Page 140 of Luna: Posy 2

"When I went to his office the other day," he took a deep breath, then let it all out in a rush, "I questioned him about inducting those witches into the pack, then called him a disappointment and told him the pack would fail under his weak leadership."

"What?"I gasped.

"The day they came back from Tall Pines," Royal went on, "I said some things, thenhesaid that he doesn't recognize me as his father anymore. Later, at his office, he told me if I'm such a disappointment, I had only myself to blame because I made him the way he is."

Angry and upset as I was, my son was only one half of the story. I wanted to know why Posy was so scared of my mate. Evie and I had picked up right away on how shy she was, and her eyes told us she'd been to hell and shaken the devil's hand, but that didn't explain the degree of fear on her face when Royal tried to hand her the cover up. I knew he never would raise a hand to her, so that could only mean his big mouth had gotten him into trouble.

Again.

"And what about Posy?"

"I, um, called her a scrawny, weak runt," he muttered. "Then I told Mase I could accept her as his whore, but not his mate."

"Royal!"

"I know, I know, okay? I knew I was wrong the moment she threw me out of his office after I said he was a disappointment. You should have seen her, Jules. She was quivering like a tiny rabbit, scared to death, but she stood there and defended her mate from me. I was too angry at the time to acknowledge it, but her courage was magnificent."

His eyes gleamed with either admiration or pride for a second, then dulled as he continued.

"When I saw her scars just now, I realized how badly I misjudged her. How wrongly I interpreted the information I'd been given about her."

"You ran a background check on her?"

"I wanted to keep the boys safe from a gold-digger, or at least that's how I justified it, but all I did was hurt an innocent girl who's already been hurt too many times in her life. And I hate myself for it, Jules! I wanted to slit my own throat when I saw that bastard's initials branded on her back!"

"They were initials? I couldn't tell much in the darkness."

"KAB. Kendall Allen Briggs. Nathan and I met him at an alpha conference a few years ago. I remember Nathan telling me he felt sorry for the man's family, and I agreed with him. We informed the king that we were concerned about Briggs' overly violent nature, but it was right at the time Magnus was abdicating the throne, and I think our report got lost in the shuffle. Now, I feel guilty that we didn't follow up on it. Nathan's kicking himself, too."

"Thank you for trying to give her the cover up, by the way."

"She was too scared of me to take it," he muttered. "I need to apologize to her."

"That's a great start. I'd like you to have a good relationship with our daughter-in-law. Now tell me more about what's been going on with Mase."

He dropped his head into his hands.

"At first, I was training him to become alpha the right way, but over time, I started acting more and more like my father. Harsh. Overly critical." His voice dropped to a whisper. "Verbally abusive."

I didn't need the details. I remembered Alpha JR Price and his methods very well.

"Jay and Shawn used to warn me to loosen up on the boy, but I didn't listen," Royal admitted, referring to Jay Carson and Shawn Black, his friends who died in the sickness. "In fact, I got worse. These past two years, Nathan and Al tried to tell me I'd drive him away if I didn't stop. Well, I didn't, and now their words are coming true."

I stared at him for a long time as I processed the information. I was angry - so very angry! - and had to work hard to control myself. I wanted to rage at him, pound him with my fists, throw him out of the house, anything to make him feel as much pain as I was.

Instead, I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths until I could say what I needed to without tears or shouting or both.

"Royal, if you had to describe your teenage self in one word, what would you say?"

"Bad." He rubbed the back of his neck. "In every way and on every level. You know that as well as I do."

"You're right. I do. That's why your father was hard on you and hounded you over every little thing. The whole pack knew you needed a heavy hand to shape all that wildness into a man worthy of becoming the alpha of Great Rocks."

"True. Without him, I would have been dead or in the pack's cells before I reached adulthood."

I nodded. It was the absolute truth.

"Now, how would you describemeas a teenager?" I asked.

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