Born to Fight

Chapter 10

Celeste

I was still sitting at the kitchen table, trying to make sense of the impossible mess my life had suddenly become, when someone knocked on the front door.

I jumped.

Loki was on his feet before I even had time to think.

He immediately came to my side, whining softly as he rested one front paw against my knee.

“It’s okay,” I whispered, reaching down to rub his ears.

But I wasn’t okay.

Not even close.

Jamie pushed his chair back.

“I’ll get it.”

He glanced at me before leaving the kitchen.

The second he disappeared down the hallway, an uncomfortable silence settled over the room.

Josh sat across from me.

I kept my attention on Loki.

I buried my fingers into the thick fur around his neck, using him as an anchor while I tried desperately to stop my hands from shaking.

I didn’t want Josh to see.

I didn’t want anyone to see.

I lowered my head until my forehead rested against Loki’s.

For one brief moment, I let myself breathe.

Then I heard voices.

Coming closer.

My head snapped up.

Josh was watching me.

Neither of us spoke.

Footsteps approached the kitchen.

One set belonged to Jamie.

The other…

I didn’t know.

I straightened in my chair.

The need for comfort disappeared instantly.

Jamie appeared in the doorway.

And the man standing behind him stole the breath from my lungs.

I stared.

He looked like Josh.

Not similar.

Not vaguely alike.

Like him.

Like someone had taken Josh and aged him twenty-five years.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

This was him.

If Josh was right…

This was my father.

Billy Avery.

The man I’d spent seventeen years knowing only as a name.

The man who had walked away from my mother the moment she’d told him she was pregnant.

The man who had left her to raise me alone while working a demanding career.

The man who had never once come looking for me.

And now he was standing in front of me.

In my home.

At my table.

As if he belonged there.

Something inside me snapped.

Loki suddenly stood.

A low growl rumbled from his chest.

The sound was deep enough to make everyone in the room freeze.

His eyes were locked on the man in the doorway.

Billy.

Loki’s growl grew louder.

Then he stepped in front of me.

Protecting me.

My stomach twisted.

Jamie took a cautious step forward.

“Loki…”

Loki’s head whipped toward him.

He barked.

Once.

Then again.

I had never heard him sound like that with Jamie.

Never.

Since the day I’d met Jamie, Loki had adored him. He’d practically adopted him as his second favourite human.

But now he was warning Jamie away from me.

I looked at Jamie.

He looked back at me.

“Celeste, you need to get him under control.”

I reached for Loki.

“He’s okay.”

“Celeste.”

His tone sharpened.

“Loki.”

I flinched.

Jamie immediately noticed.

“Sorry.”

I swallowed and placed my hand firmly against Loki’s head.

“It’s okay, boy.”

I grabbed his collar and pulled him closer to me.

“Stay.”

His growling slowly subsided.

But he never took his eyes off Billy.

Not once.

Jamie waited until Loki was calm before gesturing toward the table.

“Josh’s dad.”

Billy stepped into the room.

Josh stood.

His father placed a hand on his shoulder as he passed, then sat beside him.

I watched him.

Really watched him.

And he was watching me too.

There was something unsettling about the way he looked at me.

Like he was trying to memorize my face.

Like he’d known it long before he’d ever met me.

My pulse quickened.

Josh cleared his throat.

“Okay.”

He looked between us.

“As you know, I asked my dad to come here so he could talk to you and answer whatever questions you have.”

I didn’t look at Josh.

My eyes remained fixed on the man across from me.

“I saw you.”

Billy’s expression didn’t change.

“At my mother’s funeral.”

He nodded.

“Yes.”

No denial.

No hesitation.

Just…

Yes.

My anger surged.

“Why?”

His eyebrows lifted slightly.

“Why does anyone attend a funeral, honey?”

His voice was calm.

Almost annoyingly calm.

“To pay their respects, of course.”

I stared at him.

“Don’t call me honey.”

His expression remained unreadable.

“And don’t give me some bullshit answer.”

Josh shifted beside him.

I didn’t care.

I’d spent my entire life with questions.

Questions about where my father was.

What he looked like.

Why he’d left.

Whether he’d ever thought about me.

Whether he’d ever wondered who I’d become.

And now he was sitting across from me.

I wasn’t wasting the opportunity.

“You abandoned my mother.”

My voice shook.

“You left her the second she told you she was pregnant.”

Billy said nothing.

“You had no right to be at her funeral.”

I could feel the anger burning through me.

“She survived without you. She raised me without you. She worked and took care of me and did everything herself.”

My throat tightened.

“Did you ever think about her?”

Silence.

“Did you ever wonder about me?”

Billy finally spoke.

“I was there for you.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“I was there for you.”

I stared at him.

“I don’t understand.”

“I was at the funeral for you.”

For a second, I couldn’t speak.

Then a bitter laugh escaped me.

“For me?”

Billy nodded.

“You don’t even know me.”

“I know enough.”

“No, you don’t.”

My chair scraped against the floor as I pushed myself back.

“You don’t get to say that.”

I could feel myself losing control.

“You abandoned us!”

Loki pressed against my leg.

“You were nothing to us then, and you’re nothing to us now.”

My voice cracked.

“You’re just a sperm donor who walked away from my mother when she needed you most.”

Billy didn’t react.

Not even a flinch.

That somehow made me angrier.

“You can hate me if you need to,” he said calmly. “You’re entitled to your anger.”

“I’m not asking for permission.”

“I know.”

“I’m asking for answers.”

“And I’m here to give them to you.”

I stared at him.

For the first time, I noticed something in his eyes.

Sadness.

Regret.

Maybe even fear.

But it was gone so quickly I wasn’t sure I’d actually seen it.

I took a shaky breath.

“Fine.”

I folded my arms across my chest.

“Then I have one question.”

“Ask.”

I looked directly into his eyes.

“What is your name?”

Josh shifted beside him.

Jamie went completely still.

Billy didn’t.

He simply looked at me.

“Bill.”

My brow furrowed.

“Bill?”

“Yes.”

I swallowed.

“Bill as in…”

My heart began pounding.

“…Billy?”

His eyes held mine.

“Yes.”

One word.

That’s all it took.

The room seemed to tilt.

Billy.

The name my mother had given me.

The name I’d carried for seventeen years without ever knowing the man behind it.

The name that had existed only in fragments of my childhood.

The name I’d once whispered into the darkness, wondering what kind of man could abandon his own daughter before she’d even had the chance to know him.

Billy.

My father.

The man sitting across from me.

The man who had been watching me at my mother’s funeral.

Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe.

And one terrifying thought slammed into my mind.

If Billy had really come to the funeral for me…

Why?

What did he know that I didn’t?