“So what did Kyan say?” he asks casually, so we’re back on that topic. Maybe hearing cringy horrifying stuff about mom and my dads might be better.
“Something about me regretting it,” I murmur softly. My father’s eyes turn pitch black, and his knuckles turn white on the steering wheel.
“Dad?”
“Hmm, yep, you sure you don’t want me to turn around?” His voice is deeper, almost a growl, but he’s doing his best to control himself.
“Positive, but I think I made him hate me even more,” I sigh. Why is this so complicated?
“He is your mate. He can’t hate you even if he wanted to, but it would have physically hurt him.” Dad tries to reason with me even before he gets to find out everything about this messed up mate situation. I don’t think he needs to know…
“How so?”
My father drums his fingers on the steering wheel for a second before sighing. “Well, kind of like being kicked in the gut and wherever you touch Jonah, he can feel, kind of like razors under your skin. It’s hard to explain, but it isn’t a pleasant feeling, that I can assure you.”
“Wait, so Mom or Dad cheated?”
“What, no, no. Of course not, but your father, since I was his mate, felt it when I first got with your mother and for years before I met her. I felt terrible when he eventually told us. He didn’t tell us until years later, and I also felt it before I marked him too. It used to make me angry or jealous; it was odd. They are both my mates, obviously, and the same for them, but before we were all bonded, your father and I felt it because of each other.”
“So when did you choose, dad? What made you and Maddox change your mind?” I ask curiously.
His brows pinch together, and honestly, this is the most my father and I have ever talked. We talked of course, but usually about school or grades or the stuff mom and dad didn’t enjoy talking about, never really just talking, not that we didn’t, we were just never really alone to speak.
“At first, I thought it was because of the bond to your mother, but officially, I believe it was when your mother went into heat. Maddox wanted to kill him, but I trusted your father and even told him it wouldn’t be his fault if anything happened. In a sense, I think I always accepted it, subconsciously anyway. Maddox, however, didn’t care, Your mother was his and his only until she went into heat.”
“But all she-wolves go into heat; he was her mate.” I shrug.
“Yes, but we didn’t know about the bond then. Maddox changed his mind when he realized your father not only loved her enough to kill his other mate for her but because he could resist mating her, not only for her but for us. He loved us both enough to not touch her despite being heat crazed and wanting to. Your mother tried when she reached the second phase.”
That is one thing that now worries me; if Kyan doesn’t want me, what will happen when I eventually go into heat? Just the thought sends a shiver up my spine.
“You’re not male, so you don’t understand how bad being heat crazed is; your wolf can’t even identify family once locked onto a scent. However, his love for her and me overrode the insanity of mating her; it’s the same for the she-wolf’s mate. We become crazed by the urge to protect and mate. When he walked in and found them, I expected a bloodbath. Instead, he realized how much your father loved us; even if your father couldn’t have her, he would stand by and protect us even when it hurt him to do so.”
I nod, thinking of my father’s wolf. He is apparently brutal, but he is a protector, and I have never been on the wrong side of my father’s wolf, so I have trouble trying to picture it. Though I fear his wolf from the energy he gives off, you could tell he is lethal. But yet that just makes me think of Kyan and his wolf.
The on-edge feeling I get around him is more substantial than my father’s, which makes no sense. Maybe I just fear Kyan’s wolf more because I haven’t met his wolf yet.
“Have you met Kyan’s wolf?” I ask him.
“No, actually, I haven’t. I don’t think anyone has. The Octavian bloodline is a bit odd, though. Not in a bad way, but…”
“But like they are hiding something?” I answer for him.
“Yeah, Kyan’s father was the same, yet I had met his wolf before. Kyan’s, however, I haven’t. Hmm, I never even noticed that before, usually; you eventually see everyone’s wolf’s side once you’ve been around them long enough,” he mutters as if he is trying to solve this mystery before he can give me answers.
“So you knew Kyan’s dad well?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Yes, he was the Alpha of Alphas, like Kyan is now.” Dad nods.
“What was he like?”
“Like Kyan in a lot of ways, he looks identical to his father. They even had the same tattoos. But I can say one thing about him,” Dad hums.
Curiosity takes the best of me as I peek up and ask. “What’s that?”
“That he was a better man than I originally gave him credit for. I owe that man a debt, one I could never afford to repay.” Dad’s voice is somber as he stares ahead, a frown on his face.
“What do you mean?” I furrow my brows, more confused than I was when this drive home started.
“He saved someone, someone who is irreplaceable. He gave his life for that person even knowing it would cost his own, and that is something I can never repay him for. A debt that I will always remember and remain grateful for.”
“So he died for someone else?” I repeat thoughtfully. My father nods, but it is clear he won’t say any more on the topic when he speaks up again, changing the subject.
“I know at the moment you and Kyan are having trouble with the whole being mates thing. But maybe give him a chance, just don’t tell your mother I said that; you know she has a soft spot for Jonah. Although, if you are going to continue being with Jonah, please don’t do anything until Kyan comes around to the idea. He shouldn’t suffer just because you love Jonah, too,” Dad says reasonably and although I understand that, I don’t think it makes sense.