BirthMark

by Sydney Addae

  “But…he wanted her to have the money from the military. He said she deserved it after all the years the military had him deployed away from his family. That’s why he faked his death.” He looked at Silas with desperation in his eyes. “He would have stayed with her, unhappy as they were; he loved her as much as a wolf could love someone who wasn’t their mate.”

  Being mated, Silas understood. “But he found his mate and that changed things. I get that, but the lies…they end today. Once she knows…there will be some fall-out. It’s not every day a woman discovers her husband is alive and with someone else.” Or that her mate didn’t tell her that information a year before, Silas added silently.

  “And a man,” Matthew said in despondent tone.

  Silas hadn’t thought about that. He couldn’t imagine how that nugget of information would impact her. His plate overflowed, so he refused to add her reaction to a gay lover to his thoughts.

  “She may come to see you. Probably ask all kinds of questions. She may even want to see Davian. I don’t know what will happen, I am just warning you.”

  “But…but how can she do that? I’ll be in a restricted area. Can’t you keep her away?” He looked confused.

  Silas offered him a sympathetic smile. “I cannot restrict her movements in this compound, she has complete access to everywhere, can open any door.”

  “How is that possible? Does she know her sons are breeds?”

  “Yes, she knows.” Silas paused. “She’s my mate.” He thought the man would faint.

  Matthew’s eyes widened. “Oh shit.”

  “Yeah. That about sums it up.”

  Chapter 13

  After settling a shaken Matthew in the lab with instructions to keep their conversation confidential, Silas instructed the twins to meet him in the gym in twenty minutes. He needed time to think through everything that'd happened yesterday and today. Plus, he needed to rehearse his confession to Jasmine.

  He walked in to find them shooting a few hoops with Stephen, the Alpha training manager, and laughing. Watching, he took a seat on one of the benches and waited for them to finish. Tyrone grabbed the ball and headed off the court.

  “Finish the game,” Silas said, being in no hurry to go upstairs and face his mate.

  Tyrone tilted his head to the side and took a seat next to Silas. “He told you huh?”

  Silas gazed at Tyrone, wondering if he were talking about Matthew or someone else. He was betting it was something new.

  “Cameron,” Tyrone said.

  Silas frowned. He hadn’t talked to Cameron since yesterday. He figured the young man was busy wooing his mate.

  Tyrone shook his head and turned away. “Forget it.”

  Silas snorted. “You know that’s not going to happen. What’s Cameron going to tell me?” He watched Tyrese walk away from Stefan and join them.

  “Hey, what’s going on?” Tyrese asked as he sat next to Tyrone.

  “Rone was about to tell me what Cameron wants to tell me.”

  Tyrese snorted.

  Silas’ eyes darted to him. “What happened?” He looked from Tyrese to Tyrone.

  “Cameron wants to participate in the Alpha challenge next month. He thinks it’ll help change the way Lilly sees him,” Tyrese said.

  Silas stared at Tyrese. He hadn’t seen that coming. “Did you mention the challenge?” he asked Tyrone.

  “No. Thorne told him about it. He heard it in the gym from some of the guys. Lilly and Rose were talking about it. Lilly thought the challenge was great, exciting. Rose didn’t. Cameron asked me about it and I told him I was participating.”

  “Did you tell him I gave you that position?” Silas asked.

  “Yes.”

  “And he still wants to challenge you?”

  “Yes,” Tyrone said. “And…I understand his reasoning. He wants his mate to see him as someone strong who can protect her instead of what she’s seen so far. In all honesty, if I have to fight him, my heart won’t be in because I understand why he’s doing it.”

  “Plus, he’s like family, your brother-in-law. You can’t try and kill your mate’s sister’s mate,” Tyrese chimed in.

  Disgusted with all the talk of family, Silas shook his head. Things may have been boring before, desolate even, but he was rarely confused on how to proceed. Back then, the only people who mattered were his wolves. Now…the waters were muddied. He’d wait until Cameron presented him with a request to join the challenge and make a decision then. In the meantime, he had a mate to talk to.

