He glanced at the worn boards beneath his feet, realizing they hadn’t received a fresh paint job in over twenty years. He remembered when his father paid a group of teenagers to paint the porch dark green when he was about ten years old.
He also knew which boards to step on to avoid detection. Some things never changed.
It was Laurie who finally lifted a hand and knocked on the front door.
Corbin reached for the handle, knowing it wouldn’t be locked, and turned it, pushing the door open just as his father stepped into the foyer.
“Corbin.” The man looked shocked, and for a minute Corbin actually felt bad about how long it had been since he’d been there.
And then his father spoke again, his voice rising in frustration. “How kind of you to grace us with your presence.” The man turned around and walked back into the bowels of the house without acknowledging the other two people on the porch.
Normally, shifters were quick to recognize mated couples. They could scent it. Since his father had given no indication he noticed, Corbin was inclined to believe the man hadn’t gotten close enough to realize the implications of the three people on his porch.
“It’s one thing to ignore your father the way you have, you disrespectful brat, but failing to ever contact your mother is over the top, young man,” his father called over his shoulder as Corbin pushed the door open farther and stepped inside. Phillip Archers could always manage to bring Corbin down a notch.
Immediately he felt the oppressive weight of his childhood. This was not going to go well.
Laurie took his hand in hers and spoke into his head. “Be the bigger man. All you can do is inform in the politest way possible. The reaction of your parents is not a reflection on you.”
Corbin took a deep breath and stepped farther into the house.
Zach concurred with Laurie. “She’s right.”
When they stepped into the living room, Corbin found his mother sitting in her favorite chair with a book in her lap. “Mom.”
She lifted her gaze. “Oh.” She set a hand on her chest. “I thought I heard the door. I was just…” Her voice trailed off as realization spread across her face.
A glass shattered to Corbin’s right, indicating without a glance that his father had caught the combined scent of pheromones also.
His mother opened her mouth again, but said nothing.
Laurie spoke first. “Mrs. Archers. So good to meet you.” She reached out a hand, but Josephine Archers, in true form, merely glanced at Laurie’s outstretched fingers and stared in distain.
“Is this true? Corbin, have you mated with this woman? And…this man?”
“Yes, Mother.” He glanced at Laurie. “This is Laurie Hamilton and Zachary Masters.” He jerked his gaze toward Zach.
“Blasphemy,” his father yelled from the kitchen as he stepped into the doorframe. “Have you no respect for the way you were raised?”
Apparently not.
Zach cleared his throat. “Mr. and Mrs. Archers, I know this must be a shock to you, but I assure you, as you know, mating is not something any of us can control. Fate chooses for us. We have no way to ignore Her call.”
Neither of his parents acknowledged Zach. In fact as Corbin glanced back and forth between the people who gave birth to him, he found them both staring at him in shock as though no one else were in the room.
Finally, his mother picked up her book and pretended to continue reading.
Incredible.
His father stepped farther into the room. “You should leave. Clearly, nothing about the way you were raised has stuck. Don’t come back here. You’re dead to us.” He pointed in the direction they had entered. “See yourself out. Do not upset your mother like this ever again.”
Corbin wasn’t surprised. But he was hurt. He shouldn’t be, but it was impossible, even knowing it would happen, to not be injured by the complete lack of acknowledgement for his mates and his claiming.
Fine.
They could rot for all he cared.
He may have been alone in this world for many years, both directly and indirectly. But not anymore.
»»•««
Mary fidgeted, wringing her hands in her lap as she watched a set of headlights pull in behind her car and then shut off. She waited, her chest pounding as the passenger door opened, and Jazmine slid into the seat beside her.
Jaz turned to face Mary with a huge smile. She reached across the console and stroked a hand down Mary’s cheek. And then her expression fell. “What’s the matter?”
Mary lowered her gaze and shrugged. She closed her eyes slowly and swallowed back the tears threatening to fall. Everything she planned to say flew out the window as soon as Jaz got in the car.