23. Bjorn
Bjorn
They found Escalus behind his desk in his office, glasses perched on his nose and a frustrated look on his face as he studied a thick sheaf of papers. Bjorn tapped on the door jamb to get his attention. “Alpha?”
Escalus looked up in surprise. “Oh! Hi, yeah, come in. Sorry, was focused on this fucking contract.” He gestured them into the room, and they took their usual chairs in front of his desk.
“Pierre said you wanted to see us,” Bjorn told him. “Did my parents do something else?”
The alpha shook his head and sighed. “No, but they’re being an entire pain in my ass just by existing.
The more I think about them being a bad influence on the den, the more I see examples of it.
Yesterday your father refused to eat at the den dinner because ‘How do I know if this food was cooked by a human?’ Which not only makes no logical sense, but is just stupid, to boot. ”
Beside Bjorn, Dennis blinked, looking confused. “What, does he think we have cooties?”
Bjorn snorted. “Probably. Maybe he’s afraid he’ll get infected and grow some common sense.”
Oh, that earned him a grin, and he couldn’t help grinning back and taking his mate’s hand.
Escalus made an interested noise and nodded to their joined hands. “Date went well, then?”
Bjorn ducked his head, embarrassed that the entire den seemed to know about his stop-and-start courtship, but Dennis just chuckled. “We had a great time. A second date is definitely on the agenda.”
“Fuck yeah.” Escalus pumped his fist in victory. “Take that, Ronald and Rowena!”
“Speaking of Mom and Papa…” Bjorn said, “any news on the volunteering front?”
“Oh, yeah.” The alpha brandished the papers he’d been examining.
“The community center faxed over their volunteer contract and code of conduct this morning, along with a schedule of open shifts, so I’ve been reading through everything.
Just about done, and then I’m heading over to your parents’ house to make them sign on the dotted line.
” He wiggled his eyebrows. “It should be…entertaining. You guys wanna come along?”
“Oh, hell yeah,” Dennis said before Bjorn could formulate a response. “This, I want to see.”
“Simon!” the alpha called, and the little guy popped his head into the office.
“What’s up, Alpha?”
Escalus handed his assistant the papers. “Can you make two copies of these, please? And then bring them back in; we’re headed over to the Karlssons’ house with them.”
“You got it,” Simon said with a snappy salute, taking the papers and disappearing back through the door toward where the copy machine must have been.
Escalus leaned back in his chair and folded his hands over his stomach.
“I’m going to present it as a done deal,” he told them, “and not give them any room to refuse. Now, they’ll probably still try, mind you, but if I’m good at anything, it’s being a hardass.
Don’t let your mom going all teary-eyed persuade you, Bjorn. ”
No. No, he wouldn’t. His mother’s tears and complaints had stopped working on him years ago; it had been the only way for him to survive. “Understood, Alpha.”
Simon re-entered the room and silently handed over three stacks of paper.
Escalus accepted them with a nod. “Thanks, Simon.” He passed one sheaf of papers to Bjorn.
“This is your copy to refer back to. I’ll leave one with your parents for their reference, and the third set I’ll have them take to the community center for their first shift.
Which, by the way…” He grinned secretively. “It’ll be tomorrow.”
Bjorn almost – almost – felt bad for his parents, being blindsided and railroaded like this. Then he remembered how they’d treated his mate, and suddenly he was ok with it again.
“Probably for the best to not give them too long to build up a head of steam,” Dennis agreed with the alpha. He made a thinking face. “Any chance we could go along with them? I kinda want to see this.”
Escalus grinned. “Way ahead of you. I already got clearance from Ted to send you as one-time helpers. You’ll have to sign a few forms when you get there, but other than that you’re good to go.”
Bjorn wasn’t all that sure he wanted to see the ugliness his parents would probably direct at people at the center, but on the other hand, someone was going to have to keep them under control and it might as well be him and his mate. “Thank you, Alpha,” he said politely.
Escalus gave him a nod and tapped the bottoms of his papers on the desk to straighten them. “Well, no time like the present. Let’s go give them an unpleasant surprise.” And with that, he stood and strode across the room, motioning for them to follow him as he went.
***
"Alpha!" Rowena exclaimed as she opened her front door. "To what do we owe this pleasure? Oh. Hello, Bjorn." She stopped there, studiously ignoring the presence of Dennis.
Escalus gave her a tight smile and nod. "Got some business for you and your mate. Call him, please."
Rowena blinked, looking a little stunned by the cold manner, but obediently called over her shoulder, "Ronald! Alpha needs to speak with us about business!"
That wasn't quite what Escalus had said, but Bjorn wasn't going to disabuse her of the notion that he wanted to discuss business rather than them being the business.
He and Dennis followed silently as Rowena led them deeper into the house toward their formal parlor.
And "formal parlor" was what it was, his mother had drummed into him over the years; "living room" was so plebeian, and "sitting room" was too foreign-sounding.
They found his father already sitting in the parlor, poking at his phone. He looked up when they entered. "Hello, Alpha. Son." Again, no greeting for Dennis, Bjorn noted.
"Hi, Papa," he said, pulling Dennis down to sit beside him on the loveseat. "How are you?" he asked politely, needing to fill some of the silence.
Ronald glanced at Escalus, then back at Bjorn. "Oh, very well, very well," he said dismissively, then turned back to the alpha. "To what do we owe this pleasure, Alpha?"
"I've got a…job for you," Escalus said gravely, pausing only slightly on job, probably against the temptation of saying forced assignment instead. His tone was far more formal than Bjorn was used to hearing from his usually foul-mouthed alpha. "For you and Rowena both, actually."
