AARYN

"I didn't do anything,

" Gar growled.

"It's my old cave, the one I used for a couple years when things got tough with my dad. When I needed a break. I'd go out there and hide and drink and… anyway, there's nothing there that's bad. But if her scent is there too, and they smell me like Hholdyn did—he said it was faint, but he scented me. And hers is faint too, so…

"

Aaryn gaped.

"You want me to believe it's just a coincidence that this human found your cave, Gar? No one else found it, no hunters, no Anima patrols… just this unknown human? You want me to believe that?

" His voice had gotten very quiet and Gar's eyes flared with the recognition of challenge, his own dominance yearning to fight.

"What have you been doing, Gar?

" Aaryn growled.

"What the ** have you been doing? I'll tell you what I'm doing: I'm not giving in that chip on your shoulder anymore. Are you a Secret Keeper, or not? If you are, I'm your Alpha and you can damn well tell me everything, or I will take you out of this.

"

Gar bristled. If he'd been in beast form, his hackles would have stood tall—the mane of his lion shaking and shuddering, expanding as he swelled to his full size.

"I keep more secrets than you do, Aaryn—more secrets, and more dangerous ones. So you can shut your **ing mouth. I'm not telling you ** until you get back to being the Alpha you're supposed to be,

" he growled menacingly.

"Too late,

" Aaryn said.

"Apparently I've already led the disformed to disaster. So if you're so certain you know how it all should be, what's right in every situation, maybe it's your turn to step up and show us all what you can do, huh?

" Aaryn said bitterly.

Gar's brows pinched over his nose.

"What are you talking about?

"

Aaryn pushed Gar away and turned his back, pacing the cave.

"I screwed up,

" he said, then explained to Gar about the discipline of the disformed trackers, their willingness to defy authority, and look to Aaryn for leadership instead—even when the leaders of the hierarchy were there.

"…it's a **show,

" he snarled.

"And it means I have to give up the Alpha dominance if the disformed want to have any hope of becoming their own tribe.

"

"What the **?!

" Gar growled, storming over to take Aaryn's shoulder and spin him around.

"They can't take that from you!

"

Aaryn snarled and they both growled, chests almost touching.

"Keep your hands off me,

" he warned the younger male.

But Gar wasn't backing down.

"Fuck off—don't let them tell you that you did it wrong. You weren't wrong! You stuck up for these people and helped them when no one else did!

"

"Stop lying to yourself, Gar! Your father isn't perfect, but he did his best to help the disformed, and you know it!

"

"He didn't do half as much as you! Don't let those assholes tell you that you can't do this, Aaryn. You're the only one who can. Don't let them tell you that you aren't necessary. You're necessary!

"

The echo of his words that morning to Reth brought it all back to Aaryn—the ways Reth had hurt his son. The reasons Gar was so angry and defiant.

He tried to stifle his own anger and bring himself back under control. Gar faltered when Aaryn looked away and didn't fight back.

"You know, that's exactly what I said to your dad this morning.

"

Gar took a surprised step back.

"You… what?

"

Aaryn grimaced at the fleeting look of pain and fear that crossed Gar's gaze, then disappeared behind the male's façade of strength.

"I thought he'd done that to my mom. That thing… like he did to you.

"

Gar swallowed.

"What do you mean?

" His voice was flat, toneless.

Aaryn held his gaze, remembering that day he'd gone to the cave looking for Elreth and instead stumbled on Gar and Reth arguing.

The reason Gar had created a hideaway cave deep in the WildWood was, in part, because three years earlier, when Gar was fifteen or sixteen, his father had been riding him hard. Every day. Trying to push him to take responsibility. Getting angrier and angrier as Gar seemed happy to just waste his time drinking and partying.

Aaryn had watched the tension between them grow over the previous year as Gar grew into himself and his body shifted from adolescent to adult. It was clear he would be as big—if not bigger—than his father. And his father was eager to see him use his strength for something other than attracting females.

Aaryn wasn't sure whether Gar's constant resistance and defiance had just been a rebellion, a simple attitude that would have corrected as he grew.

But that day… that day as Aaryn stood, frozen in the tunnel at the cave mouth, he'd heard Reth lose his temper, and shatter something in his son.

Aaryn gathered that Gar had been supposed to come to training with the Guard that morning and hadn't shown up—again. Reth had returned to find Gar still sleeping off a hangover from the night before. And he'd lost it.

The snarls and growls of the two massive males gave even Aaryn pause, but it was clear neither of them had shifted, because they were still throwing words at each other.

He listened as Reth, full of his authority as both father and king, shoved Gar against something—something fell to the floor of the cave and broke.

"Wake up!

" he'd snarled.

"You're throwing your life away—you are so **ing blessed, Gar. So many Anima would kill to have what the Creator blessed you with, and instead of making something of yourself, you're sitting on your ass and pissing in the face of anyone who tries to make you step up and be what you could be.

"

"What you want me to be, you mean!

" Gar had snarled.

"That's your dream, Dad, not mine!

"

"Then tell me what your dream is, Gar! I'll help you find it! But stop throwing yourself away on drinking and females!

"

"You're such a hypocrite! I've heard the stories Behryn tells about what you guys used to do when you were my age!

"

"Sometimes, Gar. Sometimes. Not every **ing night! And when my olders and betters told me to be somewhere, or do something, I did it!

"

They argued back and forth, Reth trying and failing to make his son see something good in taking a space in the hierarchy, and Gar insisting that Reth's expectations were too high, and hypocritical.

Then it happened.

The moment that changed Gar's life forever.

*****

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