  “I wanted you to know one of the doctors that came in today was Dr. Matthew Chism. According to Dr. Passen, he is critical in discovering what’s happening with the detective’s wolf, so I allowed him to stay and work.”

  “Speaking of the detective, old man Merriweather arrived at the gate this morning, asking to speak with you. Rose told him you were unavailable. He put up a fuss, telling the guards how important he was and that they hadn’t seen the last of him.” Tyrone shook his head.

  “Good job, I need her to clear my schedule today.” Silas stood and sent Rose a message. He had a feeling he would not be any good after talking to Jasmine.

  “Why? What’s up?” Tyrese asked, his brow creased.

  “I have to go tell my mate that the mate of her supposedly dead husband is working in the lab and pray she forgives me for not telling her Davian Bennett is alive and staying at a hotel in town.”

  Tyrese jumped up. “What? Matt’s here? Why?”

  “What’s he doing here?” Tyrone asked, frowning.

  Exasperated, Silas looked at them. “I just told you. Dr. Matthew Chism is here working on the virus to save wolf-kind. Supposedly he is an expert on half-breeds. Seems he’s years ahead of everyone else in his research.” Silas’ brow rose at them.

  The twins stared at him as though he were speaking Latin.

  “Dad’s in town?” Tyrone whispered in a shocked tone.

  “Yeah, I have security watching him to keep him safe in case the Bennett clan rides into town. Everything in place to snatch the rebels?” he asked in an attempt to change the subject.

  “Yes, Sir.” Tyrese answered, but Silas could see his mind was elsewhere.

  Holding back a sigh, Silas returned to his seat. “Look, I know you want to see Davian.” He raised his hand at their protests. “He’s your father. That will never change, I understand that. But I can’t allow either one of you to go into town, not until we lock down this virus and the bomb deal. Good news though, we are close to being able to detect the bomb.”

  “Mom is going to be hurt behind this,” Tyrese blurted, looking at the concrete floor.

  “That’s the understatement of the year,” Tyrone muttered. “All those years she thought he was dead and to have him show up…here, of all places.” He shook his head. “Unbelievable.”

  Tyrese looked at his brother. “They never divorced,” he whispered.

  Silas straightened, a bit miffed at being ignored. Tyrone spoke before he could. “She is not going to handle this well.” He closed his eyes and shuddered. The twins’ response to Jasmine’s possible reaction sent a wave of dread through him.

  “She’s mated,” he said to get their reaction.

  “Yeah and she does have the babies, that should help,” Tyrone said thoughtfully.

  Tyrese shook his head slowly. “She’s going to blow.” He looked at Silas. “You don’t know how sad she was about the quality of her life. Now she’s going to find out her husband’s been living it up with his mate, happy all this time…maybe if you remind her of the mating pull that might help, but…he should have been honest.” He looked at his brother. “We should have told her he might be alive even if we weren’t sure. She’s going to think this is something else we hid from her.”

  “Damn,” Tyrone said softly, looking off into space.

  “This is not helping,” Silas snapped as he stood, his stomach tied in knots as he headed for the entrance.

  He was La Patron, leader of
the wolf nation. Men quaked beneath his anger and coveted his favor. Yet with each step he took toward the stairs, his heart ached and tendrils of apprehension wrapped around him. By the time he reached the nursery where his mate sat on the floor playing with his litter, his nerves were in a twisted bundle. He stood just inside the door and watched her roll over as Adam crawled toward her, David was propped up in his bouncy chair, watching the byplay, and the girls were drawing or working puzzles.

  Two years ago he would never have imagined this scene. But as the Goddess instructed, he had embraced the truth. The wave of change was a rough ride, but looking at his pups and his mate, it was worth it.

  “Silas,” Jasmine called to him. “Come see what Renee drew.” He smiled and walked toward his daughter and stooped beside her. There was a mixture of colors on the paper that resembled nothing he recognized.

  “Good job, Renee. It’s pretty, like you.” He brushed a kiss against her forehead and received a large smile in return.

