𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐍: 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐲

TWENTY-SEVEN: Final Ceremony

My father pulled back, then leaned forward, elbows resting on his jittery bent knees. A crown of a frown sat on his forehead. I wasn't in the crowd. In fact, I was nowhere near any of my family, but I could hear his disappointed sigh from the front row. It was obvious he could see it finally.

I wasn't the son he wished he had raised.

I stood before him and witnesses a liar. A sinner, a coward, a heartless impostor wearing his son's skin. His realization made my eyes burn when I saw him shift in his seat and get up to leave. Every fibre in my being wanted to hide away and cry to myself. Despite the raging range of emotions, I held the burn behind my eyes and found the strength to push myself after him. "I know you never loved me, but could you at least say something to me?"

Where I hoped to get an answer. He tensed but continued to walk away from me.

I wasn't completely surprised by this. He would never say the words, but we all knew. That amongst all his children it's I he had always found regret in. And now I had proved the ugly part of him right.

I inhaled deeply. It was the moment I could feel myself tipping over at the edge of a void's touch, at a loss for everything that I had ever known. All I could pray for at that point was for those that were dear to my heart to understand me. So I pushed "Dad,"

He paused but didn't look to face me.

I took a step forward, as though to reach out to the paternal and good part of him. "Once the gods connect with the Oracle for the final bid. That's it! It will be... Dad. This is the last time I'll see you or ma or..." I sniffed away the burning moisture from my eyes. "Please, before... before I'm.... Please, I just need you to say something to me. Anything!"

He remained still and said nothing.

My hands shook, and my voice trembled. "Be disappointed. Tell me I've let you down. Tell me you wish I was more like Malia and could never be anything like Mateo. Say something Dad. Anything!"

The room frosted with a pristinely angered silence. The Council board that was in conversation with Brady paid some attention to us, but did not intervene. Even Jenna stepped forward to run a hand down my back comfortingly, like a caring mother.

In strained effort I saw Dad pivot to face me, then without expecting it I was knocked far back by a strong growl from him. In it, I sensed pain and love. The care in his anguish didn't make the fear any less threatening. Something within my core foiled with the same prints of my wolf. I didn't have time to dwell on it with my ears ringing with the words from my Father, "Don't you get it?" his eyes were fierce, dry and illuminated. They held the torment of a man at the height of a defeat he held no control over from the onset.

It was a foreign look on him. "Son, I love you. I don't think I ever told you that."

I shook my head, pain bleeding into my heart.

"Well. I love you, and I did my part in raising you but me? You and everyone here?" He extended his arms out as if to showcase all the were-people and witches inside before he continued. "We are all products of our circumstances and, especially, of the choices we make. It is unfortunate yours led you here, but it happened. Make peace with it, without needing our validation. Fighting the inevitable is what got you here. Fighting it now will only disappoint you and hurt us more than you can ever comprehend."

I knew that, though. I suppose I just wanted to hear him say something else. Something kind without the cold facts.

Then he turned his back and left.

My gaze roamed the gathered. Malia had her sobbing face buried on her fiancé's shoulder. Mateo's pregnant wife was holding hands with my mother, visibly holding back tears for the crumbling woman I'd made a shell of. I was going to miss out on being an uncle. I couldn't meet gazes with my mother or my favorite brother.