Brothersong (Green Creek #4) - T.J. Klune Page 0,1
never seen before, and it made me uneasy. But it was gone before I could ask after it. “Is a tether a secret?”
He nodded. “It can be. Having a tether is… it’s a treasure. One that is unlike anything else in the world. Some even say it’s more important than having a mate.”
I grimaced. “I don’t care about that. Girls are weird. I don’t want a mate. That’s stupid.”
He chuckled. “I’ll remind you of that when the day comes. And I can’t wait to see the look on your face.”
“What’s yours? You can tell me. I won’t say anything to anyone.”
He tilted his head back against the tree. “You promise?”
I nodded eagerly. “Yeah.”
When my father smiled for real, you could see it in his eyes. It was like a light shining from within. “It’s all of you. My pack.”
“Oh.”
“You sound disappointed.”
I shrugged. “I’m not. It’s just… you always talk about pack and pack and pack.” I scrunched up my face. “I guess it makes sense.”
“I’m glad you think so.”
“Is it the same for Mom?”
“Yes. Or at least it was. Tethers can change over time. Like people, they evolve. Where it once might have been the idea of pack, it’s become more pointed. More focused. For her, it’s her sons. You and Kelly and Joe. It started with you and grew because of Kelly and Joe. She would do anything for you.”
Fire burned in my chest, safe and warm. “Mine won’t ever change.”
My father looked at me curiously. “Why?”
“Because I won’t let it.”
“You sound as if you already know what it is.”
“’Cause I do.”
He leaned forward, taking my hands in his. “Will you tell me?”
I looked up at him, too young to understand the depths of my love for him. All I knew was that my father was here and asking me something that felt important, something just between us. A secret. “You can’t tell anyone.”
His lips twitched. “Not even Mom?”
I frowned. “Well, she’s okay, I guess. But not anyone else!”
“I swear,” he said, and since he was an Alpha, I knew he meant it.
I said, “Kelly. It’s Kelly.”
He closed his eyes. His throat clicked as he swallowed. “Why?”
“Because he needs me.”
“That’s not—”
“And I need him.”
He opened his eyes. I thought I saw a flash of red. “Tell me.”
“He’s not like Joe. Joe’s gonna be Alpha, and he’ll be big and strong like you, and everyone will listen to him because he’ll know what to do. You’ll tell him. But Kelly is always going to be a Beta like me. We’re the same.”
“I’ve noticed.”
I needed him to understand. “When I have bad dreams, he doesn’t make fun of me and tells me everything is going to be okay. When he hurt his knee and it took a long time to heal, I cleaned it up for him and told him it was okay to cry, even though we’re boys. Boys can cry too.”
“They can,” my father whispered.
“And I think about him all the time,” I told him. “When I feel sad or mad, I think about him and I feel better. That’s what tethers do, right? They make you happy. Kelly makes me happy.”
“He’s your brother.”
“It’s more than that.”
“How?”
I was frustrated. I didn’t know how to put the thoughts in my head into words. Words that would show him just how far it went. Finally, I said, “It’s… he’s everything.”
For a moment I thought I’d said the wrong thing. My father was staring at me strangely, and I squirmed. But instead of a rebuke, he pulled me toward him, and it was like I was a cub again as I turned around, settling between his legs, my back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me, his chin on the top of my head. I breathed him in, and in the back of my mind, a voice that had once been weak whispered as strong as I’d ever heard it.
packpackpack
“You surprise me,” my father said. “Every day you surprise me. I’m so lucky to have someone such as you as mine. Never, ever forget that. And if you say your tether is Kelly, then so it shall be. You’ll be a good wolf, Carter. And I can’t wait to see the man you’ll become. No matter where I am, no matter what has happened, I’ll remember this gift you’ve given me. Thank you for sharing your secret. I’ll keep it safe.”
“But you’re not going anywhere, right?”
He laughed again, and even though I couldn’t see him, I knew he was smiling