  Jackie held up a color wheel wooden puzzle she had completed for his inspection. Her garbled words signified she was encouraging him to enjoy her work. He cooed and ahhhed over it and then kissed her forehead. When he stood, Jasmine was looking at him with a raised brow.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked, rolling a small ball to Adam.

  Silas sat next to her on the floor. Adam abandoned the game, crawled onto his lap and started pulling at his shirt buttons.

  Absently, Silas grabbed his son’s hands and held them as he rocked the youngster. “We’ll talk when they go down for lunch.” He made sure she couldn’t read him, he suspected she had been trying since he walked in the room.

  Frowning, she picked up David, checked his diaper and stood. With an economy of movements, she changed the boy and handed him to Silas in exchange for Adam. Releasing Adam, Silas held David close and placed a kiss on his chubby cheek.

  Jasmine handed Adam off to his nurse, who sat him in the high chair to feed him. She changed the girls before handing them off to their nurses as well. Then she took David from him and sat him in his high chair, motioning for his nurse to feed him. Stepping back to leave, Silas prepared himself for the conversation. But Jasmine watched as the children were fed and then placed in their cribs. She made sure they were all covered and asleep before she ushered him out of the room while holding his hand. In silence, they walked down the hall to their suite. When they entered, she walked over to the small kitchen and poured them both glasses of sweet tea. Returning to the living area, she passed him a glass and sat on the sofa. She patted the space next to her while offering him a tiny smile.

  “You’re nervous, so that means I’m not going to like whatever you have to tell me,” she said, watching him closely. His jaw clenched. He took a large swallow from the glass to ease the tightness in his throat.

  “Jasmine.”

  “Wait,” she said, stopping him. “Sit down. Whatever this is, I want to see you, your eyes. Sit with me.” She patted the sofa again.

  He sat in the chair across from her and stared into her concerned eyes. Clearing his throat, he spoke. “There is a doctor I admitted on the grounds today, Dr. Matthew Chism. He’s a specialist of some sort in his field and Dr. Passen is convinced this is the guy to crack the virus thing, if it is a virus. Whatever is affecting the detective’s wolf, this doctor supposedly is the man who can fix it.”

  She frowned. “That’s good, right? You were worried about this last night, at least now you’re on the right track.”

  “Yeah,” he nodded and took another swallow of the sweet beverage before meeting her eyes again. The tightening in his throat mimicked the restricting muscles in his chest, even now his heart slammed against the shrinking confines of his ribs with such force he was sure she could hear the sound through their link. His tongue swept across the scaly dryness of his lips in preparation to utter sentences that could possibly return him to the cold arid places in his mind. His barren world before she brought warmth and color into his life.

  “What he’s doing is important and will save a lot of half breeds, so…he’s mated. His mate is in town at the Capital Inn and the reason this is important is because his mate…his mate is Davian Bennett.”

  It took a moment for anything to register on her face, first there was a small furrowing of her brows, then it deepened as if his words were being weighed and judged. Then her eyes widened and stared at him. Her mouth opened, closed and then she flopped back, wide eyed against the seat, her hand on her chest as she sucked in large gulps of air.

  “Say that again,” she asked in a brusque voice.

  His skin tightened. He swallowed hard and repeated the last line.

  Her eyes narrowed and he’d swear he saw golden flames in their brown depths. “What the hell do you mean his mate is in town? Davian Bennett died four damn years ago. I buried him,” she said shaking her head and pointing her finger at him.

  If the situation weren’t so dire, he’d appreciate how glorious she looked in her rising fury. Her chest heaved, nostrils flared, and eyes were narrowed into slits, just beautiful. “He wasn’t dead, he faked it so you could have the money from the military,” he forged on immersed in the knowledge that each word he spoke was the equivalent of poking a hole in the boat of their relationship.

  She stood so fast, her finger barely missed his nose. He leaned back and stared.

  “I buried my husband four years ago, Silas. He is dead.”

  He took the shaking finger in his hand and covered it with his. “Okay. He’s dead. It’s okay.”

