Set in the PRODIGAL 'verse
Copyright 2019 by Gem Frost
“There’s a problem with
your pregnancy.”
Dr. Rich Bronson spoke
kindly but sorrowfully. His hand rested on Jon MacArthur’s shoulder, steadying
him, which was just as well, or Jon might have fallen over.
“A problem?” Caeden Wolf
stepped forward, putting a supportive arm around his omega mate. “Are you
saying there’s something wrong with our cub?”
“Not… exactly.” Dr. Rich
blew out a long breath. “The problem is that… there are two of them.”
Jon’s amber eyes, which
had been filled with anxiety, lit up. “Two cubs? Are you saying we’re having twins?”
“Twins,” Caeden echoed,
unable to prevent the smile that curved his mouth. He understood the light in
Jon’s eyes, because he felt it in his own chest. Having a single cub was amazing
enough, when Pack doctrine had long insisted two men couldn’t have a baby
together, but to know that there were two
babies growing inside his mate’s body—well, it was nothing short of a miracle,
and he couldn’t understand why Dr. Rich had called it a problem. “Twins? Really?”
“Yes and no.” Dr. Rich
looked at them, his dark brown eyes serious. “As I said, there’s a problem.”
“Something’s wrong with
them,” Jon guessed, looking worried again. The light faded from his eyes. “Are
they sick? Are they—what do you call it, conjoined?”
“No, no. Nothing like
that. They’re both thriving. The problem is… well, the problem is Pack law.”
Caeden bristled, because in his experience, the problem was always Pack law. Since he’d
assumed the role of Pack leader, ruling side by side with his father, he’d been
working to codify Pack traditions into an actual written set of laws, and had set
every lawyer in the Pack into overhauling the town’s legal code. Many of the
traditions had been blatantly unfair, and discriminatory toward lower-ranked wolves,
which meant there was a lot of work to be done.
But the biggest problem
was that many traditions (particularly regarding Alphas) were about things that couldn’t be spoken of, which
meant the law couldn’t be amended until an issue arose. Caeden was unfamiliar
with any specific laws regarding Alpha children, so this was probably one of
those unmentionable taboos.
“All right,” he said,
cautiously. “What is the problem, exactly?”
“Well…” Rich looked
uncomfortable. “It’s not unusual for Alphas to have litters. Alphas are supposed to have lots of cubs, after all, and a propensity toward having twins or triplets is part of that. But the issue is
that until recently, there could only be one Alpha.”
Caeden nodded. He
understood that. Until he’d refused to overthrow his own father, and suggested
that they rule together, it had been understood that he would be the sole Alpha
when he was able to shift into wolf form. It had always been done that way, and
a lot of the townspeople were none too happy that he had decided to change
things. “So?”
“Don’t you get it, Cae?”
Jon’s voice was strangled. “The firstborn child of an Alpha is always an alpha.
Always.”
“Of course it is. But what
does that have to do with...
“But they would still
both be alphas,” Rich said. “It has to do with hormones produced during
pregnancy. The hormones act on both of the cubs, not just one. And when an Alpha
has twins as his firstborn children, it causes a problem. They would both gain
the ability to shift on the same day, and then they’d have to battle each other
for supremacy. The loser would be exiled, and that would mean a lone wolf
roaming around in the forest. And lone Alphas are dangerous. Sooner or later,
their instincts drive them to take over a Pack. If not this one, then another.”
“So you’re saying…”
Caeden’s throat closed up. He couldn’t even bring himself to say it.
“By Pack tradition, when
an Alpha has more than one cub, the younger one is…” Rich looked supremely
uncomfortable. “Left in the forest to die.”
“Infanticide?” Jon’s
voice rose shrilly, in a rare display of anger. Caeden could hardly blame him.
The idea infuriated him too. “Are you serious,
Rich?”
“It’s tradition,” Rich
said dully. “Pack law.”
“It’s wrong,” Caeden
snapped. “It’s horrific. I’m the Alpha now, and I won’t allow any such barbaric law
to be enforced. Even if it weren’t my child, I would never, ever allow it.”
“You may find it
difficult to change this one,” Rich said, gently. “You’ve ruffled a lot of fur
already, Cae. And this particular tradition is considered sacred by a lot of
older wolves. The idea that you and your father are both Alpha is shocking
enough, but to raise a pair of alpha cubs would be—
“I don’t care what the
old wolves think,” Caeden said between his teeth. His arm tightened around Jon,
protecting his omega as well as their two unborn cubs. “I don’t care what kind
of upheaval it causes amongst the Pack. I am not abandoning a helpless baby in
the woods to die. Who the hell would even consider such a thing?”
