"WAKE UP, CHILDREN OF SATAN!" we shout, running down the hall as loudly as possible.

Zaine, Chase, Rhea and I then run downstairs, hearing multiple groans from the people who were asleep a few seconds ago. I love getting on people's nerves. Especially the nerves of the rest of the Royals and our guests.

Walking into the kitchen, I start pulling things out of the cupboard and pantry to make pancakes and bacon.

"Oh no you don't," Zaine says, grabbing the pancake mix out of my hands and pointing to the stools at the fairly large island in the center of the kitchen. "It's your birthday, go sit your ass down."

"Changeling-" I start to protest, wanting to help.

"Ah ah ah." Zaine cuts me off. "Sit, love. Relax. I get you hate feeling useless but today's your birthday. You sit and you stay like a good warlock."

He pecks me on the lips then moves away to start making pancakes, his movements graceful and smooth. Sighing and knowing he'll force me to sit, I sit at the island and watch as my love basically dances around the kitchen as he makes breakfast, softly singing Chandelier by Sia under his breath.

Chase and Rhea are in the living room, watching TV. Judging by the voices I hear from the show, they're watching Jake and the Neverland Pirates.

Slowly, couple by couple come into the kitchen, all of them looking mostly ready for the day ahead if they didn't look half-dead. First is Rei and Asher, followed by Scott and Dean then Clove and Raiden.

"Happy birthday, my idiot brother," Clove says, hugging me from behind and resting her head on my shoulder so no one hears her whisper, "I'll get you back for that wake up, fuckface."

"Love you too," I reply brightly with a smirk.

Clove curls her upper lip slightly at that. "How can you be so awake this early?"

"It's a talent, sister mine," I say, patting her head.

Clove groans softly at that before she pulls away and moves to instead lean against Raiden.

"Do you always wake everyone up at these ungodly hours?" Asher mumbles sleepily after everyone else wishes me a happy birthday.

"Oh says you, Ceniza," Raiden grumbles. "You usually wake up at fucking 6:30."

"That's when I have work to do," Asher bites back, sitting beside me. "When I can, I don't get up until ten."

When Raiden goes to reply, Zaine cuts him off by loudly belting out the chorus of Chandelier. Everyone sends him glares, complaining that it's too early for noise.

Dean starts helping Zaine with the bacon, his green hair messy but his eyes bright and awake. Once breakfast is done, most people sit at the table, while me, Zaine, Asher and Rei sit at the island, the table not having enough seats.

"So, what are we doing today?" Scott asks.

"Visiting Stitch!" Zaine says happily.

"Who?" Raiden asks.

"One of the puppies rescued from that animal abuse case," Rei explains.

"And we're going laser tagging later," I add, grinning.

"Hey, remember the last time we went laser tagging?" Dean asks, looking at Asher, Raiden and Scott.

"Which part?" Asher replies, grinning. "The part where I won repeatedly and put all of you to shame, or the part where Wardog screamed bloody murder when Thunder shot him?"

Huh. So, not surprisingly, Asher is the one to watch out for when we play.

I can't wait.

➵

"Guys don't like me,

These guys, they don't like me,

These guys don't like me

Cause their girlfriends...

Guys don't like me,

These guys, they don't like me,

These guys don't like me

Cause their girlfriends do

Do do do, do do do do, do do do."

Zaine continues singing as we drive from the Healers' house to the laser tagging... What is it? Laser tagging arena? Or just building? Meh, who cares.

Chase, Rhea, Scott and Dean are in the car with us. Rei, Asher, Clove and Raiden went in Asher's car, which is following us.

Walking into the building, I don't see anyone else playing, so it'll just be us.

"We'll do four games," Zaine says to the worker at the counter, pulling out his credit card.

After paying and making nicknames for the game, we're led into the mostly dark room where the vests are.

"Alright, so there are targets on the chest, back, shoulders and gun," the worker says, pointing to the sensors on one of the vests and the gun attached to it as we get our vests on. "The chest and shoulders are one point, the back is three and the gun is five. No covering your sensors to avoid being shot. You'll know you've been hit because your vest will vibrate and the lights will go out. You won't be able to shoot for five seconds, then your lights will turn on again and you'll be back in.

"To shoot, both hands must be on the gun, one on the trigger and one here." The worker shows us how to hold the gun, placing one hand on the underside of the laser gun's barrel. "No sprinting, jumping, or climbing the structure," the worker continues. "Games are twenty minutes each. When the game is over, you'll hear an alarm and there will be a flashing orange light over the exit so you know where to go. And I think that's it for rules. First round, teams or free for all?"

"Teams," I say. "Two on two."

The worker nods, using some device to randomly set teams. The lights on my vest turn red and I see Chase's do the same.

