Dad was silent for a moment. "That doesn't matter."
I rolled my eyes, already knowing the answer. He was younger than I was now, and Pops was around my age when he met Dad.
"You know your uncles Morgan and Weston were both older when they found their fated mates," Dad said. The patience in his voice was thinning out. "It's not a race, Zak."
I appreciated the sentiment but I was tired of hearing the same old catchphrases over and over again. Waiting to see what life had in store didn't appeal to me. I was ready to meet my matenow.
"This is what you did, isn't it?" I shot back.
"What do you mean?"
I lashed my tail, unable to hold back my annoyance. "You and half the pack went on these big adventures searching for your fated mates. And now you're telling me not to do the same thing? Isn't that hypocritical?"
Dad's eye twitched. He was getting equally annoyed with me. I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree after all.
"I know the story of how you and Pops met," I went on. "Didn't you have a fit and run away from the pack?"
Dad's lip curled, revealing sharp fangs, but then he shut his eyes and exhaled slowly, muttering something about the gods helping him with this child. "Yes, because I was young and immature back then."
"But it all worked out in the end," I pointed out. "If that hadn't happened, you wouldn't have found Pops."
"I put myself in unnecessary danger," Dad growled. "My heat hit at the wrong moment and if Nero hadn't been around, things would've turned out very differently."
I scoffed. "Well, I'm not an omega, so I don't have to worry about that problem."
Dad was on me in a split-second. He snarled as he scruffed me, digging his teeth into the loose skin in the back of my neck like I was a pup again, except now I was bigger than him so it didn't work as well. I growled in automatic response as my adrenaline kicked in.
"Whoa, whoa!"
The familiar voice didn't deter Dad from letting out a deep, intimidating growl as his fangs held fast.
Pops ran into the clearing, waving his arms. "What the hell are you two doing?"
"Teaching our son a lesson," Dad replied.
"What'd he do?" Pops asked as he put his hands between us and pried us apart. Since neither of us were about to put our wolf fangs on his bare human skin, we broke away from each other, though both our hackles were still up.
"He made a very insensitive remark," Dad growled, narrowing his eyes at me.
"It's just the truth," I mumbled.
"Remington, wait," Pops said, putting his hand on Dad's back before he started again. "Care to explain what's going on, Zak?"
My irritation mixed with embarrassment. I couldn't meet Dad's eye so I looked at Pops instead. "We were just talking about my expeditions to find a mate and I said that I don't have to worry about being in danger because of a heat, since I'm an alpha."
Upon repeating it, I heard just how awful it sounded. Shame turned my skin hot. Even if it was true, I should've kept it to myself.
The deep disappointment in Pops' expression was ten times worse than anger. I almost wished he'd yelled at me instead. "Remmy, why don't you go home and cool off? I'll talk to him."
The way Dad avoided my gaze before stalking off hurt more than his fangs on my skin.
Pops sighed and approached me. He'd never had a hot temper the way Dad did. He was always the relaxed one, the 'fun' parent and never really the disciplinarian. If I ever wanted something, I knew Pops was the one to badger instead of Dad.
"Okay, Zakariel, let's talk."
Oof. Full named. Yeah, Pops was pissed.
I shifted back to human form to talk to him--or receive my admonishment. I hung my head. Since Pops' animal form was a shark, he couldn't really shift on land. That must have been why Dad showed up earlier than he did; a wolf could run faster than a human. But they usually went everywhere together; did Dad want to talk to me alone for some reason? If so, I felt even worse for saying what I did. Now I'd have to ask him about it later.
