Defying the Lycan King (Kira and Derek) novel Chapter 179

Chapter 179: The Child Who was Never Wanted

His mother’s eyes darted back toward the door of the house, then returned to him, sharp with fear.

"I told you not to come here," she whispered. "I told you, Brian. You know better than this."

Brian only chuckled.

And then, before she could stop him, he stepped forward and pulled her into his arms anyway.

He held her tightly, the way a small boy holds onto something he is terrified will be taken from him. "I missed you, Mama," he murmured into her hair. "That’s all. I just missed you."

For a moment, she stood rigid against him, her whole body locked tight with tension. But slowly, against her own will, she softened.

Her shoulders eased. Her breath shuddered out of her. Tears gathered in her eyes, and one hand crept up to rest against his back, patting it gently, the way mothers do without ever quite deciding to.

Then she caught herself and pulled away, sniffed hard, and wiped quickly at her face. "You have to go," she whispered urgently. "Right now. You know Andy won’t have you here."

"But I’m your son," Brian said.

The woman shook her head, looking more exhausted than angry. "You don’t understand, do you? You have to leave me be. I have a new life now. A good one. I can’t have you turning up and unravelling it."

Brian’s gaze drifted past her shoulder, taking in the tidy little yard, the half-finished skewers, the small ordinary happiness of it all. Then he looked back at her, and something cooler slid into his expression.

"Has this new life of yours dulled your senses so completely that you couldn’t even feel your own blood standing behind you?" He tilted his head. "I was standing here for a long while, watching you hum to yourself. You didn’t sense or even hear me."

She eyed him warily. "I am a human now."

Brian laughed, low and humourless. "Swallowing suppressants doesn’t make you human, Mama. It just makes you good at pretending. Your daughters are not human, and one day they will find out too. You can’t keep supressing their abilities."

She let out a frustrated breath. "Stop this nonsense. Stop it. You need to leave before my husband or the children come out and see you here?"

"Am I not your child too?" Brian’s voice cracked at the edges, though he tried to wrap it in a chuckle. "Come now. At the very least, you could pretend to be glad to see me. Just for a moment. Surely you can manage that much."

The woman’s face twisted with conflict, guilt and fear at war across it. "You know Andy doesn’t like seeing you here," she said weakly.

Brian blinked and looked away from her, up at the bright, indifferent sky. He blinked again, fast, fighting the sting building behind his eyes.

"Right," he said quietly. "Of course. No one wants to see me. Why would they?"

He turned back to her, and now the wound was open and bleeding right there on his face.

"When will you ever love me, Mama?" His voice rose, raw and shaking. "Oh, but wait. I forgot. I’m the child who was forced on you. The one you never wanted in the first place."

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