"Dad's gone," my cousin's voice was barely above a whisper. "You must come home for the Evaluations," she uttered and the phone line went dead.
*****
After Keri's Uncle - the Alpha of the Silver Bullets pack - loses his battle with cancer, the young...
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"Oh... I see." Riley was the first to react after a horrified Horace had shared - with my encouragement - his new secret in my eldest brother's living room.
And what a secret it was!
My new friend had not only discovered that his mate was human, but also that they were a boy... And my best friend. If Horace hadn't been panicking when we'd snuck into that empty classroom yesterday and he'd told me he'd just recognized Billy, I would've fist-pumped the air. My two friends together... Possibly.
Billy was straight.
And yet Horace had recognized him as his mate so maybe Billy was bi and hadn't realized it yet?
That was, of course, only one of Horace's problems.
The other was his father. His very pureblood-oriented, no-homos-allowed father.
No wonder Horace looked like he was about to go into a mental breakdown.
He was currently curled up shaking on the sofa; I was perched on the armrest and rubbing his back.
Horace had so far managed to hide his discovery from Jasper by feigning he was sick; in his current state with his pale skin and sweat constantly coating his forehead, it wasn't a difficult to achieve task even with his poor lying skills. But he had to tell someone about this, someone other than me, someone who had the experience of recognizing their mate, as that was something I couldn't help him with.
Horace was afraid to tell his mom as he felt he'd only burden her with the knowledge; she'd hate to keep a secret from her husband and she'd be upset that her son was suffering.
Naturally, I had suggested that Horace should speak with Rhys and Riley. They had, after all, been through the whole experience of a gay shifter recognizing his mate in a human who didn't know we existed. There were some differences, of course: Rhys was older, comfortable in his sexuality and supported by his family while Horace was still in his mid-teens, had a father who berated him about everything and who was a homophobe - or at least didn't approve of gay people - and also, Horace had never been attracted to a guy. He had never been attracted to a girl either, but he'd always thought it was because he'd been too shy to get to know any girls well.
So yeah, the boy had a variety of foods overflowing on his plate.
At least there was no serial killer roaming through town; it was the only thing that was better in his situation than back when Rhys had met Riley.
"Do you want me to talk to your father?" Keri asked. I'd suggested Horace also told her about Billy; she was our leader after all and his blood relative. Besides, I sometimes had the suspicion that she had a crush on a certain human.
"By the Spirits, no!" Horace vehemently shook his head, his eyes bulging. "I don't want him to know."
"Horace," my brother leaned towards us and put a hand on the boy's knee, "you'll have to tell him at some point."
