Page 133 of The Beta's Heart

“Newly discovered then,” I said with a shrug.

“And what good news are we telling him?”

“That Ash is taking care of his mom and that you’re family! Where do you think he would like to go?”

“How about the skatepark? It’s one of his favorite places after the library, and I enjoy it, too.”

“And it’s free!” I added, desperate to bring back my love’s smile. “Our going rate!”

#

Tyler

Operation Make Bram Smile Again went off without a hitch. When I linked the Hall twins, they said they could join us at the skatepark, but what really sealed the deal was Peri convincing Yolanda to come along.

I wasn’t ready to share with anyone that Brenda was my aunt or that Bram was my cousin, but I hoped Bram would be as happy as I was to find out we were family.

We spent about two hours skating and watching the Hall twins flirt shamelessly with Yolanda before Ash showed up in Brenda Merriweather’s car and sent Bram back home with it, saying his mom was still alive, although he didn’t think she’d have the strength to harass Bram anymore. His big grin and the relief he radiated made us all happy, although I knew the twins and Yola wondered what was going on.

It was Bram’s story to share, but I decided to tell them a bit about Brenda just so they would know how to support him. Of course, being his best friend, Yola knew a lot of it, so she wasn’t surprised, but Bowie and Becks were furious, and that scared Yola. I ended up sending the twins off to the training field to spar with each other if they couldn’t find someone brave enough to take them on when they were in such filthy tempers.

After we got home from dropping Yola off, I sacked out on the couch, emotionally and mentally exhausted, and listened to Perihumming as she worked on a very late dinner for us. I told myself I should get up and help her because I wanted it to actually be edible, but she’d bluntly refused my help.

“Go rest, baby, and let me do it,” she said as she leaned over me and kissed my forehead. “It’s only tacos, and I’m sure that Coke I saw you sneak earlier has long since worn off.”

I half-smiled at that. Caffeine and nicotine were the only two human drugs that affected shifters, and I normally left both alone, although Arizona Sweet Tea had just a touch of caffeine in it. But I’d had a bad nightmare last night and couldn’t fall back to sleep even after River went for a run with his Siddy. Add in the early morning workout with my beta brothers, a full day of school, and an intense football practice, and I was dragging, so I’d downed a can of Coke, which had twice as much caffeine as the tea, before we went over to Dark Woods.

“Good thing I did, too, or I would have conked out before we even got to the skatepark!” I told her as she stood and headed for the kitchen.

“I’m sure your body and mind are cashing in now, though, baby, so go ahead and catch a nap.”

Because my mate was right as usual, I closed my eyes for just a minute…

Next thing I knew, Ash was shaking me awake and telling me dinner was on the table.

“This ain’t going to be easy to hear,” he said the second we all sat down at the kitchen table.

“Seems like nothing is today.” Blowing out a heavy breath, I ate my first taco in two bites, which made River giggle.

“Rip off the band-aid, Ash,” Peri said as she took more delicate nibbles of her food.

“Abraham “Abe” and Heather Merriweather had a daughter named Bekah and a son named Robert. Malcolm “Mackie” and Laurie James had two sons, Seymour and Hunter. Bekah and Hunter were goddess-given mates and had one son—you, Tyler—before Hunter was killed and Bekah and Seymour became chosen mates.”

“What an excellent summary of everything we already knew, brother,” Peri said when Ash stopped talking long enough to down a taco.

“I’m getting there, Sissy. During the attack on Dark Woods, Seymour got hit with a silver bullet. It killed his wolf instantly, which is why you have no memory of him, and Quartz didn’t sense him that night.”

“I’m sorry about that,” I murmured. “Do you think that’s why he went crazy? Losing his wolf? But I have vague memories of himbeing good to us when I was younger. He only started getting bad as I aged—”

“That’s because a shard of the silver casing lodged in his brain,” Ash explained. “It wasn’t something the deltas could operate on. Brenda said Uncle Jay even took him to a human specialist who said the same thing. All they could do was watch it slowly eating away at him, messing with his mind and personality.”

The words hit me like a punch to the gut, ripping off a scab that had never quite healed. I knew how bad silver hurt, how it burned and stung as it sank into your skin, and couldn’t imagine how it felt to have that in my skull, burning and stinging every day as it dug deeper and deeper…

My vision blurred, my breaths coming in shallow gasps, and the walls seemed to be closing in on me—

“Ty, it’s okay,” Peri murmured, her voice a soft anchor in the storm of my thoughts. “You’re here. You’re safe.”

“Want me to go on?” Ash’s eyes locked on me, and I nodded. “Well, obviously Seymour was never right after that. I linked Dr. Myers and Dr. York all of this on the way over, and they both agree that Seymour’s violence grew as the silver destroyed more of his brain.”

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