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AARYN

Aaryn, sprinting across the meadow to catch his son before he reached the trees, stretched to grab the little wiggler under the armpits and swing him up onto his shoulders with a laugh, then turned to take him back to his mother and sister.

His son giggled—was there any better sound in the world?—then started pounding his hands into Aaryn\'s hair.

"Tell it again, Dad! Tell me about before."

Aaryn pretended to sigh. "You don\'t want to hear that story again."

"I do! I do! From when you couldn\'t shift!"

So Aaryn told him—how he\'d grown up a child among the wolves who had a wolf within, but could never access it. How he\'d been very sad and very scared, but he had kept going. And then he\'d become friends with Elreth. And then, much later, after they were mates and she was already Queen, he crossed to the other world to stop their friends from being killed and—

"You\'re like a for real hero!" his son said, as he always did at this part of the story. "I was telling Heilhe that because she thinks that her dad\'s stronger than you because he\'s a lion, and I said—"

"Don\'t do that. Don\'t brag," Aaryn said with a quiet smile, wondering if he would have bragged about his father if he\'d been old enough to know.

"But she\'s saying she\'s stronger than me!"

"Well… mom was stronger than me for a long time, but that didn\'t matter. I was strong in ways that were more important. It doesn\'t matter who can shift faster, or has a bigger beast. It matters what you do with your heart and your words, son."

"I know," his son sighed.

"If you want to prove that you\'re stronger, keep practicing, Reth. Keep shifting. Work to be strong and dominant, just your Grandpa. And then when it\'s your turn to lead, no one will be able to challenge you—no matter what tribe you\'re from."

"I will! But…" his son trailed off, silent, his little fists suddenly tight in Aaryn\'s hair.

Elreth looked up from the other side of the meadow, looking at them both, her eyebrows high.

Aaryn shot her a quick look, then pulled his son down and put him on the grass, kneeling so they were eye to eye. "What is it?" he ask quietly.

Little Reth was only six, but already showing all the signs of dominance—and his mother\'s temper.

Aaryn teased her about it mercilessly.

But he was a sensitive soul, and took blows straight to the heart.

Aaryn always tried to remember how his son\'s namesake had dealt with those moments when Aaryn was in pain—the patience, the quiet wisdom. The way Reth had never mocked his pain. He tried to be the Reth he\'d known for his son.

So he gave Little Reth a very serious look and waited.

Little Reth had red hair like his mother, his skin pale and freckled. His eyes were blue too—and shining with unshed tears as he squinted at Aaryn.

To Aaryn\'s surprise, he looked back over his shoulder, towards his mother, as if he was afraid she might hear, then he turned back and leaned in, whispering too loudly, the way that children did, so Aaryn had to swallow a laugh.

"Are you my real dad?"

Aaryn blinked and his head jerked back for a second before he almost laughed out loud—because his son looked terrified. "But… of course I am, Reth. Why? Who said that I wasn\'t?"

Reth shrugged his little shoulders, but his face twisted in anger. "A lot of them do," he said, obviously referring ot his friends. "Because I\'m a lion and you\'re a wolf."

"But, that doesn\'t matter!" Aaryn said, smiling. "Your mom is a lion—just like you got her red hair and her blue eyes, you got her lion, too!"

Reth looked relieved, but still a little nervous. Aaryn rubbed his skinny little arms, though they were already bunched with tiny muscles that promised he would be a massive adult.

"Look at me, Son," he said quietly. When his son met his eyes, Aaryn gave him a smile. "You are what the Creator made you to be. And that\'s the very best thing you can be, Reth. You just need to make sure you go ahead and be that as much as you can. You be the very best lion you can, okay?"

"I know. I will," he said with all the confidence of ignorant youth. "But… doesn\'t it make you mad, or sad that I\'m a lion like her, not a wolf like you?"

"What? Reth! No!" Aaryn pulled his son into a hug and held him tightly, swallowing the emotion of seeing his son in pain. "I love that you\'re a lion, because that means you\'re like you\'re mother, and I love her more than I love anybody else in the world."

Reth\'s sadness seemed soothed, but his face was still twisted in thought. Aaryn waited. His son was never reluctant to speak his mind.

Something else he got from his mother.

Then little Reth huffed in a way that was so like his Grandfather, Aaryn almost wept. But he looked up at Aaryn, his eyes wide and serious.

"Sometimes I want to be like you, though, Dad."

Aaryn felt it like a spear to the heart. He had to swallow back tears before he could answer. Then he put his hand on his son\'s arm and squeezed. "Reth, you…" he cleared his throat. "You can be like me or anyone else in all the ways it matters. You just learn to think like they do. To have the same character. To live the way they do. To love—"

"No, Dad," Reth rolled his eyes. "I want to be able to talk to other people in my mind."

Aaryn spluttered, his stomach sinking in embarrassment—until he saw his son\'s sly grin.

