Row…
I cringed.
“So he told you about that?” I asked.
“Not so much told…” Zion muted the commercial but didn’t take his eyes off the television as he carefully answered. “He was highly upset. Boone was in range—he felt and saw everything through their bond. Then Boone relayed Ravik’s upset to me.”
“Upset?” I thought back to Ravik’s stone-cold face as he basically told me I had to accept an overnight sentry, and my feelings didn’t matter because he was the first maul. “He didn’t act highly upset.”
“No, he wouldn’t have appeared that way, I suppose.” Zion’s voice took on a note of consideration. “Ravik isn’t adept at conveying emotion, an inability he unfortunately passed on to our maul son, Takoda. But believe me, Bell...”
Zion tipped his chin down to tell me, “He was not unaffected by your words. He cares, even when it appears he does not. Though I do realize that I’m saying this from the point of view of someone who’s had him inside my head for over three decades. I imagine it cannot be easy to talk with him without access to his inner world.”
Zion’s tone was so empathetic, I wasn’t sure if he was feeling sorry for me or Ravik.
Which made me ask, “So you were inside his head when you two were in a maul with your late wife? Boone’s brother’s, too?”
“No, I never exchanged bites with Erik.” Zion’s face tightened, and a shadow crossed over it. “Our relationship was... fraught.”
I waited, not wanting to seem too eager to get the backstory on that statement, but seriouslyreallywanting to hear the backstory on that statement.
Luckily, Zion seemed to be in the mood to talk. It all came spilling out, with only occasional breaks to unmute the TV for theBGBbig reveals.
How Ravik and Zion had actually picked Boone to be their third from the start because he was strong, stable, everything Niska needed in a third. But then, in a dastardly twist, Boone’s older brother Erik bit Niska—without her consent. However, it didn’t feel like as much of a crime as what Niska did to Zion because she preferred Erik.
“Why?” I couldn’t even comprehend her thinking. “Boone’s so nice… and gentle. Who wouldn’t pick him?”
Zion tilted his head. “That’s… ah… not how most would describe Boone. I believe you’re getting a different version of him than 99.9% of the people who encounter him do. He’s got a reputation for being a bit of a misanthrope.”
My vocabulary was nowhere near as extensive as Zion’s, but I thought I knew what that word meant. Except it couldn’t be right.
“Are you trying to say Boone’s a grump?” I asked, certain I must be misunderstanding him. “And that your late wife chose his brother because he was the nicer guy?”
“No, not nicer.” Zion glowered to the side. “Erik did a much better job of presenting himself to Niska as someone fun and exciting. She fell for that act only to find, once we were mauled with him, that Erik was hiding significant demons. Alcoholism, primarily. She hoped that bearing his son would be enough to right his ship. That the maul bond would stabilize him.”
“It wasn’t,” I guessed, thinking of how I’d hoped Noelle’s birth would bring about a sea change in Dennis’s personality. “His behavior only got worse after he was anchored into the maul by a baby.”
“Correct.” Zion’s warm, resonant voice had grown much cooler. “Erik was a functional alcoholic at first. He could hold down his job as head of Bear Mountain Construction, maintain appearances. But within five years he was no longer ‘fun.’”
Zion put that last word in finger quotes. “Often, he came home drunk and belligerent. And he spent more mornings hungover in bed than at work, relying on being the Tuk’Mara’s third maul not to be removed from his post. We tried interventions. Talking to him. Niska even lowered herself to begging Erik to change for the good of our family. Nothing worked. Except divorce. Which in the Tuk’Mara’s case is basically exile.”
“What was her breaking point?” I asked, so curious about the complicated woman who’d been in a relationship with both Zion and Ravik when she passed up the opportunity to be with Boone, too.
“It was actually my breaking point, after what was supposed to be a romantic birthday trip to Vancouver. Niska had planned an entire weekend—just the four of us, away from Bear Mountain for once. Erik promised he’d stay sober.” Zion released a bitter chuff. “He made it one day. One single day. Then he slipped out while we were all sleeping in the hotel and found some seedy bar, behind which he somehow decided it would be a good idea to engage in a fight with a group of human thugs.”
Zion shook his head, a disgruntled look taking over his expression.
“He transformed in the alley behind the bar. Full shift, in the middle of Vancouver. Someone called it in as a bear attack.” Zion’s voice went flat. “We had to cut the trip short, give up our tickets to the production ofChrysanthemumwe were meant to see that night. Mind you, this was when Sirena Gale was still traveling with the role.”
“Oh, no, I would have been pissed, too!”
I’d never been able to afford tickets to the modern opera. But I loved the originalChrysanthemumcast album, and I’d listened to the finale song about overcoming on repeat after my divorce.
“Ravik had to call in favors with the RCMP while Erik snored, passed out in the back seat of our minivan on the way home,” Zion continued. “That was when I decided to leave. Because I realized they’d always choose to enable him.”
“How long were you gone?” I asked, too caught up in the story to pretend I wasn’t fully invested.
“For a week that felt like a year,” Zion answered, his tone turning wry. “For mauls, time apart is... physically painful. But I couldn’t be near Erik anymore. Couldn’t stand Niska making excuses forhim or Ravik trying to control the uncontrollable. I went back to Toronto, where I’d been attending med school before Niska bit me and tracked down my prior girlfriend. I suppose I thought I could restart the life that got upended when Niska set me on the path to becoming a teacher.”
