That had to have been the first time Scott had ever refused my touch. Even back when we were kids he never just jerked away from me like that, in fact I remember him being rather clingy, and I always, always loved it. Him clinging to me meant we were always close to each other, and when I turned fourteen and realized I was in love with him, I started to enjoy it even more.

I don’t remember when it started, my memories got a little fuzzy the further back I went, but I somehow recalled us both being young when I first grabbed his hand into mine, dragging him along behind me to play. I couldn’t be certain if those memories were true, but the feeling from it had to be, the way my heart pounded instantly when he hugged my arm, begging to stay the night with me.

We were always so close when we were younger, and now… I didn’t know what was happening. He jerked away from me. He refused my touch. He wouldn’t even look at me, and that hurt. Something had to be wrong for him to do that, right? To just pull away from me? He wouldn’t have done it for no reason.

At first I figured maybe he was just worrying over Rebel, and that made sense, but I still felt sick from it, especially after what he’d said. I convinced myself to be okay with Rebel because I thought he was the product of married mates. Then Scott had to drop a bomb on us during dinner claiming Priscilla wasn’t Rebel’s mother, and that the boy had been born outside of his chosen mate.

Naturally I felt betrayed. How could I not? Until I convinced myself maybe Scott had been assaulted and forced. It made me sick to think I was more willing to accept him being raped than him willingly sleeping with someone almost right after me just to have a kid. I hated myself for that thought, and I felt both relieved and utterly pained when he shot that down as well.

He would never just sleep with someone though! Especially not after what we had! I didn’t understand! He said he loved me. He said he’d never do anything to hurt me. He said he was refusing to tell me who his child’s parent was in order to protect me. I was completely lost to this confusion, raking my hands through my hair and staring down at the work on my desk.

I worried over it for the rest of the night, staying up until god knows in the morning before passing out at my desk. The next morning, I woke up to someone jabbing a finger against my neck, shooting up and growling before my bleary eyes recognized the copper skin tone, dark curls, and caramel brown eyes.

“Mini?” I scrubbed at my eyes to clear my vision as my rejected mate laughed and hopped up to sit on my desk, “What are you doing?”

“Waking your ass up!” she answered me, leaning back on my desk and pounding her heels against the front before looking over her shoulder at me, “I heard Scott was home. Have you seen him?” she twisted at her waist and planted her hands onto my papers, leaning closer and grinning, “I bet he’s still a total nerd!”

I just rolled my eyes with a sigh and shook my head. Dominique and I actually still had a pretty good relationship, considering I was a dick to her for the longest time and sort of rejected her, but she’d flourished since then. She looked great, if me saying that fixed the whole tearing a rift into the spirit of her wolf thing. I doubted it.

“He’s an alpha now,” I said, “I mean, he’s always been one, but he’s the alpha of the Paige clan now. Mated to Amos’ daughter, Priscilla.”

Mini’s nose wrinkled a little as she stared at me, leaning back and sitting there before speaking, “Are you okay?”

I arched an eyebrow, “What do you mean?”

She just shrugged her shoulders and hopped off the desk, spinning fully to face my desk as she reached up and pulled her hair out of her face, tying it into a high ponytail but unable to keep a few wavy pieces from falling in front of her eyes, “Never mind. I want to see him! Like right now! It’s been so long, I bet he’s still super short!”

“Not much shorter than I am,” I admitted, “Kind of the same.”

“That’s adorable,” she clapped her hands, “We need to have a day out with him! The four of us like old times! I’m sure Cliff would love a day off from keeping you on track.”

“That is very offensive, I am a star worker,” I argued, pointing at her with my pencil, and she chuckled a little as she shook her head.

“Sure. Is he in his room?”

She spun on her heel, probably to run to Scott’s old room, but I quickly corrected her assumption, “He’s staying in the old Shaman cabin,” I jabbed my thumb over my shoulder to point at the window behind me, leaning over my work to finish a few mistakes I made while working past midnight, “His old room wasn’t big enough for everyone.”

