Page 45 of These Little Heirs
“And Teal?” Bobby asked.
I shot him a dirty look. Teal was mine and ---
“Hey, don’t look at me like that. He’s a son of Heartville. He grew up slobbering on me. If he needs anything we’re all here. If you need anything, we’re all here.”
“I need the world to stop being a shitty place,” I spat out angrily.
Why was this wolf slowing me down? I just wanted my mate, and not to have to slug Bobby for being in my way.
“We did too and the only way to do that is to start with one tiny peace and keep out the crap,” he said.
“Look, I don’t have a problem with you but I’m tired and I’m hungry and I just want my Frost-damn mate,” I growled.
“Would you like a ride?”
“What? On your back through the woods?” I laughed, my cat mildly amused.
“If you walk four feet that way you’ll be on the path, and I can have a cart come out here. It’ll only take a few minutes.”
“Actually, yes. That I’ll take,” I sighed.
“Good,” Bobby nodded. “Look, I get it. You can do it all yourself. I just hope one day you’ll see that you don’t have to.”
He pulled a chocolate chip protein bar out of his pocket and I took it only nodding my thanks. I ate it in two bites as the shiny red cart came into view. I sprinted ahead to meet it and gladly sank into the passenger seat as a teenage wolf drove me back to civilization only pausing at the fay crossings.
I almost knocked on the door but thought better of it. What if one of the babies were asleep? What if Odie just now startedresting after giving birth? I tried the knob and found it unlocked. All heads turned towards me from the sofa. The triplets, Odie, Ambry, and the babies had somehow all managed to squeeze onto the sofa. For a moment, envy coiled around my middle like it would cleave me in half. Why did some guys get everything? The mate, the family, and the baby? Then I swallowed down a laugh. Old feelings died harder than old habits, but this was my family too. My mate was right there in the center of it all even if he looked like someone had left him out in a storm and Cobalt was only wearing a towel. My kittens were growing inside me. My cat was certain of it. All I had to do was stand still for one second and take it all in. Everything I ever wanted was there with me – even if it scared the living daylights out of me. To have it all was to risk losing it all, but it was a risk I had to take. If it all fell apart a hundred years in the future, we’d still have now.
“Teal,” I said because I didn’t know what else to say.
Ambry was the closest to the door, and he stretched out his hand and grabbed my arm pulling me over before I even had a chance to shut the front door behind myself. I landed on top of him and Indigo before Teal tugged me into his lap. I wrapped myself around him, jostling the others but I couldn’t stop myself. He’d been so close to that knife. It skimmed over him as he knocked Morvan to the ground. Then we all saw what it was meant to do.
“I’m sorry I didn’t---” he started but I shook my head.
“All I wanted was for you to be alive when it was all over,” I whispered to him. “I’m sorry Morvan’s sad. I’m sorry that he won’t answer the phone. I’m so sorry that you had to watch someone you knew die like that. I’m sorry that the world isn’t just good guys and bad guys acting their parts. I’d strangle the world and make it act right if I could. I’d make all the assholes wear t-shirts announcing their true intentions and make them line up to be kicked right in the balls or puss--- I stopped myselfbecause Eston was perched on the arm at the other end of the sofa.
“I don’t think my grandbabies are old enough to remember what you say now,” he said, trying not to laugh.
Even Teal laughed a little.
“I’m sorry that we missed Baby Steel’s birth and I’m sorry that this isn’t over. Sad stays for so fucking long. It really does but sad means we’re alive and alive and together – those are the important parts.”
Teal kissed the top of my head before pressing his cheek against my hair. I held onto him until my body gave into exhaustion and I drifted off to sleep in the most uncomfortable position known to cat kind. I didn’t wake up until everyone was saying goodbye to Clarence and Eston was saying we all needed to eat again. I ate in a stupor sitting in Teal’s lap, ensuring he ate too. It was as if his grief was contagious, but I was glad to be able to carry part of it. What were mates for after all if not to make life a little easier for each other?
Chapter Twenty-Five
Teal
Two weeks passed and Morvan still refused to talk to me. He didn’t answer calls or texts from me or any of our friends. He’d given control of his family’s restaurants over to Crilus until further notice. While our friend didn’t mind the extra work or revenue none of us knew if Morvan was going to snap out of it or not. Slowly but surely, he disappeared.
Following his disappearance billboards and flyers about Moonscale Meals covered London. I took a few calls here and there and did a single virtual press conference to talk about it. Before everything fell apart Morvan had been my right-hand man, taking up the job of running things if family obligations kept me away. That job now fell to Patrica, but she was a natural at it. She loved being outside and we shared the quality of being able to extinguish the light of evil without feeling too bad about it. The more I thought about it the less bad I felt for Torvan and the worse I felt for his brother. Though, I wasn’t sure I could say Morvan was my best friend anymore. Hell, I couldn’t even say Morvan was on Earthside anymore because no one had seen him.
I took a break from everything like I promised Ciro I would. Being back in Heartville made that an easy thing to do. Along with my brothers, I fell back into the easy outdoors lifestyle we grew up with and often found myself working silently beside my carrier in his garden as the town’s children wove in and out of the plants looking for the best things to nibble on. There was something about being in the garden that made the world right again. Existence couldn’t possibly end as long as I was surrounded by such plants that were able to sustain so muchlife. Torvan had been buried in his family’s cemetery and one day maybe something beautiful could grow out of all the shitty choices he made.
Whenever I couldn’t sleep at night, I walked down the street to my carrier’s garden and lay in the rows between plants. It was late one night – probably midnight according to the stars – when Morvan found me. As soon as his scent reached my nose my heart skipped a beat, and I sat upright. Indigo had been right! He had come around! Only he smelled darker than before – like graveyard dirt and regrets.
“Morvan?” I called out, pushing myself up to my feet. “I’m in here.”
He stalked to me and looked me up and down. I checked his empty hands at his sides for weapons. Revenge wasn’t out of the question.
