Chapter 23 #2
Brent sneered. “That’s right. This is what your hatred cost you.
” He gestured at the boys. “These are our sons. They could have been your grandsons if you’d been a less shitty person.
They were created from the love I shared with my first mate, Jenna.
She died, Dad. While the boys were in the room with her.
My wife died, and my family wasn’t here to help us through it.
” He sneered. “No, that’s wrong. The sleuth, my real family, did help us, it was you.
And that was okay. I didn’t want you here.
These boys? They’re artists. Actors. Singers.
Things you hate. They love with their whole hearts.
They call Uly Momma, because he shares a similar smell with Jenna, but their love for him is so fierce, it dwarfs any you’d ever be able to show them.
You told the sleuth for decades there was no such thing as mates.
You turned our mistrust of wolves into outright hate that will take years to wipe away.
You’ve never done one thing for your people. ”
I pulled the boys closer and watched as Brent chastised the old man. His gaze flicked from Chaim to Benjy, then from Brent to me. His nostrils flared and I realized something. Or thought I did.
“Brent?”
He turned and smiled at me. “Yeah, baby?”
“He knows.”
“What?”
“Your dad. He knows mates are real. It’s clear on his face. You rattled him with the admission of me and Jenna being your mates, but his expression tells me he knew about them.”
His head twisted back toward his father. “You knew?” he demanded.
“He did, cub,” Chaim said, as he stroked a hand over Benjy’s nape. “Benjy and I were forbidden from telling you. Us leaving was one of the conditions he set to keep Benjy safe. He didn’t want us to infect the sleuth.”
“Because they’re gay?” Brent snarled. “All of this is because you’re homophobic?”
“It’s not natural!” Gavin shouted. “I knew they’d already infected you. I could see it. You were so goddamn pathetic. You should have crushed Peter Small.”
Brent squeezed his hands into fists. “I was eight fucking years old! He was sixteen.”
He sneered, and that expression pissed me off. “That’s no excuse for not being strong.”
Brent scrubbed a hand over his face, then stood ramrod straight. “No. You are not putting this on me. I was a child. You were—are—a shitty father. I couldn’t wait to get you out of Bear Mountain. I never wanted to see you again.”
“We will kill you if we have to,” Amelia said, her normally cheery voice dark and angry.
“Very few in the town would welcome your return and would fight you at every step. Mr. Lockhart has been the best thing this town has ever seen. He’s good, kind, fierce, loyal.
All those things you will never understand. ”
“Why don’t you just go?” Brent asked, his tone weary. “It’s obvious you’re here alone.”
“Louis wanted me to come back and fix the sleuth.”
“Fix us?” Brent barked. “We’re more successful now than we ever have been.
If he wants so badly to work with you, you’re welcome to take him as you leave.
However, you will not be staying. Time for you to go back to Texas and this time, stay there.
Come back again and I will designate you as a hostile and we will react as such. ”
He seemed rattled. “I am your father, and you will show me the respect I deserve.”
Brent chuckled. It was dry and dusty, like someone who hadn’t laughed in years, even though I knew better.
“Trust me, I have. The fact you’re not laying dead on our floor?
That, I think, shows you all the respect you’ll get here.
Way more than you showed any of our people.
I’m not going to knock how you ran the sleuth.
That isn’t for me to decide. If the people want to follow you, that’s up to them and I won’t take that choice from them.
However, I will say you had no business having a family.
None whatsoever. I will never understand what mom saw in you.
I get why she left, though. Why she couldn’t—or wouldn’t—be a part of the madness you were spreading. ”
I had thought Brent’s mom had died. Apparently not.
“This man—this human—isn’t your mate. Mates aren’t real! Stop falling for that garbage. Your mother tried to tell me I was her mate. Said I smelled like fallen leaves and that first hint of snow. What bullshit lies she told me before she left us.”
And then I understood. “You unbelievable bastard,” I snapped.
“That woman? She was your mate more than likely. She would have stood by your side forever, if you had been a decent person. I can only imagine how much it must have hurt her to leave her home. From the man she loved more than life itself.”
“You don’t know anything!” he shouted, storming toward me. The boys roared, and he hesitated a moment, but it was enough for Chaim, Benjy, Amelia, and Brent to surround me.
“You even think about laying a hand on him, and I will make sure you’re dead,” Brent snarled, his eyes narrowed and his tone dark.
“My mother ran away and she was your mate. I’m more certain than ever you don’t know what love is.
You’re a cold, heartless bastard. Even worse than I thought.
Get out, Dad. I never want to see you again. ”
“I’ll leave when I want to!”
Chaim wrapped his hand around the back of Gavin’s neck and squeezed hard enough Gavin flinched. “And you’re ready to go. I’ll tell you right now, the only thing keeping me from ripping you apart is the cub.”
“Oh, don’t let me stop you,” Brent insisted.
“You vile bastards!”
That was obviously where Brent drew the line.
He stormed toward his father, brushing off Chaim and Benjy when they tried to stop him.
He got up in the man’s face and in a cold, calculated voice said, “Wanna know something? I would have killed myself if it wasn’t for Chaim and Benjy.
All the abuse I was getting at school combined with mom leaving and the cold disregard I got at home?
Why the hell would I want to keep living under that crushing weight?
But they showed me I had worth. Proved I had a family that loved me.
And I discovered I had strength, Dad. They helped to bring it out, to show the sleuth I could be a strong, but kind leader.
The type of person I’d like to think Mom would have been proud of. ”
“Your mother was weak,” Gavin snapped. “You’re weak. In this world, only strength matters.”
