His Imperfect Mate 26 (14 page)

“I’ll keep my eyes open.” Maverick hung up the phone, sighing as he pushed away from his desk to warn his sentries of Magnum.

Chapter Eleven

D paced the bedroom upstairs after Sloane left to go talk to the alpha. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the people who lived here, or even being here. He just hated that he couldn’t be in his own home. It was a disconcerting feeling when someone made a person flee, and even more disturbing when it was a parent.

Magnum had done some lowly things in D’s life, but to go after his mate and threaten the wolf was the lowest thing D could think of.

If he could find his father right now, he would give him a piece of his mind. He may be useless, a bumbling idiot, and accident-prone, and Magnum may not think he was worthy enough to be his son, but he was worthy enough to be Sloane’s mate. To D, that meant more to D than anything in the world.

Magnum could kiss his ass.

He hated the fact that his father just wouldn’t leave him alone.

What was so special about him that Magnum had to make his life a living hell? Walking over to the window, D pushed aside the thick curtain and stared off into the backyard. There were spotlights here and there, but not enough to make the yard overly bright.

D saw some small cottages decorating the backyard. Some still held the glow of soft lights inside, indicating that the occupants were still awake. He wondered what it would be like to live in one of those cottages, having an entire pack surrounding him and Sloane.

D shuddered.
No thanks.
He’d rather live in that big house…rats and all. He was happy. For the first time in his life, he was happy, and his father was threatening to destroy that.

As he gazed into the yard below, thinking of how his mate loved him for who he was, he saw movement by one of the cottages. He focused his eyes closer. At first he couldn’t make out anything but a shadow, but then the shadow stepped into one of the lights falling from one of the cottage windows, revealing his father!

D gasped and then growled. He had had enough of the man, and he was tired of this. He was going to take care of Magnum, once and for all. How? He wasn’t sure yet, but the thought of that man getting anywhere near Sloane made him see red.

He just wished he could disseminate down there. Since he couldn’t without taking a chance of ending up in Scotland, how was he going to get past everyone?

One corner of Magnum’s mouth pulled up into a cold smile as he curled his finger in for D to come down and join him. As scary as Magnum was, D was tired of the man controlling his life. He had to put a stop to this once and for all.

Magnum wasn’t going to get away with this. Sloane was everything to him, and his father wasn’t going to harm one hair on the wolf’s head.

He quickly crossed the bedroom and peeked out into the hallway.

When he saw no one, he quietly closed the door behind him and raced down the stairs. With his back to the wall, D scaled down the hallway until he came to the kitchen.

Performing a quick head check, D saw that the kitchen was void of people. His pulse thundered in his ears at the idea of going out there to face his father on his own. He pulled drawers open, searching for something he could use as a weapon. D wasn’t foolish enough to face his father unarmed. He would need more than just his feeble strength when it came to Magnum.

He snatched a knife from the drawer and placed it in the back waistband of his jeans, and then hurried out of the kitchen door, praying he didn’t fuck around and fall along the way. It would really hurt if he stabbed himself in the ass.

He crept along the picnic tables in the back and then around one of the cottages. From down here on the ground, D couldn’t remember exactly which one Magnum was standing by. An overwhelming urge to run back into the house and lock the door hit him hard in the gut, but D had to do this for Sloane, for their life together. If they stood any hope at all, he had to teach Magnum a lesson.

“Always the defiant one,” Magnum said from behind him, his voice a deep baritone that sent a cold chill down D’s spine.

D stiffened, his heart pounding so hard his chest hurt as he slowly turned around and took a step back. Magnum looked powerful, his presence demanding D’s attention. But it was Magnum’s eyes that scared D the most. They were shining in the pale light of the moon, and the black orbs reminded D of someplace cold, barren of life and love.

He stood there frozen, his bravery fleeing him now that he was actually confronting his father. His mouth felt like it had dried up, and his tongue had swollen two sizes too big, incapable of saying any words.

D knew that having the balls to give his father a piece of his mind while up in the bedroom was totally different from standing in front of the man. Seeing just how coldhearted Magnum truly was from the self-satisfied look on his face intimidated him.

