A Week After the Fight
Callyn
I watch as my aunt places a bowl of mashed potatoes on the dining room table. We’re waiting for the man who claims he is my biological father. I only met him briefly when Max and I were rescuing him from Circe’s clutches. He stayed and fought with us when he didn’t have to. I saw him for a few moments after the fight. He told me that he wanted to stay in town and get to know me. Which is fine, but I need to know if he really is my father.
My aunt Dahlia knows what my mother’s mate looks like, so she told me to invite him over for dinner. A part of me hopes he doesn’t show. You can’t miss something if you never get it or had it. I don’t want all the false promises of staying here and getting to know me. If he does show, I want concrete evidence that he is my father. I’m going to ask for a DNA test, just in case. I lived my whole life thinking that the man who raised me was my father, my real father, but that was a lie. I can’t… no I won’t put myself through that again.
The doorbell rings and I look over at my aunt. “I’ll get it she says. That way if it’s not him, I can tell him to leave. I won’t let him in here.” I nod.
A few seconds later, my aunt comes back, with him. She gives me a slight nod, at least confirming this is the same man she knew.
“Callie, this is Drew, your mother’s mate.”
He’s tall, six foot three, at least. Short, cropped brown hair, and brown eyes that are eerily similar to mine. He’s cleaned up since the last time I saw him. He shaved his beard off and has on clean clothes. Drew looks as nervous as I feel.
“Callie,” he holds his hand out to me.
“It’s Callyn. You haven’t earned the right to call me Callie yet.”
“Fair enough. I hope you give me the chance though.”
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“If you’ll agree to a DNA test. I don’t want a repeat of what happened with my stepfather.”
“We’ll go to tomorrow and get it done.” I nod.
“Please, sit. Dinner just got done.”
Drew sits across from me and my aunt at the head of the table.
“Will you tell me about your time with her?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything, and I want to know how you’re not dead. From what I understand, you left to go get who you thought were the rest of my mother’s mates, but you were in a bad car accident and didn’t make it.”
“I was in an accident, but one that someone else caused. I was on my way back home to get my friends. We had been friends since we were kids, and I just had this feeling that they were meant to be with her. Not only was I going back for them, I was going back to get my stuff. I was moving to be with Camilla. I loved her so much. I had no idea she was pregnant when I left. If I had known, I would have stayed.” You could see the sadness on his face. “Anyways, I was on my way home and I get blindsided by another car. The airbag deployed, and I was knocked out for second. Once I started coming around, I felt a prick. I later learned that they drugged me. I was kept chained, locked up, and drugged. I knew who your mother was, the Alpha Queen. I knew what being with her meant, and I wanted it. I wanted her, anyway I could get her.”
“How long were you there, at that house?”
“I wasn’t there long, a few weeks at the most. I was kept elsewhere, but in the rare circumstances that we moved, my captors would drug me. Mostly so I couldn’t fight them, but also, because it made transporting prisoners easier.”
“I’m sorry you went through that.”
“I’ll be alright. I’m free now. It may take some time to adjust to everything, but I’ll get there.”
I nod my head. “How did you find out about me?”
“I overheard a conversation between Circe and Amos. They said they found you, the next Alpha Queen. By that point, you had already found your mates, and they were arguing about how to proceed with there plan. At first, I thought Camilla found the rest of her mates, but then Circe made the comment that it shouldn’t take much to over power a bunch of teenagers. A few things went through my mind at that point. Either, Camilla moved on with someone else and had a child, or she was pregnant when I left. I sat and stewed about it for days, when I heard a guard talking to another. He mentioned he thought Circe and Amos needed to act fast because once you claimed your mates, nothing would stop you. I knew then that you had to be close to eighteen, if you weren’t already. The only logical conclusion then was that you were mine. It fit the timeline. When you came bursting into the room I was held in and I saw you for the first time, I knew. You look so much like Camilla, but I saw me in you as well. I couldn’t be prouder of you, of everything you overcame and the things that you have and will accomplish.”
My throat felt tight from me trying to hold back my tears. I brace myself for the next question. I had nine years with my mother, but I want to know what she was like then.
“What was she like back then? I know how she was before the cancer took her, but a lot of my memories of her are of when she was sick.”
“From what I’ve seen of you, you’re a lot like her. She had this fire and spirit about her. She could rip you a new asshole yet be loving and nurturing in the next instant. She was a beautiful soul, and I’m sorry she’s gone.”
“What about any other family? She never mentioned any to me besides an aunt, who actually turned out to be a descendant of the handmaiden.”
“I’m sorry no. She was an only child and her parents were gone before we met.”
I lower my head, pushing my food around on my plate. I wish there was more. I wish she was here with me now. I often think about how different my life would have been if she was still alive. I don’t regret meeting my guys. Would I have even met them if she didn’t die? Everything that has happened in my life is because of that. All the moving, the abuse, my stepdad’s downward spiral. Everything stems from my mother's death.
“Once we do the DNA test, and it proves that I’m your father, I would like to spend time with you and your mates. I would like to be a part of your lives.”
I look up at him and I can see how much he means it. “I’d like that.” Maybe with him around it will be like getting back a piece of my mother back.
A Week Later
Drew and I are sitting at my dining room table with a white envelope between us. I’m too nervous and scared to open it.
“One of us has to do it, kiddo.”
“I know. I’m just…” I trail off. He reaches over and squeezes my hand.
“I know. How about we do this quick, like ripping off a Band-Aid.”
He reaches for the envelope and rips it open. Slowly, he pulls out the letter and opens it. His eyes skim the page before looking up at me with tears in his eyes. That can’t be good. It’s making me anxious.
“Well, what does it say?” He hands me the letter. I skim it, feeling the tears well up in my eyes. “A comparison of the DNA profiles or Drew Strattan and Callyn Silvers does support the hypothesis that Drew Strattan is the biological father of Callyn Silvers. The probability of paternity is 99.9%,” I whisper.
“I’m your father kiddo.” I couldn’t stop the flow of tears. Drew is up and out of his seat, kneeling beside me in the blink of an eye. I turn and wrap my arms around his neck, hugging him. One of his hands goes to the back of my head, the other soothingly rubs up and down my back. “It’ll be fine Callyn. I’m not going anywhere. You really are stuck with me now, kiddo.”
I chuckle, pulling back to look at him, my father, in the eyes. He uses his thumbs to wipe the tears off of my face.
“It’s Callie, Dad.”