To Share You (manxman)

Chapter 25

The air is tense between our small group and their big one. No one is moving and it's as if the whole world is holding its breath.

I don't dare look to anyone in particular, especially not Raph, instead I let my eyes skim over the pack, registering every hateful look focused on the two of us. It's almost as if I can hear every single one curse us to hell and back and with every pack member I look at, my faint hope fades away and any energy I had before leaves my body.

'So it's true?' a strong voice finally breaks the silence.

My head snaps over to where the alpha stands protectively in front of his family. His stare is hard, trained on both me and Raph as we are barely standing an inch apart from each other.

I swallow dry as I prepare myself to answer, but mum takes this burden on herself.

'Yes it is Tim. They're mates.' There's a visible shift in the pack now. The anger I prior to mum's declaration thought of as suffocating now turns into a down right killing intent. It's almost nauseating, too much to bear.

'How dare you!' a high pitched voice now screeches over to us, 'How dare you disrespect my daughter like that! Raphael is her mate, it isn't possible for them to be ...! This is the alpha family! You have no right! You and your vermin of a son are the reason this is happening now!' The voice gets higher and more unbearable with every word and I'm not at all surprised when I find the source of it.

Sheila's mother is standing there, hunched over as if ready to shift, her teeth bared and her hands in fist.

'How dare YOU!' mum retaliates. She's now assumed a similar position and I know it's because of the insult aimed at me. After all, she is still a mother to a pup. They don't take attacks on their own lightly.

'These are my sons! Do not make lightly of this relationship!' her calm voice has a dangerous undertone and I know not to step up to her when she gets like this.

Raph's hand takes hold of mine and when I look over, I can see his eyes trained on my mother, who is protectively standing in front of both of us, with love and gratitude shining in them. She's not just my mother anymore, she's also his.

I squeeze his hand back and throw him a quick smile, but then focus back on what's happening in front of us. Immediately my eyes meet Sheila's. From the pain in her eyes, she's just witnessed the small exchange between me and Raph and I feel a wave of guilt wash over me. I couldn't care less about this pack being angry, not when I have Raph with me, but Sheila is as much a victim in this as we are. Having her suffer is the one thing I will always regret about this.

'MY DAUGHTER!' Alpha Timothy bellows over all the now extremely loud growls being thrown our way and it immediately becomes quiet.

'My daughter came to me a few hours ago, telling me that she was convinced her mates were going behind her back. She talked to me about several instances that made her doubt and waver. I told her not to jump to conclusions. So explain. This is your only chance.'

While he was talking, my eyes stayed locked on Sheila, even though she's not looking at me anymore. Her attention is entirely on Raph, whereas his eyes are fixated on Sam, who is crying at this point.

It doesn't come as much as a surprised as I would have thought it would to find out she realised. Raph and I have been told several times that we are obvious, but how can we not? It was such a fight to keep it all a secret, now to realise that it was all for nought, that we could have just come out with it and the result would have been the same; that is the real shock.

But this is it. I want to say something, to stand up for us, but I realise it's not my place. This is Raph's family ready to attack us on any wrong word, so I keep my mouth shut.