by Kelex
Kai moved closer and saw a row of houses that looked pretty much like the same one in the first photo. But what really struck him was the omegas’ eyes in the photo. There was no hope. They just looked numb.
It reminded him of the look Turi had gotten before running off.
He moved on without Declan’s spurring, picture after picture making him sick to his stomach. Finally, they reached the end of that particular exhibit. He turned to Declan. “I didn’t know.”
“None of us did. Or rather—we didn’t want to. We betas kept to ourselves, never asking what was going on with the omegas. We should’ve known.” Declan took a step closer and lowered his voice. “Sadly, our father did know. The omegas were part of this den, part of the lives he was entrusted to protect, and yet he let this continue,” Declan said, pointing to the pictures on the wall. “He let men like Carron and Traylon exploit these bears. A true leader doesn’t do that. They protect the weak, making us all stronger.”
“How could this have been going on without our knowledge? We’re not blind.”
“The omegas lived on the other side of the ridge, well away from us. We had no reason to see their world, we already didn’t see them as equals. They weren’t allowed to attend school with us. They weren’t allowed to seek medical care at the clinic. They were made to remain in their world, unless they worked on our side, and when they were here, they were expected to do their jobs, quietly. To not be seen nor heard.”
Kai stared at the ghastly images, shaking his head. “No… this isn’t the way things were.”
“It was our status quo. Just the way our world was set up. The omegas lived out of sight, out of mind.” Declan moved closer to one of the grislier images. “When I learned of their plight, I fought back. I made them equals. I raised the base omega pay to a livable wage. I had good, decent housing built to take them out of this,” he said, pointing to the image. “I opened up the schools and made sure they would get an education. And not just them—for our shebears, too. They have just as much right to exist and prosper in this den as a beta does.”
Kai shook his head, struggling to merge what he knew with what he was learning. “I can’t believe he would do that. Our father was a good man.”
“I thought so, too. Even with all the arguments we had, at his core, I thought he was better than this.” Declan slowly spun in a circle, eyeing the images on the walls before facing Kai again. “And then I saw these things with my very own eyes, and what I thought I knew and the truth collided.”
Kai continued to struggle to separate the two. But how could he deny what he saw on the museum’s walls? It made him ill. “Why are you having this ceremony if this is what you think of him?”
Declan was silent a moment. “It’s been an uphill fight to change the hearts and minds of this den. There are those who still see Gregor as more than he was…”
“So you put a statue of him in the middle of the new town square you built? It doesn’t make sense, Declan.” Kai looked around him again. “This isn’t the Bear Mountain I grew up in.”
Declan shook his head. “Bears who are still stuck in the past pled their case before the council and even raised the funds for it to be made. In fighting them, I would’ve had to destroy my own father’s image. Most realize what Gregor did, or more to the point, what he did not do… but to come out and publicly say he was responsible for continuing the hell others have suffered? I just couldn’t do that. I couldn’t open the curtains all the way and show everyone who he really was.” Declan lowered his head. “The father I knew wasn’t this cruel. He wasn’t this person. And I don’t want to lose all the happy memories of the man I thought he was.”
Kai met Declan’s stare, struggling with his whole view of their world.
“I loved our father. I know you might doubt that, but I did. And to hear you think I’m to cause for Gregor’s death?” Declan’s jaw clenched, and he shook his head.
Kai looked away. He had thought it.
Now he wasn’t so sure of anything.
“When Ryder and I met our mate—an omega—I begged our father to let us claim him. But he refused. Exiled me and let me be charged and convicted by the court of public opinion for a crime I did not commit. I was forced to abandon my home, my mate… everything I knew. My den labeled me a vicious criminal. Do you know how much that destroyed me?” Declan looked away. “Look, I carried guilt for Gregor’s death for a long, long time. I finally realized that he left this world finally standing up for something good and decent. After a lifetime of letting men like Carron and his ilk get away with so much wrong, he loved me enough to draw a line in the sand. He helped clear my name… and allowed Ryder and I to claim the mate we were also exiled from. If you want to blame me, then blame me. I can’t stop you. But don’t disrespect the stand he made. He changed that law knowing full well what was at risk, and he chose to do it anyway.”
Kai turned to one of the images and walked closer. “You think he knew he’d be killed?”
“I think he knew it was a damned good possibility.”
Kai thought back to the conversation he and his father had had that morning, before all hell had broken loose. Gregor had demanded Kai stand up and be a man, to stop lingering over childhood pursuits and be the man his father had known him capable of being. Had that been his misbegotten farewell?
“I’ll leave you to finish the tour. The oral histories room is especially interesting,” Declan said before turning away slightly. “You can hear the past directly from the mouths of the omega elders.”
Kai turned as Declan left him and began walking through the rest of the exhibit. The images only further shocked him. Choking back disgust, he struggled to reconcile all he saw with the father he knew. He made it through the next exhibit and then moved onto the oral history room.
A lone shifter sat inside it.
Turi.
Kai stood at the door a moment. He wasn’t exactly in the right head space to be close to the skittish mate—yet he felt the compulsion. Not just to be near Turi, but to listen to the past.
