The Equal Claim

Chapter 12

I walk down the stairs and I'm surprised to see Theo already waiting for me. He was seated on one of couches going through his phone and looks up when he hears me. His eyes immediately light up as he watches me intently when I walk up to him. 

''You look really pretty,''he compliments. I fight back a blush that threatens to creep up my cheeks.

 ''Thank you,'' I smile, ''you clean up pretty well yourself,'' he smiles then shuffles nervously.

 ''uhhh Ready?'' he asks.

I take a deep breath and exhale. ''Yeah, ready,'' and we walk out the door.

My nerves start to get the better of me as I start biting my lip in nervousness. Theo notices this and takes my hand in his. I gasp at the sudden contact and look up at him wide eyed.

 ''Athena relax, It's nothing big, just Mom, Aiden and Nadia. You'll be okay, so just chill,'' He says in a soothing voice to relax me.I find myself calming down instantly.

I look up at his towering form visibly shocked. He laughs a little at my clueless reaction. ''One of the few perks of the mate bond,'' he winks.

I look at him in disbelief. ''That's cheating,'' I cry out and he snorts a laugh, ''call it whatever you want love; at least it got you to calm down,'' He replies as we come to a stop, "We're here."

I take one last intake of breath and walk up the steps leading to the patio. Before we can even knock, the door flies open and I see a girl who looks about 20 yrs old with curly brown hair and shining grey eyes smiling from ear to ear. 

''They're here!'' she calls out to someone inside. ''Come on in, please make yourself comfortable,'' She says sweetly and the both of us walk in simultaneously.

''Oh my goodness. look at you two, so perfect together!'' I hear a woman say as she walks up to us. I look at her and see where Theo gets his looks from, the woman is fairly tall with the same light brown eyes, she has a few stray grey hairs but all in all she seems like a well maintained female.

 ''Oh you're so beautiful my dear,'' She gushes as she pulls me into a hug making me freeze in my place.

''uhhh mom, you're making her uncomfortable,'' Theo says slowly as his mom releases me from her grip.

''Oh I'm so sorry dear, I didn't mean to; I'm just really excited to meet my son's mate. We have been waiting for so long for this moment and now it's finally happened,'' She says,tears building up in her eyes.

''It's okay, ma'am,'' I manage to croak out as my throat dries up.

"Ma'am? ma'am? no, no, no dear please, call me Lila or mom'' She smiles sweetly and I can't help but give her a smile back. 

''Come in have a seat, dinner will be ready in a few.''

I take a seat on one of the couches and Theo sits on the one opposite mine. I look around and see beautiful floral decorations over the walls, the living room is quite quaint and cozy, almost similar to  my home back at Crimson. 

''It's not Theo's ultra-modern, extra huge house and all, but it's home," Lila says as she sits on the couch on my right. ''It's beautiful,'' I respond and continue admiring the floral art. 

''Ahhh this, this is all Nadia.'' She exclaims,following my line of sight.She is obsessed with floral art, comes up with something new every day, it's a blessing and a curse i tell you,'' she grumbles as I let out a soft laugh.

 ''No, seriously, some of her art work is really good, it helps in material designing for our textile companies,'' Lila adds. My eyebrows shoot up in surprise as I turn to face Theo who is casually seated,watching our interaction.