“I try.”
I smiled, enjoying the feel of him in my arms.
Now I just had to wait for Aiden to be done, and then we could discuss our mating.
A nervous sort of anticipation came over me, but following it was excitement. I would soon have mated with them both, making them mine.
I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Aiden
I sat on our bed staring at my phone. Daddio’s name was right there, brighter than ever. So why did I pause? I knew they wouldn’t be mad at me, disappointed, maybe, but not mad.
Taking in a deep breath, I hit the call button. It only rang once before Daddio’s familiar voice came through, a touch frantic but also filled with relief.
“Aiden?”
“Daddio?” I croaked.
“Oh, my boy!” I heard him sob with relief.
“Is it him?!” I heard Dad’s voice join the sobs.
“Yes!”
“Hi, Dad,” I greeted, my voice choking up.
“Are you safe?” Daddio asked.
“Yes, I’m safe,” I assured them.
“Wewere told you were involved in an accident, but we weren’t allowed to see you,” Dad told me, his tone laced with anger and worry.
“I was in a coma,” I explained, not knowing how much I was allowed to tell them. I had taken the news of other worlds fairly well, but that was mostly instincts telling me it was true. My dads didn’t have the luxury of instincts to guide them on this, and would likely think I’d gone mad.
“A coma?!” Dad balked. “They never said that! We feared you’d died!”
“Died?!” Now it was my turn to balk. Had the rulers truly fucked up that badly? “You believed me to be dead all these years?” I almost begged them not to tell me, but I needed to know.
“No,” Daddio assured me. “We knew you were out there, just not where or what had truly happened. Call it parental intuition.”
Dad snorted. “Yeah, right. I seem to remember a certain bear hunting down hospitals and demanding to find his son.”
Daddio tsked. “That was a moment of weakness.”
“Uh huh, weakness,” Dad muttered.
I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “I’ve missed you.”
“We miss you, too, son,” Dad said. “When will we see you again?”
“Oh, hang on,” I said, clicking the camera button, and there my dads were, looking way older than I’d thought. I probably should’ve prepared myself for seeing them three years older, but it was too late now.
Daddio had a fully grey beard now, his hair in a buzz cut, likely from thinning to the point that it no longer mattered. Dad was cleanly shaven, his hair pure white and set into his familiar style. But it was their eyes thathad changed the most. They looked wiser somehow, not that I would dare tell them that.
“You look so thin!” Daddio gasped. “You need ribs. That’s it, you need to come home so I can feed you.”
