He Will Be Mine (New Horizon Book 1)

Righting a Wrong

Matt

“So, I think what I’m going to do is hop into this developmental psych class with you, Matt, and then grab your ethics class as well,” Aly sits at her desk, informing us of her course registration plans. “And Tyler, I can’t find any of your courses that I can actually join. They’re all too high-level and completely in the wrong direction for my supposed major.”

“That’s because I’m not a procrastinator like Matt,” he teases me. “Matt saved all these first-year courses for his last year.”

“There was method to my madness,” I argue. “I sat down and plotted out what I needed to take in order to unlock other things I needed to take, and some of the requirements weren’t linked to anything else. Well, other than the psych courses. You have to take intro before developmental, but as it turns out, there’s two whole semesters senior year, so it’s not even an issue.”

I mess up his hair and shake his head around a little as we argue about it playfully. Of course I saved up easy stuff for my last year. I didn’t want to be sitting around worrying about if I’m even going to graduate at the last minute. My education classes are nightmares enough with all the requirements to fulfill outside of class.

“What do you mean by ‘supposed major’ though, Aly?” I ask her. I guess I didn’t realize she’s still on the fence about what to major in.

“You do realize I’m only going to your school because you’re there, right?”

At least she turned around and looked at me when she dropped that truth bomb, because no, I did not know that. How did I not know that?

“So, you’re not planning to finish?” I can’t seem to stop asking stupid questions.

“No, I’m not,” she tells me softly. “I just didn’t want to let you leave without having some plan for seeing you again. Again. So, I found out where you went to school and made it happen. Well, my dad made it happen. But after you guys aren’t there anymore, there will be no reason for me to be across the country, and I wouldn’t want to be anyway.”

I’m not sure how I feel about this revelation. I’m glad, because I had been dreading the three more years she would have to spend there, wondering what Tyler and I were going to do in the meantime. But on the other hand, it bothers me that she could take something so important to me so lightly, or that she just snaps her fingers and makes something happen that I had to work my ass off for.

“That bothers you,” she verbalizes how I’m feeling.

“Yeah, it kind of does. I don’t know how to say what I mean, though,” I admit.

“It does mean we get to keep her, at least,” Tyler points out.

“I know. That’s the part I like. The rest, I just …”

“If it helps, it’s not that I don’t take it seriously, or that I didn’t deserve to go there,” she interrupts me to explain.

It’s like she’s reading my mind, which I shouldn’t be surprised about by now because she does it all the time, but it still gets me every time.

“My grades in high school were perfect, and unlike a lot of kids at my high school, I actually finished. I had a good record of extracurriculars, too. If I had applied to Kettlewell, I probably would have gotten in legitimately,” she continues listing off things that actually do make me feel better. “And for the record, I aced last semester.”

“I don’t know whether to be impressed that you can ace classes in your sleep, or annoyed,” Tyler comments, tapping his chin as though he’s thinking about it. It’s obvious he’s just teasing, though.

“That all does help, Aly,” I tell her.

She slams her laptop closed and makes her way over to me. Actually, I think the word for what she is doing is prowling. She prowls her way over to me, a playful smirk on her lips. My heart goes crazy watching her and I can feel my palms get sweaty. I can’t help it.

Just as she straddles my lap and pushes me back on the bed, bringing her face almost close enough to kiss me, I see her eyes get hazy in the way I’ve started to recognize means another werewolf is communicating with her telepathically. I hold onto her hips as she carries on whatever conversation is happening in her head while Tyler snickers at me.

Finally, she locks eyes with me and smiles. “Your parents are here. My mom wants us downstairs to greet them.”

“Oh, that’s just perfect,” I mutter as she dismounts me.

Tyler giggles, probably understanding exactly what I mean. I do my best to adjust myself in my pants and then follow them out the door.

By the time we get down there, our mothers are sitting together on a sofa, but there’s no sign of either of our dads. My mom stands up, looking like she wants to come engulf us in a big hug but feels conflicted. To be fair, we didn’t give her the best goodbye when we left.

Tyler and I have been spending some time with Elder Gerard’s notes, though, and there is a lot of useful information in there. He even interviewed my grandpa at one point, and assuming everything Grandpa told him is the truth, Tyler and I have both landed in a better place about it all. It doesn’t hurt any less to be lied to, or in his case to be abandoned, but it does help to understand their reasons.

So, when I see her standing there uncertainly, I decide to put her out of her misery, going to her and being the one to initiate the hug. I’m glad when Tyler decides to join and am not even jealous about how quickly she lets go of me so she can hold him like she’s afraid of him getting away from her. Aly comes and ducks under my arm, wrapping it around herself and snaking hers around my back. Then I realize that we all have someone to hold onto except Mrs. Bentley, who is just standing back and watching with tears in her eyes. I hold my other arm out to her, and she smiles at me as she comes and joins in.

