Yes and No

He stiffened beside me, his hands turning white with how he gripped the steering wheel. “Is Niles my son?” He repeated slowly.
“Yes. That’s what I want to know. Are you Logan the father of the little boy Niles?”
“Yes and no,” he told me.
“What? How can it be both? It’s either a yes or a no. There is no maybe when it comes to if you fathered a child,” I said tearfully. “If I’m going to be your alpha sow and mate, then I should know if you have a child or children.”
He turned toward me to look me in the eyes. “This is going to sound really bad but can we go back to the house and talk about it?”
I sighed as I turned away from him to look out the window. “I guess.”
We drove in silence back to the house. I could feel his emotions in the air between us and it made me worry about what he was going to say. I didn’t know what I would do if he tried to lie to me. I knew from the first time that I had seen Niles that Logan was probably his father. I knew that a lot of alphas slept with their sleuth members but I had hoped Logan hadn’t. Walking into a sleuth as the new alpha sow when the alpha had been sleeping around was hard. It opened up a lot of drama between the alpha sow and the female sleuth members. I wasn’t into drama so I was praying hard that wasn’t the case. When we got back to the sleuth house, he got out and so did I before he could run around to open my door. He sighed but nodded toward the house.
“Come on.”
I followed behind him slowly as my anxiety filled me even more. He waited for me at the top of the stairs and I was surprised when he led me away from our bedroom, going down an obviously unused hallway. I lifted my hand to run it along the wall before almost immediately pulling it back when it was covered in dirt and dust within seconds. He stopped walking to stand in front of a door with a sad look on his face as he waited for me to get to him.
“Where are we?” I asked.
“Somewhere I haven’t been in years,” he told me as he pulled a set of keys out of his pockets to unlock the door. He pushed it open before nodding his head inside. “Come on.”
I took a deep breath before stepping past him into the room. I looked around even more shocked that this room had indeed been untouched for years. Looking around the room, I couldn’t help but feel like it was almost like a crypt. A cry of pain that screamed mourning that was never finished. I looked up at him.
“Whose room is this?” I whispered, too afraid to disturb the room to speak any louder.
He walked over to the dresser to pick up a small photo album before bringing it back over to me. I took it with shaking hands, immediately opening the cover. I started to slowly look at the pictures of a young Logan playing with other kids, dressed up in sports uniforms, and at parties. About halfway through the album, I stopped on a page that held six pictures of Logan. Well, not just Logan, but two of him. I looked up at him.
“You had a brother?” I asked.
“A twin, yes. He was supposed to be the alpha. He was older by five minutes and 46 seconds,” he answered me.
“What happened to him?”
“He died. He went out to protect our sleuth from rogue wolves and he was killed. That’s why my parents were so against Giselda being beta. She was with him when he went out to fight the rogues. She was always his choice for beta,” he told me as he began to pace. “When she got back to the sleuth, she hid for days. Days! We all thought she had died along with him. It wasn’t until the vines brought us our lost warriors to hold funerals for them, that she reappeared. She told us that Broderick ordered her away from the fight.
She said that the rogues were looking to steal strong sows for our sleuth to breed stronger pups to fight for them. Knowing my brother the way I did, I knew why he did it. There was never a doubt in my mind about what happened, but my parents never believed Giselda. They called her a lying coward. They said that she deserted Broderick to let him fall. But she’s not like that. It’s not in her blood to be like that. She never backed down from a fight. She never would have turned her back on her alpha. Out of every person in this sleuth, she is the only one that I would trust my life, your life, or our childrens’ life with. She loved Broderick. We were always close from day one,” he said agitated.
“Why did he order her away from the fight?” I inquired softly.
He stopped pacing to look into my eyes. “Because she is a Bruin.”
My eyes widened. “A Bruin? But they’re extinct. Aren’t they?”
“No, Annie. There are two left on this earth. Giselda and her sister. If the wolves had gotten a hold of her, there would have been no stopping them. My brother gave his life to protect her. To protect all of us. If he hadn’t, the world as we know it wouldn’t exist. It is because of his sacrifice that the Bruins stayed protected.” He came over to wrap his arms around me. “Before he was taken from us, he was dating a woman. We didn’t know at the time of his passing that she was pregnant. It was a surprise to all of us when she requested to leave the sleuth. My parents threw her in the dungeons and four months later she gave birth below the sleuth house. She refused to tell us who her son’s father was.
We couldn’t even use the cub’s scent to determine paternity, because she kept her own scent on him. It overshadowed the father’s. It wasn’t until he shifted into his human form for the first time that we realized he looked just like me. My parents were so happy that they had a part of my brother back. They gave her a house and paid all of her bills. They wanted me to mate with her and for her to become the alpha sow. She was going to be Broderick’s alpha sow. She was never meant to be mine.
As Niles started to grow up, it was clear that he was never going to be alpha, even if he was the rightful heir to the alphaship. He took after his mother’s line, not ours. She was an omega, and so is Niles. She doesn’t care that he took after her. Neither do I, but it pissed my parents off. They wanted Niles to be the alpha, not me. Only when it became apparent that the little boy had no alpha strength, did they name as the next alpha. I really didn’t care if Niles was going to be alpha or not. I was looking forward to being free. I wanted to find my mate and live with her away from the eye of the sleuth. Away from my parents. But it didn’t work out that way. It doesn’t matter if we’re in the public eye or not. I’m going to love you the same.”
“If Broderick is his father, then why did you say yes and no?” I asked.
“Because not only would a paternity say I was, but when I found out that Broderick had fathered him, I stepped in as a father figure. He knows for his safety that he has to maintain the sleuth order in public, but in private it’s different. His mother, Robin, doesn’t let men around him. She doesn’t date. She doesn’t let men get close. She loved Broderick.”
“Are you involved with her?”
“No, Annie. I promise you that I am not his biological father.”
“How can you be sure? I mean don’t twins have the same tastes and–”
He kissed me softly, cutting me off. “Not all twins share the same sexual desires, Annie. Were we similar? Yes. Did we enjoy some of the same things? Yes. Were women one of the things shared? No. Absolutely not.”
I sighed as I leaned against his chest. “I’m sorry, Logan. I just… he looked like you and I didn’t know about your brother.”
He cupped the back of my neck, holding my face against his chest. “I know, baby. I’m not upset. I could have told you I had a twin, but I wanted to let you into a part of me that people don’t get to come very often. You are my mate and I love you. I don’t want you to have any doubts.” He paused to clear his throat. “You were my first, Annie. I waited for you. There is no way in hell that I fathered Niles.”
I tilted my head back to stare wide-eyed at him. “You were a virgin?”
He nodded. “I told you that I didn’t like people.”
I giggled as I wrapped my arms around his waist. “Thank you for trusting me, Logan. I love you.”
“I love you, too.”