This was some scary shit.

“W–Why?” D stuttered, finally finding his voice, even if it was weak and lacked any conviction or strength.

“Why?” Magnum asked with an air of spiteful teasing in his voice. “Because, Dudley, I can. It’s just that simple. I won’t have one of my sons mating a savage beast. Now you’ll come home with me, like a good little son, and do as you are told.”

D took another step back, swallowing hard at the resolute tone in his father’s voice as he placed his hands behind his back, near the knife. “You practically helped me pack my bags when I left. Why would you want me to return?”

Magnum crossed his arms over his broad chest, leaning his shoulder into the back of one of the cottages, his stance relaxed as if D were no threat to him at all. “I honestly don’t want you to return.

But I’d rather have your incompetent ass back under my thumb than everyone finding out that my son is a shifter’s whore.”

“I’m not a whore!” D shouted, his limbs shaking with the anger and rage building inside of him. “If you want to put a label on me, fine, but make it accurate. Sloane was my first!” D took a deep breath, trying to rein in his frazzled nerves. “Which does not make me a whore,” he added through gritted teeth.

“It’s disgusting,” Magnum sneered, his lip pulling up into a snarl.

“When you set out to fuck things up, you get the job done correctly, don’t you? Not only have you rutted with a dog, but a man no less.

How can you look at yourself in the mirror knowing these things?”

D could feel his fangs elongating and his small black claws stretching from his fingernails. The anger from all the years of Magnum’s verbal abuse was coming to the surface. “I can look at myself in the mirror just fine,” he snapped. “I may have mated a shifter, and I may be gay, but I know when I look at myself in the mirror I’m proud of who I am.”

“Pride,” Magnum scoffed. “What does that have to do with power and wealth? It’s a small blip on the radar in the whole big scheme of things.”

D snorted loudly, not believing what he was hearing. “You seem to have plenty of pride, Magnum. You’re too proud to allow your sons to lead their own lives, always the controlling one, always putting us down. You should be the one breaking every damn mirror in the house. I don’t see how you can stomach looking at yourself.”

D leapt back when Magnum stood and lifted his arm, as if to backhand him. His face was pulled back in a mask of rage as he stared down at D with those cold, anger-filled eyes. “How dare you speak to me that way! For over one hundred years I have clothed you and put a roof over your head.”

“And that makes you a father?” D sputtered. “I could have received those things from anyone. The fucking servants treated me better than you ever did! But stupid me, I still chose to love you, no matter how badly you treated me. I’m tired of trying to prove to you what kind of a man I am.”

“You shouldn’t even carry the Constantinople name. You—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I should have been a stain on the sheets.

Yeah, I’ve heard that one over and over again. God, you would think after all these years you would come up with something more original.”

Was he fucking nuts? D wasn’t sure where all this bravery was coming from, but he was tired of Magnum putting him down, telling him what a huge disappointment he was. Sloane had taught him that he was allowed to be himself, mistakes and all, and that it was okay.

There was nothing wrong with him, and he wasn’t a mistake. He didn’t need Magnum’s approval, not when he had Sloane’s.

His wolf had shown him that he was a great person, and D wasn’t going to allow this man to stand in front of him and take that away.

“You will return home,” Magnum demanded. “Or I will make sure every last shifter in that house pays for your insubordination.”

“I highly doubt that,” Maverick said as he walked from behind one of the cottages, his canines bared, his eyes promising death. D stepped away from Magnum, making sure the alpha killed the right person. The man was even scarier than Magnum could ever hope to be. The shifter stood so tall that he even loomed over D’s father.

Go Maverick!

He felt relief wash through him when he saw Sloane swagger from around another cottage, his eyes locked onto D’s. His mate had pride in his eyes, but D could also tell his mate was pissed off.

Fuck, he was in deep shit.

“You. You’re the one responsible for poisoning my sons against me,” Magnum accused as he pointed a finger toward Maverick and then glared at Sloane. “Shifters are nothing but filthy animals that can’t be trusted. What did you do, brainwash him?”

D rolled his eyes. “I do have a mind of my own, and I do know how to think.”

