On the opposite side of the table, Penny waved, grinning. She raised her eyebrows, shook her phone. The charity event. Raph winced; he hadn’t given her a reply yet.
“Raph,” Tanya Fleming said, standing. She had Wyatt’s blond hair, too—Raph had always noticed that. Tanya might not have been his biological mom, but after twenty-four years, Raph saw her as his own mother—different from his first mom, but no less important.
Tanya glanced warily at Grandma, then kissed Raph on the cheek. “Doing okay?”
“Fine,” he said, shrugging. Maybe in the future, he’d talk to her about Wyatt. Not right now, though. Not in front of Grandma.
With his other hand still in Grandma’s grip, Raph hugged his mom, breathing in her familiar chrysanthemum scent. It was nothing like Grandma’s sharp lemon scent, and Raph held on to his mom for a little longer, wishing he could ask what she thought about his brother. About their baby.
When they pulled away, Mom raised her eyebrows. “Have you seen W—”
“Briefly,” Raph said, his heart kicking. She’d have followed it up with You smell like him, and he didn’t need anyone else’s attention on that. “I’ve been busy with work. Have you heard about the ATM scandals in Highton? I’ve been working with my managers to reassure our clients. It doesn’t directly affect Alpha Associates, of course, but I just wanted you to know.”
Mom’s face lit up. And Grandma began to frown.
So Raph said, “My marketing team proposed a couple of promising campaigns, Grandma—it’ll help expand Alpha Associates into the Midwest. We could potentially see a twenty-percent growth in the region. I’ll pass along the details on Monday.”
Grandma cracked a smile, and Raph relaxed.
No one knew about Wyatt. After all these years, everyone no longer expected Wyatt to show up along with Raph. He wondered how long this assumption would last, whether Wyatt would want Raph around, when he introduced the new baby to their parents.
As he sat down to dinner, Wyatt’s absence felt like a void he couldn’t ignore.
Raph looked around the elaborate dining room—the floor-length curtains by the tall glass windows, the intricate table settings prepared for five, the chandelier hanging above them all, like a sword waiting to fall. The finery wasn’t important. And the people who were present—Mom, Dad, Penny, Grandma—they had grown used to Wyatt not being here.
Despite spending the last three weekends with Wyatt, Raph missed him. He always had, through the years. But that had been a slow, lingering burn. Now that he knew Wyatt’s laugh again, and now that Wyatt had pressed himself to Raph’s chest, all vulnerable and soft, Raph missed him like a phantom limb. Was this what having a bondmate felt like?
And maybe that bonding had been for real. Maybe he’d somehow fallen in love with Wyatt, and he hadn’t realized it until now.
“Hey, Dad,” Raph said. Part of him wanted to add, What does it feel like to be a dad? Because I’m going to be one. “I watched your interview on TV—you mentioned us.”
Stan Fleming brightened, a smile spreading across his weathered face. As the police chief, he frequently stopped on the streets to chat with the townsfolk, but he also led his teams with a steady hand. He’d been on TV maybe five times, now. To Raph, he was still Dad. “You watched the interview, son?”
“Yeah, Penny called and told me about it. You weren’t serious about the auditions, were you?”
Dad laughed sheepishly. “You know, I did sign you all up for an audition. I missed seeing you kids play.”
Raph froze. And glanced at Penny. She was staring at Dad, her mouth open. “An actual audition? You could’ve told us earlier, Dad!”
“I wanted it to be a surprise!” Chief Fleming said, chuckling. “I just figured... With all those children in the orphanages, you wouldn’t mind playing for them, would you?”
“Wyatt isn’t even here,” Penny said, frowning. “He’s busy, you know.”
Dad’s smile faded. He glanced around the table at the empty seats, wistful. And maybe Raph wasn’t the only one who missed his stepbrother. “I wish he were free in the evenings. Or even if he dropped off Hazel—that would be nice.”
“We’re doing very well here.” Grandma wrinkled her nose, disdain flashing through her eyes. “He can visit when he decides to.”
“I wish he hadn’t left when he was eighteen.” Mom sipped from her water glass, her shoulders sagging. “We’ve missed so many years with him. Hazel is such a dear—Wyatt said he had her by accident, didn’t he? You’d want to be careful, Penny, in case you’re just as fertile as he is.”
Penny blushed. And a ferocious heat surged through Raph’s chest. Wyatt had told his parents that Hazel was an accident? Because she wasn’t.
In the months after Wyatt left, Raph had searched for him through all of Meadowfall. Wyatt had been hiding away in the kitchens of small restaurants, washing dishes, and later prepping food as a line cook. Raph had tried to contact him. When he’d found out the news about Max, Raph had been too ashamed to face Wyatt as an alpha.
Max had told Wyatt that he was sick, that he needed to fuck an omega every night, or he’d get his balls twisted up. And Wyatt had listened, somehow. Then he’d discovered the pregnancy, and Max had taken all of Wyatt’s cash, and thrown Wyatt out his door.
And Wyatt’s parents acted like Hazel’s birth was some damn miracle.
Raph looked at the roast chicken on the table, the fluffy mashed potatoes. His appetite had vanished. Wyatt’s story wasn’t his to tell. He wasn’t going to mention it in front of Grandma; she didn’t have the right to gloat over Wyatt’s trauma.
He should correct his Mom and Dad, tell them the sort of shit Wyatt had been through. But Raph was the one who had driven him to that point; if he’d never kissed Wyatt, Grandma would never have found them. Raph was older. He should’ve known
