Page 89 of Gift from the Nexus

“It’s all true, sweetheart. Every bit of it,” she says, giving him a small pride-filled smile. One that screams the true honor and joy she feels for him.

“I’ll make you proud, momma,” he swears as silent tears continue to fall from his gray-blue eyes faster than he can wipe them away.

“You already have, Lyker. You already have. I love you, son, so, so much,” she says sweetly, finally letting her own tears flow as she gives him a final hug and kiss on the cheek and stands.

Walking through her men with her head held high, they each run their shaking hands across her. Tears flow down their faces silently as they watch her go and their bodies tremble with the effort it’s taking not to go after her. Their heartbreak spears through me as if it were my own and I want to crumble under the weight of it.

“How could you?” Lyker suddenly shouts angrily.

“We have no choice, son. This is how it must be,” one of them says, kneeling in front of him, reaching out to hold him, but he forcefully twists out his grip and stands, heaving.

“NO. This is not how the story goes. Go with her,” he screams frantically, his eyes bouncing back and forth between his dads and the direction his mother, our mother, just walked. He tries to run through them to follow her, but he’s stopped, wrapped in the arms of another one of his dads, who lowers them to the ground.

“Lyker, we can’t leave you.”

“You have to. It’s in the story. Please don’t leave her alone. Please. She’s not alone in the story. The wolf is.” He cries, begs as he wraps his arms around his father.

All four of them look at me, well, CC with confusion warring in their eyes. They must not have been privy to the story because they each cast their gazes back and forth between Lyker, CC, and the way our mom went.

“What is he talking about?” one of them mutters.

“It’s time for you all to go. I will protect your son,” CC swears.

Hope blooms through me as their emotions surface, but it’s quickly doused out when they look down at their trembling son.

They follow her. Be with her.

Or they stay with him.

“We…we can’t leave him. She would never forgive us for such a thing.”

“She already knows the outcome of both scenarios. How else could she have told him the story? Here, he is safe. Here, he survives,” CC says calmly.

“Please go,” Lyker murmurs quietly and my heart rips open.

The dad that has him wrapped in his arms pulls back to look down at him for a long moment. Whatever he’s searching for in his eyes, he sees, and he grasps him on the back of his neck and lays their foreheads together.

Each of them takes a turn doing this, whispering their pride, their love, begging for his forgiveness.

CC comes to stand behind Lyker and lays their hand on his shoulder while all four of his dads look at him one last time. It’s gut-wrenching to witness and I can’t help but sob in the corner of CC’s mind.

“I love you. Please tell her I love her too,” Lyker says firmly, newfound determination cutting through his tears and boyish voice.

“We love you, son. Always.”

With a nod to CC, they sprint after our mom, and we watch them go. Lyker’s holding strong, so strong for a young boy whose faith solely rests in a story only our mom and him shared. CC’s heart is pounding wildly, and there’s a mixture of trust, honor, and such heartbreak thrumming through them.

“Come on, little wolf. Time for us to go as well,” CC says, wrapping their arm around Lyker’s shoulder.

“Where are we going?”

Instead of answering him, CC opens a transport, and we enter the darkness. Seconds pass and we step out in what seems to be the same forest we were just hiding in, but we’re in the thick of it. Lyker lifts his nose to the air, sniffing around as if the scent is familiar to him. Turning in a slow circle, he takes in his surroundings.

“We’re not far from my house.”

“That’s right, but we’re closer to the pack lands now, so it won’t be a long walk,” CC says solemnly.

“You can’t come with me either, can you?” Lyker asks with a small tremble to his lip. Fuck, he’s so strong. Stronger than he should have to be.

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