Filed to story: Claimed by My Ex’s Alpha Brother
“What do you mean you have a bad feeling, sweetheart?”
Grayson’s cheeks reddened, and he pulled at his bottom lip.
“I don’t know,” Grayson said and shrugged self-consciously. “There’s like this weird feeling in the bottom of my stomach. It’s not painful exactly, but it’s been there since this morning whenever I think about Grandpa.”
“Oh, honey.” I reached out and pulled him close to me with my hand that wasn’t holding the egg. “That feeling is called worry. Sometimes, we experience it when we are thinking about people we love. We worry about our loved ones because we care about them. Especially when we don’t get to see them that much. I’m sorry you’re worried about your Grandpa, honey. But he’s all right. Grandma talked to him last night. Do you remember that? Grandma put her phone on speaker and he said hi to you.”
Grayson pulled away and nodded. But there was still a crease between his eyebrows.
A forgotten memory jumped into my head. When I was seven, I experienced the same thing Grayson was describing. I woke up in a cold sweat, irrational dread gnawing at my stomach. The next day, I learned that Aunt Mia had fallen in the shower. She had sprained her arm and leg, but it could have been a lot worse.
Was I discounting Grayson’s worry because he was young? I didn’t know of any witches in our family, so he wasn’t having a premonition. But he could be experiencing a sort of sixth sense. Maybe the magic that made us shifters manifested itself as an enhanced intuitiveness when we were young.
My stomach jolted as I pictured my dad’s face.
“Honey, do you want to call Grandpa now? I’m sure he would love to-“
A shout behind us interrupted me.
I pulled Grayson behind me and faced the direction the sound had come from.
Aunt Mia and my mother were running toward us, and when they got closer, I noticed that they were wearing matching expressions of horror. Their faces were stark white, and their eyes were wild with anxiety.
Thick apprehension settled over me like the morning fog. Accidentally, I let go of the egg I was holding and watched it fall to the ground. When it cracked, yellow yolk oozed onto the wet grass.
My mother skidded to a stop in front of me and tightly grasped my hands. She opened her mouth, but the only sound that came out was a strangled cry.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
My mother could only shake her head in response.
I looked at my aunt.
“It’s your father,” she said in a toneless voice. “He was attacked by Rogue wolves late last night, and he’s in a coma.”
***
The guard opened the large black gate and waved my aunt’s ancient blue Jeep through.
“Do you know if Dad’s coma is medically induced?” I asked from the backseat.
“No, it’s not,” my aunt answered. She was gripping the steering wheel so hard her knuckles were white. “His condition is so…critical that he fell into a coma.”
The four of us were silent for a few moments as Aunt Mia slowly drove past the guard.
“Mom, why is Grandpa in a coma?” Grayson asked from beside me. “And what’s a coma? How do you fall into one? Did he trip?”
I wrapped an arm around his shoulder and pulled him against my side. Internally, I scolded myself. This situation was hard enough for my son. I needed to be careful with how I explained things no kid should have to understand.
“Grandpa was hurt, and now he has to sleep until he gets better again,” I told him and rubbed his shoulder.
“What does critical mean? Is it bad?” Grayson asked and rubbed his eyes. “Is that why we couldn’t bring Goose?” His bottom lip jutted out.
My mom turned around in the passenger seat and grabbed Grayson’s hand, answering his questions in a low voice.
I leaned my head back and allowed a few tears to escape my eyes.
After Aunt Mia called a few people from town to take care of the animals while we were away, the three of us rushed around the house, packing our bags. Grayson clutched onto Goose, saying that he wouldn’t leave his dog behind. I told him that we would be spending a lot of time in the hospital and Goose wouldn’t be allowed in there. Eventually, we packed up the Jeep and the image of Grayson waving frantically at his dog as Goose ran after our car on the other side of the fence truly broke me.
I was shocked to learn that my dad was being treated at Liam’s secure facility half an hour outside of WaterLock’s territory. My father had told me about Liam’s plans for the facility when my ex-Mate started construction. Originally, he wanted to build a secure spot for the pack to live that was heavily guarded against the Rogue wolves, but the WaterLock pack members, including Liam’s father, didn’t want to move away from the only home they’d ever known.
Something I could relate to.
The sun was just setting over the buildings as we drove through Liam’s facility. We passed by similar sleek structures that looked like office spaces, a grocery store, and even a coffee shop. Liam had developed an entire little community. There were buildings that looked like apartments, and I remembered my dad saying some of his workers lived here and Liam had a private residence in the facility as well.
My nerves were shot at this point, and just the thought of being near the place where Liam lived made my stomach turn.
“How come dad was taken here and not to Healer Elijah?” I asked.
“Liam was the one to find your father,” my mom answered in a small, toneless voice.
My breath caught in my throat.
Just like Liam had found me.
But Liam was a little too late to save my dad from serious injury.
“I spoke to Liam on the phone, too,” my aunt added. “He assured me that he had the best healers in the kingdom working for him. And he’ll be safer here than at the pack’s hospital.”
Most of the space in my brain was focused on worrying about my dad. But it wasn’t lost on me that I was about to see Liam for the first time in six years. And how would he react to Grayson? Obviously, he would know that Grayson was his son. I didn’t have the mental energy to plan out what I was going to say to him, though.
Right before we left, my mother and aunt expressed how dangerous it would be for me to be so close to WaterLock’s territory. Everyone in my pack thought that I was deathly ill. If someone were to spot me, the Elders might become suspicious of not only me, but of my mother and father, too. And how would I explain Grayson if someone were to see him? What if someone from WaterLock were to notice that my son looked awfully similar to Liam…
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?