Evans #2
“Yeah. Yeah.” He meant it. His parents really didn’t care about whether the twins were alphas, omegas or beta.
Part of me wonders what would have happened if I’d been born a beta.
Would my parents have tried for another baby?
Would they have stayed in their miserable marriage for longer?
I wonder what my mother’s new baby will be.
“I’m going to get dressed and meet your dad. I’ll see you later, I guess.”
Hunter nods, but I can tell his mind has already turned to paint as his eyes turn glassy. I know him well enough to know that inside his head, he’s already thinking about what he wants to do first.
We walk for a few hours, following the trail past Hunter’s cabin and up along the river.
The twins love it, clambering up trees and over rocks, hunting for small wildlife in the bushes, finding various insects in the mud.
We finally stop at a rocky outcrop on the side of a small mountain, and Lyle pulls out snacks and water for Hollie and Harlow, who snatch them up before following a squirrel back into the treeline.
“What was Hunter really like as a kid?”
Handing me a bottle of water, Lyle grins at my question. “Hunter has always been his own person. He was creative, and there wasn’t any way we could stop that—even if we wanted to.”
“He’d draw on napkins, walls, the sofa and once on my father’s face while he napped in an armchair.” He laughs to himself, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief before staring out at the view. From here, you could see almost the entire valley, and in the distance, the lake.
“One summer he started making these sculptures in the garage out of items he’d stolen from the house.
It wasn't until the coffee machine became part of a statement piece about Charon, the ferryman in the underworld, that we finally caved and built him his own space with all his own tools and materials.”
My brows shoot up, impressed by his creativity but also how his parents handled the situation. I’d have been shipped off to a summer boarding school, if I wasn’t in one already.
“It was nice being able to find my drills exactly where I left them after that,” Lyle says as he offers me a banana and a bag of chips.
“Didn't you want him to be a lawyer, like you?”
“Oh goddess, could you imagine Hunter in a courtroom?” Lyle shakes his head, and I pick up a lingering scent of cloves.
It was easier to identify his alpha pheromones out here, away from the mixed scents in the Ashbourne cabin.
“No, he’s more like his mother. Diane is an artist. She sculpts.
The things she brings to life from clay are incredible. ”
He unscrews his own water and takes a long gulp before pouring a little over his head to cool himself down.
“Besides, when you have a child, sure, you have hopes and dreams for them, but as they grow, you realise that they have their own path to follow. My job as a parent is to give them the love, support and confidence they need to be their own person.”
He climbs onto a nearby boulder and gets comfortable with his own snacks. Once he’s settled, he quietly says, “It’s not my place to dictate which route they take.”
We sit in silence for a while, the only noise from the twins as they shout questions to Lyle about whatever has caught their attention.
“Why does Hunter really have his own cabin?” Hunter joked about bringing people back, but that can’t be the only reason. There had to be another reason the alpha had a separate space away from his family, his pack.
Sighing, he takes another sip of his water before he answers. “I probably shouldn’t say anything, but as a dominant alpha sometimes it’s too much for him to be around me or Ivii for too long.” Lyle scratches at his beard and places his sunglasses on the top of his head.
Hunter was a dominant alpha?
That was incredibly rare. But he’d never given any indication…dominants were often volatile. Prone to mood swings, shows of dominance, they were ruled more by their alpha nature than the rest of us. He’d never been like that…except he had been.
When he’d been fucking Percy.
When we were in Crest Haven.
When he fought with me at the house party.
The signs of a dominant had been there, lingering on the edges the whole time.
My thoughts are interrupted by Lyle tearing open his bag of chips, the crinkling noise distracting me. “It’s why we also secured his private workshop at Oakley. He uses it if his ruts become unbearable or he needs space from…”
“Me,” I finished for him as I rubbed my palms on my borrowed shorts. In fact, everything I was wearing today was borrowed, from Lyle’s spare hiking boots, to Hunter’s vest and shorts.
“Well, not you specifically but living with three alpha can’t be easy.
You know, he’s never brought anyone home before.
Not in Oakley, the townhouse in Crest Haven or any of the other homes we own.
” Lyle gives me a knowing look, the corner of his mouth lifting the same way Hunter’s does.
Was this what he’d look like twenty years from now?
“Percy…” I start, not even sure what I'm going to say next.
“Is Ivii’s friend.” Lyle is confident with his words, and for some reason, that makes me relax. My shoulders drop and I exhale slowly, my body unclenching as I raise my face to the sun.
“My daughter can be very determined. She gets that from me.” There’s another chuckle, but it’s not cruel, it’s clear how much he loves his kids.
They’re lucky to have a father like Lyle.
And don’t get me started on Diane. I have no idea what will happen with Hunter in future, but Diane is my mom too now.
“Hunter on the other hand sometimes needs to know what’s on offer so he can make an informed choice. ”
I snort as I peel my banana and eat half of it in one bite. “You sound like my dad weighing up stock options.”
“Ahhhhh, good old Harrison. How is he?”
“You know my father?” It shouldn’t surprise me. The rich and the wealthy tended to move in the same circles and despite the homely, salt of the earth vibes this week, the Ashbourne’s were still very influential and powerful.