“Tell us what?” I ask, more than a little curious about what other information might be coming to light during this meeting.
Wilton turns a hostile glare toward me. “Fine, you can be the alpha king—or queen bitch—I don’t care what you call it. I’m backing down.” Then he says to Yancey. “We don’t have to tell them nothing.”
“I think we do,” Yancey replies, his voice grim. “Looks like this is the part in the discussion where all the shit comes out the kitchen sink.”
“You got that right,” Evelyn says with a wry chuckle.
“Tell us what?” I ask again. My eyes bounce between Yancey and Evelyn, unable to believe there could possibly be another secret in this family’s closet
“The reason he can’t hear his brother’s thoughts any more,” Yancey answers. “The Brother Bond, or whatever you call it—that ain’t necessarily always between brothers. Say two best friends fall for the same she-wolf. Maybe they start hearing each other’s thoughts. Think they’re going crazy and then they realize…”
“It’s because they both want her,” Evelyn finishes. “Even if she can’t share their mind… or have children.”
“You know I never cared about that, baby,” Yancey says to Evelyn. To my everlasting shock, Yancey Lobo, the toughest wolf I’ve ever known, throws Evelyn the most soulful look I’ve ever seen. Then he half-grins and says, “Plus, Wilt’s already got two.”
“One now,” Wilt grumbles.
“She’s still yours. You know that,” Evelyn answers with a laugh. Then for like the first time ever, she actually throws me a fond smile. “And this girl we raised up is all the way grown now.”
Yancey agrees with a laughing nod. “Did you see how she read Wilt the law? I mean actually pulled out her device and read that shit to him?”
Now both him and Evelyn are laughing while the man I thought was my father, but is really my uncle and I guess Evelyn’s other husband—WTF?—shakes his head. “That bitch literally read me. Don’t ya’ll dare laugh. Don’t ya’ll dare…”
But then he has to stop chastising them, because he’s laughing, too.
“Dad’s gonna be so pissed. At all of us. But he’s the one who made me agree to the deal with them yella Viking brothers. I wish I could see his face when I tell him about this.”#p#分页标题#e#
“He might have a heart attack and die!” Evelyn wheezes out. She’s laughing so hard there are tears in her eyes.
“Finally,” Dad and Yancey say in unison.
Which only makes the three of them laugh harder.
While Ford, Clyde, and me are left standing there, like aliens have just crash landed right in the middle of the dining room.
After a few open-closes of my mouth, I say to Ford, “Seriously, put the gun down.”
“But—” Ford starts.
“If you ever want me to call you dad again, put the gun down right now. We’re family,” I say, still staring at the three wolves cracking up at the other end of the table. “A really strange, crazy shifter soap opera of a family, but family nonetheless. Put the gun down.”
Ford puts the gun down.
And I throw myself into his arms, hugging him with everything I have.
An awkward hesitation and then I feel him hugging me back just as tight. “I’m sorry,” he says. “I’m so sorry.”
I nod against his shoulders, forgiveness flowing out of me like a river. Then I say to the rest of my family. “C’mon, get over here. We’re going to try to do one of those big family hugs like Aunt Wilma’s family.”
That brings the laughing to a complete halt and I’m met with a lot of groans. I get the feeling nobody here, including Ford, particularly approves of how far Aunt Wilma has drifted from her roots since moving to touchy-feely Alaska. But eventually, the wolves start giving in one by one.
Clyde comes first, wrapping his bulky arms around me and Ford. Then I feel Evelyn’s much thinner arms circle around all three of us, and then Yancey, and finally the wolf I’d thought was my father.
We all stand like that for a while, in a weird hug that smells of wolf, leather, and gun oil.
Then comes my former father’s voice. Quieter than I’ve ever heard it.
“I was only trying to keep us protected,” he says. “You think I didn’t love her, Ford, but she’s my daughter, too. I would have died if anything happened to her or Clyde. And I knew the pack wouldn’t accept him if they knew he was gay. I thought I was doing what was best for everybody. I told you back then I’d raise her like she was my own, and I’m telling you now: everything I did was to keep these two protected.”