  She snatched her finger away from him and walked away a bit. “He’s mated?” she murmured. “Davian has a mate? A mate he’s been with all this time?” She stopped and looked at him. “Answer me!” she yelled.

  Silas was fascinated with the movement of the curtains from the wind of her anger and spoke. “Yes.”

  “How long have they been together?” she ground out.

  He paused. The knowledge that words from his mouth and his actions caused her pain rippled across his skin. They both shared the misery of the moment. “Seven or eight years I think.”

  “What?” She gasped. Spinning around, her hand flew to her mouth. His chest ached with the horrible pain he saw in her eyes.

  “He was with him while we were married,” she whispered. “Married…we’re married.” She gazed him like he was a monster. “I’m married. He’s not dead.”

  In his mind, the marriage meant nothing. She was his mate, which took precedence over a legal procedure. He had the presence of mind to keep his thoughts private.

  “I have babies from you,” she said in a horrified whisper that concerned him. She walked off mumbling.

  “When…when did you know he was alive. I know it wasn’t today. You’re too damn thorough for that. No, I bet you knew before you ever touched me.” She pivoted and glared at him.

  He exhaled as he answered. “Yes, I knew.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked on an agonized whisper that tore at his heart.

  “Because he was dead to you. He'd found his mate and had no choice but to be with Matthew.”

  “He damn well could’ve divorced me first,” she yelled. “I was miserable thinking I was lacking, that something was wrong with me. Did you know that? Huh? ...” Her eyes blazed a liquid bronze. “He wouldn’t touch me. No damn sex, lived like a eunuch, for years…damn it. He treated me like a damn roommate. I thought something was wrong… with me,” she whispered. “I thought something was wrong with me.” She slapped her chest, and turned from him.

  His heart ached for her. He was reconsidering his promise to keep the doctor’s mate safe.

  She placed her palm on her forehead. “No wonder he was gone so much the last few years, he was fucking his damn mate and leaving me at home wondering what the hell I was doing wrong. I bought new lingerie.” She ticked it off her fingers as she heaved and wiped the tears from her face. “New perfumes, worked my ass off so I would look good for that bastar
d, and all the fucking time he had a man on the fucking side?” she yelled and a vase hit the floor from the force of her anger, smashing into small pieces. “I will kill his ass. He’ll be good and dead when I’m finished with him.”

  She spun around and pointed at him. The room heated a few degrees but she didn’t notice. In fact, he was positive she had no idea she was pulling energy from him which fueled her anger as she approached. “You… how could you have kept that from me? I’m married. I had kids with you and… I am married.”

  “We’re mated. That’s a deeper bond in my world.” The flimsy excuse sounded weak beneath the weight of her pain.

  “I am not a damn wolf,” she screamed. “I’m human. You keep forgetting that and it keeps coming up. I am human. By human law, if Davian is alive, I am married.” She nodded repeatedly.

  He clenched his jaw and looked away, ashamed. There was little he could say to refute her.

  She leaned closer and met his stare. “You should’ve told me. Allowed me to be the woman I am and make my own damn decisions. I would’ve divorced him and been free to follow my own conscience.” She closed her eyes and opened their link.

  He flinched beneath the barrage of hurt, pain and disillusionment swirling through her. It was such a stark contrast from yesterday’s adoration, it slammed into him with the force of a falling boulder.

  “I cannot believe you did that to me,” she said softly.

  Her pain wrapped around him, until it pierced his core. Understanding dawned. He recognized he had made a gross error. He’d made a decision that violated her moral code, a part of the fabric that made her uniquely herself.

  “I was wrong to keep it from you. At the time I thought it was for the best. Now I see I was wrong. Forgive me, please.” He was wolf, as such he saw things in black and white, but this was one time he should’ve searched the gray area.

  She huffed as she looked at him and shut down their link. “Forgive you? Why? You thought it was for the best. It was a decision you made based on the information you had, right? It never occurred to you that sleeping with a man who wasn’t my husband would bother me, right? Because wolves do that all the time and you…you’re a wolf. So no biggie.”