His mother fluttered a little in her seat beside her husband. "Oh! Me as well? What could I possibly do?"
Bjorn thought he detected just a hint of a smirk on Escalus's face as the man said, "We're going to put your mothering skills to work, Rowena. And Ronald's diplomacy skills."
Those were two skills his parents most certainly did not possess in any large amount, and Bjorn tried not to snicker as his parents exchanged a confused look. "Oh?" his father said weakly, raising his eyebrows at the alpha’s expression, which was frankly a bit gleeful.
Escalus nodded firmly. "Warming Hearts, the local community center, needs volunteers. I've decided to assign you two to them for the foreseeable future."
Rowena blinked, looking like she had no idea what to make of this pronouncement. "A community…center?" she repeated faintly.
"What's that?" Ronald asked more bluntly.
Escalus gave them a thin-lipped smile. "I'm glad you asked. The community center hosts activities for local teenagers and young adults, aiming to give them mentorship and somewhere positive to go during their spare time. Their clientele is entirely human," he added, eyes sharpening.
Rowena blanched. "Oh, we couldn't possibly -"
"You'll love it," Bjorn couldn't help throwing in, and if he was taunting them just a little, who could blame him? "Kids everywhere, and you guys are so experienced in leading community and den life," he choked a little on the words, "that we thought you'd be just perfect for this."
Ronald, catching on that something was odd here, narrowed his gaze on his son. "What have you done now?" he hissed, then looked at Escalus. "I'm not sure what my son has told you, but Rowena and I are very busy and we couldn't possibly…with humans…" He shook his head. "It's not appropriate."
"Appropriate or not, it's also not optional," Escalus broke in sternly. "You will do this, both of you."
"But why?" whined Rowena.
Escalus looked down his nose at her and shook his head. "Because you and your mate need an education in real life and in how to treat people."
Rowena gasped, her hand flying to her chest. "We -"
"I am aware," Escalus went on, ignoring her protest, "of how you've been treating your son and, most particularly, his mate.
" He shook his head. "You should be overjoyed that your child has found his mate.
Instead, you've been trying to force them apart.
And then I hear that you've been filling people's heads with anti-human sentiment for months, at least?
" His next words came out on a low growl: "I don't think so. "
"But, Alpha," Ronald began, "we're not prejudiced; it's just that -"
Dennis, who had been sitting quietly up until this point, emitted an indelicate snort. "Yes, you fucking are," he informed Ronald shortly.
Ronald pointed a shaking finger at him. "You! You're the cause of all this drama; if you'd just go back to where you came from -"
"Ohio?" Dennis asked with a raised eyebrow.
"- Wherever that is," Ronald continued, "then we could go on very well as we have been for decades." He turned to Bjorn. "We'll get you settled in as a human and then find you a different, more suitable mate. I know you didn't like Kevin, but there are other single bears!"
"I like Kevin just fine," Bjorn said, shaking his head at the sheer bullheadedness. "I just don't want to mate him. Because I already have a mate."
Rowena scoffed. "He won't even bond with you. Some mate."
"Enough!" Escalus roared, and everyone in the room shrank back a bit.
"This is not up for negotiation, and we are not here to allot blame, particularly to innocent people.
" He glanced at Dennis meaningfully. "You will report to the community center at noon tomorrow and do everything you are instructed to do.
Your assignment ends when either I or the community center administrators say you're not needed anymore.
You will do this, or we will be having a serious talk about your continuing status in this den. "
Both of Bjorn's parents simply gaped at the alpha, wordless for once.
"And just to make sure," Escalus added, "Bjorn and Dennis will be accompanying you tomorrow."
"B-b-but, Alpha," Ronald sputtered, "my work here at the den…"
"Covered." Escalus waved a dismissive hand. "The community center is your job now."
Rowena emitted a muffled shriek, startling both Bjorn and Dennis, though Escalus didn't so much as twitch. "This is bullshit," she hissed, and the sound of the crude word in his mother's usually so-classy mouth startled Bjorn perhaps more than the roar had. "We will not work with these…these…"
"Humans?" Dennis offered coolly.
"Yes!"
Escalus sighed and leaned back in his seat.
"Let me be clearer, then: if you do not do this job, and do it to the best of your ability, I will be stripping Ronald of his position in the den and cutting both of you out of the communal business profits.
Not that there's much of those," he added under his breath.
Then he went on in full alpha-voice, "Don't test me on this. "
"Fine," Rowena snapped. "We'll do your stupid -"
"Ro." Ronald held up a hand to forestall his wife's forthcoming rant. "Enough." He looked at Escalus. "We will be there tomorrow. I don't know what you expect to accomplish with this stunt, but I understand that we are not being given a choice."
Escalus nodded. "Good, I'm glad to hear it." He looked over at Bjorn. "You two ready to go?"
Bjorn nodded, but his mother squeaked again as they stood up. "You can't just -!" she protested.
Escalus silenced her with a glance, her mouth snapping shut so quickly that it had to hurt.
"Oh," he added over his shoulder as he strode toward the door, "and Bjorn and Dennis will be reporting back to me about the quality of your work.
Just so you know." And with that, he let himself out, leaving Bjorn and Dennis to follow after him while Bjorn's parents just stood there and stared.
"Whoa," Dennis remarked, pushing his hair out of his face, as they emerged into the clearing, "that was intense. About what I expected, though."
"Same," Escalus said shortly. "This was about as good as it was going to get." He patted Dennis on the shoulder. "Just get through tomorrow with them and then you can forget about them."
And wasn't that the shittiest part, Bjorn mused. The best he could reasonably hope for was to never be bothered by his parents again once he left the den.