“Ah, right,” Mini sighed and walked around my desk to see out the window, “His mate needs to be with him. Still, I don’t see why he couldn’t have taken his old room to share with her. Just take down some of those goofy kid posters and-,” she stopped, pressing her face against the window, “Whoa, hottie alert! I am weak to red hair.”

“What?” I rolled my chair over to the window and glanced out to Scott’s cabin, tensing when I saw Shaede was outside in front of his beat-up truck, “Oh, that’s a friend of Scott’s. Shaede. He’s a former lone, so he’s a dick,” I folded my arms, “I don’t like him.”

“Uh-huh. Where’s his mate?”

“Oh, they don’t live together,” I yawned and stood up, running my fingers through my hair and dropping the pencil onto my desk before shuffling my loose papers into a file.

“What? Then why does Scott need the nicest cabin in the pack?”

“He lives with Shaede and his son Rebel.”

“Shaede has a son?”

“No, Scott has a son.”

“What?!” I practically threw my file from the shock of Mini screaming in my ear, smacking my shoulder as if it was my fault, “So he had a kid with Priscilla but they don’t live together?! Or he’s adopted…”

“No! Owe!” I rubbed my arm, pouting, “Rebel is Scott’s, he’s not adopted! It’s hard to think that, the kid looks almost exactly like him. He’s not Priscilla’s though. They don’t get along evidently,” I froze, covering my mouth with a hand when I realized I just told Mini that the kid was born with tainted blood, “Shit.”

Dominique looked about as stunned as I probably did when I found out, and I was scared she’d freak out or something, but she just looked back out the window, “How? What happened? Scott wouldn’t just… have a kid for no reason,” she tensed up and spun to me, grabbing my shoulders, “Oh my god, did he get raped?! I will fucking tear those bitches apart!”

“No, I thought that too, but when I asked he just looked at me like I was a moron.”

“You are.”

“Shut up,” I brushed her hands from my shoulders and looked out the window, “Last night Scott explained that the entire Paige clan just… resented Rebel, that’s the kids name. The adults glare at him, the pups bully him, and he’s an alpha but he’s terrified of leaving Scott’s side, or Shaede’s. Scott’s worried about what will happen here, obviously.”

“Whoa, he doesn’t think Kerry clan will harass the kid, right?” Mini pointed at herself, “I would never! I grew up with Scott! We all watched him grow up, we would never do that to his son, born of mates or dirty blood, it doesn’t matter! He’s still Scott’s kid!”

“Yea,” I agreed softly, smiling, “No matter what, whatever happened, it doesn’t really matter. That’s still Scott. He really hasn’t changed much if you can believe it. His hair is longer, though. He’s more mature.”

“Malcolm please, he’s always been the mature one.”

I squinted back at Mini, who was grinning, “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I dunno.”

We turned when the door opened and Cliff walked it, a half smile taking to his lips when he saw Mini was with me, “Thank god, I don’t have to wake him up.”

“Excuse you, I was working all night!” I held up the completed file, “I even started on today’s work so I’d be done before tonight! Scott’s coming for dinner again.”

“Oh, can I come?” Mini asked, and I cringed a little.

“That’s probably not a good idea. He’s bringing Rebel, and the kid’s really shy and scared around new people. Mom and dad are going to be hard enough for him to get used to.”

Dominique snorted, “You just don’t want me getting between you and Scott.”

I stared at her, “Huh?”

“Who’s Rebel?” Cliff asked before I could ask Mini what she was talking about, turning to face my beta.

“Scott’s son,” I answered, and Cliff gaped at me.

“He’s got a kid now? How did that happen?”

“I actually don’t know,” I admitted with a soft laugh, and Mini cleared her throat.

“When a mommy wolf and a daddy wolf love each other very much, or they’re drunk, shit happens.”

“You need to stop,” Cliff said, and my laughter was louder that time from the amusing sag of exhaustion on his face.

Even with the whole rejection under my belt, Dominique and I were still friends, and Cliff was someone I considered to be equal as my brother. The three of us with Scott when we were younger sort of made us a foursome of headaches for the older wolves, but at the same time they watched us with expressions of pride, as if they were happy the four of us were such great friends.