To maybe find some good in all the ugliness.
He needed to understand how Gregor could’ve allowed all this to happen. Ultimately, he walked inside and took a seat a few down from their mate. Listening up, he realized he was in the middle of a story from an elder. Pictures flashed on the wall, projecting images that coincided with the tale. Once he caught the pacing and realized what the old man was talking about, he sat back, engaged. Another story started on its heels, another old-timer talking about his grandfather, Achilles.
Shame hit him as he listened.
We pleaded with the alpha to let our cubs into school, but he refused. So we began our own schools. I could read and write fairly well. I had learned from my own papa who’d learned it from one of his employers. Together, we offered classes a few nights a week, teaching the basics to as many as forty or fifty cubs at a time. They’d crowd into one of our houses, filling nearly every room. We didn’t have enough books, or even enough paper or pencils, so some days we’d have school outside. In the summer, when the sun went down late. We’d let the cubs carve out the letters and numbers in the mud, like some ancient clay tablet. When Carron found out what we were doing, he sent some of his goons to stop us. Killed one of the other teachers, and that was enough to send a message. We stopped. But not for long. We waited a year or so and started again, more careful than the last time. Classes were smaller. This time we taught the parents so they could then in turn teach their cubs. It wasn’t perfect, but it was the best we could do. When Gregor became the alpha… we again asked for our young to attend bear school and were denied. We asked for our own schools, and again, we were denied. Later, I heard that Carron had threatened Gregor. Carron had said he would stop paying taxes to the den, and we all knew then it would never be.
Kai closed his eyes and leaned forward, knees on his elbows. Disgust filled him.
“What’s wrong?”
Kai lifted his stare to see T
uri kneeling before him.
“It’s hard to listen to,” Kai mumbled, tears stinging the backs of his eyes.
“It is, but your reaction seems quite strong,” Turi said, looking up at him. “Is there a reason?”
“Gregor… was my father. Achilles… my grandfather.”
“Oh,” Turi said, his eyes widening.
The shame only grew as he realized what Turi might be thinking of him. “I had no idea any of this happened. I grew up here and never saw it.” He sighed. “I’m struggling to believe any of it.”
“I’d say the evidence is all around you that it happened.”
Kai felt tears filling his eyes. “But how could the man I loved… how could he let this go on?” The tears threatened to fall.
Benny’s voice filled his head. You gotta do what you gotta do to survive, Kai.
His uncle had claimed they were cut from the same cloth. The same cloth his own father had apparently been cut from.
Am I like him? Could I be this cruel?
Turi moved a little closer and rested a hand on Kai’s knee.
Kai lifted his stare and met Turi’s. A blast of heat… and something else grabbed ahold of him. A bond forging, the initial tendrils intertwining.
They were bound… it would just take time and patience with their male.
Patience. Kai would need to learn that skill. And fast.
He lifted his hand to cup Turi’s cheek and for once, the male didn’t shy away. The omega actually closed his eyes and leaned into the hold some. Kai let out a gasp… longing filled him. He felt his entire body shaking with need… and felt Turi shivering against him.
But then it was over.
Turi pulled away and rose to his feet, putting distance between them.
Kai fought the urgent need to leap up and drag Turi close once more. He dug his fingers into his knees instead, willing the lust-filled beast inside him back.
“Declan is your brother?” Turi asked, his tone strangled and tense.
Kai nodded.
“It seems he’s done a lot to make changes here in the last years. An awful lot of changes and hard work.”
“At least someone did.”
“I have him to thank, myself,” Turi said.
“Oh? How’s that?”
“Declan funded the Shifter Army. He wanted to save the shifters Zed had imprisoned. Had it not been for him, and those who fought, I wouldn’t be here now. I’d still be locked up in a cell, half crazed. Lost.”
That truth slammed into Kai. He had his own brother to thank for their mate.
A brother he’d hated all these years.
Kai chuckled without mirth. “I’ve spent my life being angry at him. And now I’m learning it was for no good reason.”
“Why were you angry at Declan?”
“I blamed him for my father’s death. I saw Gregor as a god among men. Now?” He sighed. “I see he was just a man. A man of many faults.”
“Faults or not, Gregor was your father. He gave you life, and I’m sure you have good memories of him.”
Kai met Turi’s stare. “I do. He was a good father. Or so I thought.”
“He could be a good father and still have failings. Most fathers aren’t perfect,” Turi said before sitting in the empty chair to Kai’s left. “But you have a vision of the man he was. I’m sure it is hard to merge all you’re hearing and seeing now with what you knew of him.”
“How could he refuse omegas something as basic as an education? Healthcare? Yet at the same time, why didn’t I notice there weren’t any omegas in my classes growing up? That there were none living on my street. I myself am culpable of some of this.”
“We can all be blind to things when we’re young. As long as you’re willing to open your eyes now and see the truth—and grow from it—that’s all that matters.”
“That’s good advice. Maybe you should take it yourself,” Kai whispered.
Turi shook his head. “It’s always easier to dole out advice than it is to take it yourself.”
“Exactly.” Kai turned to Turi. “There was once a law here… bear doesn’t lay with bear.”
