Chapter 33
Chapter
Thirty-Three
Eventually, I managed to pull myself together. I moved out of Colton’s hold. He didn’t move other than his arms tucking around his middle. Flashing him a smile, I shook my head.
“I’m sorry. I just…I broke for a moment.”
He smiled back. “We all break sometimes. It’s okay. If only we were more like our dark horses.”
My mouth opened slightly, surprised. “I wouldn’t be so frightened of the storms.”
“Jodie Hollander.” Colton stood up, holding his hand out to me. “I prefer her poem, Blue.”
I took his hand, and he helped me to stand. “I don’t know that one.”
“It’s in her newest book. I can give you a copy. I have it in my room.”
Nodding, I felt my throat tighten. For a moment, I just stared at him. He wasn’t shy, or shying away from me. There was a level of sorrow that clung to him, almost making him seem bigger than he was. My hand tightened, and I realized I was still holding his hand.
Letting it go quickly, I took a step away.
Why was he affecting me like this? Was it because he was an Omega?
I couldn’t remember any time I’d come into contact with an Omega that I felt like this.
Worse, I had a mate. Ebony was waiting for me back at the cabin we stayed at on her parent’s territory.
Turning, I looked at my dad. “A little warning would have been nice.”
He chuckled, coming forward and slamming his hand on my back twice. “You would have braced for it, and it might not have worked. I didn’t actually know if it would work. I just knew your dragon was in there.”
“You did?” My voice cracked, and I winced.
“I did. Marcus, if you had lost your dragon, you wouldn’t be able to stand like you are now.” His eyes shifted over to Colton.
Colton understood that the comment targeted him. His fingers laced together and his mouth thinned. Was he losing his wolf? Is that why he looked like he was dying? Or rather, that he was dying?
“Thank you. I…” Shaking my head, I looked up at the sky. “I should have come sooner and talked to you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, son. You’re here now, that’s what matters.”
We all walked into the house, and Colton seemed to evaporate.
Beau said goodbye and took off to go home around five.
Laila had already gone home after dropping Colton off.
I sat in the living room with Mom and Dad for a long while.
They got some of my clothes from my old room, but they were uncomfortably tight.
Dad seemed to get a kick out of it, but Mom slapped him in the chest to get him to shut up.
“How is he doing?”
I looked up at Dad. “My dragon? It feels like he’s stewing.”
Dad nodded. “I’m…” He paused, glancing at Mom before sitting forward and resting his arms on his knees. “I’m worried about this treatment that you’re going through.”
My mouth opened to speak, but he put up his hand, stopping me.
“Your dragon was never gone. Whoever diagnosed that was wrong. If the treatment they are recommending is working under the assumption that you don’t have part of your soul, it could severely hurt you.”
“I want to do this for Ebony, though.”
Mom looked up from her book. “Sweetheart, if you have had your dragon all along. You don’t need fertility treatments. You understand that, right?”
I opened my mouth to argue, but then closed it. They were right. We were talking about boosting my ability to have hatchlings because I wasn’t as strong without my dragon. The broken bond with my dragon also severed the bond with my mate. It would be harder for us to conceive.
If I did have my dragon, all of that was moot. Something must have happened that my soul shut off the bonds that I had. If that were the case, I might be able to reignite the mate bond as well. We could finally move on together with no issues.
Burying my face in my hands, I rubbed vigorously. “I don’t know.”
“Your bond with your dragon is weak. I’m sure you feel that. Not to mention the bond with your mate. They are both incredibly weak. If you did anything that might harm them, like taking a treatment that might have a side effect of attacking your bond...” Dad was serious.
Mom finished his thought. “They were under the assumption that it wouldn’t matter. It does now. I just think maybe you should wait. Hold off on the treatment until they can do some more testing with shifters who have bonds.”
What they were saying made sense. Closing my eyes, I focused on the feeling of my dragon.
The fire that had been roaring before was now barely a simmer.
He was weak. A weakness that I felt in myself every day.
Reaching out, I found my mate bond thread.
It felt so delicate, as though if I held it too tightly it would fall apart.
The bond was fraying and I could feel it falling to pieces even just sitting here.
“Why? Why does my mate bond feel so terrible? It’s like it’s dying.”
My eyes opened and neither of my parents were looking at me. I searched their faces, but they were strained. Mom looked down at her book, but her hand covered the page. Dad leaned back, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Dad?”
“I don’t…I don’t want to push you away when you finally reached out.” His hand fell against the armrest. “I don’t want to fight. I don’t want to push you. We need time.”
