Page 6 of Bitter Discord

“It’s not fair that you eat it while you cook, then you get your portion when everyone else eats. We all get less bacon because of you.”

“Life isn’t fair. I help, therefore, I get extra.”

Heath stopped cooking, looking over his shoulder at his son in silence.

I loaded finished bacon on a plate, started the next batch, then I picked up a finished slice and ate it where Landon could see me, grinning as he glared.

Heath snorted when he realized what I was doing.

“Pa.”

“It’s her house. I think that trumps your argument of fairness and helping, which no one ever agreed to.”

“Pa!”

“Jacky, can I have one?” Carey asked softly, walking over to me. She gave me an innocent smile, but there was a glint in her eye that told me she was out for revenge. I gave her one before shooing her away as Landon played the injured party while Dirk and Heath laughed heartlessly at him.

It was moments like these when life was perfect. That made everything worth it.

3

CHAPTER THREE

Breakfast was fun, but like most Saturdays, it was over too soon.

“Six werewolves left my territory while we were eating,” I declared. “Two groups of three.”

“That would be Teagan and the boys and Shamus with his kids. That’s good. They’ll be wrapping up when I get back. Carey and Landon, help me clean up,” Heath ordered as he got up and started taking our empty plates. “We’re going to go see a movie once we’re done. Just us three.”

“Let me drive Dirk home, then I’ll meet you at the theater,” Landon said, standing up.

“Yeah, I rode with him so—”

“I want my kids to ride with me,” Heath said, smiling. “Dirk and Jacky can hang out for a little while. We’re getting family time. They should have some.”

I watched Dirk’s eyes go wide. Landon looked at his father for a long time, then turned to me.

“I see,” the werewolf mumbled. “Fine.”

Dirk grumbled but said nothing.

“I barely see you anymore,” I said to Dirk, sighing as the faucet was turned on and the Eversons scrubbed the dishes before they went into the dishwasher. “I know everything has changed a lot. You’ve been adjusting to things as a werewolf and being in a pack. You come for work, then you disappear.”

“You don’t have to pretend that’s why you want to talk today,” Dirk snapped, his eyes flashing to the jade green of his wolf form.

Heath’s growl rippled over the room, and Dirk sank in his chair.

There was a line Heath enforced with every werewolf in the new pack. He didn’t let the pack snap at me or tolerate anyone giving me lip or attitude. He didn’t make it a full order, silencing them. He wanted them to learn to stop themselves and was willing to correct them when it happened. I regularly wanted to argue with it, but I knew better than to undermine him with his pack. I wasn’t part of it. The only position I held was as his fiancée, or mate as they preferred to say. I didn’t give them orders or use them for my own means. They didn’t need to give me an attitude.

But this was Dirk.

“Heath, I’ve got it,” I said loudly enough to know he heard me. “Has nothing to do with the pack, and no one is around, so we don’t need to pretend Dirk isn’t my family.”

He said nothing in reply, grabbing his keys to leave. I stood up and motioned for Dirk to follow me to my office, then pointed at one of the chairs for him to sit down.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t—”

“I wasn’t pretending anything,” I hissed as I went to my chair and sat down, then waited for him to sit down. “When they’re done, we’ll talk about the more important stuff, but I wasn’t wrong. You’ve been busy, and I haven’t seen much of you. You’re still my nephew and Niko’s son. You are still part of this family, not just as Landon’s mate, boyfriend, lover, or roommate, whichever you want to use. I need to know how you feel about everything. The problem…” I sighed as he sat down. “Dirk, I’ve spent months planning this week, and you haven’t told me how you feel about it.”

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