Fingers dug into the soft flesh at their neck, cutting off their air supply. There were other ways he could handle this, plenty of magic up his sleeve, but sometimes he preferred a more hands on approach. “I know that I can be rather lenient, but it is unwise to test me.” His grip slackened enough to allow the other to speak once more. “Would you care to repeat that more politely?”
“Go. Fuck. Yourself,” he snarled, refusing to back down. He was done being anyone and everyone’s puppet, but Yin was the breaking point for it all. He wasn’t going to give the other the satisfaction of him being any degree of polite.
Getting Genesis to sit still long enough to have a brush run through her hair had been a hassle and then some. The moment Cadi had come home smelling like Isaac, the pup had gone into a frenzy demanding to meet him too.
Once she had gotten the kid dressed and decently presentable, Cadi got Chance to drop them off. With a smile, she straightened the girl’s clothes one last time, for what little good it would do, and knocked on the bedroom door.
If he was smiling at what Genesis might call him, he downright broke into a grin when Cadi asked that. Of course, he’d love it if all of his kids chose to call him some variation of Dad, but that wasn’t a request he could make until they were comfortable enough to even spend any sort of regular time around him.
He nodded to answer her, settling back into stroking her hair and cradling her like she was little again.
His response had her relaxing entirely, her relief nearly palpable. This was going a lot better than she had been expecting to and she was glad for her decision to come meet him.
“I could bring Genesis around later, if you wanted? Sable has physical therapy today, so I don’t think she’d be up for it.”
Isaac nodded eagerly, though he was still feeling very exhausted himself, so even if meeting one of his grandchildren meant sitting there while the child climbed all over him, he wouldnt pass up the opportunity.
“She never stops talking when she’s comfortable with someone though,” she warned, the fondness she felt over niece evident. She loved that child with her whole heart. “She’ll probably tell you all about everything and everyone. She’s how Vaughn and I met.”
Isaac made a small, huffed laughing sound. The child could do all the talking she wanted, especially since he wasn’t able to for now, so he didn’t mind in the slightest so long as his lack of speech in return didn’t upset her at all.
“She’s going to love you,” Cadi repeated, nuzzling at him a little as she made herself more comfortable. She was about ready to just fall asleep right there.
If he was smiling at what Genesis might call him, he downright broke into a grin when Cadi asked that. Of course, he’d love it if all of his kids chose to call him some variation of Dad, but that wasn’t a request he could make until they were comfortable enough to even spend any sort of regular time around him.
He nodded to answer her, settling back into stroking her hair and cradling her like she was little again.
His response had her relaxing entirely, her relief nearly palpable. This was going a lot better than she had been expecting to and she was glad for her decision to come meet him.
“I could bring Genesis around later, if you wanted? Sable has physical therapy today, so I don’t think she’d be up for it.”
Isaac nodded eagerly, though he was still feeling very exhausted himself, so even if meeting one of his grandchildren meant sitting there while the child climbed all over him, he wouldnt pass up the opportunity.
“She never stops talking when she’s comfortable with someone though,” she warned, the fondness she felt over niece evident. She loved that child with her whole heart. “She’ll probably tell you all about everything and everyone. She’s how Vaughn and I met.”
If he was smiling at what Genesis might call him, he downright broke into a grin when Cadi asked that. Of course, he’d love it if all of his kids chose to call him some variation of Dad, but that wasn’t a request he could make until they were comfortable enough to even spend any sort of regular time around him.
He nodded to answer her, settling back into stroking her hair and cradling her like she was little again.
His response had her relaxing entirely, her relief nearly palpable. This was going a lot better than she had been expecting to and she was glad for her decision to come meet him.
“I could bring Genesis around later, if you wanted? Sable has physical therapy today, so I don’t think she’d be up for it.”
Isaac hadn’t even thought about what any of the kids should call him, but he figured that he’d let them each decide what they were comfortable with, whether it be just his name or something a little more personal.
Utilising the notepad again, he managed to scrawl “she pick” just about legibly enough to answer, then made a gesture where he pointed first at Cadi, then waved his hand in a general “all of you” sort of way, then pointed again at the word “Pick” to try to explain that he was happy for them to decide for themselves.
“I think she likes the term papa.” Cadi couldn’t say on the rest of the pups. Salem still wasn’t really talking and Sable was harder to gauge. She was a bit of a wild card. As for the others, well, they didn’t actually live with her.
She was quiet for a moment as she settled back against his chest once more. “Can.. can I call you daddy?” she finally asked, the words hardly over a whisper as if she were afraid he would tell her no.
Isaac looked puzzled for a moment before he realised what she meant, and though it angered him, he pushed it down and focused on comforting Cadi. No doubt she and Quinn weren’t the only ones who had suffered unspeakable acts at the hands of the ones who’d held them, but his wrath for those people could wait. His kids needed him right now and that was all that mattered to him.
Instead, he pulled Cadi close again and let out another heavy sigh. Even if his pups all decided they preferred to stay with their new guardians, Isaac would be there for them regardless, doing whatever he could to keep them safe and help them to heal.
She let him hold her close, but her hands didn’t move from where her scar was. He was only the second person she had told since Jeff had gotten her out of that hell hole, but he needed to know the conditions they were all in to understand the way they had latched onto each other.
“She keeps asking what she should call you because there’s a lot of different words for grandpa,” she offered, hoping that would help him feel a little more connected.
Isaac smiled softly, though there was still some sadness in his eyes that would never completely go away, no matter how much time passed.
He picked up the notepad again and flipped the page over to a clean one before setting to work on writing something again. It took him much longer this time, but it was because he had something much more important to say.
After several long minutes, he showed her the words he’d written, some of them spelled wrong or phonetically, and either with a couple of misshapen letters or one or two missing entirely, but there was enough there to understand what he was trying to say, the sentence more or less reading “Wen I m beta I lvk aftr all of u evn bbies”.
It took her a few moments to figure out what he saying, her ability to read not exactly the best. She was learning, but it was still slow going. When she got it though, a small smile touched her lips before she was wrapping her arms around her lower stomach.
“Genesis is the closest to having my own I’m ever going to have.” There was a deep sorrow to the words, but she wasn’t going to let anyone take that kid from her care. It would break her to lose that.
Genesis, he’d learned, was the name that had been given to one of Quinn’s pups, though he wasn’t sure if Quinn had taken to the prospect quite so naturally as Isaac had, given that he’d been forced by their captors into fathering litters far too young by anyone standards and Isaac knew that that would likely have had a detrimental effect on his son and his chances of finding a mate in the future.
If Quinn gave his consent though, Isaac would gladly step in on his behalf to give his son the opportunity to try to reclaim some of the childhood that was stolen from him.
“She calls me momma,” she told him, wanting to fill him in even a little on the dynamic with the different pups. “Salem, her twin, doesn’t really talk. He mostly stays by Sable’s side, but I have custody of all three of them. It was easier for everyone that way. Then Zeke has Molly and Bailey.” She wished she could have had custody of Bailey too, but he was happy with Zeke and Molly and his happiness mattered more to her than what she wanted.
