Chapter 19

When Hunter woke the next morning, his chest throbbed with a sharp pain. He had been away from his mate for over fourteen hours. His head hurt, his mood was so low, it was just out of his reach.

Through the pain of bonded souls being far apart, the first thing Hunter could smell was his mate. Jacob's scent lingered densely in his room and the werewolf knew his parents smelt it last night. That was why he was so eager to go to bed. Hunter was ready to deny his bond with a human male at all costs. He had to develop his relationship with Jacob before his parents are told. He would struggle to stay strong if they didn't accept him.

Hunter climbed out of bed after aimlessly staring at the ceiling, and stretched. It was almost 7:45 am and he could tell that Jacob was still asleep. It dawned on the werewolf that today was Friday and Jacob doesn't start college until 11:00.

Hunter's mood was pushed even further down while he yanked on some jeans and wandered out of his room, not bothering to look for a t-shirt. Margo and Anthony were sitting at the table when he approached them. He didn't have to look to know that they were analysing him.

"Have you finally smelt it then?" Anthony sighed as his son slumped into the chair. He convinced himself that surely, the scent wasn't his son's mate. How could it be?

"What?" Hunter mumbled, rubbing his eyes as if to smudge the emotion, so they couldn't quite tell that he was in pain.

"The scent, it was all over your room. Your mother and I think that someone broke in yesterday."

Margo watched her son with a careful gaze. He had a secret, maybe the scent was part of it.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Hunter played it cool and clung onto his composure. He knew they could smell Jacob. He was fully aware that by bringing his mate home, they would get suspicious, but he needed Jacob's scent to be in his room.

"I think you do," Margo said and linked her fingers together. "What are you hiding from us?"

Hunter was trying hard to keep his emotions locked away, but the key was turning without his control. "You tell me." He wanted to know their thoughts.

"I'm sick of this Hunter," Anthony crossed his arms with a grumpy shake to the head. "You're troubled by something. We only want to help you and you're worrying us."

Their son looked down to the shiny wood of their dining table. "You won't understand."

Margo moved closer and rested a hand over his. "We are your parents, you shouldn't feel like you have to keep anything from us."

"This is different." Hunter was slowly letting his guard down, but he didn't want to reveal the whole truth. "There's a chance you could hate me."

"You've done some stupid things in the past and we still love you," Anthony was talking about his pack adventuring too far and entering the rival pack's territory. "We could never hate you. Have you killed a human?"

"What!" Hunter stared with wide eyes and only for a second, he leaked the pain in his soul and his mother tilted her head. "Of course I haven't!"

"Alright, calm down it was just a thought. We're all guilty of it at some point in our lives. They've got a loud mouth when they see our wolf form."

Hunter ignored his comment, but it was true. If humans ever got too vocal about their existence, the wolves had to shut them up somehow.

"Not all of them," he mumbled. Jacob would never tell and he liked his wolf form. Warmth churned inside Hunter's heart, and it was hard to feel the love through the sorrow. They needed to be close and soon.

Margo narrowed her eyes. There was something different about her son. His eyes had a different sparkle and after all, they are the tunnel to the soul... "You've found your mate." She could see it now. It wasn't his own sparkle, it was someone else's.

Hunter's lungs hardened to stone. Once his mother figured something out, he could no longer lie. "No, I-"

"You can't deny it. I can see it in your eyes and I knew there was something different," she spoke as Anthony studied him too. He could never read people as well as his wife. She had a wonderful gift. "Which means you've connected with your mate too."

Hunter stood up when the key turned until the box opened and his emotions rushed to the surface. The truth could no longer be hidden.

"Is it a rival pack member?" Anthony questioned and stood up too. "Is that why you think we'll hate you? I might for a bit but obviously, I'd get over it."

Hunter frowned at him and crossed his arms. "Thanks for the reassurance."

"I'm joking," Anthony said when Margo nudged him. "So, is it?"

"No. I'd rather die than be mated with one of them." The rival pack had no morals, no sympathy, and souls made of ice.

"But you do have a mate," Margo added. "Who is it?"

Hunter looked back and forth between them. Should he say it or should he wait for them to figure it out? He wasn't ready for them to know. He wasn't ready to be abandoned. "It's nobody," he mumbled and turned towards his room, but Anthony jogged around the table and stood in front of him.

"There's another male's scent in your room," Anthony said. "The only person a wolf should ever share their territory with his a mate."