"Why, you little—"

Reth cackled and turned on his heel, his little legs pumping as he darted across the grass towards his mother—who smiled indulgently—and his sister who scowled. But Aaryn caught him up and turned him around to stop so they could finish their talk before they joined the girls.

"You can talk in your mind, Reth. With the Creator. You know that, right? You can talk to him whenever you want, and he\'ll hear you."

"Yeah, but he gets mad when I\'m mean to Lia," he said, referring to his little sister. "And I can\'t talk about that because he doesn\'t like it, but she\'s so freaking annoying, Dad!"

Aaryn laughed. "Maybe, maybe," he said. "But I promise, the Creator still wants to hear about it. All you have to do is make sure you really want to hear from Him. Because he won\'t always tell you what you want to hear. But if you\'re willing to hear it, your life will get better. I promise. Remember, Uncle Gar used to be really annoying to Mom, too, and now he\'s awesome!"

"Gar is never annoying. He\'s great!"

"You didn\'t know him when he little," Aaryn said dryly.

"Really?" Reth asked seriously.

"Really," Aaryn told him, working hard not to smile.

His son took a deep breath then and turned to look at Elreth and Lia sitting on the blanket near the cave mouth. "Fine. Then… don\'t say anything to Lia because she wasn\'t super annoying this morning, so maybe it won\'t be a bad day if I don\'t piss her off."

"I won\'t. I promise," Aaryn chuckled.

Reth threw his arms around Aaryn\'s neck and Aaryn pulled him in, standing up to carry him back to Elreth.

It was uncommon these days, but Reth sighed and rested his head on Aaryn\'s shoulder. "I love you, dad," he whispered.

"I love you too, son."

His son tightened his grip with his little hands and it struck Aaryn, suddenly, that as far as Little Reth was concerned, he—Aaryn—was the Big Reth in this relationship.

Aaryn\'s throat began to close and as they got closer to the girls, Elreth looked at him with some concern.

\'Is everything okay?\' she signed.

Aaryn put Reth down for the last few steps, and nodded.

Elreth stood when they reached them, and Aaryn pulled her into his chest and kissed her, his stomach fluttering as it always did when his mate came close after they\'d been apart.

Lia made a gagging noise and grabbed at her mother\'s leathers, wailing, "GROSS! You\'re so gross, Dad. Stop!"

Aaryn let Elreth go reluctantly and knelt down to meet his daughter\'s eyes with a laughing grin. "You\'re just like your mother…. Which is awesome."

Then winked at his son.

A moment later, Behryn and Hollhye emerged from the Tree House and started towards them. Both kids screamed and ran towards their adoptive grandparents whose eyes lit with joy and they opened their arms wide to catch the two wriggling bullets when they arrived, Behryn pretending to be tackled by Little Reth and falling to the ground, pleading for mercy. Both kids giggled and tickled him until he surrendered. Then a quick, loud conversation began about what they\'d done that day.

Aaryn stood up and put his arm around Elreth and sighed.

"What\'s going on? Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"I\'m great," he said thoughtfully. "I miss them, though." He knew she\'d know he was referring to her parents.

Elreth nodded. "Me too. But... we\'ll be together again, Aaryn. I know it."

Aaryn nodded. "Me too," he said, then kissed her hair. He sighed.

"Are you—"

"I\'m fine," he murmured, then looked down to meet her eyes. "I\'m just happy. Just really, really happy, El. I love you."

She smiled and leaned up to kiss him. "I love you too, Aaryn. Forever."

*****

YOU MADE IT! THANK YOU! WANT A NEW ROMANCE TO FILL THE GAP?

If you\'ve already read all SEVEN of my novels here on WN (titles listed below), you still have TWO NEW options! Read the next chapter (Author Note) for info and excerpts, or go to linktr.ee/authoraimee and click either of the links for books by "Aimee Lane." Spoiler alert: That\'s me!

(NOTE: There is no way for me to make that chapter free, so be aware that the only story content there is the new stories. A werewolf romance, and a contemporary supernatural. If you don\'t want to pay for it, you can use the link listed above to find the books online.)

Here on WN I have all these books for you to enjoy:

1. Rise of the Dark Alpha (Completing 3 June: 2nd Place/Silver winner of the My WereWolf Lover and I Competition.)

2. Falling in Love with the King of Beasts (Complete: Prequel to Taming the Queen of Beasts.)

3. Loving the Forbidden Prince (Complete: Fantasy medieval/Magic romance)

4. Secretly Loved by the Dangerous CEO (Complete: Contemporary Dark Romance)

5. My Hollywood Boyfriend Wants Me Back* (Complete: Contemporary Dark Romance)

6. They Both Love Me but One is a Devil* (Complete: Contemporary Supernatural Romance)

* The third volume completes with a plot summary rather than normal writing, because the book wasn\'t earning.