Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Drained and confident Weston will find him, Millan sighs and sits on a bench.

Letting his head rest back, he looks up at the sky and tries not to think of Stella or his father. Of course, it’s all he can think about. His mind keeps going back to one single memory…

(Flashback)

Millan has found the best spot to pick up flowers for his mother.

It’s one way he’s figured out to make her smile at him. Most times, his mother is annoyed at him, like he is asking too much of her time, but when he brings her a bouquet, usually, she smiles, thanks him and carefully puts it in a vase at the very center of the kitchen island.

Millan is always proud to see the vase full of flowers he meticulously picked out.

He’s currently choosing the most colorful flowers he can find when he smells one distinctive flower that isn’t growing there; lavender.

By now, Millan knows what that means.

He looks around for an escape route, but he is alone at the edge of the forest. Tears well up in his eyes as he hears footsteps approaching behind him.

He wallowed them back, not wanting to give the satisfaction to his uncle.

“Oh Millan… you really shouldn’t be out here all alone.”

Millan swallows and keeps his eyes on the ground. He shuts them when he feels a rough hand caressing his cheek. Just as Millan thinks of running, his uncle beats him to it.

“Don’t move.”

Millan tries to ignore the Alpha Command with all his might, but it’s harder than disobeying Aaron or Caleb.

He’s stuck, crouching down over a bed of flowers, vulnerable, while his uncle can do whatever he wants.

His uncle’s lips are on his neck when Millan detects another scent.

Maybe. Maybe someone’s going to save him. To tell his uncle to back off.

His uncle groans and backs away abruptly when they hear footsteps behind them.

“You can move now, but don’t say a word.”

Millan sighs and instantly stands up.

Stella, his aunt is walking towards them. Millan doesn’t know what she saw. He hopes words won’t be needed, he hopes she picked up on his uncle’s intentions.

To Millan's dismay, once she’s next to them, she ignores Millan's presence completely.

“Uriel! I was looking for you.”

“Were you?”

His uncle’s jaw is set tight and Millan can see how annoyed he is of the interruption.

“Yes. My oven broke last night and since you’re so good with this stuff, I thought maybe you could take a look at it?”

Millan wants to scream for Stella to realize what’s going on, to tell someone, to stand up for Millan.

But he can’t say anything. His wolf has to obey.

He tries to tell his wolf to go to hell, but as soon as he opens his mouth to say something, it hurts so much it feels like he’s been stabbed in the stomach.

“Of course, Stella, I would be happy to.”

Millan recognizes the sweetness of his uncle’s voice. It’s the one he uses to get what he wants, to appear like a good person, to fool anyone who might doubt his intentions.

“I’ll come by later today.”

Millan inhales sharply.

Stella can’t leave them alone again. Not when Uriel is that annoyed. It would be ten times worse. But then, Stella insists.

“Could you see to it now? I’m sorry to put you out of your way like this, but I’m supposed to have guests tonight and I’m in desperate need of a functioning oven as you will understand.”

Uriel looks at Millan angrily, as if he is the one who had broken Stella’s oven and orchestrated the whole thing. He turns back toward Stella with a tight smile, accepting defeat.

“Sure.”

Millan didn’t realize he was shaking until his uncle is out of sight along with his aunt.

He goes back to picking up flowers for his mother, still hoping to make her smile.

(End of Flashback)

“Mill?”

Millan startles out of his thoughts and tears his eyes away from the sky in favor of looking at a worried Weston sitting down beside him.

“Are you okay?”

Weston is frowning and worrying his bottom lip. It’s so evident that he cares about whether Millan is all right or not.

Millan smiles slightly and nods, if only to reassure Weston and make that frown go away. Millan closes his eyes when a soft hand caresses his cheek gently. He turns and kisses it, smiling a little more genuinely.

“What happened?” Weston is whispering, hand still on Millan's cheek, as if worried that simple question will send Millan into distress again.

Millan sighs and scoots closer to Weston, resting his head on his shoulder. Weston responds instantly, wrapping his arms around him, like two puzzle pieces fitting together perfectly.

“I don’t want to talk about it yet.”

