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Artem

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While Star was upstairs getting ready for the dinner with Acacia I was still in the sitting room with Ash and Lotus Aspen. They were not only Acacia\'s parents as we had learned earlier. No, they also happened to be Star\'s aunt and uncle. I was happy that Star was starting to have the chance to meet more of her family. And more specifically, that these family members had been exceptionally nice to her.

To think that Star was finally accepted wholeheartedly by family members from the moment that they met her. They didn\'t even have to know what had happened to her, they didn\'t have to know that she had magic or anything like that. They just approved of her right away.

It made me want to call my parents back in from their retirement. Not to take over the company again or anything like. No, I wanted to have them finally meet my mate. Things had been so busy and crazy for the last few months that all I had done was tell them about Star. They hadn\'t actually met her yet.

Honestly, I don\'t think that my parents expected me to successfully reform the pack. That was probably why they fled to Mexico when I was ready to start taking over the company. Granted, Dad did say it was a trial basis and I was not officially named as the CEO just yet. It was just a matter of time though, things were going well now that I was running things.

It had also been quite coincidental that my parents left the country not even a week before I met Star. Was that part of fate\'s plan for us as well? I wonder. It definitely seemed like it was to me.

As I sat there lost in thought it seemed that Ash and Lotus were looking at me with curiosity in their eyes.

"Artem, do you mind if we talk about something while Star and Acacia are out of the room?" Lotus was speaking softly and with a friendly smile on her face but I had a feeling that she was about to talk about something that was a little difficult.

"Of course. What would you like to discuss?" I smiled in return as I tried to be friendly and open with the family that was trying to be there for my mate and hopefully soon to be wife.

"Well, we were just thinking about the dinner that Star is going to have soon." Ash looked a little uncomfortable. "We don\'t think things will go bad at all. Honestly I really don\'t know what happened between Star\'s mother and Aaron, but I have a feeling he would have wanted to know about his daughter. Family is far too important to all of us to turn our backs on it completely. Even to someone as, well, flaky as Aaron can seem to be at times." Ash didn\'t sound too confident at the moment.

"So, what are you suggesting? Should she not go?" I was starting to get worried on Star\'s behalf now. "I don\'t want to see her getting hurt at all." When I added those words I noticed that Ash and Lotus looked at each other with a serious look in their eyes even as they smiled casually.

"Actually sweetie," Lotus began softly as she turned back toward me and laid her small dainty hand over mine. "I think what is best for Star right now, is for her to go to this dinner alone."

"What?" Lotus\'s words sent a shockwave through me that nearly made my heart stop.

They wanted me to let Star go to the dinner alone? They wanted me to let her that far away from me while we were in such a strange place? Did they not know how hard it was on me already just to let Acacia, someone that I knew and trusted already, drag Star up to her room for a change of clothes? This was madness. I couldn\'t do such a thing.

"I understand that it must seem unthinkable." Ash looked at me with a soft look in his eyes. I couldn\'t quite explain what it meant. Was it understanding, sympathy, something else entirely. I didn\'t know yet. "The thing is, son, Star needs to have this time to talk to her father. She needs to be able to ask him hard questions that might make her cry. If you\'re there to stop any of the difficult parts from happening then there might be quite a bit of important information that isn\'t shared between them. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"

I did indeed understand what Ash was saying. And he was right too. If Aaron said anything that might upset my Star, anything that might make her cry, then I would probably go on the defense for her. If it looked like things weren\'t going her way I would probably step in as a member of her offensive team and help steer things in a way that benefitted Star over anything or anyone else.

I was completely biased in this situation as I rightfully should be. Star was my mate, my woman, my future wife, and the mother of my pup that was growing strong in her womb. There was nothing that I wouldn\'t do to protect her in any and all ways. I would try to protect her emotionally as well as physically.

"Artem?" Lotus called my name which pulled me out of my thoughts. I realized then that I had rested my chin on my right hand, my index finger tapping away on my right cheek as I did my best to  think about what they had said to me. "Artem, honey, what do you think? Will you sit out the dinner? You can stay here and eat with us or have dinner brought to your room that you will be sharing with Star for the time that you are staying with us."

I had thought about it all right. There wasn\'t much else I could say, I knew what my answer was going to be. No matter the outcome, I had to let Star do this on her own. I had a feeling that she was going to be scared to go on her own though, and that was another reason why she needed to go by herself. She needed to build her confidence, her independence.

"Yeah, I thought about it." I nodded to Lotus and then Ash as I answered her. "I understand exactly what it is you\'re trying to say here. And, though it will make me nervous as hell, I agree completely. This is something that Star needs to do alone. She has to do this where I can\'t step in on her behalf. But not just for the reasons that you mentioned, though they are indeed valid ones."

"Oh? You thought of another reason she should go without you?" Ash looked as if I had peaked his interest with my words.

"Yes, I did. Since I rescued Star she has had someone with her to help her almost every step of the way. There were a few minor things that she didn\'t seem to need someone\'s help with but aside from them she has had someone with her to walk her through the difficult parts. Whether it was myself, my sister, her cousins back home, my beta, whoever it was that helped her doesn\'t matter. What matters is that it seems that Star is slowly losing her independence because of the constant assistance."

I hadn\'t expected to make that response so wordy and long winded but I could tell that Ash and Lotus were still able to understand what it was that I had meant.

"That is very wise of you to admit Artem. I am very proud of you. And I can say with complete confidence, that I am glad my niece has a mate like you. I may not know Star any more than I know you but I am still proud of you, I hope you know that." Ash was smiling at me like he was a proud father and not a practical stranger who had just met me earlier this afternoon.

"And I hope you know that I can never truly express to you how happy it makes me that you have all accepted Star so easily. She has needed family members like you in her life for a long time. Family that has accepted her with no questions asked whatsoever. She has a few cousins and her great great grandfather back home in California, but aside from them she has never once met a support family member. All of you have been much appreciated."

I did my best to express my gratitude for them then. Judging by the emotional, and in Lotus\'s case tear filled, smiles they were wearing, I think that I succeeded. Just then I could smell Star and Acacia coming down the stairs and I knew they would be in the room very soon. I was going to have to tell Star that I was going to send her to this dinner alone.

I felt my jaw drop and my heart start to race when I saw Star. The dress she was wearing was a light green with dark green embroidery sewn into the lower half. The design that was sewn onto it was that of leaves and flower petals, or at least that\'s what it looked like.

Then there was Star\'s hair, it had been changed completely. She was now wearing a very beautiful and elaborately done braid. I don\'t even know how they had time to do something this amazing in that short amount of time. I guess that Acacia was used to doing things like this after practicing for close to a hundred years. Still the way that she had woven real vines covered in white flowers through the braid was just simply amazing. And there was just the smallest amount of hair that Acacia missed at the front, either on purpose or accident. That small amount of hair framed Star\'s face nearly perfectly and it drew attention to her beautiful face.

She was still wearing the diamond necklace that I had put on her earlier and the way that it sparkled at her throat was mesmerizing. I couldn\'t take my eyes off of her. Not until Ash cleared his throat, that is. The sound effectively dragged me out of my head and away from my private and inappropriate fantasies.