Rich hesitated, and
Caeden’s eyes narrowed. Shock hit him hard.
“Are you telling me that—
“I’m not telling you
anything,” Rich said hastily. He shifted to formal language, the speech of a
lower wolf cautiously addressing an infuriated Alpha. “But I would like to respectfully suggest that
you might wish to speak to your father on this subject.”
Caeden’s teeth bared in a
snarl.
“I’ll do that," he growled. "Right now.”
***
“We need to talk.”
Five minutes later, Caeden
strode alone into his father’s office, having left Jon with Dr. Rich. His parents still resided in the magnificent
old Victorian dwelling at the center of town, the mansion that had been the
Wolf home for generations, whereas he and Jon lived in the modest little
bungalow-style house that Jon had grown up in. He was, of course, supposed to have
defeated his own father in ritual combat and taken over the big house for himself, his mate, and their children, while
his father and mother lived in the modest guest house on the premises. But somewhere
along the line, he’d lost interest in doing things the traditional way.
Which was a good thing,
since Pack traditions so often seemed to be massively fucked up.
His father had been studying
a sheaf of papers (he refused to learn to use computers, claiming that the Pack
had gotten along just fine without them for centuries), and at the sound of
Caeden’s voice, he lifted his head, placing the papers down on his cluttered desk.
He was growing a trifle deaf, or he would have heard Caeden’s footsteps approaching
long before the younger man ever entered the house. But he stubbornly refused
to admit to it, or any frailty, for that matter. An Alpha never showed weakness.
The welcoming (if faint)
smile on his face died as he got a good look at Caeden’s face. He rose to his
feet—still an impressive old man, several inches over six feet and powerfully
muscled for his age—and faced his son.
“What is it, Caeden?”
Caeden walked into the
office and stopped on the far side of the desk, meeting his gaze. The old man’s
eyes were golden, just as his own were, and it was like looking into a funhouse
mirror—his own reflection, but distorted. The thought sent a chill through him,
but he reminded himself that he was not his father, despite the resemblance. He
didn’t have to make the same mistakes the old man had.
“Jon is carrying twins,”
he said shortly.
His father turned white,
and staggered. Startled by the old man’s reaction, Caeden dashed around the
desk, intending to catch him before he fell, but his father simply collapsed back
into his leather chair, so hard that it creaked.
“Dad! Are you okay?”
His father’s mouth moved
for a long moment, but no words came out. At last he managed to say in a
whisper, “Don’t tell—you can’t tell anyone—not even Jon—
“Jon knows already. Dr.
Rich told him. And I’d never keep anything from him anyway.”
“Rich—told him?”
“He told us both.” Caeden
kept a steadying hand on his father’s shoulder, and consciously modulated his tone,
trying to keep the fury out of it. He didn’t want to give his father a heart attack.
He simply wanted answers. “He also told us that Pack law requires that one of
the babies be abandoned in the woods. Is that true, Father?”
He never called the older
man Father unless he was supremely pissed, and from the tension of the muscles
beneath his hand, he knew that the old man had noticed it. “Yes. It’s true.”
“He also suggested I
speak to you, and gave me the distinct impression that this—this atrocity had occurred previously in Pack history. Recent history.”
He drew in a long breath, then spat out the words in a rush. “So tell me,
Father. Did I have a twin brother?”
His father nodded.
“Yes,” he answered
softly. “You did.”
"And you abandoned him in the forest? Left him to die?"
The Alpha made a valiant effort to straighten his shoulders. He looked up at his son, a hint of anger in the golden depths of his eyes. Whether the anger was sparked by his own long-ago actions or by the younger man's tone of voice, Caeden couldn't tell.
"No," the Alpha responded. "He's still alive."
"And you abandoned him in the forest? Left him to die?"
The Alpha made a valiant effort to straighten his shoulders. He looked up at his son, a hint of anger in the golden depths of his eyes. Whether the anger was sparked by his own long-ago actions or by the younger man's tone of voice, Caeden couldn't tell.
"No," the Alpha responded. "He's still alive."
WOLF ALONE is coming in April 2019