Hunter's gaze fell to the ground while Margo joined her husband's side.

"Hunter honey, it's okay. You can tell us."

"You'll hate me," he whispered. How could he dig his way out?

Anthony tried to think of all the possibilities. The only logical answer was for the scent to belong to his son's mate.

"Never," Margo spoke with her loving angelic voice. "Just say it."

Hunter felt the emotions bubbling their way up his throat.

"Son," Anthony lifted a hand and rested it on his shoulder. He could see his stress and his sadness. His son shouldn't feel that way. "Are you gay?"

Hunter's composure cracked and he broke down. He couldn't hold up his act anymore when his grey eyes grew into a storm of sadness.

"I'm sorry." He let out a little whimper of distress and covered his face with his hands. "I tried not to be!"

Anthony put an arm around his son and rested Hunter's head against his shoulder. "Don't get upset," he said while Margo wrapped her arms around him too. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Hunter felt his dad's hand rub gently against his back. Did this mean that they were okay with it? He didn't want to get his hopes up. "Because I-I don't want you to stop loving me," he sobbed against his t-shirt.

Margo's heart ached. "Why would you ever think that?"

Hunter lifted his head and tried to look through his tears. "I'm gay." It sounded unusual out loud. "I didn't think you'd accept it."

"And this is why you've been so distant and secretive?" Anthony was still rubbing his son's back.

Hunter nodded and dried his face with the back of his hand. "It's been so hard," he whispered. "I wanted to tell you-"

"But you were afraid," Margo said glumly. Her poor son.

"And your mate?" Anthony asked. "He's this human male we can smell?" It was odd for him to think of his son's mate as another man, but he cared more that he was human.

Hunter nodded. "He came over yesterday. I needed his scent in my room."

Margo smiled and reached up to rest a hand on his cheek. She was much shorter than her husband and her son. "Come and sit down, you need to tell us everything."

Anthony patted his shoulder and guided him back over to the table. They seated themselves while Hunter's gaze caught the clock hanging on the wall behind his parents.

"I'm going to be late for college."

"It doesn't matter," his dad said and crossed his arms. "This is an exception."

"So..." Hunter sat forward. "Are you definitely okay with this?"

"Yes, now tell us everything." Margo took her husband's hand and they both squeezed each other.

A big part of Hunter felt lighter. It was a huge weight on his shoulders to carry such a dense secret for so long. "Well." He wasn't sure where to start. "I heard him half a year ago in my head. Obviously, I knew my mate was male because his voice was so deep. I wasn't prepared for it. I didn't think I was gay until I saw him for the first time. It took me a while to get over it and when I told my pack, a few were not happy. Only Sam was supportive and helped me. But I messed it up."

"How so?" Anthony asked, very pleased that Sam was supporting Hunter.

"I didn't make friends with him until this Monday. I was too nervous and-"

"Wait..." Anthony sat forward with a dark frown. "You're telling me that you developed a mind link with him half a year ago and you didn't reveal yourself until this week?"

Hunter nodded. "I know it's bad but the bond wasn't ready. How else-"

"That poor boy," Anthony sighed. "You're lucky you hadn't driven him mad. Why would you let him suffer like that?"

Hunter's heart felt like it was pulled right through his ribs. "I was worried he'd tell people."

Margo shook her head. "And this is why you should have told us as soon as you heard him. He lived with a voice in his head for half a year. Did he tell his family?"

"Yes. I hate myself," their son mumbled. "I've broken him."

"That was a really stupid thing to do." Anthony was angry at him for being so careless. Mates are precious. "When did you connect?"

"Wednesday."

"How did he take it?"

"Not well."

"I'm not surprised." Margo turned to her husband. "We need to speak with him and straighten this mess out."

"What, no!" Hunter frowned. "It'll be fine. He's warming up to me."

"Don't you see? It shouldn't be like that. You've connected and he still doesn't have trust in you. That's not right."

Hunter sank into his chair. "I didn't see how else I was supposed to do it."

"Are you making him keep this a secret from his family?"

Hunter nodded.

Anthony bit his lip to keep his voice calm. "So they know that he has a voice in his head. If he tells them about this they'll really think he has gone insane. How could you treat your mate like this? I'm really disappointed in you."

A part of Hunter knew they'd see him as the bad guy, and he was. He had treated his mate poorly and needed to do everything he could to make it up to him.

"Does he go to college?"

"Yes."

"Well, you can tell him that he has other plans for today. We need to sort this out."