by Nora Phoenix
“I’m fine,” Ruari said, his voice broken with tears. “Not fine, but okay. I’m okay. Have you seen Kean? Please tell me he’s not hurt.”
Bray pulled him closer, allowing his own head to rest on Ruari’s. “I saw him outside. He’s okay, baby. The four of us, we’re okay.”
“Please, Bray, take me out of this room. The smell, the sight, I can’t stand it anymore,” Ruari begged.
“Hold on to Jax,” Bray said, and once Ruari had lifted his son and pulled him close, Bray rose to his feet, cradling Ruari in his arms. The omega slumped against his chest in utter surrender, and Bray’s insides went weak.
He carried him out and almost bumped into Kean. The beta had taken off his blood-soaked shirt, though a few red streaks were still visible on his chest, as well as the beginnings of what looked to be a broad arrangement of bruises. He’d fought hard, Bray realized. He’d fought for his own life and that of the others inside. They all had, alphas, betas, and even the omegas.
“Ruari, baby, are you okay?” Kean asked.
“Kean!”
Bray put Ruari down, and they kissed, then hugged, but Bray was part of it. Kean kissed him again, and he kissed him back, and he wasn’t sure what it all meant. They stood in a tight hug, the four of them, careful not to squish Jax, and Bray’s soul quieted with contentment and peace, the likes of which he had never experienced before, which was ridiculous considering everything they had been through.
And then he knew.
Ruari felt safe and protected with both Bray’s and Kean’s arms around him as they walked into the hallway, where Isam was securely fastening a zip tie around the wrists of one of the attackers, who had apparently survived. When Isam turned the man on his back, Ruari gasped.
“Dad!”
It flew from his lips before he could stop it, and he watched his father’s eyes widen in shock. “James? What the hell are you doing here?”
Multiple faces looked from Ruari to his father and back at him again, all displaying a similar expression of confusion and shock. “This is your father?” Bray asked.
“Who is James?” Kean asked almost simultaneously.
Ruari closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. He had known this moment would come, though he had never expected it to be like this. And man, was he grateful for his honesty with Lidon and Palani. If he had not told them what he knew about his dad, he would’ve been truly fucked right now. As it was, things weren’t looking too swell, but at least those two knew he’d been honest about his father’s past and objectives.
Even then, he had never expected to run into him like this. The last time, his father had hired men do the job. This time, apparently, he’d deemed it safe enough to join in the attack himself.
It sank in, the fact that Vieno had pinned this man down. It had been his father, attacking them in that bathroom. If Vieno hadn’t attacked, Ruari might have come face-to-face with his father as he broke through that bathroom door, and what would’ve happened then?
His only consolation, but it was a tiny one, was that his father’s reaction made it clear he had no idea Ruari was staying here. That meant the attack hadn’t been aimed at him or an attempt to extract him, and for that, he could only be grateful. It also meant the objective of the attack had been to kidnap Hakon, and that thought made Ruari’s blood boil.
“Can you hold Jax for me?” he asked Kean.
He couldn’t face his father while holding Jax. He needed no distractions now. Kean’s eyes showed that he had already understood what was happening, who Ruari’s father was. The beta took the baby with soft hands and nestled him against his shoulder. “Come here, buddy.”
Ruari smiled despite it all, the sight of papa Kean too precious. Then he turned around, his face tightening, and gave his father an icy look. “I don’t go by James anymore. I got rid of that name when I realized you would take my son away from me.”
“He is an abomination,” his father spat out. “He should've never been born. You have no idea what you are playing with, you stupid bitch. You’re as stupid as your mother, going behind my back to get pregnant. Look at where that’s brought us. A defective son who gave birth to a bastard child, not even a man, but an abomination.”
Ruari had heard it all before, his father’s hateful tirades against the wolf shifters, against his mother who had gone to that fertility specialist without his father knowing, against the CWP, against it all. And even though he knew the depths of his father’s hatred, it still got to him. Would there ever be a time when it wouldn’t hurt anymore? When he could hear his father’s words and not feel rejected?