“I saw something about that in one of the exhibits. Seems odd. Lions have always stuck to their own.”
“The early bear shifters were quite vicious, or so we were told. Human blood helped calm the animal within. Later, it allowed them to fit in better amongst human populations that moved all around us. So, there was a reason behind it.”
“Perhaps, but it still sounds outdated. I think there was a lot of human interaction early on in the lion world for much the same reason. But after a few generations, shifters gravitated toward their own.”
“We were all taught that we couldn’t touch another bear. When I fell in love with Lane, I struggled with my feelings for him. I fought it. I pushed him away. I said it was just idle curiosity—which hurt him. Ultimately, I realized I didn’t want to fight anymore. I cared too much… but then I made a promise. I could love him because one day we’d meet our human to complete our triad.”
Turi leaned away a little. “So you want a human, not a shifter.”
“I did.” Kai wouldn’t lie. He’d had enough lies for one day. “I first saw you, and I panicked. A shifter for a mate? It couldn’t be.”
Turi looked away. There was a wounded look on his face… and that spoke volumes. The omega might be struggling with their link, but there was a measure of want there.
But was it enough?
“I think back to my brother Royce at dinner with his family, and his children and how much love I saw at that table. I think of all the others I’ve seen over the years—all of them bound together by the shifter gods—and how happy they always appeared.” Kai met Turi’s stare. “They all started as we are now. Lust. Instinct. Raw need. And then it evolved into more. You, Lane, and I are meant to be. Star-crossed lovers who can find their way through anything with one another.”
Turi turned to meet his stare. His pale-blue eyes shone with light.
“This feeling—this desire—I have for you, it grows by the minute. It has opened my eyes to realize that what I thought I wanted was a myth,” Kai added. “I know you have demons. I know that you fear opening yourself to us… but already I feel the instinct to protect you and fight those demons for you. I know I speak for Lane to say we’re ready to fight whatever battle you have before you.”
“These aren’t demons you or Lane can fight. Only I can slay these dragons.”
Kai nodded. “Then I hope you do slay them. I just want you to know we’re here… and we’re willing to help you in any way that we can. All you have to do is ask.”
Turi smiled slightly, but it faded quickly. “It won’t be easy. Or quick. I can’t see holding the two of you back as I fight for my own sanity. You have your own lives to live.”
“We’re not going anywhere,” Kai said. “Although… we might need a trip back to the city to take care of some things… and figure out where we go from here… but we won’t abandon you.”
Sadness crossed Turi’s face. “Maybe you should.”
Kai shook his head. “No.”
“Are you really going to give up your life out in the real world and come back here for me? No. You shouldn’t have to do that.”
“We haven’t made any major decisions, but yes, I feel like maybe it is time to come home. This rift with my brother has gone on long enough. Lane’s papa is ill and has a battle before him, one I’m sure my brother bear wants to be here for. And what’s waiting for me back in the city?” Kai shook his head. “I don’t know that that’s the life I want for myself anymore.” He caught Turi’s stare. “And then there’s you.”
“Don’t,” Turi pled.
“You are our mate. We belong to you, omega.”
Turi opened his mouth, looking like he might argue, but instead, he closed his lips, looking as if he fought a smile, and looked away.
Kai smiled. “We’re ready and prepared to be wrapped about your fingers, r
unning when you call. Begging for your love and your affection. Unable to sleep through the night, thinking of you and your happiness, o’ mate of ours.”
Turi looked at him, his eyes glowing again. “Do you know how idiotic all that sounds?”
Kai grinned, knowing he was making a little headway. “I am an idiot. Your idiot.”
Turi’s head whipped up, and he met Kai’s stare. He suddenly leaned in and pressed his lips to Kai’s for a brief second. “Thank you,” he whispered before rising and racing from the room.
Kai got up and followed him to the door to the exhibit, but stopped himself, Lane’s voice murmuring in his mind. Let him go.
Once Turi left his sight, Kai turned back to the voices playing overhead and took a seat, ready to listen to more of the omega experience.
Chapter Thirteen
“You kissed him?!” Lane stared at Kai in disbelief.
“No. He kissed me,” Kai said before tossing over a smile from where he sat behind the wheel.
“Bastard,” Lane said before eyeing the road. “I was already pissed at you for taking off and not having dinner. Now this?”
“I wanted you to have some quiet time without me. Terrance has been shooting daggers every time I’m there, so I figured my absence might be easier for you. Maybe he’d relax. And… if me not being there scored any points with Turi, even better.”
“I suppose, but I’m still allowed to be irritated,” Lane spat before offering a smile. He knew Kai’s guilt was likely causing distance with his family.
Kai chuckled. “How was dinner?”
“Fine. Papa does seem to be gaining strength each time I visit, but he’s still so weak. I’m not used to seeing him like that.”
“He has another appointment on Monday, right?”
“Yeah, so they say. Another shot. I want to go… ask the doctors some questions about this miracle drug they’re shooting into his veins.”
“Good idea,” Kai said.
Lane rested his head back on the seat. “Oh, weren’t you going to go see Declan? How’d that go?”