Inevitably Yours

MICHAEL

Quinn left all too soon, but it was probably for the best with how my mom was acting. I stayed shut up in my room the rest of the night, enjoying the lingering smell of Quinn on my sheets and wishing we hadn’t been interrupted.

The following day, my mom was quiet at breakfast. I tried to eat quickly because I thought it was finally time I showed up to band practice. School would be starting soon, and I couldn’t use family as an excuse forever.

Before I could escape the packhouse, my mom grabbed me. “I have it,” she said.

“Have what?” I said. My voice was dripping with contempt, but I wasn’t in the mood to be respectful of her. The longer I sat knowing that Lawrence was not my father, the angrier I got.

“What you wanted, Michael,” she said. She handed me a folder, and I looked at it in shock.

“This is…” I trailed off.

“Yes, it is everything that I can show you about him. Including the last known location I have,” she said. Lowering her voice, she continued, “I’m sure you can at least understand that he has been in hiding all this time.”

I nodded. “I want to go,” I said without thinking.

“No,” my mom said firmly.

“I don’t think you are in the position to tell me no, Mom,” I growled.

“I am your mother. That is my position,” she said in a low voice. “I know you are about to come of age, but you are still very much a child, Michael. My child. It is not safe for you to just run off after him. We don’t even know that he is still there; it is possible that he moved around after all these years to stay hidden.”

“She is right,” Eros agreed. “He might not be there, and leaving will only alert Lawrence to the fact we know the truth when he returns.”

“Lawrence finding out is definitely not advantageous to us. Who knows what he will try to do to Mom or me if he does. Tyler may be his son, but I am not confident he would be saved from Lawrence’s wrath either,” I acquiesced.

“Fine,” I agreed. “But I want to establish contact with him.”

My mom looked at me warily. She didn’t have to voice the risks of contacting my biological father. According to the laws of our kind, once an Alpha has lost a challenge for his title, he can never challenge to regain it if he survives. Most often, the Alpha is killed, but my mom managed to save Melvin his life at least.

“I know you think I am a villain right now, but I am not, Michael,” she said quietly. “There is a lot that happens that you don’t know about.”

“Then let’s go, Mom!” I pleaded. “Let’s pack our s**t and get away before he comes back. We can be out of here in a couple of hours. We can have a big enough lead to hide from him. You can tell me everything, and we can find Melvin!”

My mom looked at me despondently. Now that the mask had crumbled before me, I could see the cracks. She couldn’t entirely hide the broken woman I knew was beneath the facade.

“If we leave, we may never see Quinn again,” Eros pointed out.

“Lawrence knows nothing about her right now. Leaving might be the only way to ensure that happens, and I will figure out how to get back here to her,” I said.

“Will you say goodbye?” he asked. I pushed him away because I couldn’t even think about it. Knowing what I had to do and following through with it were very different things.

“Michael, we cannot do that. He will hunt us down,” she aggressively whispered. She sighed, pinching the top of her nose. “Give me a couple of hours. Let me see if I can make it work to send him some communication. We don’t even know if he is alive or wants contact with us.”

“He will want to know me,” I growled, not caring that my voice was rising.

“Okay,” my mom said, putting her hands up. “Please just stay calm for now. Have a little patience, and I will let you know what I can come up with.”

“Fine,” I said.

“You should stay around here today,” she added. “If I can figure something out, we will have to act quickly. I am not sure when he will be returning.”

“Fine,” I said. I stalked past her, heading to my room. I could play by her rules and wait for now, but I wouldn’t wait forever.

–

Two hours later, my mom appeared in my doorway. Tyler and I sat on my bed while he watched Pocket Monsters. I was hardly paying attention while I brooded over everything surrounding Melvin.

“Hey, Mom,” Tyler said.

“Hi, sweetheart. Are you boys enjoying your show?” she asked.

“Yes!” he said excitedly. Envy coated my mouth as I realized that his life had some struggle, but Tyler’s existence was on such a vastly different path than my own.

“Michael, can I talk to you for just a second?” my mom asked.

“Yea,” I huffed. I slid off the bed and followed her into the hall. We walked all the way to the other end before she spoke.

