika smiles as she pushes her arms out after that emotional speech.

Engel bursts out and runs to her mother's arms and tears up, while Erika holds her daughter trying to calm her down.

"I love you mom, I am so sorry to push you all out" Engel sobs as she clutches the back of her mother dress.

"It's all right" Erika whispers as she wipes her daughter's tears and lets her go.

"You are the best" Engel grins happy that her mother reached out to her, as she did not know how to make things right between them.

"Of course, I am. I also know half those tears are of relief because I said I am not charging you" Erika smiles as she wipes little tears away from her own eyes.

"Mom" Engel whines before she continues.

"That was a really good speech though" Engel grins teasingly.

"Of course, I Googled it" Erika winks before she places a soft kiss on her daughter's forehead.

"But, don't tell anyone about this, this is the most emotional thing I have done in ages. I have a reputation to keep" Erika warns her before she hugs her daughter once again.

"Okay I need to run out of here before your father comes back, you take care and make sure you loose your virginity before you step back home...

Poor Gio, he must be having blue balls by now, I cannot believe you are my daughter," Erika mumbles as she walks out of the room with Engel laughing behind her as she heard it all.

*******

Ethan looks around the room filled with most of the members in the council; while some were already in their seat some were yet to arrive. The meeting held will not start for few more minutes so he was patiently waiting on the members to arrive.

He nods at the members in greeting while he waits for the seats to fill up. He once again checks the members of the council, which now was different from the last time he was here, the first time he appeared in front of the council but not as a member.

It seems just like yesterday how he was nervously waiting for the council to announce his death for the crime he did, against Scarlet but to his surprise, they asked him to join them along with Ryan.

For a few seconds he thought they were pulling his leg but when they just smiled at him for answer, he was grateful that they let him live.

Now, he was one of them as the protector of their world and kind.

It was no surprise when Adrian announced he could not be part of the council after the attack on his pack and things have changed after that.

There were total of ten people in the council while Dante was still the leader to them, following with Romano, Samuel, Ryan, Reese, Nicole and him, while the seven of them were the active members of the council the other three of the people were working as an invisible force and only Dante knew who those three were.

He was surprised to find that no one knew who those three were and even if at some level he was curious who they were, there was no other way to find who they were not until Dante tells him personally that is.

Enzo was asked to come join them time and again but every time he refused to be in. However, his presence was most in demand in today's meeting as it was regarding his own son's action.

"Rain, you in position" Rom's voice breaks Ethan's thoughts as he once again looks around to find all the seats were full.

"Rain, what is Rain doing here?" Ethan asks to Rom surprised.

"Why else? We need someone to make sure no bugs are around us, don't worry, Rain cannot hear us as soon as the meeting starts it will only be us" Rom assures as he pats Ethan's shoulder and moves to take his own seat.

*******

"Ethan, start please" Dante requests as everyone of the members along with people who were asked to join them were present.

"Most of you may not know the real reason about this meeting so let me tell you" Ethan starts as he turns to face Enzo.

"It may come to surprise to some of us in here and not to some, this meeting is on the regards of Eric Antonio who we have some strong proof is involved in creating the new set of mandrakes" Ethan states and waits for Enzo's reaction.

"I would like to see the proof first" Enzo speaks not giving a hint of tension in his body.

"Okay. First, I would like to talk about the incident that occurred within the Hp grounds where two of the special kids were found dead...

No one knows what occurred inside the room, except those two who died and Eric himself, who had remained silent when asked to answer...

Dante, here took the decision to exile him while Enzo took responsibility of seeing that his son will never make cause any harm to anyone. Believing his words, all these years Enzo was the one handling the whereabouts of his son...

I am sure he knows that even if none of the council has made protest of his decision regarding his son, we have been keeping an eye on him, not all the time, but most of it anyway...

We did not have to do so until we found some clues that were pointing towards him the very first time we noticed about the new kind of mandrake was when Jasmine Summers, mate of Advin Martin left the Martin's pack and went to live alone...

That was when, those mandrakes showed up trying to hurt them, I am sure we all remember that incident, after that Devilin went to inspect the summer territory where Jasmine claimed she saw those monsters once again...

While doing so, he came across something interesting, it was a crystal but not just any and it was a red crystal made through blood...

That crystal, it was inside the teddy bear Jasmine has, her mother was the one who hid it inside the toy and it seems that was what those mandrakes were searching for...

While Devilin refuses to give that Crystal to anyone, he did lend it to us to see what exactly it was...

We all know Rom's daughter UT, she is leading a team of qualified doctors who is responsible for the treatment and any experiment held in HP, when she checked the crystal we found that it holds a very special kind of blood inside...

It seems whose ever blood is captured inside that crystal, is the answer, that person has the mixture of blood which can create the new kind of mandrakes more powerful, intelligent and smart from the ones we saw few decades ago....

The interesting fact is we have yet to find out exactly whose blood is inside that crystal. We have been searching for it everywhere still we have not found the perfect match" Ethan stops taking a break from explaining to let everyone inside the room to absorb it all.

"I get it that we have yet to find the person but I still am looking forward to see how this links with my son?" Enzo speaks while everyone keeps quiet absorbing the information in front of them all.

*******

"I know this comes as a shock to you Enzo as he is your son but trust me none of us here has any ill thought about your son...

Moving on, I got a tip that Eric has been moving around a lot, he has been collecting a few samples of blood, some, while treating some of our kind...

First, I thought it was harmless but when he showed up while saving Jasmine two years ago he helped us to catch the traitor, it was amazing to see that the wolf gave in and walked with us easily...

At first we all thought he was hypnotized but later on, we found some kind of drug in his body, we do not know how but it seems Eric injected something that made him listen to Eric...

It was nothing alarming at first, still I had kept an eye on him, it seems his experiments are on going, I have not found anything illegal in those experiments so I let it slide but last time when he showed once again that alarmed me...

You do know that how there was a havoc in the party few months ago, Chris lost control and how Eric was able to calm him at once, when asked he said he just used their bond but it was not the case...

Eric, he once again injected a drug in Chris's body that is what calmed him down immediately" Ethan stops when Connor stands abruptly as soon as he hears it.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Why I was not informed of anything about the matter?" he shouts towards Dante.

"Calm down Connor, I have a lot more reasons to stand and throw a fit but do you see me reacting? We all in here care about not just your but all of our kids as much so let Ethan finish what he has to say before we all start throwing chairs around" Dante calmly speaks which makes Connor take his seat back and Ethan to continue.

"We did not inform anyone about it because we wanted to be sure on this. Enzo, I am sorry to inform everyone but it seems your son has been experimenting a lot on illegal things...

As, for the accusation I made on his being involved in making of mandrakes, well the only thing I can say is he has the exact same type of crystal with him which Devilin has...

The one, which has the life, sealed inside, which can create a new life when mixed with other being...

Not only that, we have evidence and pictures of him with some mandrakes, he was seen exchanging something with those mandrakes few times...

We are not sure exactly what they are, but we need to stop your son if he is some how helping Thomas or the mandrakes. It seems the numbers of those mandrakes are increasing day by day...

I do not know if you heard but he claims Adrian's daughter Ariel as his mate and even took her to live with him but she is back home. When she asked him about him taking her blood without her knowledge he confessed that he did...

We all know the history between Adrian's family and those mandrakes; we are not so sure that they are mates, its quiet suspicious...

Council gave you the power to take care of your son and we still are intact on it, none of us will step out of our bounds not until you ask, but this situation must be, handled soon before something horrible happens...