I was hoping we could be that again, just four young adults living life to the fullest and running a pack together, the same as we once were, but I had to remember Scott wasn’t just an alpha. He was a dad, he had more responsibility than the rest of us even, and there was that wild card living with him too.

Shaede had a strange aura, an odd scent that made my nose wrinkle. I felt uneasy around him, as if he gave off this intimidating air, though at first glance he didn’t look that scary. Being near him made me feel submissive, my wolf was on edge and jittery at all times, I basically wanted to flop on my belly and cover my head until he left.

Yet that horrifying aura didn’t affect Scott? Maybe I was just crazy and sensitive.

With both Cliff and Mini tag teaming me, I was able to get all of my work done just in time, leaving them in my office to file everything for me so I could make my way to my bedroom for a quick shower and change of clothes. Knowing Scott would be there made me try a little too hard, going so far as to shave off the little bit of stubble I had and using spicy scented aftershave and cologne before pushing my hair back with my fingers.

Then I thought better of that and ruffled it back out. If I changed my hair, my parents would ask questions. Wearing a nice shirt and jeans and smelling good were one thing, but the former alpha was a smart man, and I hadn’t met a woman sharper than Cecilia Kerry. Well, besides maybe Dominique, but that was different.

Scott had a habit of being early to almost everything, and this time he was early enough to be in the kitchen helping my mother cook by the time I stepped through the door. Shaede was sitting at the island counter looking fully uncomfortable, and Wade was crouched down near Scott holding up a little stuffed fox toy with floppy arms, trying to goad Rebel into coming out from where he was hiding between Scott’s legs and the counter, little hands clinging to Scott’s jeans.

When I walked into the room Scott tensed up without turning, I could see his chest rising suddenly from a hitching breath, and he covered his mouth with the back of his hand as he glanced over at the door, face flushed a soft pink color. So, that was his reaction when I smelt good? I could work with that.

I smiled at him and lifted a hand in a wave, but he turned his head away without responding, and I frowned heavily when I noticed the large bandage taped to his left cheek, “Scott, what happened?” I asked, and he looked over at me again as Cecilia answered from the stove.

“He didn’t think about turning the lights on when he got home last night and fell,” she chuckled, and Scott blushed a little, scratching he neck and looking over his shoulder towards her.

“I didn’t want to wake Rebel up is all,” he argued, looking down at the little boy and reaching down to stroke his black hair back, “Come on, sweetie, they’re nice.”

“Call me grandpa!” Wade said, holding his arms out, and Rebel stared at him with wide eyes before looking up at Scott, who smiled and nodded.

Rebel pouted a little and shuffled his way around Scott’s legs to stand in front of my father, who held the little toy out for him. The little eight-year-old stared at it for a moment before reaching out his hands and taking it gently, holding it with both hands before darting back around Scott, hugging it to his chest.

Cecilia laughed as Wade pouted, and Scott sighed a little before smiling weakly, “I’m sorry. It’ll take him a while to warm up to you.”

“That’s not a problem, sweetie,” Cecilia waved a hand, “Raising children means learning an entirely new and developed level of patients. Wade and I are plenty prepared to wait for Rebel to warm up for us,” her eyes found me and she squinted, “We’ve had a lot of practice with patience.”

I held my hands out, “Why are you looking at me when you say that?”

Scott chuckled a little and shook his head before turning back to the hors d'oeuvres he was preparing, “Rebel isn’t a hard child though, he’s a good boy.”

“He’s a very good boy,” Cecilia agreed, carrying a hot pan over to where Scott was standing and setting it onto a few pot holders, “Malcolm, would you and Shaede set the table?”

Shaede tensed up with wide eyes as I stepped forward and took the plates Wade handed me, “Sure.”

“You too,” Scott chided to Shaede, who blanched and hunched his shoulders, taking the silverware Cecilia was holding out and slipping off the stool to shuffle over towards the table.

When I passed him, that same uneasy feeling fluttered in my throat, and I swallowed thickly, eyeing him as my father passed him. I almost felt relieved when Wade stopped and frowned, looking after Shaede before looking at me. I shrugged at him, and we just set it aside as we went back to setting the table.