The engagement part 1

Theo's 'house' as it turned out was a 15th-century castle up in Scotland, 18 miles northeast of Dundee. It was comprised of a tower house that was linked to the main house by a baronial style expansion and had its own golf course.

The car had taken us to an airport near London and then we were put on a flight before another chauffeur driven-car final brought us to our final destination.

Soon I was whirlwinded to my room, washed and scrubbed before a professional make-up artist came to doll me up to the nines and my hair blow-dried within an inch of its life. Needless to say, I was already in a foul mood by the time Theo appeared in my room.

He was wearing a kilt.

On his upper torso was a black jacket with chrome buttons, Crail cuffs and twisted epaulettes. Inside he wore a three-button waistcoat, a white shirt with a bow tie. Dangled in front of his groin was a grey bovine full dress sporran with a chrome, Celtic influenced lattice design cantle and three little tassels. On his feet, he wore black leather Ghillie brogues and cream coloured socks with traditional sgian dubh with an amber gemstone at the top.

I blinked a few times, uncertain if my eyes were playing tricks on me. For a guy to wear a skirt, he really didn't look too bad.

He saw the expression on my face and grinned.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

I nodded. Let's get this show on the road. The sooner we get this over and done with the sooner I can have my journal back.

He offered me his arm. I immediately recoiled as if I was about to be bitten by a snake. "Just you walk first and I'll follow." I hissed.

Theo shrugged his shoulders. He was in such a good mood he didn't even take offence.

"Are you worried I'll push you down the stairs?"

"Don't you dare!" I shot him a warning look.

He laughed.

Hundreds of guests were gathered around the reception hall waiting for the soon to be bride and groom to arrive. We joined them at the bottom of the stairs.

When I saw Theo's sister, Cassandra I couldn't help but gasp like the rest of the guests. She was just stunning. No wonder Molly had described her as the perfect girl. She was tall and graceful and looked like a supermodel. Her hair was a gorgeous red colour and she had the most amazing green eyes. When she smiled, she lit up the entire room as if the heavens had shone a light from above.

Her fiancée looked a bit older than her, maybe in his late twenties and although he looked quite dashing, he didn't smile much. He somehow reminded me of an older, maturer version of Aiden.

After the speeches were over, I grabbed a few canapés and cakes from the buffet and found a little empty corner by the stairs. I sat down and started eating.

"I like your dress." A little voice said.

I turned around and was surprised to see a cute little girl standing nearby in a sequins green dress with short puffed sleeves. She had chubby cheeks like cherubs and her soft blonde hair was piled high up on top of her head in a little bun adorned with yellow sunflowers and ivory flowers.

"Thanks," I said, suddenly feeling slightly self-conscious since I wasn't used to talking to little people.

"What's your name?" She asked, her big blue eyes staring at me with curiosity. She exuded that lovely baby smell, it was like a mixture of milk and baby powder.

"It's Aria," I answered.

"Itzaria? That's a pretty name." She said, smiling at me.

"Thanks, what's yours?"

"I'm Lottie." She pointed at her chest.

"How old are you Lottie?" I asked, smiling back at her before looking around to see if her parents were around. Why she was here all by herself?

Lottie looked down at her tiny hand and splayed her little fingers before eventually holding up four fingers. "I'm f-ree!"

"You're three?" I couldn't help but laugh, she was cute as a button.

"Yeah," she nodded then she leaned against my arm and looked at my plate with longing. "Is that cake yummy?"

I nodded, it certainly was delicious. "Would you like to try some?"

Her eyes lit up and she gave me a big grin that melted my heart straight away.

I took a small forkful and she opened her mouth like a little bird about to receive food. She chewed a few times and immediately broke into a huge grin, her eyes sparkling, "it's yummy!"

I smiled back and took that as a sign that she wanted more. I continued to feed her small mouthfuls until the rest of the cake was gone. "Shall I get some more?"

She nodded eagerly.

"Ok, wait here." I darted over to the buffet table and grabbed a few more pieces of cake, we sat on the stairs and did the one bite for me one bite for you thing until we'd devoured the entire plate.

"Lottie! There you are! Come here!" Theo was walking towards us, a look of impatience shown on his face.

"F-eo!" The little girl saw who it was and she started charging towards him like a little bullet, practically knocking him off his feet. He caught her and she wrapped her short arms around his thigh in a big hug.

"Where have you been? I've been looking for you everywhere!" Theo looked at her and said in annoyance.

"F-eo, look at me, I'm a werewolf, aww, aww, woo!" She titled her head up to the ceiling and howled. "Aww, aww, woo!"

He glanced at me and as soon as his eyes fell on the empty plate in my hand he started to frown, "geezo, how much cake did you give her?"

"One or two?" Or maybe five? I stuttered.

"Oh great, she's going to be bouncing off the walls now. She's lactose intolerant you know." He complained.

"...".

I looked at him, lost for words.

Do you even get lactose intolerant werewolves?

That was almost like saying, this is a lion, but he is a vegetarian lion.