I’m not sure how long our hug session lasts, but eventually my mom wants me again and holds onto both of us for a moment before breaking away and allowing herself to drop back into the sofa.

“You don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do that,” she says through her tearful smile.

“If I had to guess, it was about twenty-one and a half years,” Tyler answers her without even missing a beat, and we all laugh.

He plops himself into a high-backed chair while Aly and I take seats opposite from our mothers. I don’t know how he manages to look so comfortable in a formal room like this, but he sits there and acts totally casual, and meanwhile I’m worrying about whether I’m going to accidentally stain or wrinkle something that I shouldn’t, or how much it would cost to replace whatever I inevitably wreck from being clumsy.

“You remind me so much of your grandfather,” Mom tells him, which honestly comes as a surprise to me. He doesn’t seem at all like Grandpa.

“Grandpa Gabe?” he questions, and I think he’s thinking the same thing I am.

“Oh, goodness no, the other one. My father. He died when I was a teenager, but I remember his sense of humor and the way he always put everyone at ease. He was often the life of the party, and I just remember sitting at his feet listening to him tell stories. He couldn’t help using his hands when he talked and it was just so mesmerizing,” Mom continues reminiscing.

Okay, that does sound like Tyler. She doesn’t speak much about that grandpa, so I’m honestly glad he seems to have brought that out of her.

“I’m sad I never got to meet him,” Tyler says.

Me too. I’ve seen pictures, though. I know he is where my mom gets her thick, auburn hair, and she has always told me that my hair feels just like his did.

She nods but seems to want to move on from the topic. “It’s this one who reminds me of Grandpa Gabe,” she points at me. “Just like your dad, too. Quiet, serious, and shy to a fault.”

“He’s not always serious,” Aly points out. “And you get the two of them together and things get pretty silly sometimes.”

That seems to make Mom smile. “That’s like your dad and Uncle Marty. What is it about brothers?” She shakes her head, amused.

“Where is Dad?” I ask finally.

Tyler and I had wanted to talk to them about real stuff. Like the family drama stuff. This is nice, but I don’t know how long they’ll be here, and I don’t want to keep wasting time.

“Aly’s dad swooped in and took him away. Seemed to want to get right down to business,” Mrs. Bentley explains.

Well, I can appreciate that. If by business she means dealing with the whole rogue thing, then that is actually more important.

-

-

Kane

Gordon seems incredibly nervous when I pull him aside and bring him to my office. I understand that he feels out of place because of his rogue status, but I’ve been trying to make it clear to him that he’s in no danger here. I can see where Matt gets his anxiousness from, though. I recognize a lot of his mannerisms when I look at his father.

“I have to say, your family is some hardy stock for what I’ve come to expect from omegas,” I can’t help commenting. I had thought maybe the boys took on their mother’s family’s traits, but now seeing their father before me, the resemblance is undeniable. He’s tall and looks naturally strong, just like his sons.

Matt’s nervous tendencies seemed to fit for an omega descendant, but once I learned he and Tyler were brothers it confused things. Tyler is bold and outgoing. But from their size and strength, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought they came from warrior lineage.

“Omega was an acquired situation for my father,” Gordon explains. “Because of his human mate. The Alpha at that time wanted him to reject her or turn her, but he refused. So, he was demoted from hunter to omega for his disobedience, and that’s the rank we’ve carried since.”

That fits. Hunters are agile warriors, and that’s what Tyler seems to be naturally. Matt definitely has potential there as well.

“Your family has had a rough time of things, and I’m sorry for that. My pack doesn’t share those same negative pre-conceptions about humans, and we don’t punish our pack members for being fated to mate with them,” I explain to him.

I realize it sounds like I’m trying to sell him on joining my pack. Am I? I had intended to hear him out and see how I felt about it, but now I’m wondering if I’ve already decided. I saw what Elder Gerard wrote about him and his situation. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the exact same thing if our situations had been reversed.

“You don’t know how glad I am to know that. I was worried for my boys, being dragged back into the world I fled to protect them,” he admits, reaching up to scratch his neck nervously. “I … uh, maybe this is inappropriate to say, but I had tried to transfer here after we learned of the pregnancy. It almost hurts to know how differently things could have been if the Alpha had granted me that.”

“It was Alpha Joel at that time?” I ask for confirmation of what I already know.

It pains and enrages me to learn that the man I had considered my close friend has been lying to me all these years, hiding from me the very thing we made a pact when we were just teenagers to work together to change when we both became Alphas. My father and his father before him had already begun the work, but Silver Crescent had always been known as one of the worst places for humans. They’ve even been known to capture and use them as slaves in the past. I cling to my hope that at least that has changed since Joel took over, but at this point, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that it was all a lie.

