Escape is Only Temporary [boyxboy]

Chapter XXX

 ~Saturday 30th July 2016~

"How are you?" Silence had reigned in the car for too long. Despite the radio playing some new pop song, Reece missed the absent chatter that had filled the air when the journey began three hours ago. Ever since Ariadna had drifted to sleep in Snowden's arms in the back seat, soon to be followed by her mate, there had been no more talking. Without Shepherd there to coax a conversation from Kai, Reece had allowed the boy to go quiet. He didn't want that anymore.

"Fine," Kai murmured, never taking his eyes from the windscreen and the road ahead, "I don't get travel sick or anything, if that's what you mean," Reece found himself chuckling lightly. He couldn't be sure if Kai was making some poor joke or not but it just made him smile. His son didn't have to do much to make him smile. Even when he was in a foul mood, telling Reece he hated him and that he was a bastard of a father, the man could always find some semblance of happiness. At least he had a son to hate him, so many didn't even have that.

"I meant because of your argument with Beau," it hadn't been long before Reece had found out about the conversation that Beau and Shepherd had had the other morning. Snowden had listened to the entire thing, using a Wakaath that Shepherd wasn't pleased he had access to, from where he sat in the kitchen. He had only waited a day to tell his brother, when Kai had begun questioning why Beau and Shepherd seemed so intent on avoiding one another.

Reece hadn't been told there was an issue. Shepherd had kept it to himself, his way of protecting Beau from the 'unnecessary violence'. It hadn't worked out in the end. Not when Kai had chosen the courtyard as an acceptable place to confront his mate. Reece had been watching Snowden help Shepherd tend to the tree when he heard it, the echoing slap of Kai striking Beau. Apparently, he wasn't a fan of being excluded from a conversation so important to his health, nor was he pleased that Beau had tried to convince his mother to ignore their traditions. In that moment, right there and then, Reece knew Kai would make a good alpha.

"I'm not planning on forgiving him any time soon. If you're trying to make this some sort of intervention, don't bother. We have forever, he deserves a few weeks of the silent treatment," Reece couldn't agree more. Granted, he was a biased party in the situation so his opinion couldn't be used to mediate. If he had been told from the beginning, or had even heard Beau speaking to Shepherd so disrespectfully, he wasn't sure he would have been able to control himself. Beau had a streak of arrogance to him, one that would surface whenever there was some sort of conflict in the pack. Reece brought it down to his previous status of beta being revoked. Most of the time, it was harmless, however, sometimes, he could forget that he wasn't invincible. Reece didn't need him like his father did. Like everyone else, he was replaceable. At the moment, Kai was the only thing keeping him alive.

"That's your choice. Be angry with him for as long as you want. I just wanted to make sure you're OK. I know it can be difficult when you aren't on the same page as your mate," there was only one pairing in that family at the moment that wasn't snapping at one another's throats, and they were sleeping in the backseat of the car. Lafe had stayed. Shepherd had insisted on it. No matter how much Reece tried to convince his mate to see his brother for the monster he was, Shepherd wouldn't listen. It infuriated Reece. And he had lost his temper. For the first time, he had yelled at Shepherd. He cursed at him, insulted him, even threatened to walk if the man didn't listen.

He didn't mean a word of it. He didn't think Shepherd was stupid, or blind, or whatever else he had called him. He was just angry. Shepherd knew that too, Reece was sure of it. But not a word had been shared between the two in the past four days. Reece slept on the couch, unable to enter their bedroom for anything more than to collect his clothes. It hurt, and he deserved it, but he had acted out of love. Lafe was dangerous, worse than dangerous, and Shepherd wasn't listening. Reece just wanted his mate safe and, if that meant acting like the asshole, then so be it.