Antione
The smell of bacon frying in its own fat hit Antione like a brick to his face, but he wasn’t complaining. Even though Antione could control his transformation, he still couldn’t get his senses to obey. Sometimes, it felt like he was wearing thick earmuffs, and others, he wanted to rip his ears off and howl.
But today was one of the odd days—the ones where Antione could hear normally, but his sense of smell was going into overdrive. I hope this means that my taste is heightened today. I’m sure I read that taste and smell are connected. His mouth was watering, but a familiar voice called out before he could think about what to order.
“Over here, Antione.”
He turned, spotting a man wearing a thick grey sweatshirt over faded blue jeans. His grin was both hopeful and strained as he waved. A few weeks ago, this sight would have angered Antione, and a part of him was angry. This man, Robert, had successfully turned his life upside down without even trying.
And to make matters worse, it wasn’t just Antione he’d hurt. It was also his mother, Theresa, and his three younger half-siblings he didn’t know existed before then. The teen resisted the urge to snort, sat across from Robert, and reached for a menu. Robert’s grin didn’t fade; he’d been making more of an effort to talk to his children, a fact that Antione knew mostly due to the chatroom he shared with his siblings, much to Robert’s delight.
Robert’s messages weren’t frequent at the best of times, usually once or twice a week per sibling. But he was trying, and Camille, Antione’s only sister, insisted that he acknowledged that. So, here he was, trying to appease his siblings while struggling not to let his impatience show as Robert began speaking.
“Thank you for coming, son. Bernard said it’s testing season. Are you keeping your grades up?”
He nodded. “Surprisingly, yeah. Most of my classes are a piece of cake.”
Especially compared to being a werewolf. I wonder how Robert would react if I told him I nearly made my gym teacher pee their pants when I accidentally popped a basketball? It had been an accident. But that wasn’t the point.
The point was that Antione and his siblings promised each other that they would keep their powers hidden and work on them together or with Robert. And since Robert hadn’t asked the others to meet with him yet, it was up to him to make the most of it and report any progress to the others. But there was another reason why Antoine was here.
He met Robert’s gaze and put the menu down just as a young woman with a ponytail and a large smile arrived, holding a tiny notebook and pencil. “Good evening! My name is Shelby. Can I get you something to drink, or are you ready to order?”
Robert grinned, looking at her briefly before turning back to Antione. “Hi, Shelby. I’ll have the chef’s special with extra sauce and a coke. What are you having, son?”
Antione shrugged, still not used to Robert calling him son even though that’s what he’s always called him since they met, and politely handed his menu to her. “I’ll have the fried gator basket. Can I get a side of fries and hush puppies with a chocolate milkshake, please?”
Shelby nodded, writing everything down before looking at them eagerly. “Sure thing! Can I interest you in some dessert? We have the best peach cobbler in the state.”
Don’t let my mom hear you say that. She loves baking. Antione shook his head while Robert also handed over his menu. “We’ll think about it, Shelby.”
“Okay, I’ll bring your drinks out in just a minute!” She turned so smoothly on her heel that Antione wondered if she practiced walking as she almost glided away. He would have considered it an odd quirk and focused on other things a few weeks ago. But that was before he and his siblings learned the truth about themselves and their world, or at least part of it.
Robert opened his mouth, but Antione spoke up before he could stop himself. “You promised you’d tell me the truth. About what happened between you and my mom.”
Robert’s face fell, and took a deep breath. “No. If you read my text again, you’ll see I said I’d try to answer your questions. I do plan to have this talk with the others, of course. But I’m starting with you because–”
“I’m the oldest, and this is another Alpha thing.” Antione rolled his eyes, catching sight of Shelby as she placed their drinks on the table. Then, she hurried away as a few more customers entered the diner. Antione sighed. He knew this conversation was doomed from the start. Robert had always been cagey at best and sometimes refused to answer at his worst.
But he was also one of the few Alpha werewolves Antione and his siblings knew. The other was Longnose. A friend they’d made while trying to find Robert and avoid getting captured by Jean-Claude. There were many things he didn’t understand, and Robert was still one of the best people who could teach him… If it suited him.
Feeling his anger grow as a growl threatened to escape, Antione took a quick sip of his milkshake, enjoying the thick coolness as he met Robert’s gaze.
“I want to know why you abandoned my mom and me. You met Camille and Daymond. Why did you wait until I was sixteen to meet me?”
“I didn’t meet Bernard until shortly before I met you, son.”
