Page 128 of The Beta's Heart

“You’ve shared a lot of information with me about my family over the years, Rog,” Ash added, “but do you know anything about Ty’s?”

“Well, like I said before, alpha, I’m from your grandparents’ generation, not your parents, so I knew them better than your dads. I ran around the most with your grandpas, Beta Ty. On your dad’s side was Malcolm, who we all called Mackie, and on your mom’s side was Abraham, who we all called Abe. Once they started finding their mates and settling into careers, we stayed friends, but didn’t see each other as much, especially once I opened my diner here. She always did take a lot of my time and energy!”

As he told me my grandfathers’ names, a little ping of envy went through my heart. I was jealous that he’d had the chance to get to know them and I hadn’t.

“What were my grandmas’ names?” I asked him.

“Mackie’s mate was named Laurie, and Abe’s mate was Heather.” His face broke out into a huge grin as he shook his head. “Man, that Heather! She was one hell of an omega, I’ll tell you that! She could walk right up to a pair of wolves mid-fight, blast out a wave of peace, and have them eating out of her palm like pups!”

“Why can’t Bram do that?” Peri looked over at Ash. “He’s an omega with a fair bit of moon magic.”

“Can’t share what he don’t have,” Roger muttered and scratched the top of his head, his eyes falling to his shoes. “I don’t know the boy well, but if Bram has no peace or calm inside him, he has none to spare for others. Might want to look into that, alpha.”

That made me cut my eyes over to Ash, who gave me a curt nod.

“I’ll swing by there next and see if I can find out what’s going on,” he promised, then added, “Rog, someday you have free time, I’dlike you to help me make family trees for us younger Dark Woods survivors.”

“Happy to, alpha, least as much as I know and can remember.” Roger tapped his forehead with his pointer finger. “The old thinker don’t always work as well as it used to.”

“Well, on Ty’s family tree, who was Hunter Duke James?” Peri blurted out in her impatience, and I put my arm around her and pulled her against my side.

His gray eyebrows shooting up, Roger blinked a few times, but I wasn’t sure if he was taken aback by her tone or her question.

“Wait. What?” he asked in a quiet voice. “Bekah—Bekah never told you?”

“Told mewhat?” I tilted my head to the side, a ball of anxiety and eagerness forming in the pit of my stomach now that I was so close to finally learning the truth.

“I always assumed you knew.” He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand and blew out a heavy sigh. “I’m sorry, beta. Now I feel like I let you down. I’m not sure it’s my place to tell you, though. It would be better coming from family.”

“Family?” I scoffed and hugged Peri a little tighter. “I don’t have any family left to ask.”

“Actually, you do.”

29. Bitter Bitch

Peri

As we walked up to the Merriweather residence, we heard shouting coming from inside the house. Ash picked up his pace while Ty and I exchanged wide-eyed glances, wondering what accident or tragedy had happened here. By the time we were standing on the porch, though, it became clear that Brenda Merriweather was upset about her son’s grades.

That made me mad. I knew for a fact that only hard-earned As filled all of Bram’s report cards.

“I knew you would never amount to a hill of beans,” Mrs. Merriweather screamed, “but the least you could do is meet my expectations with your education!”

“It’s Tuesday, Mom,” Bram tried to stand up for himself. “Today was only the second day of school! We don’t even have grades yet!”

“Last year, you finished Spanish with an A minus!” Mrs. Merriweather screeched with venom. “That is unacceptable! I do not want a repeat, yet all you do is listen to your damn records and write some shit stories that no one cares about instead of studying!”

With a gasp, I covered my nose and mouth with my folded hands. She was having a hissy fit over an A minus?

She sure wouldn’t want to seemyreport card,I thought to myself with a grimace, feeling horrible for Bram.And how dare she degrade him for wanting to write stories or listen to his vinyls!

Bram and his father had built a collection of moon-themed records before Mr. Merriweather died in the sickness, and Bram found great comfort in listening to them. As for writing, not only was it a great outlet for him, he was hella creative.

The boy’s going to be a best-selling author someday, and she’s running him down for it? What the hell?!Ash barked in the link.

Is this what he has to deal with every day?Ty added.

I rolled my shoulders, upset for not knowing how bad Bram had it at home. Everybody knew he and his mom didn’t get along, but this was so much more demeaning than I’d imagined. What kind of friend was I to not have done something to help him before now?

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