Chapter 31
Dorian
She didn’t look like a flake…and I was starting to understand why Braun originally thought she’d be a stable guardian for Emeric. Macy was good at looking like an adult, but looking like one and actually being one where very different things.
She might’ve actually understood that, though, because I wasn’t sure women her age regularly went around in pantsuits like she was in politics and with their hair up in some complicated-looking bun that probably had a special name.
“I won’t be able to use my degree in supernatural biology in the human world, but that’s why I got the first one.” Macy also seemed to be highly motivated and very smart. “I’ve got some great books I’ll show you.”
She even kept Emeric’s attention really well, but the whole situation felt very off.
That might’ve been because she’d been hanging out in Braun’s mother’s living room when we’d come back from our date.
I’d been thrown from the start and was still trying to find my footing.
“That’s cool.” Sitting up taller, Emeric was doing his best to look like a little adult. “I’m thinking about accounting but economics looks cool too. My school might even have to do a special class for me junior year because I’m already ahead in math.”
Because he was smart and driven…although we needed to work on human history more. For some reason he’d mostly been taught non-human history and that wasn’t anywhere in the state curriculum. It was going to make for some good conversations, and I was looking forward to them.
“How do you like going to an in-person human school?” Relaxing back on the couch, she kept chattering with him while Braun and I were doing our best to stay quiet. “I liked it when I was in high school, but your dad was completely against it.”
Shrugging, Emeric glanced at me as he reached for another of the brownies he’d made with Braun’s mother.
A nod had him grinning and picking up one of the, thankfully, tiny treats.
She was a bad influence but not as bad as she tried to pretend to be.
“Mom was even worse about it. She ranted for what seemed like years when grandma and grandpa let you go to that human college.”
Really?
Braun blinked but seemed to be doing his best not to react because it was more information than we’d gotten from Emeric in the last couple of days.
Macy groaned, getting a grin from Emeric. “She hated me since I was little. Clearly she hadn’t gotten over that, but it’s not my fault I was born.”
Interesting.
Wait.
Where had her first pack been?
“She thought it was.” Emeric looked confused about the why, though. “You took the attention or something?”
There seemed to be a story we hadn’t heard, but I wasn’t sure how to get more information without throwing them off.
And then we’d have to figure out what to say.
Neither of us had been expecting to see her hanging out with Emeric, and simply getting to know her wasn’t telling me how to bring up Emeric’s situation.
“I know she’s your mom but she’s never been able to share the spotlight. I think that was why she made them stay in the old pack. She liked having her Uncle Otto’s attention.” Macy finally looked her age as she rolled her eyes.
What?
Braun’s eye twitched, so I knew it wasn’t just a surprise to me.
“He doesn’t like me, so I don’t know why we stayed.” Frowning, Emeric got up from his chair and went over to climb onto Braun’s lap without thinking about it. “Even after she left, he wouldn’t let us leave the pack.”
He…
His father or the wannabe Alpha?
If Braun were human-sized it wouldn’t have worked, but Alpha wolves were just built for snuggling and he wrapped Emeric up in his arms as soon as the pup settled down. “I had to always hide in my room every time he came to visit ‘cause I’d make him angry.”
Really?
“I don’t know why, but your dad said it was important.” Macy shrugged, looking confused. “All I know is that your grandparents refused to talk about it, so I have no idea what happened.”
Wrapping his arms around Emeric, Braun finally eased back into the conversation as his mother came out of the kitchen.
She’d said she was going to get a drink of water, but her hands were empty and she’d come out just as the conversation was getting good.
“I’m pretty sure we were told that the old pack wasn’t a good fit any longer and they wanted somewhere more modern to raise you, Macy. ”
Clearly they’d left out a few important details.
“I don’t know about modern but I know that they wanted to get away.
Needed, maybe?” Her head cocked as she seemed to think about it.
“I remember there being fights when Emeric was little and us moving on short notice. Like one day everything was fine and the next we were living in a hotel looking for a new pack.”
