In his car, Assa sat in the driver’s seat, engine off, hands gripping the wheel.
It had been nice there for a moment, watching TV, or at least it had been closer to fine than bad. But in the end, Papa had reminded him who he really was.
Assa decided that if they successfully adopted, Papa would not be a part of their son’s life. He and Wes could handle Jeral’s disdain, but he would never allow a child to be subjected to it. He was glad he’d resisted the impulse to talk about their appointment.
Assa pushed a button on the dashboard to place a call.
“Hey,” Wes sounded like he was driving. “Are you close?”
“Yeah, about ten minutes out.”
“Everything okay?”
“Mm-hmm. I just wanted to tell you something now, so we don’t have to discuss it in front of the staff at the agency.”
“Alright,” Wes drawled.
“I’m sure they’re going to have a bunch of paperwork with questions for us, so I thought we should agree in advance that the only grandparents our child might have in his life are your parents.”
The five beats of silence spoke volumes before Wes asked, “Did something happen with Jeral?”
“Nothing beyond the usual. I just realized it’s one thing for me to put myself in the line of fire with him, but I’m not willing to take a chance on that with our child.”
Wes grunted, and Assa recognized the meaning behind it. His husband really wanted to tell him that Assa shouldn’t put up with the same crap he wouldn’t tolerate for his future son. But because Wes knew how that conversation would go, he said nothing, and Assa loved him for it.
“I’m on board with that,” Wes said. “See you soon.”
Someday Assa might feel differently about staying in his father’s life. But that seemed unlikely given how quickly the old alpha was declining. If he wanted to have a final reckoning with Papa and turn his back on him for good, time wasn’t on his side. For now, he still believed caring for him—while maintaining the boundaries he couldn’t draw as a child—was the right thing to do. The kind thing. But his eyes were open.
He saw clearly that Papa had been a shitty father, never coming close to redemption.
And Assa would die before he gave him the chance to be a shitty grandfather.
Chapter Nine
Zeller
Zeller stared down at the pictures on Valentin’s phone. Decoy stuffed into a shoebox. Decoy sleeping on the couch. Decoy watching a squirrel from the window.
“He’s getting big!” Zellar exclaimed. “Thank you so much for keeping him.”
Decoy had not been chipped, so Valentin unintentionally adopted the cat. Zeller took secret pleasure in knowing this. It felt like they had adopted a cat together.
But when it came to them doingcouple things, Valentin drew the line at covert feline ownership. Since that day in Zeller’s room a month ago, the alpha hadn’t allowed so much as a finger brush against his elbow.
Zeller could not claim that Valentin was avoiding him. They still talked during his walks and in the library, but the alpha kept the topics light. He never alluded to the idea that things had changed between them. Zeller understood that Valentin needed time to accept that their relationship hadevolved, but darn it, ithad been four weeks! And his parents had forced him to meet two more ridiculous alphas since then.
“I know it makes you happy seeing pictures,” Valentin said. “Maybe someday I’ll figure out a way to bring Decoy for a visit.”
They sat next to each other on a bench in the garden. It was relatively private, far from the main house, so Zeller moved closer. Valentin coughed, then put a few more inches of distance between them.
Zeller sighed in frustration.
Valentin had nosed into his skin and scented him. They had declared themselves to one another. He hadn’t imagined that.
And it wasn’t as though the tension simmering between them had cooled. Smoky sage overwhelmed the air, telling Zeller exactly how hard Valentin was fighting to appear unaffected.
“Are you afraid of my parents?” Zeller asked abruptly.