Bray shot forward, his foot suddenly on his father’s neck, and the wince on the man’s face told Ruari that Bray was putting pressure on it. The anger in the alpha’s voice was dripping.
“You need to stop talking now,” Bray said. “My son is not an abomination, and I will not tolerate you speaking like this about my mate.”
At first, Ruari heard Bray defending their son, and it made his heart sing. Then the last part of that sentence hit. Mate? Bray was calling Ruari his mate? Had the alpha grasped the truth?
“Ruari, would you mind introducing us to this man?” Palani asked, putting a calming hand on Bray’s arm.
Ruari straightened his shoulders, encouraged by Palani’s friendly tone. “This is my father, Bennett Wyndham, the leader of the radical wing of the Anti-Wolf Coalition, the AWC. As you can hear, he’s got some pretty nasty opinions on wolf shifters and the gene.”
He met the shocked look from Bray head on. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I was too scared you’d reject me.”
“Of course they would reject you, who wants a—”
His father’s words were cut off when Bray visibly put more pressure on his throat, and he made a choking sound, his tied hands flying up toward his throat to get rid of Bray’s foot, which stayed unmoving.
“Bray, please make sure our guest gets enough oxygen to survive,” Lidon said mildly. “We have questions to ask him, and he can’t answer them if he’s dead like the rest of his men.”
With visible reluctance, Bray pulled his food back a little. “He’d better shut his mouth about Ruari, then,” he growled.
“So,” Lidon said slowly. “This is the man who was also responsible for the previous attack on our pack.”
Gasps bounced through the hallway as those words sank in with everyone. It made it clear that Lidon and Palani had kept their promise to Ruari. They hadn’t told anyone, except for Bray, but he hadn’t known Bennett Wyndham was Ruari’s father. That registered now, and Bray shot Ruari a look he couldn’t decipher, before refocusing his attention on Lidon.
“Give us a status report, please, Bray, so Mr. Wyndham here can learn about the fate of his men.” Lidon’s voice was cool, but something simmered underneath.
“As far as we can tell, there were twenty attackers. Fourteen have been killed, and six have been taken prisoner, with one in critical condition and one seriously injured.”
His father’s face tightened at that news. Ruari figured the man had not been expecting those results. He had to have known they’d lost, and he had watched Vieno kill the other men in the room with him, but he might have harbored hope others had escaped or survived.
“And the death toll on our side?” Lidon asked.
“Two dead, one in critical condition, and multiple men with minor injuries.”
Two dead? Pack members had died? Ruari couldn’t hide his stress at that news. Who was it?
His father had paled visibly. “You killed fourteen of my men?” he asked Lidon.
“Oh, not just me. It was a pack effort. You went after my son, you bastard. You should’ve died a slow death as far as I’m concerned. You’re lucky my mate has more constraint than I do.” He gestured at Vieno, who was still standing there in wolf form, regal and beautiful.
Ruari couldn’t even be upset at Lidon’s words. His father should have died. In fact, it was a miracle he’d survived in the first pla
ce. More luck than anything else, Ruari figured. He had to have known that with an attack like this, going after the pack alpha’s first son, they would show no mercy.
A chilling thought registered with him. His father was many things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. He had to have known this would be the likely outcome, that even if he had counted on surviving himself, he’d suffer losses.
“He did it on purpose,” Ruari said slowly. “He’s counting on you to alert the authorities, and you’ll have to explain how you killed these men. Everyone will know the shifters are back, but the first thing they will hear is that wolves are vicious, capable of killing fourteen men. They’ll leak the pictures of what happened here, and the public opinion will turn against you instantly.”
The words just fell from his mouth, and it wasn’t till he was done that he realized this might’ve been better to discuss in private, but by then it was too late. Around him he heard murmurs and exclamations of shock, but Lidon and Palani didn’t look surprised.
