Page 44 of A Deeper Blue
“How’d you know I went to Cambodia?” asked Rafe. He was pretty sure he hadn’t even told Maggie about that.
“I’m your father,” said Albert with a shrug. That didn’t help any, and finally, Albert tapped his head in response to Rafe’s confused expression. “I’m the alpha. I’ve got you in my head. I can always find my pack.”
“Dad, you kicked me out of the pack,” said Rafe.
“Yeah, because you were annoying and disrupted everything. But it’s not like I kicked you out of my head. You’re my son. What if something happened to you? How would I know if you’re alive or dead?”
Rafe scratched his chin through his beard. “Dad, that’s pretty much what it means to get kicked out of a pack. You stop caring if I’m alive or dead.”
Albert made an enormous raspberry of disapproval. “Only if I was an asshole.”
Rafe stared at Albert and thought of all the times that his father had been there for him growing up and all the times he hadn’t been in the last sixty years. He thought of how alone he’d been and the times that he’d stared up at the stars and felt like maybe he wasn’t. Rafe folded his arms across his chest and said the meanest thing he could think of.
“Dad, I love you.”
Albert’s face twitched all over and, if he’d been in wolf form, Rafe would have placed money that his father would have sneezed.
“Why the hell would you want to say shit like that for?”
“It’s the twenty-first century, and I’m allowed to. Plus, you’re all modern now.”
Albert made a disgusted growl. “You do this on purpose,” he barked, standing up.
“Yeah,” said Rafe, leaning back in his chair and reaching for the green coffee mug. “I do.”
Albert stopped, and Rafe watched his head hang as if struggling with himself. Then turned around and came back to the table and sat down again. Rafe froze with the mug halfway to his mouth.
Albert folded his hands in front of him and looked Rafe dead in the eye.
“Rafe, I aim to make this world a better place before I go, and I’m building allies to fight the darkness that’s coming for all of us. I called you home because I wanted to see you, I want you to fight with me for that future, and because I want you to know that we will always be family.”
“Dad,” said Rafe, “that’s a lot of words just to sayI love you. My way is shorter.”
“I’m old-fashioned,” Albert growled.
“Yeah, Dad,” said Rafe. “I know. But it’s OK. We’re family.”
Albert reached for his grandpa mug. “I think Moira must have made the coffee. It’s good today.”
Rafe leaned back in his chair again and took a sip.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “It really is.”
Episode 21
The Summit
Azure
Azure could feel that she and Scarlet were of extreme interest to the wolves—both the Portland pack and the representatives from the other packs were giving them a great deal of subtle and not-so-subtle attention. Rafe’s sister Maggie had been particularly skeptical. But her daughter, Moira, had been much more welcoming. Azure would have appreciated that more, but she felt hungover as fuck. Unfortunately, a magical hangover from her own ill-advised actions didn’t count as an excuse not to go to the summit. So, there they were, sitting on wooden bleachers that had been placed in aUshape in a wide clearing. There was a bonfire at the open end of the bleachers, and it warmed the air and atmosphere as the sun dipped toward the horizon line. Scarlet and Liam were on one side of her, and Rafe sat on the other. He’d been glued to her side ever since she had woken up, and she hated to admit it, but she appreciated his protective presence. She just wished that they’d had a moment to themselves to discuss more than their physical status.
One of the younger wolves walked by for the third time, and Azure gave him her patented censorious witch eye. The wolf started and hurried off. Rafe snorted.
“Azure,” said Scarlet disapprovingly. “We’re trying to make friends.”
“Speak for yourself,” said Azure grumpily. Rafe and his father seemed to have patched things up, but she still wasn’t sure what to make of a family that had let him get kicked out in the first place. She also wasn’t entirely prepared to explain her race and parentage to a bunch of clearly curious wolves. She’d been picturing the summit as probably a handful of semi-grumpy wolves eating dinner and complaining about humans. But she had wholly underestimated Albert DeSandre. He had a big pack of nearly fifty, and representatives from five packs also in attendance, including one from Europe. Then there were two gnome families, a sasquatch sipping cocoa daintily from a massive flagon, a golem, and most improbably, two cat shifters who looked torn between horror and fascination with the wolves surrounding them. Noticeably missing were vampires. Apparently, Albert drew the line at vampires.
“Hello, Aunts,” said Moira, approaching them with a clipboard in one hand.Auntseemed to be a general term of respect for any elder female of the pack. Azure wasn’t sure she counted as an elder or part of the pack but sensed that Moira was making a political statement. Like Rafe, Moira seemed to have inherited the family’s rebellious streak along with Albert’s thick, dark hair. She was wearing a cloak, and Azure guessed that she was naked underneath. The wolves seemed to take an optional approach to clothing, or at least preferred things they could easily shuck out of. “I have a question, and maybe you’ll know the answer.”