“I managed to convince an old friend of your father’s to help me find him. He will try to locate him, and he is willing to carry a message along. If you want to say something, I suggest you write a letter and do it quickly,” she relayed in a hushed tone.

My stomach flipped. “You promise? We are really going to contact him?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “As dangerous as this is, you deserve the chance to know and decide what to do. But Michael, I need you to be prepared.”

“For what?” I asked my irritation climbing again. I was turning into a walking fountain of anger.

“We may not find him to start,” she said. “There is also the possibility that he doesn’t want to know you.”

“If he doesn’t want to know me, then I will track him myself and snap his neck. I don’t care if that makes me no better than Lawrence,” I threatened.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

Mom reached up and cupped my cheek, shaking her head. “I am so sorry this is happening to you, my baby. You deserve to have a father who wants you. You are so special, and I know even Lawrence can see it.”

I grabbed her hand and pulled it away from my face. “Forgive me if your words are hard to accept when I’m still coming to terms with my entire life being a lie.” I stormed away from her back to my room. I calmed myself before walking inside so Tyler wouldn’t be suspicious.

Tyler was still consumed by the TV, so I grabbed a notebook and pen from my desk and sat on my bed.

“What do I say to the man who never came looking for me?” I thought.

“Start with how you know,” Eros said. So I did.

QUINN

I had never been so relieved for a Friday in my life. This was the last weekend of freedom before school started. Then, it would be activities and races until early winter every single weekend.

What was more exciting was that I had the house all to myself. My mom asked over breakfast if I could handle staying home alone for a few days. My father’s sister was mated to a wolf in another pack, and they were going to visit her. My brother was staying with my cousin all weekend, but there was only one spare bed at my aunt and uncle’s house. That left me in limbo.

I was more than happy to be left alone all weekend. I could cook the food I wanted and spend all day with a book in my face and silence surrounding me.

I helped my mom pack her and my dad’s things while she yelled at my little brother to get ready. When my dad got home, he changed then loaded all their stuff into the car.

My uncle came to pick up my little brother, apologizing that I was getting left out of the fun and telling me to call him if I needed anything. All my cousins were boys on both sides of my family. I didn’t mind being around them, but sometimes it felt like I was the odd one out.

I gave my uncle a big hug, reassuring him that I would be very okay locked in the house all weekend, to which he just laughed.

After my brother was gone, my dad handed me a small wad of money, iterating it was for groceries or emergencies. I just thanked him with a k**s on the cheek and shoved it in the silverware drawer, knowing I wouldn’t need it.

I waved to my parents as their car pulled down the road. I was happy they got a few days away together because they were both always working. When I stepped inside the quiet house, I sighed in contentment.

“Michael, Michael, Michael,” Sapphire started to chant.

“He hasn’t said anything today. No call or text message,” I said.

“We’re home alone now. Invite him over!” she suggested happily.

“That would be breaking the rules,” I defended.

“They did not say you couldn’t have anyone over explicitly,” she countered.

I smiled at her devious thought. She was right. “Act your age. Be irresponsible for once,” she begged me. “Cook him dinner, and he’ll come running!”

I pulled out my phone. I wouldn’t debate this and talk myself out of it. I had an opportunity, and I wanted to take it. The phone rang and almost went to voicemail, but Michael answered. “Hey, beautiful,” he said.

“I have to ask you something, and I will probably ramble a little,” I prefaced.

He laughed. “Okay, ramble on.”

“So my aunt is mated to a wolf in another pack, and my parents are going to visit her this weekend. My brother went over to my cousin’s place this weekend, but they only have one spare bed, so I couldn’t stay there too. My parents let me stay home alone all weekend, and well, everyone is gone now. I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to come over and have dinner with me? I’ll cook, and I’ll make it something delicious. You don’t have to say-”

“Yes!” He stopped me. I almost continued my nervous rambling when my brain registered what he said.

“You want to?” I asked.

“More than anything else in this world,” he said, sounding so genuine.

I smiled brightly. “Okay, thanks,” I said.

“When can I come over?” he asked excitedly.

“Can you give me like an hour and a half?” I said, peeking at the clock.

“I’ll be anxiously waiting,” he replied. “See you soon, Blue.”