“I came to the same conclusion,” Palani said. “But thank you for sharing your thoughts, Ruari. This can’t be easy for you, knowing your own father did this.”
Something changed inside Ruari, something that snapped and broke free. Even after everything his father had done to him, he had still considered him his father. Somehow, Palani’s words changed that. This was not a man he wanted to call his father anymore. This was not a man he wanted to be associated with in any way, not ever again.
He exhaled, then spoke. “He’s not my father anymore. I don’t think he ever was. He’s a stranger, a murderer, and you can do with him whatever the hell you want.”
A wave of relief hit him. He felt light, as if he’d lost weight he’d been carrying around for a long time. Kean’s arm came around him, and he leaned into his embrace, grateful for the beta’s support.
And for the first time in a long, long time, Ruari felt free.
27
Kean was bone tired, his soul heavy, and he was grateful when Palani sent them away, stating that Ruari didn’t need to be confronted with his father any longer. He was surprised when Bray joined them, and then he wasn’t, because he belonged with them.
Ruari took Jax back, and when Kean stumbled over his own feet, Bray’s strong arm came around him and he leaned in without a second’s thought. He was tired, so tired, and everything hurt. His heart, most of all. His throat, with the grief that kept encroaching on him, but that he kept pushing back. But his body hurt as well, his eye that was almost swollen shut now. His belly, which had turned black and blue. His ribs, his hands, god, everything hurt.
They went to Omega One, where he wanted to collapse on the bed, but Bray’s strong hand held him back. “You need a shower,” he said quietly.
Kean looked at Ruari, though he didn’t know why. “Go take a shower,” Ruari said.
“But you…” Kean protested, not even sure what he was protesting.
“I need to feed Jax. Let Bray take care of you, love,” Ruari said, and Kean surrendered.
The shower was brutally hot, just the way he loved it, and it wasn’t till he registered that, that he also discovered Bray was right there with him. A naked Bray, standing quietly next to him in the shower, letting Kean hog all the hot water. And for some reason, that broke him.
He reached out blindly, his eyes filled with tears, sobbing with relief when Bray gathered him close and held him. He stopped fighting the sadness, the grief, the hurt, and it all came out. Bray was a rock he held on to; he didn’t even know for how long.
It hurt. It hurt so fucking much.
Like a zombie, he let Bray handle him. The alpha shut off the shower and toweled him off, and somehow Kean registered how extraordinary it was to see the alpha on his knees in front of him. Bray gently lead him into the room where Ruari was waiting for them. He had clean clothes. Someone must've brought them, but he couldn’t even find the energy to ask who he should thank.
“Here, Bray,” the omega said. “Come sit with your son.”
That did pierce through Kean’s sadness, and he watched with warmth in his chest as Bray settled in a reading chair with his son in his arms, the look on his face pure awe and wonder. But it still hurt, his heart so raw and tender, his mind seeing the same images over and over and over again.
“Snuggle with me, love,” Ruari said, and Kean didn’t need to be told twice.
They settled on the bed, their bodies intertwining, Kean holding on to the omega as a lifeline. His heart beat strong, he thought, so alive. He shuddered, the image of Jawon forever etched in his memory.
“What happened?” Ruari whispered.
Should he tell him? Could he even talk about it? With Bray he had cried it out, but the alpha had seen it. He knew. Should he worry Ruari with this, knowing that his father was responsible?
“Don’t shut me out because you think you need to protect me,” Ruari said quietly. “I can handle it.”
Yeah, he could. He would’ve had to, with a father like his.
“Jawon died,” he said. Then again. “He died.”
Ruari gasped, clinging closer to Kean.
He swallowed, not wanting to start crying again. “They shot him. One of the attackers shot him, point blank. He was okay and I held him, and then he started bleeding and he died in my arms. I watched him die, felt him take his last breath. They killed him, and for what? Because we refused to surrender. Because he spoke up and told them we’d fight to keep them out of the house. He spoke up, and he died.”
