Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

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Star

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Artem had surprised me. We hadn\'t talked about my idea of adopting all the kids that were staying with us, but it turns out that he had also been thinking the same thing. That made me truly happy.

After talking it over we decided we were going to sit all of them down after dinner tonight and ask them what it was they wanted. They would only be adopted if they wanted to be. We weren\'t going to force any of them into it.

I was nothing but a nervous wreck all through dinner. I kept dropping things and blushing like crazy when everyone stared at me. I think they thought I was still stunned from having found out I was expecting a baby. That wasn\'t what had me nervous.

No, I was afraid because I didn\'t know how the kids were going to react. I had been hoping that all of them would agree to join our family but who is to say that any of them would? Oh Goddess, I hoped that it all works out.

Once we were all done eating, especially dessert, Artem called out as all the children tried to run right out of the room.

"Wait a minute guys." All of them froze immediately and turned to look at the sound of his voice.

"We want to talk to all of you." I spoke next, trying to sound normal and completely failing.

"Can you all come with us so that we can talk for a little while? It\'s important." Artem even sounded a little strange compared to normal.

Together Artem and I led the boys into the library. It was the room that they were the most comfortable in and knew the best, aside from their own personal rooms that is. I could tell that all of them were nervous when we got to the room.

I also noticed that Kent had been following our group while we walked as well. He was probably nervous about what was going to happen with his brother. He was such a loving and doting big brother.

Once we were all inside the room the kids went to the tables they usually sat at. They were all so well behaved and knew just what to do without being told.

They had basically been divided by age. The oldest boys, Julian, Nico, Flint, and Leslie, were all sitting at one table since they were teenagers, or close to it. The other ten boys who were aged ten and under were sitting at three other tables with either three or four boys at each table.

Looking at all their nervous faces as they peered at us with worry made my heart break. I could tell they were all imagining the worst right now. They all thought that something bad was about to happen to them. It hurt me to think that they were so distrustful of us as well.

I had hoped that we had built more trust and respect with them than that. It was to be expected though. I knew better than anyone else how hard it was to start trusting people after the life I had, and that all these boys had had as well.

"OK everyone." Artem smiled nervously at them all as he started the conversation. "There is something that we would like to talk to all of you about."

"You\'re going to make us leave, aren\'t you?" Eight year old Gil, one of the new boys, lowered his head to hide the tears that he was starting to shed.

I felt Gil\'s pain and suffering then. I could tell how much he was hurting when he said those words. Without stopping to think about it I walked over to his table and knelt next to him. With a hand on his shoulder I began to speak soothingly.

"Now Gil, why would you think that?"

"Because everyone hates people like us. They never want us around. The only reason we were brought here was so that we could get better. Now that we are better you\'re going to send us all home to our families."

When Gil looked up I could see how red his eyes were and the trail of tears that had been trailing down his cheeks. His words seemed to scare and stir the worry up in all of the others, especially the younger ones.

"You\'re going to send us home to our families?" Leslie nearly squeaked when he asked the question.

"I don\'t want to go back there." Ricky cried.

"Please don\'t make me go." Zack pleaded.

Dalton actually got out of his seat and ran to me. As soon as he was close enough he jumped toward me and threw his arms around my neck. He nearly knocked me over with the force of his leaping jump. 

I could feel Dalton shaking against me as he clung to my neck. He was terrified beyond belief but he was slowly finding his voice.

"P..pl..please d..do..don\'t m..m..make me g..g..g..g..go." He was crying so hard it was hard to hear him. "I..I..I d..don\'t w..w..want t..t..to g..g..go."

"Shhh." I shushed him as I rubbed his back. "Shhh. It\'s alright Dalton."

I wrapped my arms around the little boy securely and pulled him into my lap. With a hug that was just shy of being too forceful I held him against my chest.

"Shhh." I shushed him again as he sobbed onto the collar of my shirt. "Don\'t worry Dalton. None of you will have to leave."

That seemed to have the effect that I was looking for. I felt the boy jolt in my arms when he heard what I had to say. I felt Dalton loosen his arms from around me and pull back. The look on his face was one of hope.

"I can stay here?" His voice was still trembling slightly as he asked his question.

"Yes Dalton. All of you can stay. We love having you here and we would never want to send you away."

I watched as the light returned to the boy\'s eyes and he smiled at me.

"What\'s going to happen with us?" Gil asked, drawing my attention away from Dalton. "We haven\'t been here as long as they have. Where are we going to go?"

"You can stay here. Unless you don\'t want to. We won\'t force you to stay but we would love it if you did." Artem answered before I could.

"Why? Why do you want us to stay here?" Ricky, one of the other new boys, asked Artem.

"We want to be your family. We want to take care of you all and love each of you." Artem\'s words seemed to shock all of the boys. They had definitely not been expecting that.

"Family?" Dalton asked, a hint of fear in his voice. They all would remember family as the people who hurt them.

"Yes Dalton, but we will be a proper family. We will love you and nothing will change except that no one will ever be able to take you away from us." I explained to him.

"Does that mean you will be my mommy?" His sweet childlike voice was full of wonder and excitement now. It was so easy for children to change their emotions like this.

"If you want me to be." I returned the smile he was giving me.

At that Artem knelt next to us and put a hand on Dalton\'s head.

"That would make me your daddy, if you would want that too." That caused shock to stir around the room. Most of the boys were looking at us with their eyes opened wide with disbelief. "I would like to do this for all of you. We will adopt you all, if that is what you want. If you don\'t want that then you will still be able to stay here and we can take care of you all."

"I want you to be my daddy." Dalton squealed. "And I want Star to be my mommy."

Dalton\'s outburst led to many more. Cohen and Benton were the first to respond. However, it wasn\'t long before all of the other younger boys piped up as well. Gil and Ricky were the first of them but soon Timothy, Kevin, Zack, Marcus, and Will asked to join the family.

This made all of the boys ten and younger, but none of the older ones had said anything yet. I looked at them with hopeful eyes before I asked them what they wanted.

"Would you boys like to join us as well?"

"We\'re older, you don\'t want us as your kids." Leslie who was twelve answered with a sorrow filled look.

"Of course we want you as well. The more the merrier." Artem grinned at him. "It makes no difference that you\'re older, you can still be our family and we will be there for you."

"You really want us?" Flint, a year older than Leslie, asked apprehensively.

"Of course we do. And Nico and Julian are invited to be with us as well. What do you say?"

"I say that I am willing to be your family." Julian was the first to answer among them. "I have always felt like you guys were there to protect me." Julian may be fifteen but he was so tiny, just like all the other boys. He looked more like he was eleven at most instead of nearing adulthood.

"I want to as well." Flint spoke next.

"Yeah, I want to be your family too." Leslie smiled at me.

"What about you, Nico?" Artem asked.

"I appreciate the offer, but I still want to be family with my brother. If that is alright." Nico sounded nervous since he was the only one to turn us down.

"That is fine, Nico. We understand. You are still welcome to stay here though, you will always have a home with us." Artem assured him.

"Thank you."