“Okay.”

Weston seems to understand exactly what Millan wants in that moment.

Although the alpha is probably curious to know what upset him, he accepts that all Millan needs is to sit in Weston’s arms, basking in the comforting scent of rain.

*****

Millan is wrapped in cotton, floating in space.

Time doesn’t exist. All that exists is Weston, his scent, and the rise and fall of his chest as he breathes slowly in and out.

Millan knows he’s on the verge of dropping.

Normally, he would want to get out of that state as fast as possible, scared to be so vulnerable, but now, oddly, he can’t bring himself to care.

Weston’s the one to break the spell and pull Millan out of it.

“So…”

The sound vibrates underneath Millan's cheek. The omega sighs, reluctant to come back to earth.

“So?,” Millan repeats, knowing exactly where Weston wants to get to.

“Do I have to send Stella away?”

Millan sighs again and slightly shakes his head from side to side. Even though he’d prefer for Stella never to have shown up, she didn’t do anything wrong. Silence settles as Weston ponders, fingers playing with his bottom lip absentmindedly.

The setting sun provides a delicate orange toned backlighting to Millan’s hair and Weston tries to clear his head of any other images.

“You would tell me, right? If someone hurt you?”

Millan bites his bottom lip, knowing Weston won’t like the honest answer. He could lie, but with their bond, Weston would probably know.

“I don’t know…”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?”

“Well can you blame me? You’re really… protective.”

“I’m not that protective.”

“Weston, come on. You almost ripped Amir’s head off when he stole a piece of chicken from my plate yesterday.”

“Well…. he had no business stealing your food. He had his own and I didn’t prepare it for him so…”

Millan lifts his head up to meet Weston’s gaze. They stare at each other until Weston visibly deflates.

“Okay, you’re right. I might be a bit protective, but still, you need to tell me if someone’s hurting you, Mill.”

Millan frowns. He’s had enough of being babied. He’s been on his own for almost a decade and has endured way worse.

“Weston, I can take care of myself, yeah? I’ve done that for years. I’m fine.”

“Look, Millan, I know you can look after yourself perfectly well. I know you’ve had to do that for years without anyone’s help, but I also know when you’re hurting, I know when you’re distressed, I know when you need help even though you don’t want to ask for it. It kind of comes with being soul mates, with being fated mates. You might be able to fool everyone else with this ‘I’m fine’ crap, but you won’t fool me. I know you were really upset while I was gone and I’m pretty sure it has something to do with Stella. You don’t have to tell me what she said or did, but I, at least, need to know if she’s a threat to you or the pack.”

If he’s being honest with himself, Millan has no desire to keep anything from Weston even if he could.

Really, his reluctance is only rooted in fear of becoming too much to handle for Weston when the Alpha already has so much on his plate. But he wants Weston to know what Stella said.

He wants him to know what happened exactly. In truth, he deeply craves Weston’s advice on how to deal with this mess.

He’s had to carry the burden of decision making alone all his life and now, all he wants to do is share it with someone he trusts. And he might trust Weston more than he trusts himself.

Millan sighs and rests his head back on Weston’s chest.

“Okay.”

Silence falls back on them as Weston brushes his fingers up and down Millan's arms, sending shivers down Millan's spine.

“So… is she?”

Millan smiles at Weston’s persistence.

“She’s not a threat, Weston. She just wanted to see Maddie, her daughter. Then she saw me and I fucked it up for everyone, as usual.”

“Somehow, I strongly doubt that.”

Of course Weston would automatically take his side in all of this. Weston still has this distorted perception of Millan.

He wonders if he could do anything wrong in Weston’s eyes.

Problem is, he needs a clear minded opinion, not a biased one.

“I did fuck it up, Wes… If I were not there, Stella would have happily reunited with her daughter and bonded over books and what not. But I had to insert myself in their reunion.”

“Why would your presence change any of that?”

“Because, Weston.” Millan lifts his head up again, meeting Weston’s confused frown. “Stella wasn’t expecting to see me and she felt obligated to explain that she isn’t my aunt, but my biological mother. And then Maddie got mad and she stormed off.”