Page 23 of A Chance at Love for the Twin Alphas

When I step into my parents’ living room, Dad is already waving at me, a little bit too overjoyed to see me. He has the worst poker face ever. I’m not surprised he always loses during his poker evenings with Uncle Elden and his other friends.

A glance at the table tells me he indeed had lemon pie organized for us, and… “Is that iced coffee?” I ask, surprised. That’s my favorite.

He nods. “I felt like it.”

“Why?” I ask, furrowing my brows. Goddess, he and Henry are so similar sometimes. Everyone says I resemble Dad more with my chilled attitude, but when it’s about them trying to be subtle, it’s just all over their face that something’s wrong.

“Can’t I have some coffee with my son?” Dad asks, trying to sound upset.

I don’t buy it, not his excuse, not his fake pout, but I humor him nonetheless. I will need to play along, or he won’t tell me what’s going on. So, for half an hour, I listen to him talk about the pack and answer his questions about college and how I like my classes. He even asks me about the comic con I want to visit next week, and I know for a fact that he has no interest in that at all. Then he follows on how happy he is that Henry and I stepped up our game and started to live up to our potential.

“I’m proud of you,” he tells me, and for a moment, I feel he is being genuine. “It takes strength and courage to own up to your mistakes and try to fix them.”

I sigh. “I don’t feel proud, though,” I admit. “I was constantly doing stupid things, like sneaking out, going to parties, and skipping training.”

“Meeting girls,” Dad adds with a smirk.

I chuckle. “That too.” I pause. “In my defense, I never promised them anything. But I’m sure my behavior hurt someone on the way.” I sigh. “I know it hurt, Mom.”

He smiles. “Your mother loves you and Henry. She told me all the time that you would come around, that you had it in you. She always told me to hang out with you more, to take you on vacations or do some dad-boys stuff.” He sighs. “I never did it because of my responsibilities as an alpha. Looking back now, I wish I had taken you camping at least once.”

His words and how he values Henry and me despite our rougher times touches me. “We can still do that,” I reassure him.

“That’s true.” He grins. “And maybe one day you will all bless me with grandchildren, then we can all go together.”

I feel the well-known stitch to my chest when he says it, the dull pain filling me again. I try to block it out, though, scared Henry might feel it over the sibling bond. He already feels suspicious. I know he does. I hope my face didn’t give anything away, but by the way Dad looks at me in worry all of a sudden, I know I didn’t cover it well enough.

“What’s wrong?” he asks carefully.

Something about the tone in his voice strikes me. Are we finally coming to the real reason behind his coffee invitation?

“It’s nothing,” I say, trying to sound casual.

Dad looks at me like he is searching for something. His eyes flash, and his lycan seems to be on the surface for a moment. He looks at me in deep worry before he retreats, then Dad is back. “I’ve asked my lycan for something,” he tells me.

“Fabian? What did you ask him for?” I ask, appalled.

“To link with Lysander.” Dad sits up a bit straighter. “I asked him to reach out to his son. He told me he couldn’t.” He puts his cup of coffee aside. “Tony, why can’t my lycan reach out to yours?”

“Lys is just tired,” I tell him evasively.

“Did you really think you could hide it?” Dad inquires.

Yes, I fucking thought I could, and I know for a fact I did well until now. Ever since we returned from the mission and freed the suppressed pack we researched on, I’ve done well with hiding Lys’ state of mind. If Dad hadn’t gotten a hint about me having issues with Lysander, he wouldn’t have tried to link him, not yet. Maybe in a few months, yes, but until then, I had hoped I would have managed to reconnect to Lys. I can still shift after all, so I thought I’d have time to figure things out.

I stare at Dad, furrowing my brows. “Henry told you,” I say when it dawns on me. I can’t fucking believe it!

“He didn’t tell me much,” Dad says. “Just gave me some wishy-washy answers about Arlo saying your lycan is weakened.” He pauses. “But the truth is, Arlo can’t reach out to your lycan at all, isn’t it?”

I get up abruptly. “I need to leave,” I say. “I still have things to do.”

“Don’t go,” Dad says. “Please.”

He has never begged me for anything, and the tone in his voice makes me want to open up to him. Almost. But I shake the feeling off. “You are worried about nothing, Dad.” I try to sound upbeat.

“Arlo and Lysander share a twin bond. They are constantly connected. If they can’t feel each other anymore…” Dad says quietly. “That’s notnothing, Anthony.” He pauses. “You can talk to me. I promise I won’t let you down. What happened to Lysander?”

“Nothing,” I huff in sudden anger. “It’s none of your business!”

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