Chapter 34 Frost
Frost.
“Hey, Dad,” I say half-heartedly, offering my old man a handshake as he steps into the cabin.
Yet the older Alpha brings me in for a hug, patting his hand on my back. “Good to see you again, son.”
I try to act cool as I hate to show emotion in front of him, but then I return the hug as we share our moment. I barely call him these days. Quite frankly, I’m too ashamed.
He knows about the drinking, but he doesn’t comment on it. Like me, Edward Wynter has tattoos and disheveled hair.
Yet unlike me, he’s a natural with kids as he teaches them at the local high school. He even taught me how to play guitar.
Shepard and Robin reunite with their dads. Shepard is still close with his, but Robin’s relationship with his father is taut.
Malcolm Wynter is the mayor now. So, the older Alpha has a lot on his plate.
Shepard chats with his dad, Tony, about sports or whatever. I roll my eyes as I offer my dad a seat in the lounge.
This is our pack cabin. In other words, a typical man cave. It’s where we go to unwind.
The fireplace is roaring as we all take our place on the plush couches. The dads take one couch, and the sons another.
It’s crazy how alike we all are; it’s seriously like gazing at ourselves in thirty years from now.
Except we all have our mother’s eyes.
I often wonder if that was why Mom couldn’t love us. Because we reminded her of the Alphas she despised.
Our fathers never discussed it, but Mom was never their scent match. It was an arranged match in the end.
Hence why she had been so unhappy. Perhaps that rich Alpha CEO in New York was her fated match after all.
Shepard pours each of the dads a drink of scotch. Robin and I decline. My dad looks at me, surprised.
I shrug. “I’m not drinking today.”
My old man scoffs. “Well, that’s a pleasant surprise. But I’m proud of you, son.”
I wish I could believe him. But I see the disappointment in his eyes whenever he hears tales of my drinking.
I could have made something of myself. I wanted to be bigger than the Beatles, but I just regressed after Mom left.
Mayor Malcolm Wynter sips his drink, settling his eyes on Robin. Like Robin, he wears glasses, too. “So, what’s this meeting about, son?”
Our dads watch us curiously next, and that’s when I notice their differences. Malcolm is taut but patient. Tony is relaxed, but my dad is concerned. They’re not brothers, like us. They met in high school forty years ago.
So, they have a lot of history and far more experience than we do. Although Edward is my dad, I see Malcolm and Tony as uncles.
Robin sighs, meeting my gaze before proceeding. “We could actually do with your advice. About an important matter.”
“Does this concern the Hale girl?” my dad asks next. “Joel messaged me earlier, a little concerned.”
Of course, the Alpha did. He and my dad are best buds. The two Alphas couldn’t be more different. One is a baker, and the other a tattooed music teacher, yet they love fishing.
Robin exhales again. “It is. We’re just not sure how to proceed. We want her back more than anything, but every time we get close, we mess up again.”
The guilt tears me apart again. I hate that my brothers bear the burden of my mistakes, and I really have let them down.
“Look,” Shepard starts to explain now. “We know that you don’t like to talk about her, but… do you have any advice? From your own experiences with Mom?”
In the past, whenever we brought up Mom, our dads would flinch. They always accepted that she was gone and that she was never coming back, but there was no denying that they were still hurting.
However, they nod their heads now. They even give each other surreptitious, knowing glances, and I’m certainly piqued.
That’s when I catch the scent on them, a flowery scent like a bouquet of magnolia, and how had I not noticed before?
“You’ve met someone,” I announce suddenly.
All three dads look at me—my own smiles.
I can’t believe this… I turn to my brothers. They, too, have no idea how to process this new information.
Robin stammers. “W-when?”
Mayor Malcolm smiles, and it’s the first one that has come to his face since he arrived. “A few months ago. We were trying to find the right time to tell you three, but…she’s our scent match.”
My head spins, and perhaps I should have a drink after all. But Malcolm is right. I thought they all walked into the cabin with an extra spring in their step.
“Who is she?” I ask next.
My dad’s grin widens. “Lilith. The Omega who owns the florist.”
The florist? Oh, I know her—A sweet, pretty Omega in her late forties who’s helped me out several times when she’s found me drunk on the sidewalk, offering me money for a bus or a cab.
Did she know then that I was her Alpha’s son?
Robin is still processing the information. However, Shepard congratulates his dad, and he’s genuinely happy for the Alpha.
I’m not sure how to feel. After Mom left, they just focused on the three of us, ensuring we grew into the Alphas we are today.
But we’re not a couple of kids anymore. Our twenty-eighth birthday is just in a few months.
“We should have told you all sooner. Sorry,” Tony apologizes. “But it just came out of nowhere.”
Shepard sighs. “It’s fine, Dad. We get it. It was that way for us…”
It really was. Except we already knew on some intrinsic level that Noelle was ours. I knew she was going to be mine ever since I first laid eyes on her.
And we were freaking five years old. She was just so different from the other girls, always sitting in the reading corner with her books rather than hanging outside in the playground making daisychains.
“Are you happy?” Robin blurts out next.
As if he needs to ask. You can smell it on their scents. My own dad’s polished leather is no longer bitter. The same with Malcom’s bergamot, and Tony’s basil and mint.
Malcolm smiles again. “We are, son.”
Well, I guess that’s all the confirmation we need. We need to remember that their Alphas, just like us, and not the old men who raised us.
And that’s where I’m going to stop drawing comparisons. That’s a mental image I won’t forget for a while.
“So, do you have advice about Noelle?” Shepard asks.
“Yes.” Tony pins his son with a serious stare. He even makes a point to look at his nephews, too. He practically raised us all, after all. “What the hell are you doing talking to us? If you truly want her, then go and get her. Don’t waste another moment.”
My heart pounds. I look at my brothers, finding a similar flash in their blue eyes. It’s like someone lit a fire under my ass because I jump to my feet.
We all rush to the door. I even grab my guitar.
“Attaboy, son. Go and get her!” my dad cheers, making me cringe.
Robin looks back at our fathers. “Feel free to stay and finish your drinks. We’re going to win our Omega back.”
Malcolm grins proudly. “Good luck. All three of you.”
I guess that’s all the motivation we need. Even the mayor has our backs. Before we head out, Robin, Shepard, and I share a look.
We’re going to do this. Prove that we have changed.
It's time to win Noelle back.