Chapter 51
***Alicent***
“What’s going on here?” I ask, totally shocked. I can’t believe my ears when I hear my son angrily yelling that he hates Ethan. “Azrael, why did you say that to Ethan?” With urgency, I hurry towards the two of them. Az seems to be in a chaotic state of rage, staring at me with wide eyes. The dark pupils of his green eyes are constricted, like the aperture of a camera lens adjusted to a new light. “Oh my God. What happened to you?” My knees touch the floor as I hold his shoulders with my hands. “Buddy? Are you okay?”
“He’s fine,” Ethan says, and I immediately glare up at him. He rolls his eyes. “Don’t worry.”
“Az, why is your heart beating so fast?” I place my hand on his chest. “Take a deep breath, Buddy. It’s okay, everything will be fine. That’s it. Take a deeper breath now. You’re doing great!” I tell my son. The dark pupils of his green eyes began to shrink, becoming smaller. “I’m fine, Mom,” Az says.
“No, you’re not. Why did you yell at Ethan? Why were you so angry like that, Az?”
“It’s my fault,” Ethan replies. “I was teaching him how to control... Hmm, his emotions. And I had to get him mad to see if he could handle his emotions. Clearly, he’s not ready yet.”
“Ready for *what*? And why would you have to train him for that kind of thing? Actually,” I turn to Ethan. “What kind of lessons have you been teaching him, Ethan? You know what...” I turn back to my son. “I don’t think you should keep doing this,” I say, shaking my head.
“No, Mom! You don’t get it! I want to keep doing this, please!” my son says. His green eyes aren’t wide anymore, but they’re completely desperate now.
I frown. “Buddy, if I heard you right, you yelled that you hate Ethan. Several times, actually.” He looks away. “Az. Look at me,” I say but he doesn’t comply. I touch his chin to lift his face. “Answer me.”
With tears in his eyes, my little boy starts to blush. He looks at Ethan before shifting his eyes back to me and says, “*He* was asking about you,” he says, looking down at the floor. “I’m afraid you will get together, and you won’t go back to Dad. I want our family back together again,” he wipes his nose with his forearm.
I bite my bottom lip as my thumbs wipe away my son’s tears. Not knowing what to say, I look at Ethan, who is no longer calm. On the contrary, he looks angry, with his jaw clenched.
“Az, you know that’s not how things work. Your dad and I are no longer together, but we will always be your family. It doesn’t matter if we all live together or not.”
Az glares at Ethan, “But Mom—”
“No buts!” I interrupt him because I know exactly what he’s going to say. “Besides, this isn’t Ethan’s fault. I don’t want you to treat him badly because of this, okay? That’s not how I raised you!” I say firmly.
“Okay,” he says as I finish wiping his tears.
“Do you have something to say to Ethan?” I ask softly. Az opens his mouth indignantly. “Do you really *hate* him?” I ask.
He turns to Ethan. He doesn’t keep looking at him, though. He looks down at the floor and says, “No. I’m sorry, Ethan. I, I—”
“I know,” Ethan interrupts him. “Why don’t we skip today? We’ll continue tomorrow. I’m sure Lily will motivate you more.”
Az smiles at the mention of Lily. His cheeks flush.
“I’m glad you two made up, but you’ll still get your punishment, young man,” I say, standing up.
“But Mom, I already apologized to Ethan! It’s not fair!” Az whines.
I raise an eyebrow. “So that’s the only reason you apologized for treating him badly?”
“No!” He says sincerely, signing across his heart and making me smile a little.
“Good. You know better than that. You’re off TV for a week. You’re going to use that time to rethink why you shouldn’t treat anyone badly.”
“A whole week? I don’t think a little yell warrants a whole week without TV, Mom!” Az whines, shoulders falling.
“A little yell?” I ask, crossing my arms. The lunchbox’s still in my hand. “We can go for two weeks if you like.”
“Well, I already said I didn’t like one, not sure why you think I would like two,” Az mutters.
“You shouldn’t have said that out loud,” Ethan says, shaking his head with a smile. He almost seems happy with Az’s punishments.
“Someone has a lot of attitude this morning.” I narrow my eyes on my son.
“Sorry, Mom. But it’s not my fault,” he says hastily, pointing with his index finger at Ethan to blame him on. “He made me feel this way.”
“Nice try, buddy. Not happening. It’s one week. But any more sass and it doubles.”
Az pouts before he storms out of the gym, but then he comes back and reaches for my hand so I can go with him, narrowing his eyes at Ethan the whole time.
Before I leave, I glance back and catch Ethan watching me. Our eyes meet. It’s different this time, though. There’s something different in his eyes. It’s something in his eyes that I haven’t seen before. A proud look. And then I realize. He’s proud of me.
🐺 🐺 🐺
***Alpha Ethan***
Gazing out of my office window, I notice the sun starting to set, painting the sky with hues of orange and pink. All the work for the day is already done on my desk. I can’t believe I managed to finish everything today when my mind can’t stop thinking about something else. Or rather, someone else.
I regret what happened earlier. I already knew Azrael didn’t like me, but I have no idea how badly his parents’ separation has been affecting him.
My intention was never to provoke him maliciously but simply to provoke him to make him control himself so that he wouldn’t shift. Now, I certainly won’t use his mom to provoke him anymore. I never want to hurt him.
I should have known better than to think that the gym was a good place for that. Next time, we’ll go to the forest.
I smile lazily, remembering how she handled her son. Little Dove manages to surprise me more and more every day. Although Azrael visits his dad some weekends, his mom is the one who basically raises him. And she’s been doing a great job. My smile widens at the way her aura glows when she’s angry. Only now did I realize that the color of her aura changes when she’s mad at *me*. I can feel my stupid smile from ear to ear—
‘Alpha, help!’
My body stiffens, and I slam my hand on the desk in front of me, standing up and ready to act. ‘What happened, Theo?’ I mindlink back to Josh and Maggie’s son, fully alert.
His voice is panicked when I hear him respond in my mind, ‘I’m in my wolf form, and Aunt Allie is in front of me right now!’
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