“His family?” I asked barely above a whisper.
“Yes,” he said softly. “That too.”
A rush of emotion surged through me—fear tangled with hope; happiness tangled with terror. It made my chest feel too tight, my breath too thin.
“They… they’re alive?” The words scraped out of me. Were my parents, my real parents, truly still out there?
“Very much so,” Evander answered. “They live in a retirement community now. They sold their house about fiveyears ago. They couldn’t bear staying in a place that reminded them every day their son never came home.”
My parents. Alive. Breathing. Waiting.
Waiting for a boy who never returned. Waiting for a boy who might not even exist anymore.
“They…did they give up?” I whispered, afraid of the answer.
“Not exactly. They…they had hope. But having hope for so long can destroy a soul more than anything. Theyhadto move on, to restart life. They didn’t exactly give up, but they accepted the fact that their child, their only child, was killed. But they would be thrilled to find their son alive, and happy, and so very healthy.”
Hope was a dangerous thing. Hope can break you worse than the truth. I knew that firsthand.
“You don’t have to meet them until you’re ready. They will like you just as you are, blood test or not.”
There were so many questions clawing at the back of my throat, but fear held them there, sticky and heavy, refusing to let them out.
If I really was Honeybee…. if this Alpha was my Evy…. Then I could see my parents again. I could hug them. I could have everything I lost.
But even if I wasn’t that boy, even if the truth shattered every fragile hope inside me, I would still have something.
I would still havethem. A family. A place. People who wanted me.
“Wh-when do the results come in again?” I asked, my voice barely holding together. “Isn’t that…today?”
Did I want to know?
The answer felt like it could either save me or break me, and I wasn’t sure which one terrified me more.
Evander reached for his phone on the coffee table, unlocking it with a swipe of his thumb. His brows drew together in that focused way he had. He opened his email, scrolling with slow deliberate movements.
“Nothing yet.”
My stomach twisted.
“Moore said the results should be in by the end of the day.”
So maybe tonight.
It was too far, yet too close at the same time.
Evander sat his phone down, tucking me into his side once more. “I’ll tell you when they are in. Or Moore will call. Either one. It’s up to you if you want to know. Or if you only want to know and I get to be kept in the dark.”
“I…” Hadn’t he been kept in the dark for years already?
“It’ll be up to you. It's your body, your blood. I get no say in when I get to know, truthfully. And that’s okay.”
I let out a shaky breath.
Too many choices, yet it showed how much trust this Alpha had for me.
***