“It was. Admittedly, he wasn’t as bad as his father because he didn’t hang any sort of punishment around my neck for bringing home a human mate, but he certainly did nothing to make it easier on her, or my mother and sisters. I never have figured out why he wouldn’t let me go. I tried a transfer to a more distant pack first, and then when that was denied, I figured he wouldn’t have a problem with me coming here. It’s so close, and our packs often joined forces for various things. But it was a hard no yet again, with no explanation of why.”

“I was never even informed of your request,” I tell him, trying not to get lost in thinking of how different things would have been for him, his children, and my own daughter if my “friend” would have just done his job.

He shrugs, seeming uncomfortable speaking about the things that could have been, or maybe it’s that we’re questioning his Alpha. I’m sure being raised an omega, that’s a pretty uncomfortable way of thinking for him.

“Well, listen,” I begin shifting to problem-solving mode.

I’m not going to force this man to re-hash his personal history that I already know plenty about. I feel personally responsible to an extent for not realizing what was going on behind the scenes. It was my responsibility to hold Joel accountable, and I chose to trust him because I thought I knew him.

“I can’t take any of that back, as much as I wish I could. But what I can do is try to make it right, as late as it is for you. I have every right to offer sanctuary to a rogue if I feel it is warranted, and in this case I most definitely do. My hope is that it won’t stir tensions with Silver Crescent by doing so, but I’ll worry about that later. So, if you and your wife would like to join my pack, then I am officially extending that offer to you. I can even look into whether Alpha Jesse will allow your father to transfer here, if he’s interested.”

“I think he would be. He’s been talking about getting out, now that things are getting worse for my mother. She mostly just stays in the house because even going to the market is tough for her these days, and her garden out back keeps getting destroyed by vandals,” Gordon tells me, emotion creeping into his voice. “I just don’t understand it. So what if she can’t shift? She’s never caused any trouble or been anything but kind.”

“Some packs more than others cling to memories and histories of the hardships humans used to cause for our kind,” I begin to explain, but realize he probably already knows that. He grew up there, after all. “At any rate, it’s just ignorance. Bullheadedness. Bullies being bullies. The bigger problem is not that it happens, but that it is allowed, and encouraged even. I don’t allow it here, though. I assure you of that. You, your wife, and your boys are safe here.”

“I appreciate that,” he says, and I can hear the relief in his voice. “I just don’t … well, I mean … I have this whole life I built for us. I own a business now. I did that, starting from nothing. It will be hard to just, you know, leave it behind. But there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for those boys. If they’re happy and healthy, then it’s all worth it. I guess I’m just … I need time, is what I’m saying.”

Him saying that hits me hard. Guilt washes over me, and I can’t bring myself to confess to him that the Elders denied his sons as suitable mates for Aly, which I’m pretty sure is what he means about them being happy here. I do hope they stick around and join, regardless of whether Aly's plan to convince the Elders to reconsider works out. Tyler I can already see fitting right in with my warriors, and he as much as said he wants to be turned. Matt’s going to be a teacher, and Goddess knows we need more of those, human or not. But I would never ask any of them to sacrifice their lives and all they have worked for. Coming here is optional.

“Gordon, I’m not asking you to move here,” I assure him. “You can. You’d be welcome here. But I know how hard you’ve worked for what you have. I’m not trying to take it away from you. Stay where you are, just know that there are certain pack gatherings that mandate attendance from all pack members. If you think you can manage that, then all you need to do is complete the joining ceremony, which we can even do privately if you’d prefer.” He doesn’t strike me as the type to enjoy public celebrations when he is the center of attention. “Then you can go home and live your life the way you have been. Just keep in touch.”

“Thank you, Alpha Kane,” he gushes as he rises from his seat to shake my hand. “I have to talk it over with Stacy, but I don’t see where she would have a problem with it. You don’t know how much I appreciate this. My wolf barely gets out anymore and rarely even pays attention to what I’m doing or saying. But this, this has him prancing around eagerly. He can’t wait to go on a pack run again.”

I chuckle, grasping his hand warmly. “We should go for a run before you head back home,” I suggest.

His eyes light up at that, and I know he has already agreed without him even saying anything. I decide that I’ve consumed enough of his time and know he must be excited to get back to the boys so they can talk things out, so I lead him from my office and back down to the guest area where Andrea has been hosting his mate, Stacy.

All our kids are already there when we return, and I notice Aly is still avoiding even looking at me. The way things have been the past few days has been tearing me up inside. I have a lot I need to explain to her, and I can only hope she'll listen. With a sigh, unable to fight back the guilt and angst any longer, I beckon to her.

“Come, Aly. We need to have a talk.”