Page 3 of Red River

"With Andrew gone, if anything happens, Igor won’t have a legal guardian. What are we going to do, Thomas? They’ll take him or send someone here! We have to think about our options!"

"River, please, don’t talk like I’m already gone. There’s still time. I intend to live—I can do it…"

I stared at his face—swollen, a bit bluish. Completely changed, nothing like the man I had married.

He had been very attractive when we met, with striking azure eyes, thick dark blond hair, and manly, handsome features. His smile could make me swoon. But as the years passed—along with his declining health—his looks had faded.

A week after that conversation, he was gone.

"Oh, Sam." My voice wavered. "I think I’m mad at him. He didn’t have to die, you know? He could’ve fought for us, for the kids. I begged him—pleaded with him—to try harder, to take his meds, to eat better. But no. He gave up."

Sam stayed quiet. He’d been there, watching it all play out for years, seeing how Thomas slowly withdrew from life.

"But there’s more. Something weird happened at the hospital with Igor. He went… crazy."

I heard Sam make a small, hoarse grunt, probably relieved for a shift away from the heaviness of Thomas’s death.

"What exactly happened?"

"He said he’s the alpha now. That Thomas gave him that role, and he’s going to make all the decisions. And when Riley disagreed… Igor slapped him."

There was a raspy sound on the other end. "What?! Are you serious?"

A heavy silence fell, and I didn’t know what to say. I felt stupid because Sam had always said I didn’t involve myself enough in the relationship between Igor and Thomas—that I hadn’t worked on shaping Igor’s character as much as I should have. But on the day Thomas died, Sam spared me from hearing that.

"Riley already left, took the train to campus. He’ll only be back for the funeral. He said he couldn't deal with Igor."

Sam spoke slowly, carefully choosing his words. "River, maybe it’s time to call your parents."

"Sam!" I gasped in shock.

"Or… if you’re not ready for that, it’s time to choose somebody as a legal guardian for Igor and file for approval with the Department of Family Affairs. You know what happens when the authorities receive Thomas’s death certificate. They’ll come. The fucking safety enforcers! They won’t let an omega raise ateenage alpha alone. If you don’t choose a candidate yourself, they could impose someone… bad—or take him away if you don’t agree."

Oh, I knew all too well what could happen. Not once after Andrew's death had Thomas wanted to discuss the guardianship issue. The decision remained frozen, our future unclear.

Had leaving Igor in charge been his secret plan all along?

I refused to believe it. Igor was too young. It seemed like a crazy idea—destined to fail.

In our society, omegas couldn’t raise alpha children alone. It wasn’t out of cruelty or because omegas had fewer rights—nothing like that. It was purely a matter of necessity. Young alphas, especially those between the ages of fifteen and seventeen, had incredibly unstable energy that required the regulating presence of an older, stable alpha. Without it, they could enter a state known asMusth, similar to the phenomenon seen in male elephants.

In this condition, young alphas matured at an accelerated pace, quickly developing strong dominant traits. There were countless cases of young alphas without proper guardians overpowering their omega parents—sometimes resorting to physical or even sexual violence. No matter how well-raised or how perfect a boy seemed before, the primal instincts in maturing alphas were nearly impossible to suppress. Their nature surged, taking control, and the massive spike in testosterone essentially eliminated most rational behavior.

Omegas without legal guardians could have their alpha children taken away and placed in special boot camps, where teachers—exceptionally strong, dominant alphas—regulated their energy and helped shape their personalities.

Besides Igor, I also had three younger sons… and they were still a mystery. They could turn out to be alphas too. If that happened, they’d be taken next. Only the youngest, Lake,seemed destined to be an omega. My middle sons—Van and Aiden—could go either way.

"I know, Sam," I muttered. "I need to decide quickly. On top of that, there’s Thomas’s business. I have a feeling it’s worse than Thomas let on. We might have to give up the company to pay off debts."

"Are you talking about bankruptcy? Let’s hope you’re not left with some horrible debts to pay off because that would be an impossible situation. And like I said, you could try contacting your parents. It’s been twenty years, River, since you last saw them. Now that Thomas is gone, maybe it’s time to fix things?"

Feeling shaky and emotional, I sighed heavily.

"Stop with this, Sam! Call them?! So they can say—or think—look who came crawling back?After twenty years of silence, of ignoring them?"

There was a long silence on the line, and I sighed.

The truth was, my parents had made so many attempts to reach out to me through Uncle Van, but I refused every time. And now I would suddenly be asking for help? I knew all too well how much I had broken their hearts, how horribly I had treated them—yelling and cursing at them.

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