Derek
Somehow, when the email with Cal’s tickets finally came, it managed to surprise them all. They were for the next Wednesday, giving them only a few days’ warning.
Derek went numb. He couldn’t show his emotions to Cal, not show how much he feared what would happen if Cal left for Italy.
There would be no going away party, as this wasn’t a joyous situation. No, it threatened everything they had managed to build, and Derek felt scared as hell.
The email arrived sometime in the afternoon. They read it before dinner and ended up not hungry after all.
Kit was trying to hide his feelings, but wasn’t as good at it as his parents were.
Derek made a fire, and they just sat on the couch, staring into the fire as a family. Whenever one of them needed to use the bathroom or get a drink, the others would move into a new configuration, and they’d cuddle in a different formation once they were all on the couch again.
Derek wasn’t sure how many hours they spent like that, all feeling different stages of numbness and fear, until they heard a car in the yard.
Before they had time to untangle from the blankets and one another, there was a knock and Nico’s excited voice called, “My mom’s here!”
That got them moving. In quick succession, they had ushered a petite woman who looked a lot like Nico inside and had her warming up on the couch with a cup of coffee in her hands.
“Thank you,” she said, smiling at them. “It’s a bit chilly out there.”
“Yeah, you got here just in time for the first really cold evenings.” Derek chuckled.
They didn’t need introductions, they all knew what was going on and why she was there. Once her hands were less frozen, she put her mug down and reached for her fancy leather tote bag and pulled out a folder.
The boys who now sat on the other end of the couch, glued together by excitement, were practically vibrating with it.
Cal and Derek weren’t much better, although they weren’t as optimistic. Yet.
“So, I went to Scotland and looked into things. It turns out all of your great-grandparents on your mother’s side were shifters,” Anna said, matter of factly.
“W-what?” Derek gaped at her. “How—what?”
“It’s a long story, I have it all here. But the short version is that your grandmother was half Scottish Wildcat and half something else, she was unable to shift, herself. The rumors I could find were that her father was a canine of some sort. It was very hush-hush for sure. She got pregnant by a Scottish Wildcat, and when he died suddenly in an accident, she escaped to the States, changed her name at least once, and never looked back.”
“So my mom probably never knew she had so much shifter blood in her?” Derek asked weakly.
“No. I found no evidence she had any idea of shifters’ existence. Your dad is hundred percent human.”
“That’s why we can feel the mate bond, but you don’t feel like a cat,” Cal murmured. “I mean, it makes sense now that my cat always felt so comfortable with you, but with the canine blood in there, it muddles your shifter essence and means that you don’t come across as one.”
“Yeah… There are no canine and feline hybrids, so the bloodlines cancel each other out. All this time I thought I was a human.”
“Technically, you are only half-human, but since there’s no continuous bloodline of only Scottish Wildcats in your family tree, it means your shifter half isn’t completely one thing either, so it went dormant.”
Derek nodded and suddenly felt like he needed a drink. “Kit, can you get me a coffee?”
“Yeah, sure.” Kit and Nico went across the room. It seemed like they moved as one, and Derek idly wondered if Kit had gotten over his crush on Noah and had another now.
“And here’s your paperwork,” Anna said brightly, and handed a few sheets to Cal. Then she produced a pen and handed that over too.
Cal’s voice sounded heartbreakingly hopeful when he whispered, “Is this…?”
“Yes. Your release papers. I’ll scan them with Mikael’s scanner and send them by email to the Council. I’ll go to town tomorrow to mail the physical copies to them as well. And copies of the physical copies in another envelope, just be sure.” She looked pissed off.
Derek reached over to squeeze her hand. “Thank you.”
“Of course. You two have been through enough. You deserve your freedom.”
