Free A Family with His Werewolf Mate by Anya Byrne Page A

him. The place was still stocked, so he didn't need to go
looking for food. Distantly, Will wondered if his mother had believed him after
all, or if she suspected something. That was a question he never got the answer
to.
    It was Karl who dropped by the cabin, two days after Will had
left his family home. Will opened the door for his brother, feeling more
exhausted than he ever remembered being. He just wanted to close his eyes and
sleep forever, to not have to deal with the ominous truth that kept battering
the edges of his consciousness.
    "Is it true?" Karl asked without preamble.
"Are you really in love with Peggy?"
    The confirmation was on Will's lips. It would be easy to say.
He could assure Karl he had no intention of making a move, and then his brother
would hopefully leave him alone. For some reason, though, the words didn't
come.
    Maybe it was just the strain of Dean's absence or the near
hysterics he'd worked himself into more than once during the past few days, but
he shook his head. "No, I'm not."
    Karl blinked, having obviously not expected that reply.
"But you told Mom—"
    "I lied," Will cut him off.
    "You lied." That seemed to befuddle Karl more than
anything, as if he simply hadn't expected Will to lie.
    Will would have laughed if he'd had the energy. "Indeed.
Shocking, isn't it?"
    "But... Why would you say something like that if you
didn't mean it?" A sense of understanding filled Karl's eyes.
"Unless... You were hiding something else. What is it, Will? What are you
hiding?"
    Karl gripped Will's arms in a strong, almost painful grip,
and Will pushed his brother away. "You don't want to know," he told
Karl tiredly.
    "Of course I do," Karl insisted. "I'm your
brother. I can help you. Maybe... Are you in love with someone else?"
    Will had no idea how Karl had managed to hit the nail on the
head. Then again, his brother could be perceptive at times. Besides, Will's
heartbreak was at this point pretty clear to see. He didn't try to deny it and
wordlessly nodded.
    "Who is she?" Karl asked. "Is she... you
know... colored?"
    Karl thought Will had fallen for a black girl. Perhaps Will
could have dropped it there, convinced Karl that yes, that had been the
situation, but he'd decided against pursuing anything. Yet again, his heart
hijacked his vocal cords. "She is a he. I'm in love with a man."
    Silence fell between them. The color drained from Karl's face
as he stared slack-jawed at Will. He seemed to be waiting for Will to laugh the
whole thing off, perhaps tell him it had all been nothing more than an
elaborate joke. But Will didn't, and Karl clenched his fists as anger replaced
surprise on his familiar face.
    "No."
    Despite the tempestuous look on Karl's face, Will suddenly
felt angry. "I think I would be able to tell, especially since, you know,
it wasn't exactly a chaste relationship."
    Antagonizing his brother proved to be a poor idea at best.
Karl's face went purple with fury. He lunged, perhaps planning to beat the gay
out of Will.
    Thankfully, Will had been expecting it and he dodged his
brother's attack. Karl's momentum led him to trip over the carpet and fall onto
the floor. And that was when Will felt it.
    Something moved inside him, like butterfly wings beating
against his insides. It wasn't a butterfly, though. It was a baby. It seemed
insane, but Will couldn't deny it, not anymore. His symptoms had fit pretty
much the ones he'd read about in his books about pregnancies. It had been too
mind-numbing to even consider, but the thought had slowly wormed its way into
his mind, and now he had to accept it, at least as a possibility.
    God only knew how Dean's physiology worked. Will had never
really asked, which in hindsight, had been stupid. Either way, Will couldn't
just wait around for his family to realize he might be carrying a child. Even
if he hadn't stupidly spilled his secret to Karl, he would have had to leave.
    The knowledge that he might have a little person inside him,
relying on him, kicked him