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“I should have always known my darling sister was always your favorite,” Lewis grumbled, having just put her birth date in for the passcode.
“Ever thought that it's because she's less irritating?” Lance snarled at his son, holding out his hand to add, “Give. Me. The. Phone. Now.”
The death glare he gave his son might have worked when he was younger, but now, at twenty-seven, Lewis appeared utterly unphased. In fact, he swept his blonde hair back with a mischievous smirk on his face and proceeded to look at the phone.
“Hmm…I wonder who LunaLover01 might be,” Lewis said, his tone mocking as he darted out of the way of Lance's grasping hands. “She doesn't have any pictures, but she's twenty-two. This says she has blonde hair, blue eyes, is curvy but athletic, and loves taking moonlit walks on the beach. She sounds absolutely perfect for you!”
Lewis turned his back on Lance and busily tapped at the screen.
“Lewis fucking Leafson, what the fuck are you doing?” Lance boomed at his son. He grabbed him by the shoulders and yanked him around to face him, grabbing his phone from his hands.
But it appeared that the damage was already done. On the screen was a message from LunaLover01 asking him to meet herat a bar. And beneath it was a message fromhim,which he most definitely hadn't just written, saying he would be happy to.
“You know, if you were still a pup, I'd take you outside and give you a good beating!” Lance snarled at his son.
“Come on, old man,” Lewis snapped back at him. He sucker punched Lance's arm and cocked his head to the side. “You aren't dead yet. You're only forty-five. Mom would understand.”
At the mention of his late mate, Lance froze. His teeth gritted and he could feel his fangs threatening to protrude.
“You clearly didn't know your mother very well,” he growled through his teeth. “She would have clawed my eyes out for even looking in the direction of another she-wolf.”
Lewis cocked his head further and crossed his arms over his chest. “It's been ten years, old man. Give it up and admit you're lonely.”
Lance gulped. The words hit too close to home.
“It is what I deserve,” he pointed out, guilt clawing at his insides.Why did I even download this stupid app in the first place?He slammed his phone down on the desk, leaning on its edge to hold himself up. The shame and anger that threatened to overwhelm him was almost too much to bear.
He growled low in his throat when he felt Lewis’s hand grip his shoulder, though he did not shrug away. It felt odd to have his son comfort him. He was the parent, not Lewis. Yet sometimes it truly felt as though they were closer to being brothers. He was, after all, only forty-five, and Lewis was twenty-seven. For werewolves, they were both still exceptionally young, sometimes even maybe immature when their wolves tookover. But still, Lance would never ordinarily let his grief or his shame show.
Maybe he had been holding it all in for too long.
“Mom would want you to be happy,” Lewis said softly, his tone making Lance cringe even harder.
“She would want me to protect you and your sister,” Lance countered. “That was all she ever asked of me.”And I couldn't protect her.
“We're grown now, dad,” Lewis pointed out, clapping Lance hard on the back. “You've raised this business from the ground up and cared for us like no other daddy wolf ever has. It's time to think of yourself for once.”
Tears pricked at the corners of Lance's eyes. He closed them tightly until the emotion eased and finally took a deep breath, opening his eyes to finally look at his son.
“Why don't you go on my behalf?” he suggested, forcing a chuckle. “You're all about sowing your wild oats.”
Lewis raised his brow at that and sneered, “And here I was thinking you disapproved.”
“I never said I didn't,” Lance scoffed. “How do you think your mother and I ended up with you?”
Lewis looked a little hurt at that but he said nothing. Instead, he returned to his chair and picked up the papers he had dropped on the seat.
“If I didn't know any better,” he said once he had reorganized them, “I would say you were frightened.”
“Frightened?” Lance repeated. “What could I possibly have to be frightened of?”
His hackles rose at his son's words, and he tightened his hands into fists in order to fight the sensation. His wolf stirred, awakened by his son's teasing.I'll show you something to be frightened of, you little shit.
Ordinarily, he might have cuffed his son over the head and entered into a sparring match just for the sake of showing him who was still boss, no matter how old he got. But somehow, this felt more serious than that.
“Dad, we both know the immense guilt you've felt since Mom died,” Lewis said, and Lance's heart skipped a beat. “You built this place on it. And we both know you're scared that if you actually allow yourself the chance, you might find someone worth trying to protect again. You're scared you'll fail again.”
Bile rose in the back of Lance's throat. He hated just how easily his son could read him. It made his stomach hurt.
