Page 53 of Red River

It didn’t sit right with me, so I quickly left my room and went to Van’s. Sure enough, the boys were standing by the window, pressed up against the glass, snickering.

"Back to bed. It’s not time to get up yet—it’s only 6:25!"

"But Dad, we want to see how Archer’s handling Igor!" Aiden whimpered.

Van added, "I want to see if Igor loses my water bottle again or if he fails at something else… He’s pathetic."

"Boys, don’t make fun of your brother. He’s struggling. He doesn’t know what to do. It feels like everything is falling apart for him, like he’s losing on every front."

Lake and Aiden fell silent, but Van gritted his teeth.

"Igor deserves all of this. He’s always the one who starts stuff, nitpicks at everything, and acts like a jerk—"

"Like a lot of teenagers, Van."

Van furrowed his brow. "Father spoiled him because he’s an alpha! He let Igor get away with too much! But I don’t think that’s a reason to go easy on him," he muttered, clenching his jaw. There was a rebellious edge to his tone. Had Igor really gotten under his skin that badly?

"You’re right, I agree with you. But this is a really tough time for Igor. It’s about breaking his will and submitting to another alpha’s dominance. Every boy who goes to an alpha boot camp has to go through the same process. The good thing is, he’s doing it here, surrounded by family. But that doesn’t mean you should mock him."

The boys fell silent, staring at me. And in that moment, I realized with shocking clarity just how much damage Igor’s behavior had caused. All his brothers—who used to get along with him, more or less—had turned against him and sided with someone they’d only known for two days!

Two days!

That alone told me how deep the problem ran.

I felt sorry for Igor, but I also became even more convinced that he had to find a way to peacefully coexist with the rest of us before something between us broke beyond repair. And Archer… was his last hope.

I walked past my sons and went to the window.

Down below, Igor was being tossed into the water again—clearly, he hadn’t gotten the message the first time.

This time, we all stood there in silence, watching as he tried to swim to the edge, only for Archer to throw him back in each time.

It went on for quite a while, but eventually, Igor was too exhausted.

He must have been freezing with that skinny body of his… My heart clenched as I finally saw him crawl out of the pool, his shoulders slumped. Through the window, I could barely hear their voices, but I caught Igor saying:

"Alright, you bastard, you win! I’ll go on your stupid jog, but don’t expect this to make us friends."

Unfortunately, I didn’t catch Archer’s reply. Igor headed straight for the house, probably to change.

I noticed the look on Van’s face—he wanted to go to the door and most likely tell Igor that his holographic water bottle was staying with him. But my warning glance stopped him in his tracks. I didn’t want to make things worse for Igor.

A few minutes later, Igor came downstairs, now dressed in a T-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers.

Meanwhile, Archer was warming up, but Igor didn’t join him. He just followed behind, and soon, both of them were jogging toward the woods.

"Back to bed, boys. Try to get some more sleep. Breakfast won’t be until around 8 am."

I could tell they were too excited, but I still managed to get them to at least lie in their beds.

Of course, I couldn’t sleep either. I kept tossing and turning in my brand-new, very cool nest. I was actually pretty proud of it.

Eventually, I sat up and started making small adjustments to it, just to keep my mind occupied. It helped me relax a little, but not enough, so in the end, I gave up and went downstairs to start making breakfast.

When Oliver showed up, I was strangely embarrassed to tell him what had happened.

Around 7:15, the patio door opened, and in stepped Archer, followed by a sweaty, exhausted Igor—red as a peony.

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