I didn’t know either, so I continued up the path and into the house. I could hear them talking from the kitchen. For the first time ever, I felt like the outsider in my own home.
Jay, Taylor and I piled into the kitchen and stood by the table as Claire informed my mother of my father’s condition.
“Will he be all right?” Mom asked.
Claire didn’t answer straight away. But then she reached over and touched my mother’s hand with hers.
“Honestly, I don’t know. If he was just a normal man, I’d say his chances of surviving a year to be about fifty per-cent.”
My mother inhaled sharply. That was not the news she wanted to hear.
Claire continued. “But he isn’t human, so I’m not sure I can give you a full answer. I’m assuming wolf shifters have increased healing, or some other abilities that I don’t know about?”
She looked around the room and I nodded.
“Yeah, as shifters, we heal very rapidly and my father should recover much faster than any other man his age.”
Claire nodded and my mother fixed me with a stare. “Dexter, how about you go speak to Bill about what you’ve found out today? I’ll keep Claire company.”
The tone of my mother’s voice was clear. She wanted me to leave.
But, why? And what if someone else came by and saw Claire? Could I trust the rest of the pack not to touch my mate?
“Mom, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
Claire turned around in her chair and looked at me. “It’s fine, Dexter. I’m sure your mom can look after me as well as you men can.”
I doubted that very much, but wasn’t about to tell my mother that.
“I suppose Bill will be interested in what we’ve learnt about human mates,” I managed to say.
I’d been brought up to be as selfless as possible. To believe the good of the pack was the most important thing, and to rise above selfish endeavours. And I stood by that ethos ninety-nine percent of the time. Or I did, until this moment.
“Come on Dexter. Let’s go. The girls wanna talk.” Jay tugged at me and I let my Omega pull me away.
“Okay. Well, um…”
But Claire was already accepting a cup of tea from my mother and falling into conversation the way only women could do.
I turned away, fighting my wolf the whole time. He didn’t want to leave his mate, and I felt the exact same way.
But once we trotted down the stairs and got back into the fresh air, the tortured feeling of being dragged away from her finally lifted.
And I could breathe again.
And then I remembered what Jay had been doing when we walked into the lounge room.
I pushed him in the shoulder, hard, and he staggered sideways.
“Hey! What was that for?” he grumbled, shooting me a glare.
“For being the first one to kiss our mate… twice! And if we hadn’t walked in when we did, you would have seduced her right out from under us.”
The Omega grinned. “What can I say? For the first time in my life, I’m actually enjoying being the smallest of our pack. She finds me the least intimidating.”
I had to give him that. Jay had always hated that he couldn’t hold his own the way Taylor and I could in a fight. He was the smallest, the slowest, and the most likely to get hurt when the bear shifters attacked.
No wonder Claire wanted him first. He was the closest thing to a human we had.