His father’s eyes snapped to him before locking back onto Maverick’s, which only incensed D further.

“I think you’ve outworn your welcome,” Maverick said. “Oh, wait a minute. You were never welcomed here in the first place. So get the fuck off of my property.” He said the last sentence with a low and lethal authority that made D shiver where he stood.

“Do you think a filthy shifter can command me?” Magnum asked as he laid a hand on his chest. He looked as if he were insulted to his very bones at Maverick giving him a command. “I’m a vampire. My station in life is too high to listen to such beasts speak to me that way.”

Everyone rolled their eyes this time.

“Your ass is full of a lot of hot air, and a lot of bullshit.”

D bit his lip to stop the giggle from erupting. Now would not be a good time to laugh.

“Now, like I said before”—Maverick uncurled his arms from his chest and took a step forward—“get the fuck off of my goddamn property.”

“And if I don’t?” Magnum asked with a sarcastic tone.

“Then I’ll make you,” Sloane said as he walked away from the cottage, situating his body between Magnum and D’s. “Dudley is mine. You have no rights to him since he left home. Dudley is no longer under the care and protection of his parent. He’s been of age for a very long time.”

“That law doesn’t apply to you shifters. I don’t recognize shifters, so I don’t relinquish my parental rights.” Magnum looked triumphant.

“Whether you recognize it or not, it is the law of mating, and you will adhere to it.”

D’s eyes snapped up when he saw Christian standing behind Magnum. What the hell? Was this a three-ring circus or what?

Everyone and their goddamn mother were showing up for his confrontation with his father. D felt as though he should have sold tickets to this damn event. There were even a couple of wolves emerging from the woods, slowly making their way to circle around the small group D was standing in.

“Prince,” Magnum said, his voice lowering to a respectable tone.

“I thought I told you to drop this matter?” Christian asked Magnum. “But I see that you feel you are at a higher station than I am with your blatant disregard at my orders.”

“But he’s my son,” Magnum pointed out. “Not even the prince can tell me what I can do with my son.”

Christian cocked a fine, black eyebrow. “Oh really? Are you defying me?”

“Why no, Prince,” Magnum sputtered. “I would never defy you.”

“Wise move. Now I suggest that you leave your son be and go home. He is mated to the wolf shifter now, and there is nothing you can do about it.”

“We’ll see about that.” Magnum’s fingers curled into fists at his side. “There is no such thing as a vampire mating a shifter, and a man at that. It’s an abomination, and I won’t stand for it!”

“You’re an ass,” D murmured. “Just leave me alone. I won’t bother you, and you don’t bother me,” he said loud enough for his father to hear.

“I won’t have my son mated to a shifter!” Magnum roared as he leapt toward Sloane. D wasn’t sure what happened next. Everything was a blur. The only thing he was sure of was that he didn’t think, only acted as he pulled the knife from out of his pants and plunged it into Magnum’s gut.

“Don’t touch my mate!”

Magnum stumbled back, looking down at the knife in his stomach and then up at D. “You stabbed me!”

“And I’ll do worse than that, you sorry son of a bitch!” D shouted. “You’ll heal from the wound, so stop crying like a little bitch. But if you come near my mate again, I’ll stab you in a place you can’t heal from,” D threatened as he jutted out his chin.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Maverick chuckled from the side of D. “The little vampire has a set of balls on him.”

D couldn’t stop the grin at Maverick’s compliment.

It was a compliment, right?

“Fuck you and your brothers.” Magnum spat the words venomously as he yanked the knife from his stomach and threw it on the ground at D’s feet. “I disown all four of you.
Never
show your faces in my presence again.”

D snorted as he waved a hand toward Magnum. “I can guarantee that won’t be a problem.”

Christian grabbed Magnum’s shoulder and disseminated, letting D finally take a deep breath of relief.

“Well, that was fun,” Maverick said as he spun around and started walking toward the house. “Next time, sell tickets.”

D gasped when Sloane grabbed him by both of his upper arms, a snarl on his lips. “Don’t you
ever
scare me like that again!” His wolf pulled D into his arms. “I thought I was going to have a damn heart attack.”