That night, in the Lynx family house. Kent came to the dinner table after Lily urged him to do so. These past few weeks have been hard, Kent had become more strict towards Alaric.
There wasn't any time for leisure for the teen. Every morning he'd awoken before dawn and made to run the territory before coming back and getting ready for school where in between classes he had to show his 'mate' Maya ample affection.
After school is when he'd have to do administrative work in his father's office. Learning how to take care of the pack's finances and how much tax income the pack took in from the werewolves within the pack, was just one of the things he had to learn.
The only bit of free time he had was before dinner. He would disappear and then reappear exactly as his mother set the table.
It was at this time Alaric and his mother would have a silent dinner. After dinner, he had to go into his father's study and listen to his lecture before he could finally be free for the night.
Tonight was different, Kent joined them for dinner. The usual silence for dinner they had come accustomed to was turned awkward and stifling.
Only light breathing, the knocking of utensils, and the occasional sip of water or juice. Lily wanted Kent to join them, she felt as though their relationship became more strained as the days went by.
The source of the strain began with Alaric, but now it's festering like an infected wound. The last thing Lily wanted was to stay in a room with her mate who despised her.
She had to fix it and to do that she had to start with the thing that began it all. So clearing her throat, she took a sip of water to moisten her throat and calm her nerves.
"So, how was you guys' day? Anything new?" Lily asked, The two men paused and looked at her at the same time, it was like they mirrored each other's reaction.
This goes to show the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
"Nothing," Alaric mumbled as he turned his gaze away. Seeing he was not responding like she wanted she had hoped Kent would try.
"Same old thing," Kent answered waving it off and going back to eating. Lily sat there angrily, nobody even tried but she swallowed her rage and decided to ask each of them a question directly.
"Alaric, how is everything going at school? Are you getting along well with Maya?" Lily asked him. Alaric stopped eating, the sound of the fork hitting the plate as he let it fall from his hand was loud making Kent look at him silently.
"What is it that you want mom?" Alaric asked softly as he pushed his plate away. "You want us to talk about school? About Maya? Why do you want to talk about that?"
"I'm just trying to have a conversation with you." Lily waved nonchalantly as she replied. "It's not a big deal. Besides I'm allowed to know how your feeling."
"You want to know how I feel?" Alaric asked with a frown.
"Yes, I'm sure your father is thinking the same thing. You're our son and even as you made a mistake that doesn't change anything." Lily shot Kent a look but he completely ignored her by picking up a glass and taking a sip.
He dodged it, and Lily's face hardened for a few seconds. Alaric also noticed how his father dodged it. That feeling left him feeling extremely bitter inside knowing that his father couldn't be bothered to lie.
"You want to know mom?" Alaric asked Lily but his gaze clashed with his father's. Lily knew she couldn't drip the subject anymore but was hesitant to continue.
"Yeah, tell us how you been?"Lily stiffly told him. She was hoping he'd brush her off but Alaric wasn't going to.
"I'm trapped in a relationship I don't want to be in, I'm stuck with a pup I'm disgusted with. I'm weighed down by my obligation to the pact. I'm fed up with the shit dad is pulling on me. I'm tired of pretending like I don't notice how the senior members of the look at me." Alaric said the family of three was silent. No talking, no eating or drinking of the sound of breathing.
"Who's fault is that hmm? Did I tell you to fuck Maya Francis and do the idiotic thing is getting her pregnant?" Kent glared at Alaric. "You hateful little shit, things could have been much worse. Your wolf would have never been able to choose between your heir and your mate. Your mate wouldn't have stopped trying to kill the baby either."
"I made a mistake dad!" Alaric clenched his teeth and said. "I regret that mistake,"
"It's good you regret it, regret it for the rest of your life as you go through life with a she-wolf that is not your mate," Kent told him before adding, "Because even as you regret it, it won t change a damn thing. Your thoughtless actions ruined Jace and Aurora's future. And even now we still have to clean up your fucking mess. So go on regret it because that's all you can do!"
"Enough!" Lily slammed her hand on the table. No, longer could she sit here and listen to them, "He's our son Kenneth. Cut him some slack, he already understood what he did wrong."
"Then do you understand what he did wrong?" Kent's question choked Lily. She looked at him with disbelief and rage.
"Watch yourself!" Lily snarled and Kent smirked at her in a ridiculing manner.
"Watch yourself, Lillian! I don't think you understand the gravity of this situation so let me explain it to you." Kent spoke condescendingly. "If the council finds out what we have done, I as the alpha of this pack will be excited along with any other senior member found 'guilty' including you."
"God knows what he'll become if he ends up in their hands but I at least know what will happen to those rejected kids, Aurora and Jace. And trust me it's not a good ending." Kent stood up from the dining table and glanced at the two of them. "Now would you please excuse me, I have to go curb the rumors about Jace and Aurora into none existence."
Kent left his mate and son in the dining room without even looking back he slammed the front door. He was heading to the pack house to come up with a contingency plan for the rumors with Jason and Anderson.
Alaric dropped his head in his hands a. Lily watched her son break down into tears and had no idea what to do anymore.
This would mark the last time the family of three would ever sit together alone with each other.