Page 27 of Walking in Darkness

Nelson sat in the other only empty chair.

“Apparently it was something you never intended to tell me,” Kit snapped, getting angry all over again. “Which, frankly, kinda blows.”

“Kittappa.”

Kit fought the instinctive need to cringe. Welp, if they didn’t know his full name, they did now. But they probably already did. Regardless, his mom just trotted out his full first name. That was never a good sign. They’d told him his name was a way to honor his papa’s nationality.

It was a mouthful, which was why he went by Kit. He’d grown up knowing that Chris was his biological dad. Not to mention, it was pretty obvious since he was almost the exact replica of his pops.

“Sorry, Mom, but come on. Was this really something none of you thought I needed to know? I mean, I can understand not telling me when I was a kid. I totally get that. But I’m not a kid now.”

“And just how were we supposed to tell you something like that?” Grace asked. “It’s not like the world knows there are paranormals out there walking around. You wouldn’t have believed us, then we would’ve had to prove it to you.”

Kit was tempted to tell them that if he’d already known about the paranormal world, seeing Kage in his true form might not have been so scary. Probably not, but still. Besides, even though he was aggravated, he didn’t want to put that kind of guilt on his mom.

“Okay, but—”

“I was afraid you would’ve looked at me differently,” Michail said quietly. “I didn’t want you to think I was some sort of animal. Just because Icanchange into one doesn’t mean Iamone. Humans don’t always react favorably.”

“That’s very true,” Hudson said. “Nine times out of ten, a human gets hysterical. And that’s the best-case scenario. Sometimes their brain can’t take it, and the human completely breaks.”

“He’s not kidding, Kit. Humans have ended up in insane asylums,” Connie said.

Now Kit was glad he’d kept his mouth shut. He remembered how he’d reacted to seeing Kage. He’d been so terrified it had felt like his heart was going to pound out of his chest. Seriously, he’d thought he might be having a heart attack. Then there was his reaction to Nox. That had ended him up on a therapist’s couch.

“So you never planned to tell me?”

“Inever said that,” Grace pointed out. “You did.”

“Then you did plan to tell me?”

“Yes. When the time was right,” Grace answered.

Kit grimaced. “Heard that a lot here lately.”

“What?” Grace asked.

“Nothing. It’s just someone else said that to me not long ago.” Kit shot a look at his mates. “Anyway, when did you plan to tell me?”

“Can we circle back to that?” Michail asked. “And we will, I promise. But right now, I’d like to knowhowyou found out. Your dragons could not have known, even if one is royalty.”

Welp. That definitely answered the question of whether or not his papa recognized Hudson’s name. He also didn’t know how to answer his papa. Was he supposed to tell him that a damn dragon deity spilled the beans?

Yeah, no. His papa would think he was nuts—then again, maybe not—but it wasn’t his place to reveal dragon deities existed. Well, he knew one did. Kit didn’t know about any others, and frankly, he didn’t want to know.

“It’s a long story, but it revolves around brothers—Nox and Lennox Astor,” Hudson said, jumping in.

Michail stiffened.

Kit could have kissed Hudson because he did not know how to answer his papa’s question, but he hated to see his papa’s reaction.

“The brothers are from Greece originally,” Connie added.

Kit’s gaze immediately went to his papa’s hands. They were clutching the edge of his chair, and holy shit, was he seeing that right? His fingernails were claws.

Kit blinked.

That wasn’t something he’d expected to see. Poor chair. That was going to leave a mark. Then Kit jumped at the sudden growl in the room. Holy shit. He was definitely not ready to hear the damn sound that rumbled in his papa’s chest.Norwas he ready to see the flash of fear in his papa’s face. That, more than anything, broke his heart.

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