Page 58

Christophe

Mother,Father, Arthur, and I sat around the dining table for another mostly silent breakfast. Ever since Mason and I got together, almost every meal had been like this. Arthur was always the first to finish and excuse himself from the tense awkwardness, and I delivered terse updates to Father about work and affairs, but that was it. I was still too angry for anythingelse.

It wasridiculous that I was still even living in the Luna manor. I should’ve been living with my mate and working on starting my own family. I was no longer a bachelor, though my parents refused to acknowledgethat.

“We receiveda challenge from the Arctic Falls Clan,” I said flatly. “I had it addressedpeacefully.”

“Good work,”Fathergrunted.

“Anything else?”

“Nothing.”

Ileft the dining room.I had some free time, so I was going to go and visit Mason at his house. He had the place to himself during the day, now that his mother was receiving care up in Ursidcomb, and up until now it’d been shockingly difficult to find time when we could be alone in private together. Those moments were precious—just being able to do normal household things together, not to mention being able to make love. We still met often at my place in the forest—it was the best place for us to be alone—but doing it on top of a rock wasn’t always the most comfortable. Sometimes we just wanted abed.

Or couch.

Or chair.

Or bathtub.

Ifetchedmy jacket from the coatroom when I heard Mother call myname.

“Christophe?”

Iturned around. “Yes, Mother?”

“Going out?”

“I’ve business to take of,”I said. I could’ve just told her that I was going to see Mason, but I preferred keeping both of my parents on a need-to-know basis about all of that, which essentially meant I never told themanything.

“Okay,”she said. Her typically cold expression seemed softened. She straightened my jacket and picked a bit of fluff off myshoulder.

“What is it, Mother?”

“How’s Mason?”sheasked.

Ifrowned.She hardly ever asked about him. “Mason is fine. Still my mate, just asbefore.”

“How arethe treatments going for hismother?”

Isighed.The only reason she knew about that was because Father had made a big deal about the healingexpenses.

“They’re fine,”I said. “And she’ll continue to receive them until she’s wellagain.”

“I’m not challenging you, Christophe,”she said. “I just want to know how everything isgoing.”

“Why do you care?”

“Icarebecause you’re my son. And by extension… That makes Mason my son too. So I want to make sure everything isalright.”

“It’s fine,”I said, trying to hide my shock. Mother had taken a mostly silent disapproving stance on the whole issue, and I thought she saw Mason as nothing more than a lowborn thief who had somehow corrupted me. I lowered my voice. “Where is this coming from? I know you don’t approve ofMason.”

“I’m still tryingto understand this whole thing. I can’t say I do approve, but it doesn’t change the fact that he is your mate. And… Well, I never told you this, but I’ve always disagreed with your Father about the fated mate marks and his opinion about theTeller.”

“You have?”

“Yes.You see, Christophe, I… also was born with amark.”