That wasn’t suspicious at all.
“There’s nothing about that in our records.” Braun shifted Emeric so he was sitting on one of his legs. “Do you remember hearing anything about that, pup?”
Emeric’s head shake wasn’t a surprise. “No. I just know I was just wrong or something?”
“Wrong?” Braun’s question had Emeric looking down at his hands like he hadn’t meant to confess some kind of sin. “We all know you’re perfect. Dorian said so and he’s always right. But I think understanding what happened back then might help us now.”
Hopefully.
“You guys think I’m important.” Shifting, he tried to sit straighter but Braun ruined that plan by pulling him into another hug. Something about it was hilarious to Emeric and his giggles made everyone else laugh too. “Don’t squish the important person.”
“I make no promises.” He would tickle, though, because he dug his fingers into Emeric’s side getting more laughter from him as Emeric wiggled and squealed. “This is much more fun than promising to behave.”
Agreeing, Emeric laughed and squirmed until Braun finally let him breathe and then the pup collapsed against him. “I…I wasn’t supposed to be me? Or something? I don’t know what they meant but they were all frustrated about something when I was born.”
I didn’t know enough to even be able to guess what it could’ve been, but Braun wasn’t having the same issue.
“Did they say you were born with the mark or touched? Maybe something about being born under a sign?” Braun frowned when Emeric jolted, obviously reacting to the last option.
I still had no idea what was going on and Macy’s frown said she was confused too…but Braun’s mother’s eyes had gone wide.
So something had either gotten interesting or shocking.
Trying to act casual, Emeric shrugged and leaned into Braun like it wasn’t important. “I looked up the human zodiac stuff but none of that made sense.”
“That was a good guess, but it’s an old-fashioned way of talking about a new pup.
What it means is that when you were born, the Alpha at the time recognized you as an Alpha too.
” He paused, frowning like he was mentally sorting through something.
“Well, that you’d become the next Alpha of the pack when you were old enough. ”
Or when the Alpha died?
Wait.
How did that work?
Did we know how the old Alpha died?
Oh.
That explained Emeric’s big paws.
“The next Alpha?” Macy seemed more shocked than Emeric who was just studying Braun like he’d gone from a wolf to a bug. “Was that why my parents left?”
“I don’t know.” Before she could respond, Braun palmed Emeric’s face and tipped him backward, getting more giggles. “But I do know we’ve got a pup who’s going to be very big one day.”
There was too much we didn’t know, but it was time to iron out a few things we could figure out. So as Braun wrestled Emeric and kept him distracted, I focused on Macy. “When did Emeric’s mother leave?”
Frowning, she had to think for a moment. “A couple of months ago, I think. I didn’t think to ask about her until I realized my brother hadn’t mentioned her in a long time. He was cagy about it but said she was pissed and needed space. It sounded reasonable, so I dropped it.”
How?
As Emeric laughed and pretended to try to free himself from Braun, I mouthed “mates” but she shook her head.
Interesting.
But had she actually left?
It was sad to think about, but I was fairly certain they needed to search for her body somewhere on the pack grounds.
How had no one down there thought to tell someone in authority what was going on?
Why had Macy just ignored all of the strange things going on down there?
At the very least her scale of when to worry and when to point out problems was completely warped and I couldn’t help wondering if we had the ability to make her see a therapist too? I’d never run into anything like this and I knew Braun hadn’t either.
I still had a lot of questions, but it was clear Macy wasn’t in the right place in life to take care of Emeric no matter how polite she seemed.
Sylvia seemed to be thinking the same thing because she finally sat down beside Macy and patted her knee.
“It seems there’s a lot to still figure out, including Emeric’s Alpha status, which is probably a good reason for Emeric to stay with you and Braun, Dorian. ”
Really?
She was just going to charge in on that one after being so quiet about everything else?
There was no way getting water had taken that long.