“Fine, if you want to finish this fight, to show the sleuth who the better leader is, then I’ll accept your challenge. Shift, old man.”
Gavin stripped off what was obviously an expensive suit. He had money, so why did he want the sleuth? Especially since Brent had made it—oh.
“You know why he wants this fight, right?” I asked.
“Yes. Because it’s a success now, and he can have the money, then run the sleuth into the ground like he tried to do before.”
“Cub, think about this.”
“Oh, believe me, I have. Those nights when I was crying myself to sleep because my wife had died. The times when I wasn’t sure I could take proper care of the boys because I had no one I could talk with.
Then there were the hours I sat, wondering where my best friends were, because he’d forced them to leave.
Yeah, Chaim, I’ve been thinking about this for years. ”
After Gavin was nude, he shifted. His bear was impressive, but not compared to Brent’s. In fact, he seemed rather… small, comparatively speaking. Everyone moved back, allowing the two of them full use of the great room. This wasn’t going to work for me.
“Stop!” I shouted. They both turned to look at me. “Amelia, could you take the boys to their rooms?”
“Of course.”
She herded the protesting kids away from the tense atmosphere. Cries of, ‘I don’t like him, his breath smells!’ reached me as Amelia got them to their room. As soon as I heard the door close, I turned to the other people.
“Take this crap outside,” I demanded. “We just got this place clean after the boys finished playing, and I’m not about to have two meatheads smash the furniture up.” I opened the french doors leading into the back. “Go on, get out.”
A bearish smile crossed Brent’s face as he led the way into the large, snow-covered garden.
Once there, I stayed up on the veranda, staring out at the father and son who were about to fight.
I was sure it had been a long time coming, but still didn’t like it.
Brent had explained to me once that any bear worth his salt would rather go down fighting instead of giving up.
I had no idea what that meant, so I’d just nodded.
The fight started immediately, with Gavin swiping Brent’s face, but it didn’t faze him.
Brent threw his considerable weight against Gavin, knocking him over, then leaping onto him.
Gavin grunted and cried out in pain. He snapped at Brent, who moved out of the way quickly.
He then smashed Gavin in the face with his oversized mitt, dazing him.
It was obvious the older bear was winded, but he still staggered, huffing and puffing to his feet, his gaze locked on Brent. He plodded forward, with a listing gait, when it struck me.
“Brent, stop.”
He did as I asked, but didn’t take his eyes off Gavin. I stepped out onto the snow-covered lawn and stood beside my mate, stroking my fingers over his ears.
“How long?” I demanded.
Gavin glared at me.
“Y’know, I don’t give a flying fudge, but how long?”
“What are you talking about, Uly?” Chaim asked.
“He knows. Don’t you, Gavin?”
The shift was slow in coming, but eventually the human half stood before me. “How did you know?”
“One of the boys said your breath smelled funny.”
“Smart kids.”
Brent shifted back. “What’s this about?” he demanded.
“I don’t know what it is, but Gavin is sick. The boys smelled it on him.”
Leaning forward, Brent took a whiff and his nose wrinkled. “What the hell?”
“It’s cancer, isn’t it?” Chaim demanded.
“Yeah. Stage four. Probably got a month or two to live.”
“And you thought, what? You’d come here and force your own son to kill you? What a fucking coward,” I snapped.
“So you’re dying? Is that what you’re telling me?” Brent asked.
“Yeah.”
A sick smile crossed Brent’s face. “Good. You deserve to suffer for the horrible human being you are.”
Not one person raised their voice in Gavin’s defense. No one said Brent was being harsh. I wanted to speak up, but this? It wasn’t my world. Mine was out there, among humans. This was the sleuth, and their rules held sway. If Brent wanted him gone, he would be going.
“Please, Typhon. Let me die in my homeland.”
Brent barked a laugh. “No. If you had come here and said you were sick, maybe. But you still tried to cheat to get your own way. I have to tell you, over the years I’ve wondered if you’d changed.
If you had become a better person. I have my answer.
” He pulled out his phone, pressed a button, then held it to his ear.
“Cullin, I need you to pick someone up at the house and take them to the airport. You’re not to leave until they get on the plane and are airborne. ”
Then he put his phone away.
“Chaim? Can you keep an eye on him until Cullin can take over?”
“You got it, Typhon.”
Brent glared at him. “Never call me that again.” He turned to his father. “Good to see you, Dad. Hope the end is painful.”
Then he took my hand and led me to the room where the boys were playing. When they saw me, they came running.
“Mama!”
“I need you to go back to playing,” Brent said. “Let me take care of Uly, then we can all cuddle together, okay?”
“Okay, Daddy!”
After they went back to playing with the teddy bear I’d given them, Brent went to the bathroom, then came back with a basin that he set beside me as he knelt down.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered as he stroked a cloth over my face, cleaning off the blood.
“For what?”
“He never should have gotten near you. I’ll hire guards and—”
“No. Don’t do this. You shouldn’t apologize, not to me.”
“He hurt you,” Brent growled, and I could see the anger and pain etched on his face.
“No. He tried to hurt me. You, Chaim, Benjy, Amelia, and the boys? You protected me.”
“But—”
“Brent, let it go. You all saved me. Again. I have nothing but love for everybody. Your father? Yeah, not so much. But we’ll never see him again, so there’s no issues.”
He was quiet then, dipping the cloth into the water, watching as it stained red. I knew this hurt him, but I also hoped he’d come to understand how much I appreciated what everyone had done for me and him tonight.
We were family, after all.
After he finished washing my face, he emptied the water, then came back and called the boys to us. We all lay quietly until Cullin informed us that Gavin’s plane had left Bear Mountain.
He wouldn’t be missed.