he needs to rearrange,
but we’ll be there if we can.”
I blinked, willing myself not to cry. I didn’t really have the right to get upset.
“You could come, even if Edison can’t,” Austin suggested.
Dad smiled. “I’ll do my best.”
Which probably meant that he wanted to come, but if Father really put his foot down, Dad wouldn’t defy him.
“It would be great to see you,” I said.
“Whether we can make it or not, would you and Austin like to come over for dinner one day when you’re back in
the UK?”
“Yes, please.” It would be awkward as fuck, but I had to keep trying to rebuild a semblance of a relationship with
my family. I had a lot to make up for, but I was trying.
“Where are you going to live?” Dad asked. “I assume you’ll want to move in together now that you’re mates.”
I glanced at Austin. “We haven’t really discussed it.”
“Now there’s a surprise,” Father said off camera. “You never did think things through, Charles. Apparently, neither
does Austin.”
“Ed,” Dad said in a warning tone. “We became mates in the spur of the moment. It happens a lot.”
My face burnt with heat. That was not a detail I needed to know about my parents.
“Is your home bigger than Charlie’s?” Dad asked.
“Charles,” Father muttered.
Dad smiled an apology.
“Yes,” Austin replied. “But Charlie isn’t a fan of my steps.”
“They’re steep!” I squeezed his knee. “But I’ll cope.”
“I’m sure you’ll work something out,” Dad said. “And I suppose your apartment is just about big enough for two as
long as you don’t mind not having your own space.”
I wondered if now was the right time to mention that we’d discussed starting a family together. Probably not. I
could only imagine how angry that would make Father. He’d always wanted me to mate with another arctic fox,
preferably an alpha. I’d failed him on two counts. Then again, maybe it was best to get it out in the open now and
take the brunt of his anger in one go.
I took a deep breath. “Long term, we need somewhere bigger than my apartment.”
“I have a lot of instruments,” Austin said, giving me a pass if I wanted to take it. “They definitely wouldn’t fit.”
I laughed. “Well, they might, but then we wouldn’t, and nor would any of my furniture.” I rested my head on his
shoulder and kissed his mate-mark through his shirt. “But we’ll want to start a family someday, so we do need
somewhere bigger. Austin’s house is gorgeous. We’ll make it work.”
“How?” Father demanded, coming back into view.
“How what?”
“How will you start a family? You’re both omegas.” He said it with such disgust that it made my skin crawl.
The hollow feeling expanded again, threatening to swallow my heart. It was joined by the more familiar sensation
of a wave crashing through my head. That was just great.
“You can’t conceive children together, not naturally anyway,” Father said.
“Can we not do this right now?” I pleaded.
“I think we need to,” Father went on.
“They can use a donor,” Dad said. “It’s quite common.”
“Will you use an arctic fox donor? Or a monkey?”
My stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster that had just gone down the steepest drop imaginable. My
eyelids fluttered involuntarily.
“Charlie?” Austin asked softly.
“Are you all right?” Dad asked.
I shook my head. “Aura. Can we talk later?”
“Yes, yes, of course,” Dad said. “We love you, Charlie. Stay safe.”
I did my best to smile as I ended the call and then crawled onto the floor and lay on my side. Austin knelt beside
me, one hand on my shoulder, the other stroking my hair.
“You had an aura?”
I nodded. It was no guarantee that I was going to have a seizure, but I definitely felt safer being at floor level, just
in case.
“He hates me,” I croaked out.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think he’s pleased with either of us, but he doesn’t hate you, Charlie.”
“Yes, he does.” I looked at Austin through tear-filled eyes. “What if our kids end up hating me?”
“That won’t happen.”
“You can’t promise that, Austin. What if I’m as terrible a dad as I have been a son?”
He bowed down and kissed my temple. “You won’t be.”
His voice sounded like a distant echo, each word fainter than the last as my vision became dark.
Every muscle in my body ached like I’d been hit by a bus. I was so tired, and it felt like someone was driving a
pickaxe into my skull. I groaned—pretty much the only sound I was capable of
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