"Alright buddy, we're together," I say, patting his head as he grins excitedly.

"We can so win this thing," I hear Raiden say.

Looking over at him, I see he and Rei are together, their vests glowing blue. Asher and Rhea are green, Scott and Clove are purple and Zaine and Dean are yellow.

"You'll have ten seconds to spread out before the game starts," the worker says, opening the door into the arena. "Have fun."

"Thank you," I say as we walk into the arena.

It's a rather big place, black lights being the main source of light and making the room appear purple. There are many walls, decorated with forest designs, turning the place into a maze. The walls of the room are decorated with neon lights. I see multiple higher platforms and a few bridges between them, so there must be ramps somewhere.

"Where should we go?" I whisper to Chase.

He points up to the platforms and I nod. As we start searching for a ramp, I hear a loud four or five note tune telling us the game has started. Fog starts pouring from God knows where, covering the floor and, coupled with the loud music, it makes the game feel even more intense.

"Here," I hear Chase whisper.

Looking at him, I see he's found a ramp leading up. We quietly head up, keeping our eyes open for any moving blue, green, purple or yellow lights.

I hear Rhea scream and Asher curse, along with Rei's and Raiden's laughter. So they must have taken Rhea and Asher by surprise.

Looking through a grate in the floor, I notice Clove and Scott sneaking past quietly. Looking at Chase, I put a finger to my lips and point them out to him. Chase grins excitedly, pointing his gun at Clove. When I nod, he shoots, hitting her shoulder. When she spins around, confused, I shoot Scott. They both look around, then Scott looks up and sees Chase and I laughing.

We both move back from the grate and out of their sight, so they can't shoot us when their lights come back on.

My vest vibrates suddenly, the red light going out and Chase's does the same a moment later. Glancing at the small screen on the gun, I see the words SuperThiccc shot you. Knowing that's the name Zaine chose, I look around, eyes narrowed, spotting him and Dean running away laughing together.

Stay here, I say to Chase. I'm going after them. If anyone finds you, pretend to be crying and say you don't know where I went. Tell me and we can surprise them. Sound good?

Chase nods, his expression excited and mischievous.

My vest and gun once again active, I start moving after Zaine and Dean. I find them aiming over the side of the platform at someone down below on the main floor. Staying mostly hidden behind a wall, I quickly shoot Dean then Zaine and move back to hide behind the wall when they curse.

"Goddammit Killian!" Zaine screams, looking around wildly.

I laugh silently and sneak away, listening to Zaine rage.

Killie, Chase says.

Yeah? What is it, bud?

Reina and Thunder are here, he replies. Reina's mad at you for leaving.

I smirk widely. Making sure Zaine and Dean don't see me, I move back towards where I left Chase. I see the blue lights of Rei's and Raiden's vests, the two of them crouching on either side of Chase, who's curled up and leaning against one of the walls like an expert emotion-faker.

Who do you wanna shoot? I ask.

Reina! Chase replies.

Alright, ready? I say. Three, two, one, shoot!

As Chase fires his gun at Rei, I shoot Raiden, both of their vests going out. Giggling wildly, Chase gets up and runs over to me.

Rei spins around, her eyes wide before they narrow and she shrieks, "You cheaters!"

"We never made rules that said we couldn't do that!" I shout over my shoulder as Chase and I run away, our laughter echoing in the large arena.

After finding and shooting Clove and Scott again, along with Asher and Rhea, and being shot by a vengeful Rei and Raiden, the game ends.

Chase and I make our way towards the orange light, flashing over the exit.

"That was great," Zaine says, kissing me quickly as we walk out.

I nod, "It was."

"I'm still mad at you," he says matter-of-factly.

"That's what I expected," I reply, "But you shot first, doll, I just returned the favour."

Zaine scowls and shoves me playfully.

"I still think you cheated," Rei says, not-so-playfully glaring at Chase and I. "Luring us in by having Chase pretending to cry is not fair."

"They did it too?" Scott questions. He gestures at Asher and Rhea, both of who are grinning, "They got Strange and I like that."

Clove scowls at the reminder, sending a glare at the smirking alpha and our younger sister. After taking our vests off and walking out to the front lobby, I look at the scoreboard screen. Chase and I won, Asher and Rhea got second, Zaine and Dean third, Rei and Raiden fourth and Scott and Clove fifth. It's a matter of what sensors were shot and the points awarded since we were all pretty close in scores.

"Alright guys," I say with a grin, "Who's up for round two?"

➵

Stepping out of the shower, I grab my towel and pass Zaine his. Yeah, we showered together, got a problem with it?

The other two laser tagging games were fun but they worked up a sweat from both moving around and the arena temperature. We did another team game, that time with only two teams of five and a free for all one. Zaine won that one because he kept shifting into others to make alliances with their mates then shooting them, like shifting into Dean to make a truce with Scott, then shooting him when his guard was down.

