Page 24 of Ondine: Vol. 2

“Not at the expense of his own heart.”

She scoffs.

“You don’t think because I like women I’m not like that, too? Just because Shadow couldn’t hide that part of himself and I’m better at it doesn’t mean anything.”

Oh, my god. Freddie is coming out to his parents. I take for granted how open most people I spend time with are to sexual orientation. I forgot that for alphas in certain communities it’s taboo as hell for male alphas to be with each other. Clans. Some of the biggest clans are very prejudiced against alpha-alpha relations.

And Shadow, Jake, and Sebastian have all shown me how bisexual they really are. And until the other day, I didn’t know Freddie was that way too.

Quite honestly, I’ve loved how they’ve been with each other. I can’t imagine a better situation than to be in a pack with bisexual alphas. As long as they are ok with me being really into betas.

God, this conversation has taken a turn.

“That’s not true. Don’t say that.” Tina’s face reddens with anger.

Tina thinks because she can dictate the dynamic of her own pack that she can do the same for her sons. She’s so sick.

I take a step forward.

“Tina, I encourage you to stay out of my nest. Freddie is mine,” I say before she continues to tell my mate who he is allowed to love or fuck or be with. “If I had a problem with who he fucks, you still wouldn’t be involved.”

Tina does not like that I used a cuss word. That’s what she seems most shocked about. Classic. My fingers are still interlaced with Freddie’s and he gives my hand a little squeeze then leans over to kiss me.Thank you,he mouths.

He turns to his mom. “You have to make this right or dad may actually die. Don’t prevent Man-ho’s students from having a fair shot at Institute placement. The fact you influenced something like that to begin with is out of control.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You’d rather a target on your alpha’s head?”

Tina mixes herself another drink. I think she’s had three since we’ve been here. I can’t imagine this small woman has a high tolerance.

“If you were to stop him like you should have done already none of this would matter.”

Absolute silence fills the room.

Did she really just say that?

Freddie looks like he just wants to talk to me about this, but he decides to just say it to everyone, “She called me at the monastery and convinced me I needed to defend our family and my father. That I needed to come to the city and kill Man-ho for trying to murder my father. And I gladly did it, because of my own blind hatred for the man. But you just needed a hit man,” he looks at her directly as she chews on an olive, “A mercenary. I’m nothing but a weapon to you.”

“Don’t give me that look, Freddie. You found your scent match since being home. It’s almost as though you should thank me for calling you here. Maybe you would have found her earlier if you didn’t run away.”

“I found her a year ago, mom.”

He cringes at having let that slip.

“What? A year! A year! Why didn’t you take her then?”

Take her. Like I’m an object.

He doesn’t reply. He’s already told me about this. I was too young, he thought. And he needed time to prepare himself. He also hoped that I would be better off without him.

I honestly don’t blame him. Things happened as they should.

He eventually says, mostly to me, and not her, “I needed time to learn how to care for someone other than myself.”

“That’s crazy. Of course you can take care of her. With the right pack. Let’s get you the right pack. At least one of my sons will be a pack lead. I knew it would be you. A Wong pack. I have a beta you can bond with as well. She’s very pretty and knows how to run a household.”

I’ll be fucking damned if my pack is dictated at all by Tina Wong. I suppress baring my teeth at her. You know what? Fuck it.