Page 8 of My Pucking Mates
“Eris,” he repeats.
Is he pleading that we complete the mate bond? Or is he pleading to understand?
I run my hands through my hair, growling as my wolf whimpers beneath my skin.
“There’s something you don’t know,” I finally say through gritted teeth. I meant to tell him this so long ago. There was never a right time, and after long enough, it didn’t matter anymore.
He stills, looking at me with a serious yet wary curiosity, and “What?” is all he asks.
I pace in front of the trunk at the foot of my bed, rearranging my thoughts so when they come out of my mouth, they make sense and deliver the least possible blow to my twin. It’s not the act that I’m worried about him reacting to. It’s the fact that I didn’t tell him. It’s the fact that I did it on my own; we have always done everything together…for the most part.
Finally stopping and dropping onto the trunk, I rest my elbows on the top of my thighs and catch my head in my hands. “I’ve tried to tell you this so many times,” I begin.
Ever the attentive brother, Dolos dramatically lands on the floor, crosses his legs like a pup, and scoots closer to me with an obnoxious smile on his face, letting me know he’s ready for whatever bomb I have to drop on him.
I try to smile back at him, but the muscles in my face feel rusty and unused. “Remember the night Pop left?”
Suspicion dances across his features briefly before he schools them and says, “Yep,” popping the P.
“I went looking for him,” I start again, preparing myself to tell my twin something that I buried deep ages ago. “We didn’t know for sure what happened to him, and I wanted to know. He had either left Mama and severed their bond, or something happened to him, causing it to be severed. One way or another, I was going to find out. For Mama.”
He nods, but doesn’t say anything, so I continue.
“Well…I found him. Alive and well. Well, not entirely well. He was slobbering-fucking-drunk-wasted and sexually smothering a willing participant outside the pub.”
His eyebrows scrunch together, and his previously relaxed stature hardens into one that reflects his temper that’s beginning to simmer.
“When I confronted him, he didn’t give a shit about any of us and basically told me to fuck off, and that he never had to see any of us again.” The words send my blood boiling when I remember the way he spoke of my mother and brother. Words they will never know because it would needlessly hurt them.
He’s just watching me when he finally says, “What does it matter what he said? We knew he left. We didn’t need him back.” There’s a dejected tone in his voice that I hate. He knows how our father felt about him, and it’s why I did what I did.
As quietly as I can, while still being heard, I allow myself to say the words I never thought I’d say.
8
12 Years Old
Mama sleeps for three whole days before she wakes up weak and disoriented, but alive. Eris and I have been taking shifts to make sure the chores stay done while we continue watching over her.
The strangeness that came over Eris the night it all happened has disappeared, and back is my animated and silly twin. The shift in him must have been a reaction to what was happening…or at least that’s what I try to convince myself. Something very deep inside of me says it’s something else, though.
I’m watching over her when she wakes, and she’s visibly dizzy from sitting up. She instinctually looks over to the empty side of her bed, and a tear trickles down her soft cheek.
“It’s okay, Mama. Eris and I will take care of you. We don’t need him!” I encourage her with my smile that she says is her favorite.
Her teary eyes meet mine I worry that she’ll miss him, that she’ll want him back. So, I do the thing I’m good at. I keep smiling, and I keep talking. “Me and Eris have kept all the chores done, and one of us has been by your side since that night. You never have to worry about anything again, Mama.” I beam at her and pray to the Goddess that she sends me a sign in the form of the tiniest smile on our sweet mother’s face.
My prayers are answered when she nods to herself, straightens her shoulders, wipes her tears, and says, “You’re right, sweet boy. We don’t need him. I’ve got the two best men in the world right here.”
And then she does it; she smiles big and bright. It’s not even a fake smile like when you have to pretend. It’s a sparkling smile, and I decide that if my mama can smile after what she’s going through, there will never be a reason for me not to smile.
9
Present
“When I found him…I made sure he could never come back to hurt you or Mama…”
The words seep into my skin, running straight for my heart. There shouldn’t be any pain for that monster. He was no father to Eris and me. He was a horrible mate to our mother. So why does my soul want to care? Why do I give a flying-fuck what happened to him? I knew he hated me, and still, there is an inkling of something inside of me that always wondered if he would come back for us. If he’d change his ways and decide to love us. Mama and I tried so hard to make him happy, happy enough that he would be like other mates who loved and cared for their family.