I shook my head. “Time for what?”
“To unravel the damage they did to you.” Tears shone in Mom’s eyes. “If they lied to you about your dragon being dead, what else were they lying about, Marcus? What else isn’t what it seems?”
Swallowing, I didn’t know if I wanted the answer to that. “What do you mean?”
Mom got up, opening one of the glass doors of the built-ins that she had Dad make for her years ago. Her hands ran over the spines before she pulled out an album. She shut the door before coming over and setting it on the coffee table in front of me.
For a moment, her hand didn’t leave the cover. “You have been gone from our lives for months, sweetheart.” She looked up at me, a tear falling down her cheek. “It’s not for the reasons you remember, though.”
Her hand lifted off the album, and I could read last year’s date on the cover. Mom didn’t sit back down. Instead, she left the living room. Dad watched her go, a frown on his face.
“Dad, what is going on?”
“I wanted to take this slower. Ease you into this. I didn’t realize we had run out of time.” His hand ran through his hair. “Just know, we will be here for you. No matter what. We love you, Marcus. We are just glad…that you’re okay.” He followed my mom, leaving me even more confused.
It was getting late, and I really needed to fly back to the cabin.
The album sat on the table, and I stared at it.
I hadn’t seen one of these in years. Mom didn’t really advertise it anymore that she still printed out photos.
Everything turned electronic over the years, but she still continued to keep physical copies of her favorite photos throughout the year.
Though she limited herself to one entire album per year.
My hand hovered over the book before I opened the cover.
It showed a picture from New Year’s Day.
There was a party, and everyone had gathered out in the clearing.
I smiled, seeing everyone’s smiles and looking very drunk.
My smile fell as I saw one of the pictures.
It was me. I had my arm around Beau, who looked like she was trying to fall down dramatically.
I shouldn’t be in any of these. I had no contact with my parents last year. Not after what happened the year before with Ebony. We were together. I didn’t remember what we did on New Year’s, but I definitely shouldn’t have been in these pictures alone.
Flipping through the pages, I was in most of these photos. Smiling, playing with Keith’s kids, wrestling Beau, laughing with Peter, or celebrating birthdays throughout the year. Flipping through faster, some were just moments of her and Dad on their vacations or photos with her own friends.
I got to All Hallows Eve. My memory was with Ebony, as we went out with a group made up of teachers and students at the school. Except that here I was, smiling with the kids as they held up their candy. Beau, Lauren, Mom, and Dad were with us in the photo as well.
The Harvest Celebration they had every year filled the next page.
I wasn’t in any of those. Turning to the next one, I froze.
There was a photo of Colton. His smile was bright, looking up with a pure kind of love that came through even in the photo.
He looked healthier, and I could see black wolf ears on his head.
Colton was looking up at me. I was clean-shaven, looking down at him with the same level of adoration.
My arms were wrapped around him, and his hands held me tight.
The photo next to it had both of us looking at the camera.
His smile was so beautiful, holding none of the pain that I saw in him now.
I also looked like a completely different person. I looked so happy.
My hand covered my mouth as I flipped the page. Whereas in the photos before, he was wearing a sweater-vest, in this one he was only wearing a button-up. His hands were on his stomach, much rounder and more prominent than in the photo before. My hands were on his belly as well. As though…as though…
Shaking my head, I flipped faster. Trying to get through what was happening. Except it only got worse. There were photos of him and Beau, or with Keith’s kids, or with Mom and Dad. Most of the ones with him, I was right next to him. Looking like an entirely different person.
The last few pages had photos of Christmas in a house I didn’t know.
Except I was there. He was smiling, his eyes bright as if someone had captured us looking at each other.
There was a photo of the whole family in front of a house, Christmas lights casting a glow on every and the snow piled up around the house.
There was a serious one, and then there was another silly one.
I was holding the little wolf in my arms, his head thrown back, laughing.
There were a couple more photos at the end, but there wasn’t anything else with me.
I slammed the album shut. Getting up, I took the back door out of the house. Shifting, I jumped into the air and quickly grabbed the bag I had left in the front driveway. Pushing off, I shot into the sky.
I was confused. None of this made sense.
Were they trying to tell me that the little wolf, the one who looked like he was barely hanging on, was my mate?
This was ridiculous. All of this was wrong.
Not just because Ebony was my fated mate, but that if I was Colton’s mate, I was the reason he was dying.
What I needed was Ebony. I needed to talk to her. I needed her comfort; her touch. I needed to talk to her about everything that had just happened. I needed help to figure out what the hell was going on.