Sam reached for the takeout bag, shoving a burger at her before she could say anything else. He loved Alice, she was the sister he’d always wanted, but since they had stopped living together she’d grown more concerned about his choices. He was the one who was supposed to protect her, his instincts calling for it ever since he was nine. Except she didn’t need his protection anymore, not because she was mated to a scary bastard but because she was a fucking badass who could take care of herself.
“I’m an adult,” he reiterated when she frowned. “Older than you, might I add. I make my own choices. I’m happy.”
Alice’s gaze could cut. “Are you though?”
Sam licked across his lips as he reached for the coffee jar. “Yes,” he replied, but even he heard the lack of enthusiasm.
He was happy. Wasn’t he?
“Fuck,” he muttered, clearing his throat. “I’m out of coffee.” He set the jar down carefully, taking a steady breath. “You want an almond latte?”
Alice nodded, a small smile on her lips that told him she wasn’t finished with the conversation. “Yeah, sure. Let’s walk to that place on the corner.”
“No, you stay here and eat before the food gets cold and you get hangry. I’ll run, won’t take me ten minutes.” Grabbing the packet of cigarettes he flicked the lid open, sliding one between his lips. “Caramel?”
The smile that was on her face had disappeared, and he struggled not to comfort her. “Sure.”
Sam slipped outside, pressing himself against his front door for a few seconds as he lit his cigarette and took a deep inhale. He savoured the slight burn, his lungs filling with smoke before he let it all out in a single exhale through his nose.
He just needed a few minutes to himself. To figure out how to deal with someone who saw too much, saw more than even he knew. There had been dark times over the years, times he would rather have forgotten, where he buried himself in anything that would make him feel something. Feel anything. Alice had always brought him out of his self-pitying episodes, and he hadn’t had one in years.
“Hey, what can I get you?”
Sam blinked up at the barista, realising he had walked to the coffee shop without even realising it, lost in his own thoughts. Mumbling his order, he waited, making sure to add a slice of cake for Alice. He didn’t want to upset her, even if he couldn’t agree with her observation.
He hadn’t lied, he was happy enough with his life.
He definitely didn’t feel sad.
Accepting the hot drinks and cake Sam turned, the sun bright through the glass door. Working in a bar had messed up his sleep cycle, and with the sun’s position, he assumed it was late morning touching on afternoon, not early like he first thought.
How long had he been fucking those strangers for last night?
“Hello, Son.”
Ice in his chest, his hands clenching so hard on the coffees that they spilled scalding liquid onto his hands. But he couldn’t feel it, not when he looked up and saw the man sitting in the corner table. Sam found himself frozen in place, his legs locked.
“It’s been a long time,” his father said, gesturing to the opposite chair. “Sit.”
Sam sat, following the order, numb. He didn’t even notice when the barista came over with napkins, taking away the ruined cups and cake from his still clenched hands. If he had commented, Sam wouldn’t have heard. Not when all he could do was stare at the man with whom he shared DNA. His father looked exactly as he did all those years ago, his recollection pristine despite it being a child’s memory.
Short blonde hair, darker than Sam’s and eyes of umber that glowed like that of his leopard, an amber ring around the iris. His brows were thick, his lips cruelly pinched as he stared with a hatred that burned.
The last time Sam saw his father was when he was thrown into the ocean, bleeding and broken after days of being passed around like a toy. Hurt in ways no one, especially not a child, should have been hurt. For years he’d suffered at the hands of the people who were supposed to love him, his pack. All with the encouragement from the man who sat before him.
The salt had scorched, sealing his wounds so they had scarred. Every mark of the whip, cut of the blade, and burn of the poker forever immortalised on his skin.
“Oh, how you’ve grown. It’s been a long time Samion,” his father said, appraising him slowly. “I can feel your influence, it’s even more beautiful now that you’re an adult.”
Sam swallowed, his throat dry as his father pulled an aura, demanding Sam acknowledge his dominance. It was an abrasion against his skin, but the power flowed off him like water, just as it had as a child. He hadn’t been born with the instinct to bow to those more dominant than himself, because in reality he was neither a dominant, nor a submissive. He was different, outside the usual pack hierarchy. He wasn’t more dominant than the Alpha, but he wasn’t beneath him either.
Equal, and for someone like his father, that was unacceptable.
His father’s face creased, lip lifting into a snarl. “You left us, now everybody’s dead, and it’s your fault.”
Sam was still silent, his heart an ache that pressed against his ribs in a powerful beat. Their pack had been unusual, consisting of many different predatory shifters rather than a single animal. It was rare, and for good reason. Many shifters, unless mated into the pack dynamic, didn’t get on, their animals too different, which would usually result in deadly conflicts.
“You owe me for leaving.”
