“Can I come in?” she asked.
“Of course.” I waved her in.
She softly closed the door behind her and walked over to give me a hug and kiss me on the forehead. Then she sat down at a chair in front of my desk. “Blake, I need to speak to you about your father.”
I groaned. “What about him?”
“I know your father’s very difficult sometimes, but I would like for you to make an effort to work with him. He has a lot of experience with running the pack and going to war, and, quite frankly, you need his help. It’s not that I don’t have faith in your leadership skills. It’s just that you are still new at this position, and everyone needs a mentor when they’re first starting out. I couldn’t have succeeded as a doctor if I didn’t have more experienced doctors to help and guide me.”
“My father owes me an apology,” I replied, annoyed by the conversation.
My mom let out a sigh and continued, “Your father’s not good at apologizing, and you know that. But that doesn’t mean he’s not sorry. I spoke with him, and he’s going to make more of an effort to tone down his speech when he speaks to you. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s something he has much control over. He’s too old now for me to force him into therapy.” She snickered a little.
“Why have you stayed with him all these years?” I asked, surprising myself with the question. It was not something I ever asked my mom in the past, although it was something I wondered about my whole life. While divorce with werewolves was very rare, and the mate bond couldn’t be severed, it still seemed like it would have been an improvement to split up rather than continue to put up with his philandering and verbal abuse.
She let out a deep breath and sat in silence considering the question. I waited until she finally spoke. “Your father’s a very complicated man. Once you’re marked by your mate, you’re able to feel what your mate feels when they’re nearby, running alongside your own feelings, even more acutely than before marking. And your father has a lot of pain. I don’t know where the pain comes from since your father isn’t one to open up about his feelings. But I feel the pain, constantly, all the time, like a heart that broke and never healed, maybe several times over. He carries it around with him every day. While I don’t agree with the way he directs his pain most of the time, I am able to understand it. But I also know that beyond the pain, your father feels other things too. I can feel that he has both love and pride when he looks at you. He may never say it, but it’s there. I stay with him because the mate bond allows me to both understand and forgive him. But I also stay for the good parts of your father. He’s not all bad. I do know that he cares very much about you and this pack, and he’s afraid now, especially with the loss of his control.”
I nodded and said, “I’ll think about it.”
She didn’t get up. She stayed sitting, looking at me. Finally, she said, “Please, Blake. Can you please be the bigger person and put aside your grudges toward your father? I know he’s difficult to work with and be around. If you don’t do it for yourself, at least do it for me.” When I didn’t reply she got up, kissed me on the head, and walked out of the room.
I returned my attention to the financial reports and thought,We all have pain. It’s not an excuse. But I also loved my mom, and she knew I’d do anything for her. I let out a deep breath, knowing I’d have to find a way to continue working with my father.
I walked to the kitchen to make myself more coffee. I stepped toward the machine to see the pot was already full.
“One step ahead of you,” Connie chimed from where she was preparing food for the day. I gave her a nod and grabbed a mug. After I filled my mug, I returned to my office and sighed, forcing myself to write my dad a text message.
Me: We have a Zoom call today with Alpha Antoine and Beta Alfred at 12. I’ll send you an invite.
The call only brought more bad news. Beta Alfred had gotten word through some of his sources that an attack on our pack was likely to happen within the first two weeks of December. It quickly changed to a logistics call where we’d need to set up housing for the Lune Nordique Pack warriors in preparation. Fortunately, barracks had been built years ago for situations such as this, so I assigned the office manager the task of finding cleaners and maintenance people to prepare the building for the incoming guests. I also asked our housekeeper to prepare one of the bedrooms on the alpha floor of the packhouse for Alpha Antoine and his mate, who would be arriving in a little over a week.
As Luke and I were in discussion, my father walked in. I sat back in my chair and stared at him, wondering what he would say.
Luke, always polite, stood up and put out his hand to greet him. “Good afternoon, Alpha James.”
“Luke,” my dad replied as he briefly shook his hand. Then he looked at me and said, “Have you spoken with the Autumn Moon Pack yet?”
“About a month ago, I briefly mentioned the situation,” I replied.
“I will speak with Alpha Marc. Their pack’s one of our very closest allies, and we’ve always supported them over the years with their disputes. It would be bad politics to turn their back on us now. I have a good relationship with their alpha, so I will take care of it. When it comes to war, you can never have enough friends.”
I nodded at him in acknowledgment. He looked at me for a moment, as if he wanted to say something else. But he clearly abandoned the idea and walked out of the room, pulling his cell phone out. Luke and I listened as his footsteps faded down the hallway.
Luke sat back in the chair he’d pulled over to my desk. I looked over at him and said, “I know you have a lot going on in your personal life right now, but we both need to have our heads in the game. Shit’s getting real.”
As if on cue, Luke’s cell phone, which was sitting on top of my desk, lit up with a string of text messages. I looked over at his screen to see Lucy’s name repeated down the screen. Luke let out a deep breath and yelled, “Fucking Artemis!” He shook his head and shoved his phone in his pocket. I raised my eyebrows at Luke in a questioning gesture. He sighed and said, “I’m fucking trying, Blake. I really fucking am!”
“What’s going on with Lucy?” I asked, although I more or less had guessed at the situation, especially after my confrontation with her.
“It’s a fucking disaster. Every hour she has some new pregnancy symptom that she needs to tell me about. She sends me regular updates on how big the baby is. Apparently right now it’s the size of a lime. And I want to be there for her, but it’s constantly, all the time, and it’s clear that she’s only doing this for attention. Of course, I can’t say that because I’m the bad guy in this situation. I’m the asshole that knocked her up and now wants to marry her best friend. And that’s a whole other debacle. Jasmine has some crazy alpha family in Alaska that will apparently be out for blood if I don’t honor the mate bond. I have no idea how they feel about the whole situation with Lucy. But that’s something we’re going to have to deal with, no question!” He put his head down on my desk.
“Damn,” I replied.
“This is where you can feel free to shower me with your words of wisdom. Because I can’t figure this shit out anymore,” Luke said, his voice muffled from within his arms.
Just then, my father walked back in, clearly having finished up his phone call. Luke got up and sat up straight in his chair. My dad looked between us and said, “I spoke with Alpha Marc, and he said they will honor the alliance.”
I gave my father a thumbs up. He smiled and walked out again. I turned to Luke and said, “Man, you have to get yourself together. You need to tell Lucy that she can’t be doing this shit. We have a war on our hands.”