The Difference Between Me and Him
We hurried down the stairs to my father’s office, immediately walking in without knocking. I stopped just inside the door, slamming it closed behind Elena before crossing my arms over my chest to glare at my parents.
“I’ve had enough of playing by your rules,” I spat. “Not doing what I knew was right has cost Havana their alpha and beta. More importantly it cost Annie, who might I remind you is your daughter, her mate and best friend. And speaking of Annie, she has been kidnapped by a sociopath who is doing Goddess knows what to her! You need to get over this ‘protect Gerald’ thing you have going on. He has Annie. And trust me when I say that he has nothing good planned for her. For Goddess’ sake, he’s already gotten her pregnant. What other evidence do you need to believe that he’s not your son anymore? Huh? Do you want to hear how he aura’ed me to hurt Scarlett? Do you want to hear how he aura’ed people to hurt others or kill themselves? Do you want me to tell you about how he aura’ed Logan to forget Annie? Or do you want me to tell you that he’s the one who killed Logan and Giselda and kidnapped Annie?”
I balled my fists at my side. “HE’S BEEN GOING CRAZY FOR THE LAST 6 YEARS! TELL ME WHAT ELSE YOU NEED DAMMIT BECAUSE I REALLY DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO SAY! YOU CAN’T SAVE THEM BOTH! SO WHAT’S IT GOING TO BE? ARE YOU GOING TO SAVE YOUR YOUNGEST? ARE YOU GOING TO CHOOSE TO SAVE ANNIE WHO IS INNOCENT? OR ARE YOU GOING TO CONTINUE TO PRETEND LIKE THIS ISN’T GERALD AND LET HIM KILL HER? I roared.
My father stood up, easily stepping between me and Timothy, who took a threatening step in my direction.
“We know it’s Gerald, Osprey. I don’t know what else to tell you. We were wrong. People died. And we apologize for not listening to you before, but we are listening to you now. You don’t have to yell. We are listening. You obviously know more about what’s going on then we do. So tell us, what is your plan? What do you think is the right way to handle this? And more importantly, how can we help?” My father said, keeping a restraining hand on Timothy’s arm to keep him from charging at me.
I hesitated as I debated on what to do. Their reactions were throwing me for a loop. I wasn’t expecting it in the slightest. I glanced at Elena who was standing at my side with a neutral look on her face before letting my eyes roam over all of my parents. I swallowed hard as I put my hands in my pockets.
“We need to find out where they are. We need to save Annie and kill Gerald. There is no other way that this goes down. If we leave him alive, he will keep coming for Annie. He will keep killing innocent people,” I told them. “We have a small chance of saving Annie. We need to focus on that.”
Everyone except for Timothy nodded, agreeing with me. I sighed deeply before meeting my father’s eyes.
“And I think that it’s time that you and your mates step down as the alpha team. You have made a mess of things since you found each other. First with our town and sleuth, then with Scarlett and me, and now, this whole situation. How can you ask me to continue to follow your ‘guidance’ or ask the sleuth to trust you with decisions that dictate how they live, when you can’t even see that your son is feral?” I asked.
My father nodded. “As soon as we finish this, we will announce to the sleuth that you and Scarlett are taking over. What else?”
I crossed my arms over my chest again as I met Timothy’s eyes. “When we find Gerald, you don’t stop me from killing him. You don’t get in my way, and you accept my command.”
Timothy pulled away from my father to storm over to me to push my shoulder. “You blame us for this whole thing, but how hard did you really try to help him? You say he’s been going feral for years, but you never helped him to come back. You say it’s him or Annie, well if you had tried harder, it wouldn’t be. You’re just as much at fault as we are. Share it. Own it. Because this isn’t just on us. You failed our sleuth as much as we did. If we shouldn’t lead them, then neither should you.”
“TIMOTHY!” My father growled while several more growls filled the air behind him.
“No, Falcon! He needs to hear it! He can tell the sleuth we’re to blame. He can pretend like he is free of blame, but he’s not. As long as he knows it, that’s all that matters. So save all this ‘I’m better than you’ crap. You are not innocent in this. You are not alpha material. To be honest, you never were. You always made the wrong decision when it came to our sleuth. You were so caught up in Scarlett that you hurt people, which might I remind you is the same thing Gerald is doing. You were so consumed by jealousy that you almost killed people. Granted Gerald did kill people because of his jealousy, but he’s no different than you. And you are not any different from him. So, please tell me what in the world makes you so damned much better than him? Hmm? ANSWER ME!” He yelled.
I shook my head. “I can’t, Timothy. I wish I could, but I can’t. There is no difference between me and him. You’re right. But I will tell you that I still love him. For everything that he has done, I still love him. He is still my brother. I tried everything I could to ensure his survival. He killed his sleuth. His entire sleuth. Realm is gone. There wasn’t even one single survivor to keep it going. Our sleuth is still here. They are alive. We are healthy. And that is what makes me better. So, blame me all you want, Timothy. Yell at me. Hell, even beat me if you want, but it won’t change anything. He has to die. And I pray that one day you will understand why.”
He met my eyes as Elena positioned herself to come to my aide if he tried to attack me. “I understand why, Osprey. I just won’t ever forgive you for doing this.”
He stormed out of the room, leaving the air in the room tense. My mother hurried around the desk to go after Timothy, pausing beside me to cup my face. “I’m sorry, Osprey. He is just upset. He’ll apologize for what he said later.”
I hugged her. “I know, Mom. He always does.”
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