Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77293 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Harold, where are you going?” my mother exclaimed.
“Out,” my father growled. “If you think I’m sitting at my own dining room table with a couple of fag—”
“Don’t you say it, Harold! Don’t you say that ugly word in my house—especially about your own son!” My mother’s voice was grim as she rushed to stand in front of the door, blocking his way and looking—I thought—like a Pomeranian backing down a bear.
“I’ll say what I want because it’s true. Get out of the way, Claire—I’m leaving.”
“No, you’re not!” my mother insisted, standing her ground. “Not until you hear what Avery has to say. He needs your help, Harold! You have to at least listen!”
“I’ll make it quick, Dad,” I said, leaving the table and hastily going into the living room. “Saint’s Drake is cursed and I need help to break the curse. Even though…” I swallowed, hearing a dry click in my throat. “Even though breaking it might mean we won’t be together anymore.”
But all my dad seemed to hear out of this whole statement was the word “Drake.”
“What?” he exclaimed, glaring at me. “Not only do you come into my house wearing the Blood-Mark of another male, but now you tell me the male isn’t even another Warlock? So you’re not only having unnatural relations with another male, you’re also breaking the Edict?”
“Um, Dad, the Edict isn’t really a thing anymore,” I tried to explain. “My Covin-mate, Megan, and her Blood-Bonded mate, Griffin Darkheart, broke its power.”
“That’s right, Harold—the Edict has been broken. So all the young people can date whoever they want,” my mother put in quickly. “Remember?”
My father’s brows drew low over his angry eyes.
“I don’t care what anyone says—the Edict was put in place for a reason. Certain types of people shouldn’t be mingling together! It’s wrong to mix the blood of different Others—it muddles up the races and gives people the wrong idea of their place in the world.”
Great, so now we were adding racism to the mix along with homophobia. At that point, I would have just let him go, if it wasn’t for the fact that I needed his help so badly. But I swallowed all the acerbic words that rose to my lips and tried again.
“Dad, please—you’re an expert at breaking curses and Saint is under a really bad one,” I said. “It’s Dark magic, made in the Sky Lands. If you could just—”
My father rounded on me.
“If you think I’ll do a goddamned thing to help you and your boyfriend—” he began.
“Yes, he is my boyfriend,” I snapped. Standing tall, I pushed the hair off my forehead, clearly displaying Saint’s Mark. “He’s my boyfriend and I love him. That’s why I’m trying to help him by subjecting myself to this…this sad excuse we have for a father-son relationship. Because that’s what you do for people you love—you help them.”
My father shook his head and his eyes went hard and cool behind his wire rimmed glasses.
“God help me, Avery—I’ve tried to love you even though you’re a disappointment to me in every goddamn way possible. But as long as you wear the Blood Mark of another male, I won’t have anything to do with you.”
“That’s too bad,” I said, keeping my voice as cool as his. “Because I love Saint and I’m not taking off his Mark.”
“As I will not remove Avery’s Blood Mark from my forehead either,” Saint said, leaving the table and coming to stand beside me. He gripped my hand in his and squeezed, almost painfully tight, letting me know he was there for me and wasn’t going anywhere.
“But just look at what you’re missing!” My father threw out an arm to point at the table where Megan, Emma, and Kaitlyn were all staring with looks of horror and sympathy on their faces. “Look—there are three beautiful girls right under your noses! Why the hell would either of you choose another male over any one of those gorgeous girls?”
“Because it’s not a choice!” I ground out, gritting my teeth as I spat out the words. “I was born this way and there’s no changing me!”
“We’ll see about that,” my father snarled. “I’ve let this go on long enough. Maybe it’s time to break a few curses of my own.”
“Harold, what are you talking about?” my mother demanded. She was still standing in front of the door but now my father pushed her roughly aside. She tottered on her heels and Saint jumped forward and caught her before she could fall.
My father’s actions drew a gasp from the room—myself included. I had never seen him treat my mother like that—we weren’t a hitting, shouting, shoving kind of family. Or, well, we didn’t use to be. I guessed all bets were off now.
“Harold, how can you act like this?” My mom was halfway crying now but she was still so angry her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were snapping. “How can you be so cruel? Avery is our son!”