Page 96 of The Grizzly Situation
Now I was nervous. “What’s going on?”
Eddie took a seat and shrank in his chair as Jack flew up the stairs. As soon as the door slammed, Eddie leaned in and spoke softly. “I wanted to talk to you before Dad, because I don’t know how he’s going to handle this.”
“He loves both of you so much. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it as a family.”
“Do you swear?” he asked, his voice quaking. “Please, promise me you won’t stop loving me.”
His expression was one I’d never seen before. So fearful and hopeless. I rushed over and pulled him into a hug. “There is nothing you can say to me that will ever make that happen. You’ve been mine since the day we met, and I have loved you more and more as time went on. Please, trust me.”
He reached for my hand and gripped it tightly. “I found my mate a few weeks ago. At least I think I did.”
“That’s great!” But the tears in his eyes spoke a different story. “Isn’t it?”
Eddie shook his head. “I mean, for me it might be, but I’m afraid Dad is going to throw a fit.”
And then I understood. “Your mate. It’s a wolf, isn’t it?”
He nodded. “I don’t know what to do. I mean, he’s nothing like I expected him to be. He’s gentle and kind and—” His eyes went wide. “I mean….”
I reached out and gave his hand a squeeze. “So your mate is a guy? Cool. You know, my mate is a guy too.”
He sighed. “I know that, but Dad will hate the fact he’s a wolf.”
“You know that’s not true,” came a rumble from the doorway. I turned as Brent strode into the room, his workout shirt drenched with sweat. I wanted to peel it off him and rush upstairs to jack off while holding it to my nose. “Why would you think that?”
“Because he’s a wolf, and the sleuth doesn’t like them.”
“That was a long time ago. Things have been better since then. I will admit, thanks to the stuff I was taught as I grew up, I was willfully ignorant of the facts when you were still kids, but I’d like to think I’ve—we’ve—changed. Since I met their Alpha, Yara, the two of us have become really good friends. We run on the mountains together, play around in the snow. Their whole pack is welcome and we have a great time. I believe I’ve learned a lot and stopped being such a dick.” He frowned. “Haven’t I?”
A soft sigh as Eddie stared at Brent, pain evident in his expression. “Cole heard whispers of the stories from the elders, Dad. Despite everything you’ve done to work with everyone, he’s been told you hate all wolves and that you’ll make me reject him.”
Brent wrapped Eddie in an embrace, which had him groaning about how much his dad stunk, but then Eddie squeezed harder, like he was desperate for a lifeline.
“I know I was loud and obnoxious about wolves. I learned that from my father, and it took Uly and Chaim to get me to pop my head out of my butt. We can fix this, but I’ll need you to help me out. We’ll have to work harder to set the record straight. Invite him to dinner, and then we can all go out fishing or just on a run. Nothing hard, but it’ll give him a chance to know your family. Is that okay with you, Uly?”
“Of course it is. I can’t wait to meet him.” I smiled at Eddie. “So? Tell me about him.”
The returning grin was brilliant. He had it bad. “He’s big. I mean, really big. You think me and Jack have muscles? This guy is popped everywhere. And he’s at least four inches taller than us. He has this thick, dark hair and these insane eyebrows that shake when he laughs. His eyes are the golden hue of all wolves, but they’ve got this black, black ring around them. It makes it look like a self-contained universe exists in there.”
There was no doubt in my mind that Eddie was in love with this Cole guy, and from the sound of it, he treated our son right. Who couldn’t want that for their child?
“Why don’t you and me take a walk?” Brent suggested to Eddie. “And you can tell me more about the wolf that’ll be joining our family.”
He peered at Brent with so much hope in his eyes. “You mean it?”
“I do.”
They got up and headed for the door, then Eddie said, ‘oh!’ and rushed back over to kiss my cheek.
“See you later, Momma. Love you.”
He grinned and gave me a wink. He had no idea how badly I needed to hear that. Then the two of them walked out, closing the door gently behind them. I headed for the office computer. Even though Amelia would have it covered, I wanted to look up recipes for teenage wolf shifters so that Cole would enjoy hismeal with us. As I sat down, my phone rang. I saw the caller ID and smiled as I answered.
“What’s up?”
“Eddie’s on the phone with Cole. Tell me the truth, I’m not that awful, am I?” Brent asked. “I thought I was a lot better.”
I wanted to take his hand and pull him closer. I hated it when we were separated, even for a short while. “You are, but Eddie’s got it bad for this guy and he’s only seeing problems, not potential happiness. It’ll be fine.”
