blinked, rubbed his eyes, then stared again. Yes, he was seeing things right. Angel and Clark were half-naked, struggling with the sheets in an obvious attempt to camouflage what they’d been doing. It was
quite a no-brainer, really. The entire room smelled like sex, and it didn’t take a genius to figure out what had happened.
His two sons were completely frozen. Clark could have very well
been a statue. Absolutely no emotion showed on his face. Angel,
however, had a deer—well, a gazelle—in the headlights look, as if he couldn’t quite believe this was happening.
Sensing their fear and uncertainty, Carson smiled. “Get cleaned up
and dressed. Your dad and I will wait outside. Come get us when
you’re ready to talk.”
With that, Carson pushed his mate out of Angel and Alexis’s
room. Brody finally snapped out of his own daze. “What in the world
was that about, Carson? Were they—?”
Carson silenced his werewolf mate with a kiss. “Shh. They’ll hear.
And don’t tell me you’ve never suspected because I know that’s a lie.”
It was true. A part of Carson had always sensed the deep affection
between Angel and Clark hid something different, something that
even the two young men might be reluctant to pursue. Brody had
shared his suspicious, and they’d always tried to teach the boys that it was all right to love whoever they wanted. Carson and Brody
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Scarlet Hyacinth
wouldn’t care about them any less, no matter who they chose as their mates.
Of course, the fact that he’d somehow seen this coming didn’t
eliminate his surprise. Shape-shifter parents were generally accepting of sexuality in their children, but for Carson, it still came as a shock.
Faced with the reality of his two sons’ maturity, Carson couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the fact that his boys had grown up so quickly.
At the same time, Angel and Clark clearly thought they were doing
something wrong, but the more he thought about it, the more Carson
was convinced this was the way things were meant to be. It would
have been stranger for him and Brody had they not sensed it already.
As it was, Carson thought that he could easily accept it, if this was truly what his two boys wanted.
“Do you think they’re mates?” Brody asked him through their bond.
“I think so,” Carson replied. “And what better match could we hope for?”
Brody nodded then sighed. “It’s just that…It won’t be easy for
them. Not everyone is as accepting as we are.”
Unfortunately, that was true. Even after twenty years, Brody and
Carson still received ugly glances on account of their relationship.
Shape-shifters weren’t used to having prey and predator mating, and
even if the Academy officially encouraged the mingling of various species, most students and parents remained uncomfortable with the
concept. After all, thousands of years of prejudice didn’t change in a couple of decades.
“We’ll help them,” Carson said, “and they’re fighters. They’ll know how to defend their love for each other.”
Before Brody could say anything else, the door to the room
opened, and Clark gestured them inside. Brody and Carson accepted
their son’s silent invitation and stepped into the room. Carson took a deep breath. This would probably be the hardest conversation he’d
The Gazelle Who Caught a Lion
61
have with his sons, but above all, he needed to point out that, no
matter what happened, he was on their side.
* * * *
Clark waited as his parents sat down, suppressing the urge to
fidget. There were two things he feared in the world. The first was
losing Angel, and the second losing his parents. He’d been through
that already, with his real mother, and while he didn’t remember her too well, he did recall it had hurt, and he’d missed her.
Thankfully, his dads had never tried to make him forget about that
part of his past, or his mother. Once, they’d even told him and Angel they were thankful