“I think not,” Ward snapped at him, continuing to walk. “I should have known better than to fall into your little fairytale. I’m done, Mathias. I won’t be a replacement for my great-uncle.”
“No, that’s not it!” Mathias caught his mate’s arm and forcibly turned him around. “Please just let me finish.”
At this point, it was completely counterproductive to be vague, so Mathias told his mate everything. He explained how his long life had affected him, leaving him aching for his other half. He told Ward about Will, about the feelings that had slowly built inside him as he got to know the human. He spoke of the resentment he experienced because Will still loved Dean, and how it had eventually led to Will leaving him—and their argument decades later. Ward listened, just like Mathias had asked. He became increasingly pale when Mathias told him about what had happened at the Gathering, but he didn’t try to move away.
Finally, when Mathias finished his story, Ward swallowed convulsively. “I want to meet him,” he whispered.
“I expected that you might,” Mathias replied. “I told him about you, and he looks forward to meeting you.”
Mathias didn’t say it, but he knew that it had hurt Will to leave his family behind. He hadn’t regretted it. Jessie had always been the most important thing for him, and he’d seen everything he’d done for Jessie’s sake at justified. Still, he’d mourned the news of his brothers’ deaths during the war, and later, due to old age. But these weren’t Mathias’s secrets or his emotions to share, and he couldn’t reveal them to his mate.
However, there was something else he needed to address. “Before I lead you to him, I have to explain his situation. Because of his pregnancy, he hasn’t aged, so he looks the same as he did when he left Willow Cove. And Jessie... Well, the reason I came here is that he and some of their closest friends are starting a new pack, and he’s pregnant too.
For a few moments, he waited for a reaction, knowing that most likely it would not be a good one. He could see it in Ward’s eyes, in his tense stance. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt when Ward whispered, “Please let go of me.”
The tone was so soft, but it burned over Mathias’s skin like a brand. He released his mate, his wolf whining with the rejection he heard. Ward cradled his arm to his chest, like Mathias had genuinely hurt him, although that couldn’t have been the case.
“I need some time to wrap my mind around this,” he continued. “Don’t come to the house again.”
Without another word, the human turned and started to walk away. Mathias just stood there and stared helplessly, his magic and his wolf screaming in pain as he lost the mate he’d found after so long.
He couldn’t bring himself to move until Ward had already gone, disappearing into the distance toward his house. It was only then that he managed to turn away as well, his head spinning as he tried to figure out how he’d managed to screw up so badly.
He’d known Ward’s history made Mathias’s relationship with Will a potential problem. Fuck. He should have been more tactful. He should have explained better. He’d failed his mate.
A part of him screamed to just return to his den and lick his wounds in private, but instead, Mathias found his steps carrying him to the Lone Wolf Pack cabin. It was well into the evening when he got there, but he was in luck. Dean and Will were outside, chatting and laughing lightly.
Dean was the one who felt Mathias first. The Alpha turned, his eyes meeting Mathias’s in the darkness. Something must have clued him in with regard to how Mathias felt, because he nodded in silent acknowledgment. He squeezed Will’s hand, and then turned and headed into the house.
Once Dean was gone, Will immediately focused on Mathias. “What is it, Matt? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I think... I think I lost him.”
A few days later
Ward wiped his brow of sweat and critically scanned the portion of the roof within his view. As far as he could tell, he’d done a good job patching up the unexpected hole. Hopefully, he wouldn’t have any unpleasant surprises the next time it rained.
He’d started to go down the staircase when he heard the car approaching. Ward jumped down and turned toward the road, squinting even as a spark of hope swelled in his heart—one he desperately tried to suppress.
Mathias hadn’t come to see him at all since their argument. Ward had given a lot of thought to what Mathias had told him, and at some level, he realized he couldn’t blame the werewolf for keeping the secret. He also couldn’t blame Mathias for any relationship the man had before they’d met. It would have been stupid. God only knew Ward had been involved with someone too, and he was much, much younger than Mathias.
Still, it had hurt to see Mathias speak with such fondness of his great-uncle, smiling in that way Ward had hoped was reserved only for him. It was too easy to remember how things had happened with Peter and Teresa, too easy to see Mathias go through with a similar betrayal.
Ward had survived the humiliation and pain once. He didn’t think he could do it again, not if Mathias was the culprit.
Despite all this, he couldn’t help but wish Mathias was the one coming to see him. He was both disappointed and relieved when the car he spotted in the distance turned out to be a different one. It also confused him—again—because he hadn’t bothered to meet up with any of his neighbors and he didn’t see why anyone would be visiting him.
It was only when the car stopped that Ward finally got his answer. A slender man with chocolate brown hair slid out of the vehicle, looked around and inhaled deeply. For a few moments, he didn’t speak, but he didn’t have to, because Ward instantly knew who he was.
One look at the new arrival’s face propelled him years back, when he used to sit with his grandfather, looking at old albums with faded black and white photos. There was one photo in particular that his grandfather had both loved and hated, taken weeks before his brother’s disappearance, at a dance of sorts. It had been the last time the four brothers had shown up in the album together, and afterward, Will’s absence from the pictures was like a jarring hole that left everyone looking either hurt or angry—or both.
Looking at his unexpected guest, Ward saw that very same image, of a young man smiling awkwardly with his larger brothers crowded around him. He supposed he should have expected the visit since Mathias had mentioned his great-uncle, but somehow, it hadn’t occurred to him that it would happen.
“Well then,” the man finally said after a long pause, “this place’s changed very little. Brings back so many memories.”
The words snapped Ward out of his trance, and that was fortunate because the little blast from the past stepped forward, smiling warmly. “You must be Ward Bennett. I’m Will Orwell, but you might know me as Will Mulligan.”
Ward nodded dumbly. “I’ve seen some pictures, yes...” He cleared his throat, trying to gather his wits. “Of course, I didn’t actually expect to ever meet you in person, at least not before coming here.”