“He died protecting the pack,” Bray said. “With great honor.”
And Kean couldn’t say what he thought, what he felt, that he thought he was the greatest coward ever, because he should have spoken up. He’d let Jawon be the one to voice their resistance, and he’d died for it. It should’ve been him, and yet he was so grateful to be alive. Why was Jawon dead and he alive? It made no sense. Nothing about this made sense.
“I’m so sorry,” Ruari said, his voice filled with sadness, and all Kean could think was how sorry he was, too. Sorry and yet so grateful, so happy to be alive. To be with his men. To have the chance to live and love.
He lay snuggling on the bed with Ruari, his head slowly calming down as the omega simply held him, until Jax had fallen asleep and Bray tenderly put him away in his crib. The alpha stood in the middle of the room, hesitantly, but Ruari stretched out his arms to invite him.
When he still hesitated, Kean spoke up. “Bray, please. I need you. We need each other.”
Kean could’ve wept all over again when Bray joined them, his big body comforting them both, completing their unit. They lay for a long time, silent, taking strength from each other as much as they gave it back. It was healing, Kean realized, restoring his sense of inner peace, of balance.
“So, mates, huh?” Ruari finally said, and Kean couldn’t help but smile at his cheeky I-told-you-so tone.
“Yes,” Bray said. “Mates.”
After a few beats, the alpha added, “And yes, you’re allowed to say I told you so.”
Kean grinned. “I told you so,” he couldn’t resist saying.
To his surprise, Bray pressed a tender kiss in his hair. “Yes, you did, my strong beta.”
Kean’s heart skipped a beat. “Yours?”
He turned his head to face Bray, catching the alpha staring at him with a look he’d never seen before.
“If you want to be,” Bray said softly.
“I thought you didn’t do relationships,” Kean said.
Bray swallowed. “I came so close to losing you today…” His voice cracked, and Kean’s eyes widened at the emotion that was painted all over the alpha’s face. “When I saw you with that blood all over your shirt… I thought you’d been shot.” He shook his head as if to clear a bad memory. “I know I’ve been an ass to you, and—”
“Stop. We’ll talk about that some other time,” Kean said.
The right corner of Bray’s mouth pulled up. “You interrupted me.”
&
nbsp; “Someone told me that was not a big deal, and that I was overly sensitive,” Kean fired back.
“What an ass,” Bray said.
Kean studied him, the tightness in Bray’s eyes betraying his insecurity. “Nah,” he said. “Just mistaken.”
He offered his mouth to Bray, who took it in the softest kiss he’d ever handed out, and Kean melted a little.
“So, mates then?” Ruari said, and they all chuckled.
Bray let go of Kean and they both turned toward Ruari, who looked at them with dancing eyes.
“If you’ll have me,” Bray said, and Kean’s heart squeezed at his tone, his carefulness.
“I do,” Ruari said, and those loaded words made a smile break through on Bray’s face.
Ruari leaned in and he, too, got a tender kiss from the alpha. When Bray leaned back, Kean was amazed to see tears in the alpha’s eyes. He held him close, his heart finding peace again.
They stayed like that for a long time, three bodies as close together as they could be on the too-small queen size bed, but their hearts were even closer. Finally, Ruari turned off the light, and it didn’t take long before Bray and Ruari fell asleep. Their breaths danced over Kean’s skin, warming more than his body.
Kean lay there, wondering how he could be so intensely happy and grateful and yet so profoundly sad at the same time. He thought of Jawon, that wonderful, quiet man who’d never said much, but had spoken up when the time came, who had defied alphas against all odds, protecting his alpha’s heir. He’d have to live for him now, Kean thought. He’d have to make that sacrifice worth it, to prove that he’d been worthy to be spared.
And as he drifted off to sleep between his two men, with a baby’s quick breaths in the corner of the room, Kean vowed that he would love them for all eternity. Because he did.
(To Be Continued…)
Meet Nora Phoenix