"What's your birthday wish?" Zaine asks, drying his hair.

"I don't really wish for anything," I reply. "I have everything I need and want."

"It's your eighteenth birthday, Killian," Zaine says, kissing me softly, his hand taking mine. "There has to be something you wish for."

"Well," I say softly, "My one wish is to be with you forever."

Zaine smiles and kisses me again, parting his lips and letting me slip my tongue into his mouth. He moans when my hands grab his ass, his fingers losing their grip on his towel to reach up and tangle in my hair.

I pull away, sighing. "We'll have to wait. We can do this later."

Zaine pouts but nods.

We get dressed and head downstairs, finding the other three couples cuddling together, watching MasterChef Junior with the twins.

Dinner goes by quickly and soon, it's time for cake. It's a circle-shaped vanilla ice cream cake, with chocolate syrup and Oreo crumbs on top and a layer of Oreo crumbs on the bottom. 'Happy birthday' is written in green icing on the top.

Rei lights the candles and when they start singing, I cut them off.

"Skip the song, I want cake," I say.

Rolling her eyes, Rei nods. They clap when I blow out the candles, then Zaine steals one of the candles off the cake, licking the ice cream off the bottom. I give Chase and Rhea each a candle to lick off as I cut the cake, helping Clove to get plates for everyone.

Zaine moans as he takes a bite of the cake. "It's so good."

I nod, agreeing.

"I can't wait for my birthday," Asher says. He looks at Raiden, "You better get me ice cream cake."

"What makes you think I'm getting the cake?" Raiden replies with a raised brow.

Asher gives him a cute smile. "Because you love me."

Once everyone's had their fill, Zaine declares it to be time for presents.

"I said I don't want anything," I whine as we all sit in the living room.

"But we got you gifts anyway," Rei says. "Because you're either crazy or you're lying."

I sigh but accept the wrapped gift that she and Clove give me. I smile at the homemade cards from Chase and Rhea, both of them grinning proudly as I read them out loud. Rei and Clove worked together and got me a scrapbook full of pictures of all of us, the Royals and towards the end of the book, there are pictures of us with Asher, Raiden, Scott and Dean.

"Thanks," I say, smiling. "This is amazing." Rei and Clove both smile. I look at Zaine, "Now you. I know you got something even though I said not to."

"Is my presence not enough?" Zaine asks, pretending to be offended. "But you're right, I did get you something."

He runs downstairs and using my power to enhance my hearing, I hear him ruffling through some things before his footsteps come running back towards the stairs. I stop using my power as he appears at the top of the steps, a wide grin on his face and his fingers fidgeting with something small enough that I can't tell what it is.

He sits beside me again, turning to face me. He holds his hand out, showing me a black tungsten ring resting on his palm, with his fingerprint embedded in silver in the surface. The fingerprint is tilted, forming half of a heart and on the inside of the band, glistening on the smooth, shiny black surface, are the silver words 'you complete me.'

"Killian, I love you, we all know that," Zaine says. "Every time I see you, my heart jumps and I always look forward to making new memories with you. I can't imagine living without having you with me and I know you can't have life with me. I'm awesome, so I can't really blame you. Anyone can see we were made for each other.

"I love everything about you, Killian. Your body, your personality, your soul. I love the way your eyes light up when you get excited. I love the mischievous looks you give me whenever we're about to do something to make everyone else mad. And I love the way you pour all your emotions into every kiss and cuddle we share.

"I don't even really have to ask you if you'll marry me, 'cause I already know the answer," Zaine finishes, still smiling widely. "But since it's tradition, Killian, will you spend the rest of your life with me?"

"Of course," I say immediately, kissing him passionately.

Once we part and he slips the ring on my finger, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out another ring, with the other half of the fingerprint heart.

"How'd you get my fingerprint for that half?" I ask.

"When we were doing fingerprinting when Chase and Rhea last month," Zaine replies, "Remember I wanted to see how clear you could make a fingerprint with the black paint?"

"Ah."

I hear Clove clear her throat loudly and see her looking expectantly at Rei. "Cough up, Reina. I win."

Rei scowls. "Changeling, you couldn't have waited until after your birthday?"

"Nope," Zaine replies. He looks at me, "You win this one, Flash."

"I told you they had a bet on that," I say, smirking triumphantly.

"Hold on," Asher says. He points to Rei and Clove, "So you two bet on when they got engaged." Rei nods. Asher then points to Zaine and I, "And you two bet on if Reina and Strange had a bet or not?"

Zaine and I both nod.

Zaine looks at me, "So, does that fulfill your one wish?"

"It does," I reply. I kiss him again softly. "I love you, Zaine."

He smiles. "I love you too, Killian."