Page 56 of In Mourning
“Well, yes. I’m talking about being able to sit up on your own. That far in on my pregnancy, I needed help.” She chuffed and Mads rolled his eyes.
“It’s by sheer luck, I assure you.” He snatched the envelope and opened the letter. As expected, he was half mage—he’d known that much. Though, the mix of covens he hailed from wasinteresting, all German, Nordic, and Irish. Certified mutt mage. But the shifter half? Bear. Polar, two known sloths in Alaska, a few cousins matched with him, and a father listed as identified, pending returned contact.
“Well, look at that! Polar bear.” She beamed and frowned at the same spot Mads had noticed. “Oh.”
“It’s okay. Dr. Vans said this was common, that it may take a while for him to reach back out if he decides to.” Still, it stung a little. Spring had spread into summer, so he couldn’t blame hibernation—if bears actually did that sort of thing. Shifter bears. He wondered.
Mads had been conceived in the fall, so maybe he hadn’t known? Equally likely, he bailed.
As he stuffed everything into an envelope, a yellow sticky note fell to the bedspread, a phone number written on it with a name—Dave. “What’s this?”
Helena shrugged as she tidied up the room and fluffed Mads’s pillows. “Ask the doctor? Maybe that’s your father?”
Mads texted the doctor instead. Glory be, texting. Calling people always felt entirely too invasive. Vans had embraced the level of disconnect with people as well.Who TF is Dave?
You’re welcome. It’s your beary own father. He ended up contacting me last night, so I tucked that in. It’s his newly assumed name. I think he’s gone by Victor as well. He’d like to talk to you.Dr. Vans could have at least added more information or context.
What’s he like?Mads couldn’t think of a thing else to ask.
A bear. Moody, few words, surprised he had a kid. I don’t think you’re going to get snuggles and hugs and missing birthday cards, but I do think it’ll be some closure.Dr. Vans had a way with words, so Mads rose and put on a shirt before stepping out onto the second-floor balcony and dialing the included number.
On the third ring, a gruff voice rumbled on the other end. “Hello?”
“Hello. I’m looking for Victor Ciel.”Mads didn’t have a last name, so that was all he had to go on.
“Who’s asking?”
Charming.Mads sighed heavily. “Mads Penumbra of Blue Dawn.”
Silence. It stretched on, the pause as pregnant as he was. Hell, he could have had a heat and gotten pregnant all over again in the time it took the male on the other end to speak.
“Mads?” Just a question. The bear knew his name before the call, presumably.
“Yes. Rory De’Creux’s son.” Mads had never identified as Rory’s child. Always Mads of Blue Dawn. The De’Creux never accepted him. Blue Dawn only took Rory in because omegas meant sex and as a child, Mads might grow up to be cute and be good variety for the coven.
Mads expected to be hung up on or snapped at, but not sighed at. A long breath hissed free of him. “Rory said he wasn’t pregnant… I’m sorry. Wish I could say something better than that.”
“Rory used to say a lot of things that weren’t true. No hard feelings, I guess.” Mads didn’t know if he believed the male.
“So. Where from here? It’s been so long, so I don’t know what all to say. I wasn’t with Rory all that long before he kicked me out, sent me packing.” There was a raspy noise on the other end of the phone, as if he were rubbing his stubble.
“Well, Rory drank himself to death when I was a teenager. I’m now mated to the coven head of the Penumbra. Marquis.” Mads glanced down to stare at his feet but only saw belly.
“Shame. Any children?” A soft sort of question.
“I have a son. He turned eighty-one here recently. And I’m due any day now with my second.”
“That’s quite the gap. I never had kids. Sort of hard to have one when you’re in my spot.” Victor cleared his throat. “Aside from you, I guess. My mate’s another alpha.”
“Oh.” Mads almost apologized, but being mated was good. It didn’t have to be for children. “And yeah, it’s a gap…”
Mads explained in the least traumatic way about his misadventure under Baron’s hand. Victor didn’t like to hear it, but was happy that Baron was dead. Apparently, they’d lost some of their sloth to wish. And since their sloth was small to begin with, it was a hard blow, especially with them splitting up to merge with the last polar bear sloth. And two mated alphas weren’t very smiled upon if they weren’t spreading their seed among the females.
“Sailor would never be that way.” Mads said it before he could stop himself, and he found himself offering a place among the mixed coven that they had allocated on the lands and buildings of the Willow coven. Leon had agreed only if he could set fire to the covenmaster’s former residence himself. And they’d allowed it.
“I suppose I should look into it. I’d imagine Rexford isn’t much in the way of looking for a grandpa, but I could try with the little ones. I don’t know what’s left to give you, Mads, but if it’s any consolation, I’ll do right by you however I can.” Victor’s breath settled over the phone. “I don’t think even if I’d have stuck around, I’d have been a good father. It took a while for me to get my shit together.”
“Me, too.” Mads rubbed over the surface of his belly. “But things get better every day. And I guess there’s plenty of time to be a grandpa and great-grandpa.”
