_ I am your father, boy

Gamma Rhett

~~

Nobody understood because nobody knew.

They had no idea who or what he really was. Did they think he'd just be a crazily devoted worshipper of the Moon Goddess to the extent of getting married to a woman who was forty-nine years older than him if he was a mere follower?

Hell, no.

He did because he was awakened. He was like this because he knew – he knew better than every Wolf. He knew what they all didn't.

Kylo, his son whom he loved the most in the world also didn't understand. How could he have understood him when he hadn't chosen to share his secret?

He could not share his secret.

And thus, he allowed those who didn't hear the music to call him mad. It hurt too but it was who he was.

It seemed like a cruel fate since when he discovered that Kylo had been seeing the traitors' daughter since High School. Then, it was a punishable crime by the Ravenwood's pack to apprehend those who were dating outside of the mate bond.

He couldn't bear to see his son be captured and hence, he let them be in their childish frolic, hoping they'd grow out of it with time but they didn't.

Now that Alpha Beowulf had abolished that rule, Kylo and Isleen had been empowered with the liberty of stepping out of the shadows and announcing their relationship in public. That ignorant young Alpha.

That was what happened when inexperienced young bloods were given the power to rule. They make irrational decisions that would bear lots of consequences later.

As he sat on his chair, awaiting the next person in line for interrogation which he was sure was Kylo, he pinched his fingers hard until he began to faintly bleed.

Kylo's girlfriend was his second mate.

He tucked his claw deeper into his finger. The blood oozed. He felt a balance instead of pain.

The bond pull between him and Isleen was just as strong as he last remembered – if not more. He had heard the revelation that he was fated for a second mate. He never gambled with the thought that it could be his son's girlfriend.

"Moon Goddess, I know you have a reason for all of your actions, but this one is above me. My son's girlfriend is my mate – it is above me." He muttered to himself, licking the blood off his fingers when the door burst open.

He didn't have to look up to know who it was. "Dad. What did you say to Isleen to make her that upset?" Kylo almost hollered at him.

"Language, Kylo. Language." He clamped down on Kylo's outburst. "'Watch your tone, boy. This isn't how you speak to your father."

Kylo flinched but stood his ground, his jaw clenched tight. "Answer me, father," he demanded. "What did you say to Isleen? I know her. She was plenty upset just after coming out of here. She is your son's girlfriend, Dad. For Pete's sake, be nicer to her!"

"I haven't been so nice to you, Kylo. Don't think I'm going to start with that girl you are committing a sin with." Gamma Rhett dangled a warning finger at Kylo.

He saw the expression of his son change from anger to worry. "Did you hurt yourself again?" He frowned, gazing at Gamma Rhett's wounded finger with a puckered forehead.

"Nothing to fuss about." Gamma Rhett let down his fingers and clenched them. "Same way what I told that girl is nothing to quibble about too."

Kylo's eyes went round. "Isleen is not 'that girl', Dad. She is the woman I love. You are going to have to deal with it. Hell, the fucking pack's forgotten those customs and traditions you don't want to let go of. Alpha Beowulf abolished them too. What more do you want, Dad? What more do you want?!"

"You say this because you are yet to meet your mate, Kylo. Experience is the best teacher. You wait until you meet your mate. Maybe then, you'll come to understand." He replied his son, keeping his voice low to at least, be the rational one in the room.

Kylo sat without being asked and he did it noisily too. "Maybe when you come to accept that this is a learned world now. Evolution, civilization – everything's present now. Things have changed. Stop living in the past, Dad." He reached out for his father's hands as though he wanted to affectionately squeeze them.

Not ready for that, the latter kept his hands on his lap, away from Kylo's reach. Kylo had too much of his mother in him that Gamma Rhett; soft, weak, and stubborn.

It pained him that he was going to cause his son more pain. He'd been hurting that he was going to have to take measures to separate them. Now, as he watched Kylo frustrated and hurt because of her, he experienced a heartache.

Moon goddess, what was this?

"Let's commerce the investigation so that the other witnesses can come in, leave, and return to their jobs." He decided to settle for work.

He would do a lot of thinking later. He had a lot to think about. Like how the absence of his son's girlfriend was making his wolf wail.

Kylo wasn't ready to have it. "We will have no investigations if you don't tell me what you told Isleen, Dad."

Gamma Rhett looked up at his son and slipped his reading glass on. "Stubborn, soft, weak and never changing." He muttered under his breath and shook his head. "I offered a test and she took it."

"What test?"

"Ask her, not me."

"Why? Because your job is more important than answering your son's questions, is it?"

Gamma Rhett felt a pang of guilt as he met Kylo's pleading eyes. The boy looked heartbroken, and a part of him wished he could take back his harsh words. But the duty to the pack weighed on him. That of the Moon Goddess's would shake him even more. "Tell me what you witnessed." He stated, making sure the voice he was trying too hard to limit was raised.

This was just a blow, Kylo. You need to be man enough to handle the rest that would come your way; he really wished he could say those words to Kylo but he couldn't.

He could not.