~~

Cedar

~~

Well, at least there were roads and a garage at the castle. There were even a lot of other cars so I know that we didn't stick out too much. Though, my vehicle was considerably cheap compared to all the others in that garage. And to think, I had not skimped out when I bought the Mercedes. Damn.

By the time that I had parked the vehicle and was ready to get out and begin my walk toward the castle itself I had mostly calmed down. I had worked up the courage for what was to come. Or at least I think I did.

I walked around the car and opened Casey's door. She took my outstretched hand so that I could help her out of her seat and to her feet. She didn't let go of my hand before walking off toward the door that led us to my doom, I mean the castle.

She held my hand, slightly pulling me along behind her. I could tell she was excited for this meeting and didn't really think that there would be any issues. I hoped she was right.

She led me through that side door which entered into a long hallway. She pulled me along that hallway to and into what looked like the main entry way for the entire castle. I tried to keep up with where she was leading me to but it all passed by in a blur. Before I knew it we were in a huge sitting room.

"Mom!" Casey exclaimed once we were in the room. I saw a large group of people and a lot of them looked like Casey.

"Acacia, sweetheart." The woman who must have been Casey's mom rose to her feet and the two of them ran to hug each other. "Look at you. The first time you leave home you find your soulmate."

"Lucky." A girl who was identical to Casey but had a different smell spoke up. She was smiling but I could sense jealousy coming off of her.

"I'm sorry Willow." Casey ran to her and hugged her tight.

"She's not the only one who is jealous." A man that had the same hair and eyes, even the shape of the eyes, spoke then.

"Birch, you know I won't forget you guys." Casey hugged him next.

"You better not." Another identical man spoke.

"Hickory." I could hear the love and affection in Casey's voice when she said the man's name and hugged him as well. "And I won't forget you either, Hawthorn." Another man had walked up for a hug.

After she hugged the third man Casey turned to look at me.

"Cedar, this is my family. Willow, Birch, Hickory, Hawthorn, and I are quintuplets." I think my mind had just exploded. I knew that Casey had a large family, but she hadn't told me how large.

"Quintuplets?" I asked with shock reverberating through me.

"Yup. Most Dryads have multiples when they get pregnant. My mother had two sets of quintuplets, two sets of triplets and two sets of twins." That many every time? Why did she keep having kids? I think I would have lost my mind.

"That's exciting." I said as evenly as I could.

"Let me introduce you. This is my mother Lotus, my father Ash, and the rest of my siblings here are Poplar, Sequoia, Redwood, Spruce, Elm, Magnolia, Fig, Bark, Maple, Walnut, Cottonwood, Oak, and Fir." I can't remember all of this shit. I would definitely need help keeping them all organized in my head, even though they had all nodded or waved at me when their name had been called out.

"It's nice to meet you all." I grinned at them and tried my best to stay calm. I walked over to Casey's dad, the man named Ash, and held out my hand. "Mr. Aspen, Sir, it's a pleasure and an honor to meet you." I was doing my best to be polite and to present the best possible version of myself that there was.

Despite my best efforts though, Casey's father just glared at me with eyes filled with loathing and other dark things.

"So, you're the man that is stealing my little girl away from me?" He was acting like I was some predator that was taking away his baby. She's eighty-nine years old for crying outloud and she was not an innocent little flower. I'm sure her family has to know that she wasn't going to be a ninety year old virgin.

"I'm not stealing her away Sir, but I do love her and I have mated with her. I intend to be with her forever."

"That sounds a lot like taking her away to me. You plan to make her live out there in that world with you?" His glare intensified even more. I wanted to gulp, I wanted to fold under the pressure of him, but I couldn't I was a Gamma now for crying out loud. I was a member of the Goddess Guard. I would not be intimidated.

"Sir, I-." I was cut off then by Casey's mom, Lotus.

"Oh stop it, Ash. Can't you tell you're scaring the poor boy away. You've had your fun, it's time for us all to get along."