“Is that supposed to be a joke?” Antione demanded, feeling his inner wolf’s hackles rise. It’s funny how being away from him for a couple of weeks can make things worse. It wasn’t the first time Antione felt like this around Robert, but his father simply looked at him, staring him down like the Alpha he was instead of the father he’s supposed to be.
The father that Camille and his younger brothers insist Robert wants to be. Robert sat there and slowly took a sip before speaking. “I’m sorry, son. I know this is hard, but–”
“Don’t. Don’t do that. I hate it when you try to play the victim!” Antione tensed, feeling his inner wolf about to pounce, and forced it back down. They were in a public space with normal humans around. And as strong as he was, he knew he wasn’t a match for Robert. Not yet. Antione leaned forward and whispered. “I want to know why I was told you died in a car crash when I was a baby. I deserve to know that much!”
Robert slowly nodded, and Antione allowed himself to sit back, waiting to hear what his father had to say. “I can’t tell you. Not yet. We need your mother for this conversation.”
He hadn’t expected that. “We need Mom? Does she know what you are?”
“She knows,” Robert confirmed, keeping his face blank as he continued. “Your mother is an incredible woman.”
“Apparently not, since you never came back.” And you had three more kids, each with a different woman.
Robert winced and folded his hands around his glass. “I love your mother. And you. But there are things about our world that you don’t understand.”
“So make me understand!” Antione wanted it to be demanding and strong, but it came out more like a whine—it was pathetic. “Do you have any idea how much of a bombshell you dropped on me that day? Not only did you act like you hadn’t been gone my entire life. But then you told me I have three younger siblings. What the hell were you thinking? Is this another thing Alphas get to do? Sleep with different women without marrying any of them? Because I already know Camille isn’t the type to be a baby momma.”
And even if she was. I wouldn’t let her. She deserves to be with someone who will make her happy.
Robert grinned. “You’re so protective of her. You’ve really come a long way, son. I’m proud of you.”
“Don’t change the subject. I still want to know why.” I refuse to be happy because he praised me. He shouldn’t praise me over something like this. But a part of him was pleased all the same. Antione knew Camille would laugh at this, Daymond following her lead until he thought of something else to annoy his older siblings with. While Bernard would chuckle as he tried to keep calm in case things got out of hand.
Antione’s younger siblings were a handful, especially Daymond, the youngest, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He would have this conversation go differently, though. He checked to make sure Shelby wasn’t coming back and quietly asked. “What about that thing Jean-Claude said? He called you a false Alpha. What did that mean?”
Robert sighed and stared at the table. “I broke a law. One that most werewolves don’t even care about anymore. I still don’t know how he found out. But Jean-Claude told the rest of our pack and declared I needed to be killed. I was hoping he’d move on. This happened before you were born, and–”
“Wait, what do you mean this happened before I was born? Does this have something to do with why you left?”
“Antione–”
“Does it?” Robert glared; a low growl escaped him before he could stop himself, but the damage was done. Antione knew Robert was seconds away from exploding, but he didn’t care. His curiosity was more potent than his father’s rage. “Why did you bring us out there? You said you wanted us to meet. We could have done that anywhere.”
Everything was fine until he brought me to that cabin in the woods. We could have met here and been safe! Robert took a steadying breath, reached for Antione’s hand, and smiled when the teen didn’t pull away. “Son, I–”
Robert’s phone went off, making him sigh again. He reluctantly took it from his pocket and went pale. Antione stared at him in confusion. “Did something happen to one of the others?”
We agreed to keep each other posted, but shouldn’t my phone have gone off by now if it was them?
Robert shook his head and dropped a couple of twenties in front of the teen. “Your brothers and sister are fine. Everything is fine. But I need to go. I’ll make it up to you. We’ll talk about everything with Theresa when I get back.”
He rose and practically ran out the door.
“Hey, wait!” Antione grabbed the money and tried to track his father through the windows. But by the time he stood up, Robert was already gone. He waited for any cars to pass by suspiciously fast, but he didn’t even know if Robert had driven to the diner. Antione gulped more of his milkshake to stop himself from causing a bigger scene and texted his siblings.
A: Hey, done with the meeting. Are you guys ok?
C: I’m fine. Just got home. I thought you were having dinner with Dad. What happened?
A: Robert got a text and bailed on me. He paid for the food, though.
B: That’s good. That he paid, I mean. Did you ask him?
A: Yeah, but he didn’t want to talk about it. He says he wants my mom there.
D: That’s weird. Maybe your mom is a werewolf, too?
A: Doubt it. But I guess I can ask her.
Antione was still texting by the time the food arrived. Robert didn’t come back.
