Page 115 of Prodigal Son

“No, Cain. That’s not good enough. I want my son to know the real you. All of you. You’re a part of our lives.”

He was a paperweight holding things in place while the world moved around him. “Did she look happy to you?”

“Who?”

“Destiny.”

Adam sighed. “What do you want me to tell you, Cain? She looked like an English news reporter doing her job.”

Cain shook his head. No answer would have comforted him. Happy or sad, he couldn’t go to her. Not unless he chose to relinquish his family and leave The Order.

“How long do you plan to go on like this? You chose to let her go.”

“I made no such choice. Everything about my circumstances has been decided by others.”

“If you’re so unhappy, then stop being so damn accommodating.”

“Is that how you see me?” He sneered. “Well, I sure hope I haven’t overcomplicated things for you with all of my compliance.”

“I know what you sacrificed for us—”

“Well, would it kill you to acknowledge it once in a while? You shunned me from your home and haven’t spoken to me in months.”

“She nearly died, Cain!”

“So did I!”

His words cracked through the air like a bullet and silence echoed. Emotion choked him as his eyes burned with the reawakened longing to simply have a place among his family. He only wanted to know where he belonged.

Voice strained, he explained “I lost my mate and helped father find his. I took those children for Father and saw to their safety. Do you think he’s whispered one word of thanks for my help? And now look what has become of precious Cybil.” Cain covered his eyes, unable to face more disapproval. “I have no place here. No future. Wanting only to provide some level of value, I tried to help The Order and wound up shot in the heart, surrounded by an army of deranged vampires. The only reason I survived was because of Destiny. Then I came home to everyone’s condemnation. I give and I give until I have nothing left of myself, and all I get in return is judgement and scorn.”

He shook his head, unsure why he was sharing so much, but relieved to get his feelings off his chest. “That thing in the woods is vicious. It’s soulless.” He thought of the others, his mind instantly leaping to Cybil. “I’m running out of hope.”

“The Elders will handle Isaiah.”

Cain met his stare. “They may, or they may not. But, Adam, if that’s what happens to an unanswered immortal, what sort of destiny does that leave me?”

His jaw slackened. “You’re different. Your blood completed Annalise’s transition.”

“But we never mated.” His voice broke. “God help me, but when I held Cybil in my arms and fed her my blood, part of me prayed…” He shook his head, disgusted by his own admission. “I know she’s young, but I wondered if there might be someone else. She saw something good in me.”

“We all see something good in you, Cain.”

“Not like this. Cybil loved me and I destroyed her. Everything I care about gets taken away.”

“You hoped the mortal child was meant for you?”

“No. But I hoped there might be some purpose to all the injustice we suffer in this cruel world. I wanted to save her.”

“Cain, she was just a mortal little girl. If she were anything else, she wouldn’t have died that day.”

A tear fell from his eye. “I loved her. I swore to take care of her.” Looking up at his brother and seeing the worry in his eyes, Cain laughed without humor. “Don’t think I’m so far gone as to lust after a child, Adam. The one I want is gone. Also mortal, but at least of age.”

“Then why did you let her go?”

“Because it was for the best.”

“That’s not the way a male loves his mate.”

---