"Aww, come on Lotus, you ruined it." Mr. Aspen was laughing and rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, but I noticed that his eyes were no longer filled with anger and hatred. What the hell was that. "I had to give you a hard time boy. You've never met any of us and it was an opportunity that I just couldn't pass up."

"R-really?" I wasn't sure how to react right now.

"Come on, loosen up. It was just a joke." With that, Mr. Aspen threw his arm around my shoulder and pulled me into a tight hug. "We've got another member of the family now, after all, it's a time to celebrate."

"Don't worry Cedar, my dad is very nice, he just looks mean." Casey's sweet smile helped to settle my nerves a little.

After that we enjoyed a quick chat with some drinks and snacks. I had been told not to eat anything that a Fae gave you, but I also couldn't refuse. I knew that Casey wouldn't let anything bad happen to me.

~~

Acacia

~~

The meeting with my family was going really well. I knew that my dad was going to pull that mean schtick because he had done the same when my older sisters got married. He always pretends to be a hard ass when one of us leave the house.

After we had a light snack it was time for me and Cedar to head to the throne room. I had to follow schedules whenever I visited my aunt since she was not just family she was the one in charge of us all. I couldn't even refer to her as family when we were around other people.

When we were with the other members of the court she was Queen Gloriana, when we were in her private quarters she was Aunt Glory. I love my aunt dearly. She is a wonderful person and I just know that Cedar and her will get along really well.

We walked hand in hand again as I led him down the hall to the throne room. When we went inside I saw that the full court had been assembled. There were six nobles on either side of the long aisle in their lesser throne like seats.

At the far end of the room on a raised dais sat the largest of all the thrones. In that throne was Queen Gloriana. She was sitting there in a flowing white gown that covered everything except her hands and everything from the shoulders up.

Queen Gloriana was gracing us with her beauty right now. He long, flowing, black hair that reached down to her bottom, the wonderfully luminescent shade of her sky blue eyes, the pale, nearly perfectly white shade of her skin. She was beautiful and wonderful.

When we got to the end of the carpet that led to her throne we both lowered ourselves to one knee, kneeling in respect for her.

"Please rise, children." I didn't know how Cedar would like being called a child right now, but in truth he was a child compared to Queen Gloriana.

I pulled Cedar back to his feet as I fluidly stood, I had been practicing these motions for a long time.

"Good afternoon to you, Queen Gloriana. I am pleased to introduce to you my soulmate, Cedar."

"Is that a joke?" a voice came from my left. It was Jasper, a Gnome that lived up to the nasty human rumors about them. He was an asshole, plain and simple.

"Is what a joke, Sir Jasper?" I hated that I had to use that title for him, he didn't deserve that kind of respect.

"His name of course. Is that meant to be a joke toward us. His name is not really Cedar. You're just using that to make it seem like he is meant to be with you more."

"No, that really is my name. I am Cedar Woods, and my sister is Juniper. We were named after trees."

"Really?" The Queen was quite intrigued. "Everyone is dismissed, I will not have this antagonism in my court right now. Acacia, child, will you and your new soulmate follow me?"

She rose to her feet then and walked to the left side of the hall. It led to a hallway that would go directly to her private room. Cedar seemed nervous now but I still pulled him along beside me. When we got into the room where my aunt could toss aside her royal attitude she turned to look at me with the loving eyes of a family member.

"Casey, my dear sweet niece, I am so happy for you." She held her hands out to me, ready for a hug.

"Huh?" It seemed that Cedar wasn't expecting this development. I don't blame him. I hadn't talked too much about my family, for fear that he would be scared off too soon.

"Cedar, it is a pleasure to meet you. You will take good care of my niece for me, won't you?"

There were some tense moments, but for the most part the meeting with my aunt went well. And she showed an interest in meeting with Cedar's Alpha and Luna, King Reece and Queen Trinity. She like the idea of us uniting our people and forming a strong bond between the Fae and the shifters.

We are going to be staying in the compound for a few days, I think Cedar will adjust to all of this by the time we leave. I hope so anyway.