“I haven’t told anybody except for Mama, because Chance showed her the video. Idon’twant a lecture. I already know I’m disappointing everybody, but honestly, it’s not a bad thing.” My voice became strained. I didn’t want to do this.
“Hey, Buddy, take a breath. I’m not mad. A little concerned. But not mad. Want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked. My omega dad was the most gentle of our parents. The big problem was that he never stood up for us against the alpha parents.
I gave him averyabbreviated version of the story.
He sucked in a breath. “Accidental bonding?Hale.Are they okay?”
Just the way he said my name made me feel like a kid being scolded.
“More confident about this than I am. They’re really amazing. We’re committed to giving the six months waiting period a try. Ibelieve in us. They believe in us even more,” I replied, trying not to feel like a fuckup.
“I’m sure they’re great. But you have only one semester left. Then your PhD…”
“I know. But I’m working on things.” I told him about everything I’d been trying to do, along with my worries.
“Oh. That could work. Wow, I’m proud of the thought you put into this,” he said. “You might want to see if your department has any extra resources to help you get through that last semester, and definitely see if there’s anything left that you can apply for your PhD programs.”
“The nice student services lady did give me a link with a whole bunch of resources for mated students. We can do this. I’m just a little overwhelmed,” I replied.
Wait, did pack income–or mate income–count toward financial aid? Because I wasnotgetting anything need-based if they counted. Shit. Would Verity know the answer?
“I can see that. Bonding someone is a lot. Andtwo people?Wow. Starting a pack is huge. You’ve worked so hard. This changes everything,” he added. “I’d hate to see all your hard work be for nothing.”
“You don’t think I know that?” I snapped, my insecurities growing by the minute.
“Hey, Buddy, it’s okay. I’m just speaking from experience here.”
“I’m not going to fuck this up.” My grip tightened on my phone. “I’m only a fuckup because it’s an easier role to fill, since Creed’s the smart one, and Verity’s the perfect one.”
“No one said you’re a fuckup, Hale.” He sighed.
I snorted. “I can send you numerous text messages refuting that. And I’m sure someone will say it once you tell everyone.”
“Hale, I won’t tell any of the other parents, not even Mumsy. Though I won’t lie to her if she asks me,” he replied.
“Please don’t. I really can’t handle being yelled at by Mumsy andbe accused of throwing everything away, and ruining my future,” I added.
“Well… you have to understand where we’re coming from. If I knew what I did now, I would have handled mating and forming a pack differently. Also, you not getting into a PhD program yet is worrying. How did your grades slip so much?” he asked.
“Seriously? You’re asking that? They slipped because you all left me to fend for myself. There was hardly any warning. While it is in your right to dissolve the pack, sell everything, and move away, that doesn’t absolve you of your responsibility as parents,” I retorted, that old hurt surfacing.
“That’s not true, we had a plan,” he replied.
“Oh, right, your plan was to force Verity to quit school and take care of Mercy and me, because Mumsy hates us so much she didn’t want to bring Mercy to London with the littles. That’s not a plan, Dad. That’s abandoning your kids. Yeah, you want to know why my grades slipped? I had my tuition covered because you worked there. I lived at home. Suddenly, I was responsible foreverything all at once.There was no time to apply for things. I didn’t qualify for aid because you make too much,” I said.
Verity helped me fill out the papers to eventually fix that. Not him. My sister.
“We wanted to help, but moving six people to London was more expensive than we expected,” he replied.
“You could have done something. Not all help costs. You didn’t help me look for a place to live. You didn’t talk to the department about assisting me. You didn’t use your connections to help me find a job. Okay, maybe that’s entitled of me, but Mumsy even took my education money, so I didn’t even have that to help myself pay for stuff." That was quite the betrayal.
He sighed. “Taking the money was an accident. We told you that.”
“But you never replaced it. Do you know how much help itwould have been? We’re still your kids,” I added, as I unloaded what had been bothering me for a year and a half.
Not to mention Dad had beenobligatedto have helped Mercy because she’d been a minor and he just left her and went to another country. I’d been a legal adult, but it still hurt.
For a moment the line went quiet.
