“You want us home,” Ben said bluntly. “To work on the farm. To find a mate, have four or five sons and keep the wheel turning. You want that even though we don’t. You think that custom, that history is enough to keep us doing what you did, what all the other poor bloody Morrisons did, right back to the first one who must’ve killed a bunch of Aboriginal people and driven them off their land.”
Ben leaned forward then, the power of his body, his bulk, on display in the neatly rolled up sleeves of his shirt as his elbows planted on the desktop.
“Well, let me tell you what will happen if you somehow get your way. I’ll challenge you for control of the town, the boys with me.” A series of growls in agreement at that. “We’ll knock you off your perch and then what will happen? We won’t be good little boys and do as you want. I’ll call a council meeting of the other packs in the district and then hold a vote, see which one I should hand over the leadership to. Anyone will do, as long as their last name isn’t Morrison.”
“You wouldn’t…” Dick growled, his lips peeling back to reveal a set of prominent fangs. “Boy, you wouldn’t dare.”
“There’s not much I wouldn’t dare, not for my family, because that’s where you’ve got it wrong, Dad. You focus on the things, the relics of our family, but not the fucking heart of it.”
Ben’s eyes whipped down the table to look at his mother and she stiffened as a result.
“I’ve already stepped down as ruling omega,” she said in a thin voice. “I’m… done. It made sense before, preserving something for the boys’ futures, but if they don’t want it… I’m not going to force my children and the child of their mate to shoulder a burden I didn’t even want myself.”
She let out a hopeless little sniff and Jasper went to reach for her, but she waved him away.
“Your fathers didn’t want me for your pack mate. Do you remember that, Richard? They wanted that bloody Gantry girl because she had ‘childbearing hips’.” She shook her head sharply. “Parents want things for their children. Of course, they do. But if they’re to have any sort of relationship with them when they’re grown, it means knowing and accepting who they are now, and letting go of what you thought they might be.”
“Fuck Campbelltown,” Damon said, and the mediator began to stiffen, seeming to sense that she’d lost control of the process. “I’ll drag every single bit of Morrison history out into the back paddock and set it alight just before we pass the keys to the farm over to the next pack.”
“I loved the farm,” Reed growled. “I didn’t think I’d ever want to live anywhere else, …” His brow creased then, his face becoming a granite façade, hard and impervious. “Except I’d find myself with one of the rifles in my hand when I was supposed to be out rabbit shooting and all I could see was me putting the damn thing in my mouth and pulling the trigger.”
The room went completely silent then.
“No matter what I’d do, no matter how hard I worked, it was never e-fucking-nough. Whatever I did, I could’ve done more and, when I did up my game, that still wasn’t enough. You barking orders at me like I was a fucking dog, comparing me to Logan, to Ben…”
Reed snarled then at his father, flashing his fangs and the mediator leaned as far back in her chair as she could.
“I’m never going back to that, to being the Morrison dog, not while…” He looked up the table then, his silver eyes seeking mine and finding them. “I tried fighting it, knowing what shit it would bring to her doorstep if we went down this route, but I couldn’t. I’m Lily’s wholly and solely, and I won’t do a damn thing to hurt her or her cub, not on your say so or the courts.”
“Dad,” Jasper said, much more gently. “You have to give this up. Enough, Dad, enough.”
But apparently Richard Morrison never said die. He seemed to swell up then, getting bigger and bigger.
“If you think I’ll give up—”
“Dad.”
Logan didn’t use his alpha bark or shout, he just used his father’s title and Richard turned to face him.
“You want a Morrison alpha on the farm? I’ll do it.”
“No, Logan—” Jasper started to say but Logan held up his hand.
“I’ll come back and run the farm, take an omega who’ll have me and see if I can get her pregnant with a lot of cubs.” He laughed then, but it was utterly mirthless. “Fuck, you can even choose my mate for me. If that’s what it takes for you to fucking stop, I’ll do this for you.”
“Richard…”
Grace was shaking so much she was vibrating now, bright red spots having formed in her cheeks, her fangs sinking into her bottom lip.
“I withdraw my application to take custody of the cub,” Dick said finally, then he glanced back at us. “You won’t get a red cent from me.”
“And I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire, so there’s that,” Damon said.
“We’re done here,” Dick said finally, jerking himself out of his chair and then storming out of the room, leaving his lawyer to trail lamely behind him.
“Logan, you can’t—” Ben started to say but the alpha just shook his head, spearing me with one searing look, before disappearing out the door.
“Well, that seems to have resolved things.” The mediator did not look at all pleased, but she fought for professional calm as she got to her feet. “If there’s nothing else?”