“Macy and I had a firm talk when she showed up about how flakes who like to shop don’t get to raise a teenager.
” Sylvia completely ignored the way Macy winced and just kept going.
“We decided it would be best for Braun to take official custody and you guys will register that with the council as soon as everything is cleared up.”
That was it?
A few sighs and winces from Macy and everything was done?
“See?” Emeric threw his arms around Braun as soon as his Alpha sat him back up again. “I belong to you.”
“Of course you do.” Sounding all Alpha confident got more giggles from Emeric. “Dorian bought stuff for your room when we were out shopping. That means you have to stay.”
I was pretty sure it was the way he’d called Emeric his son earlier that did that, but if he wanted to blame it on me shopping, I was fine with that. “Don’t spoil my surprise.”
It was just a small figurine that reminded me of his wolf, but it was a good change of subject and kept Emeric distracted until we’d escaped and he was racing us back home.
Or claiming he was going to race us. What that seemed to mean was that he shifted and was running back and forth between us and the house as we meandered back slow enough that he could work off his extra energy.
So as he raced off again to tag our front porch, I took advantage of the space and forced myself to bring up more practical matters.
“Is it a reasonable question to ask what pack he’s going to be the Alpha of?” I really didn’t understand the magical versus political aspects of the situation. “Oh, and I’d like to point out that I told you how big his paws were.”
Laughing, Braun leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the side of my head. “You did. Because my mate is amazing.”
“And?” I was amazing but I needed information. “Webster says he has books. Why don’t I have books?”
“Because Webster is studying to be a cop, but for us, that means he has to know everything about the human world and the non-human world from laws to important biological differences.” My wince got a chuckle out of my dramatic mate.
“Yeah, our laws and the human ones and the differences between the different groups. But I’m sure we can ask for a copy if you’d like. ”
“Yes, please.” I wasn’t sure it would be light reading but it seemed to be the most comprehensive way to get information. “Then I’ll know how legal your computer business is.”
That grin still didn’t make me confident about how upstanding it was.
“How about we talk about how my mother called Macy a flake?” Braun picked a good way to change the conversation and he chuckled as I shook my head. “And you thought we’d have to find a polite way to bring up the problem.”
“We should’ve had to be polite.” Sylvia just hadn’t seen it that way. “I’m a wuss but I’m very glad we didn’t have to be the ones to point that out.”
Braun snorted. “You and me both. I didn’t want to come across like an asshole who thought he could just claim people.”
Like Otto…whatever he was.
We’d tried to work through everything on the drive to dinner, but all we’d come up with was that he’d done something terrible and the magic had taken his ability to be Alpha at some point.
It was good to see there was at least some kind of magical checks and balances, but we were just going to have to wait for the details and hope someone filled in the blanks eventually.
And eventually we’d need to pass along the Emeric the potential Alpha situation as well as about his mother.
For the time being, though, I was going to make the executive decision that we were done with everything sad, serious, or traumatizing.
“Did I hear you promise Emeric two chapters tonight?” His wince had me trying not to smile. “Really? Two?”
“It was either that or explain why we weren’t fully mated yet.” Braun grinned as I felt my eyes widen. “You were in the bathroom for that one.”
Oh.
“Um, yes we probably need to have that discussion at some point.” Braun had said penetrative sex wasn’t necessary for it, but we hadn’t gotten enough true alone time for bonding to finish taking place.
Magic didn’t like quiet quickies evidently.
“Two chapters it is.” Because we were not going to tell Emeric our lack of privacy was dragging out that process. “But after showers because once he relaxes, he’s going to crash.”
He’d been doing his best to act Alpha Braun-level cool about everything, but the relief he had to be feeling would be exhausting.
I knew it was for me and there was nothing more I wanted than to snuggle up to Braun and give him hell for scaring me earlier.
We had a few things to discuss about that, and I hadn’t forgotten it, no matter what he seemed to be hoping.