Page 52 of His Gift
“You are not worthless and useless,” Anthony said, still fierce on the surface, but I could see now that was his way of showing his love.
Hope started to spark within me. I could see it right there. Anthony loved his sons, and he was excited about Walt being pregnant, he just had a weird way of showing it.
But all of my hope flattened when Mr. Wythe entered the lobby through one of the doors that led into the event space and saw our group standing there. Or more specifically, he saw his pregnant son standing there.
“What in the hell is this?” he boomed, striding across the lobby to us so aggressively that I flinched back along with Walt.
“Now, Tristan, calm down,” Anthony said, sounding exasperated. “I was just trying to get to the bottom of this myself.”
“It looks like someone has already gotten to the bottom of things,” Mr. Wythe said, glaring at Walt. “And clearly, you have kept this a secret from me for too long.”
“This is exactly why I didn’t tell you,” Walt said, though his voice was thin and weak. “It was an accident. The whole thing was an accident when I went into heat unexpectedly.”
“That is what Bangers & Mash exists for,” Mr. Wythe said without sympathy.
“It was when I was in the Caribbean,” Walt tried to defend himself, though he just looked miserable as he did.
“Oh, honey,” Anthony said, reaching for Walt.
“Don’t,” Mr. Wythe stopped him. “What are people going to think when they see this?” he demanded from Walt. “Think about how having a bastard child in the family will affect your brother, will affect all of us.”
I’d never wanted to slap an alpha so hard in my life.
“I have thought of it,” Walt said, not quite standing up for himself, but not completely caving either. “I haven’t thought of anything else since I was a kid but how you both love Shawn more than me.”
“We do not—” Anthony started.
“I’ll do this on my own,” Walt cut him off, then turned to march out of the building with as much dignity as he could muster.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Shawn
Iwas stunned by my dad’s coldness toward a baby. Not just any baby, his grandchild. I knew where Dad was coming from. The world our family operated in was judgmental and unforgiving sometimes. But he didn’t have to be that way, too. But if he was upset about the optics of Walt having a baby out of wedlock, how would he feel about my and Enzo’s child?
“That was not a good way to handle this situation, Dad,” I said. Then, before Dad could reply, turned to chase after Walt.
Enzo came with me, which was more of a relief than I expected it to be. I felt stronger when I had Enzo by my side.
“Walt, wait!” I called once we were outside in the cold and cloudy December morning.
Walt hadn’t gotten very far. Pregnancy had made him slow and cautious. There was a little bit of ice on the stairs leading down into the parking lot, and like the smart omega he was, he was taking it easy and doing everything to avoid slipping. Hestopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned back to me and Enzo with a tired scowl.
“I don’t know why I expected anything different from him,” he said as Enzo and I caught up. “Ididn’texpect anything different, not really.”
“Come back inside and we’ll all sit down together as a family and talk this through,” I said.
Walt eyed me suspiciously. “Why would you want me to sit down and talk things out with you when I just spilled the beans about you and Enzo?”
Enzo and I exchanged a look.
“Oh, there are way more beans to spill than that,” Enzo said with a wry laugh.
Walt stared at him in judgmental confusion for a second before his eyebrows shot up. “Oh my God. Don’t tell me…you’re pregnant, too?”
“Yep,” Enzo said with a big, goofy smile, making his way down the steps to stand on the same level as Walt. “Also an accident, I might add. It’s not our fault. Heat does that to us. Omega biology and all.”
My heart was in my throat as I watched my brother and my omega stare each other down. I couldn’t tell what Walt really thought of the situation, I could only read his facial expressions, which I’d never been very good at anyhow. I could sense what Enzo was feeling, though, and he was cautiously optimistic.
