Chapter Nine
Russell
Kyle had made a grave mistake in showing up at Travis’s door at six in the morning.
If I was a bear when I woke up, Travis was a bear mixed with a lion and a tiger and a pissed-off wolf.
By the time they got to my house, Kyle was shaking in his boots.
And Jameson was ready to kick some ass.
The silence was as tense as a shifter’s muscles readying for transformation.
Kyle spoke first, of course. “You are a single father who, up until recently, lived in dire conditions with no family or pack to speak of. You came here because of some phantom humans chasing you, but we haven’t found any evidence of those people at all.”
I shrank under the sheer weight of his voice. It brought back a slew of memories, none of which held any tenderness in my heart. I had witnessed a crime and made statements in court. Shortly afterward, I received some threats from the man who committed the crime, but they stopped as soon as I reported it all to the police.
But, a few months later, I began to notice the same car parked outside my work, at the curb in front of our apartment complex, and even in the parking lots of places Ollie and I were running errands.
I suppressed my fear, shrugging it off and not having the money to move or pick up and leave.
That was until Ollie said that a man had been talking to him through the fence of his school while he was supposed to be playing with the other kids at recess.
The words clung in my throat.
All the words I’d saved up for years and years just to strangle me.
That wretched voice cut into my thoughts. “If you have nothing to say, may I at least see him?”
Jameson took my hand in his, the expression on his face changing from anger to concern.
“Yes.”
Travis asked Jameson to get Ollie from outside and then return. One of the men who came with Kyle whispered something in his ear and then tried to slip out the front door.
“You need to stay. If Kyle does something unacceptable, we will need witnesses from your pack. No one leaves this room while we are deliberating this issue.”
The man listened but cowered behind Kyle.
“Ollie, this is your father, Kyle. Say hello,” I bent down to tell my son.
Ollie latched onto my leg for dear life. “I’m not a-pposed to.”
“What? I never said that. Your father wants to talk to you.”
He pointed to Kyle and said, “He’s a bad man. You said not to talk to him.” Ollie trembled, and his chin quivered.
I crouched next to him, knowing that something was wrong. I’d made a lot of mistakes in my life, but bad-mouthing my son’s father, whether I liked him or not, was not one of them.
I had never said anything against Kyle or anyone in the pack. I’d simply said where I’d come from, I wouldn’t go back to.
“Buddy, I never said you couldn’t talk to your father. That’s not true.”
Kyle bent down and, for the first time that day, I saw a glint of remorse in his eyes and a desire for his son to at least look at him. I couldn’t imagine Ollie not ever looking at me.
“Oliver, you can talk to me. I would never hurt you.”
Ollie’s little brown eyebrows almost met in the middle, he was so determined.
“Papa.” He grabbed my face and turned it. “You said not to talk to the man who came to the school ever again.”
I gaped at Kyle. “You went to his school?”
“No—I didn’t.”
“No, Papa, him.” Ollie was pointing at the man who had attempted to leave earlier.
Jameson bowed up and took steps toward the male. “You were following him? You went to his school? To his work?”
The man didn’t back down as I expected him to. “I was ordered by my alpha on behalf of your alpha. Travis made the request personally. I followed orders. I will not apologize.”
I couldn’t believe it. My own brother had scared the living daylights out of us and forced us to return. Maybe that was his game—scare us into returning instead of growing a pair and actually making some contact with his family.
Travis stepped toward me, but I backed away. “I don’t want to hear it, brother.”
“You will hear it because I am the alpha to the pack you’ve returned to.” Even though I didn’t want to, his power over me as a pack member, even on probation, shuddered my veins and made me still in reverence. “I never told them to follow you or make you fearful. And I certainly never asked them to go to Oliver’s school. In fact, I remember saying that I didn’t want him anywhere near you. I just wanted to know that you were okay.”
None of it sat well with me. “So why didn’t you just call or come see me. Jameson knew where I was. All it would’ve taken was five minutes on the Internet to find me, Travis. Why the secrecy?”
I realized then that I’d uncovered my brother’s greatest fault in front of everyone.
“I couldn’t ask pack members. When we are shunned, there is to be no communication. If an alpha doesn’t follow his own rules, he is rendered useless.”
Jameson then bowed, a sign of submission to our alpha. “Travis. He is your brother. No one would’ve faulted you for trying to get him back or simply find out if he was okay. You are alpha, but you are also just like the rest of us.”
Travis again commanded my attention. “I’m sorry, Russ. I’m so sorry. I never thought it would go so far. I swear it.”
Kyle turned in my direction. “I knew, Russell. I won’t even deny it. But I would never want to scare my—our son. I only asked for a picture of him—to know he was growing and thriving.”
I took in the impossible atmosphere of the room and gathered my thoughts. None of this was centered where it should’ve been, but I was the omega father. It was my job to make it known.
“All of this can be hashed out another time. Right now, I have questions, and the answers may help calm my mind about the events of the last couple of months. But right now is about Oliver and his future. Ollie, do you want to talk to your father?”
Kyle bent down and exhaled. I remembered the first time the nurse handed me Ollie. It was the first time I realized love could be instantaneous.
“Hello, Oliver. I’m Kyle, your father.”
Ollie regarded him with standoffishness. “You’re my born daddy.”
Kyle blinked, and I translated. “You are the man who helped create him. His born daddy.”
“Yes. That’s me.”
“And Jameson’s gonna be my third daddy.”
The room gasped, and Jameson looked like he would keel over at any second but managed to choke out, “He is?”
Ollie turned to Jameson and rolled his eyes. “Duh. Papa said so.”
Again, we were off topic.
“Ollie, maybe it would be okay for you to go play outside with your dad. Would that be okay? I’m sure he has some questions for you and you can ask him anything he wants. Travis, can you… I just need you there with him for right now, Kyle. You have to understand.”
Kyle turned to the man who he called Dexter and from the conversation, I gathered that Dexter would soon find out how it felt to be banished from a pack.
“I understand, Russell. It was nice to see you again. Come on, Ollie. I saw some swings outside.” Ollie left, followed by Travis, and Kyle turned to me. “I’m sorry, Russell, for everything. We can discuss the custody arrangements at a later date. It’s been a long day already, and I think we both need to clear our heads.
And when he walked out of my house, a thousand pounds of tension, guilt, and remorse lifted from my chest.
“That went better than I thought. For a second, I considered just ripping his head off and being done with it.”
“I don’t even know what just happened. All I know is that Ollie might have a chance to have a relationship with his father, and even though my first instinct was to raise hell about it, it might be good for him.”
“And what about this third daddy business. Were you thinking about telling me, or was Ollie blurting it out just part of your plan?”
Sighing, I thumped my forehead against his chest.
“It wasn’t part of the plan, but we decided we want you, for my mate and for Ollie’s third daddy. Will you have us?”
Jameson laughed, low and slow, and took me into the arms that I knew would forever be my loving protection. “Always, Russ. Always.”