Page 5 of Bear's Rejected Love
“It doesn’t matter what you say or if you say nothing. Just go in. Let him vent at you. Let him rage at you if that’s what he needs. It might help him.”
“He’s got his shifting under control?”
She raised a brow, amused instead of angry. She didn’t snap anything at him along the lines of just what do you think I’ve been doing with him all these years and how do you think we’ve made it this far? “If I hear any bear growls, I’ll be sure to come and intervene before he rips you to complete shreds.”
“As opposed to some shreds?”
“As opposed to some shreds, yes.” She made a dismissive motion with her hands. “Go on. I want to get this car unpacked and it’s miserable out here. I’m not going to freeze my ass off forever.”
***
The lab was probably the last time he’d felt this level of dread, even if he hated himself for allowing it to seep into him. This wasn’t the same. Some dread could be a good thing. He made his way inside the cabin, resolute about staying quiet. There was nothing he could say that could excuse not being there for his son. Not even knowing about him. It didn’t matter that he thought he was doing the right thing leaving Tabitha behind, freeing her to live the life she deserved. In reality, he’d abandoned his mate and there was no justifying his actions. Being young and dumb didn’t count either. He was almost thirty when he’d run off, not young in anyone’s book. He only had regret, and there was no sharing that with his son.
His own flesh and blood.
Who just happened to be extremely pissed.
Corbin was practically fangs and claws without the bear form. He had a box of stuff popped open in the kitchen and was slamming dishes down on the counter. He turned the second Roan entered, cheeks flushed with anger, eyes flaring.
“Oh. It’s you.”
It was heart stopping, facing down the fourteen-year-old version of himself. Corbin looked so much like him that it was like looking in a mirror to the past.
He swallowed past his constricted throat. “Look—”
Corbin laughed bitterly. “Look? That’s how you’re going to start this? With some lecture? I don’t want to be here, attending that stupid school the alpha said I had to go to, or getting welcomed by the shifters here. I didn’t want to come here at all, to some stupid hick town. I wanted to stay in the city with my friends. I want my old life back. But what I want most? I want nothing to do with you. You’re a monumental prick.”
Roan knew he deserved that. He would have done things differently if he’d known that Tabitha was pregnant. Fuck, he should have done things differently anyway. Time just made regret fester and he’d tried to shove it down, but the lab provided him with far too much time to think, to realize his own emptiness. He’d wanted to leave for home the minute he’d been freed from that lab, but then the girls wanted to stay with him, and they took precedence. He’d waited too long. He’d been stupid the day he’d left Maine, and he was stupid now too. Time just made gray hair and wrinkles. It didn’t amount to wisdom. He’d acted like he had a collective total of four brain cells, and he wasn’t doing much better now. What a class act his son must think he was.
He couldn’t do anything but stand there and nod because Corbin was right.
“This place is a great.” Corbin rolled his eyes. “A hot prison.”
No. No, that was something that Roan couldn’t take. “You know nothing about being kept somewhere against your will, and you never will know because your mother has come here to keep you safe.”
Corbin rounded the island, slapping down two glasses so hard they almost shattered. “Don’t talk about my mom.” He wasn’t afraid to get up in Roan’s face despite their size difference. “Don’t talk about her sacrifices. You don’t get to look at her. We might be living here now, and no I don’t like it and no I won’t ever like it, but she’s tired. She needs a break. I’ve given her a hard time, which is the only reason I came to this stupid place. It’s for her. She’s been trying to find out where you went, find anything about you for fifteen years and you probably never thought about her once.”
Wrong. So, so wrong.
He was angry and he had a right to be. It made Roan’s chest ache to see how protective of his mother Corbin was. He was acting like a man because he’d had to be one for a long time now. The lab forced the girls to grow up fast, but he was the one who’d done this to his son, even if it hadn’t been intentional.
“You can do the angry thing if you want,” Roan stammered. His mouth was so dry. “You never have to talk to me. You can even hate me if that’s what you need. Just don’t take it out on the people here. They’re great people. They’re kind and loving and—”
“Why are you still here?” Corbin snorted.
“Corbin!” Tabitha walked in, carrying another box. She set it on the counter and walked to him. He tensed when she wrapped her arm around his shoulders.
“I’m not going to be nice to him just because we’re here. I don’t care if he’s my dad or not, he doesn’t deserve respect.” He broke Tabitha’s hold and stomped off, shaking his head.
She let him go, but she did wince when a door in the back of the cabin slammed shut. She looked at him and it was clear she wasn’t going to apologize. She put her hand on the island, stroking the granite countertop. She looked like she was going to collapse and burst into half relieved, half exhausted tears. He had felt like that when he’d first been set free from the lab. At least, there was an end to the pain. The experiments. He felt like he could take a breath and rest. He could be better.
But was he? Barely. If he was, it wasn’t his own doing. It was three years since he’d gotten out of the lab, the girls were responsible for that change. The baby. Silver and her family. Sam and Lily and their kindness. They saw straight through his rough, asshole, frigid exterior.
“This place is beautiful,” Tabitha whispered. “The cabin I mean, but the town too. They just keep spares around here in case anyone turns up?”
“Actually, yes. Sam has a few cabins that are empty at all times, ready for shifters that might return here or come for the first time. It’s part of opening Greenacre up. There are humans here, you might have seen some already. Human mates.”
Tabitha blinked. “Excuse me?”