CHAPTER 317: IN THE END... WOULD IT EVER MATTER?

[GREALOR]

Gabriel had suspected that this conversation would eventually come back to haunt him. The things he had done and the way that Zula had bragged about all that shit, he knew that life was not so easy for him.

Ashton had betrayed his son and no number of pleas for forgiveness would ever get him to his son’s good graces. This question was one that Ashton had tried not to think of for the longest time; because how the fuck was he supposed to explain it?

The seed of doubt had already been planted in his son’s mind and it would have been a little relieving if it had been Tamiko who painted it. Because then they could argue that Tamiko only wanted to tear them apart.

But that seed was never Tamiko’s doing and that was the worst part of all this. It had been the senior alpha’s doing, much to his displeasure.

In his attempt to live as a Furfante, he had unknowingly made himself a target for his son, the apple of his eye. He was a father and yet nothing he had done since his mate had died had shown Gabriel that he was ever a good father.

"I am your father. Watch how you talk to me," Alpha Ashton warned and Gabriel just sighed. He had known his father was an elusive bastard for years, but he never predicted that he would be the one his father would try to get all elusive with.

None of this made any sense, but Gabriel knew.

He could see the fear in his father’s eyes. He could feel the strains and the tension in the man and honestly, he wanted to understand what the fuck was going on.

Deep down, he knew that he had to try and make it all right, but what the fuck was Ashton supposed to do or say that would make his son look at him like a good man?

There was nothing, and that hurt more than anything that ever would be for the both of them.

"So, you did kill Mother for the sake of power," Gabe said, his tone resolute like he already pictured his father doing it.

He could already imagine his father lying to his mother about something and then the poor woman ending up dead because she trusted and was mated to the bastard who walked with a lust for power looming over his head.

It was disappointing, to say the least, and it was something that Gabe didn’t want to think of. But then again, he wondered how life could have been if he had ever grown up with a mother.

He wondered whether he would have been a happier kid, a healthier alpha, and one who didn’t have to bear the weight of the entire work on his shoulders. He wondered if fate would have been kinder with him and if ever Tamiko would have been his Erasthai.

Gabe wondered if he would have been on Tamiko’s side helping his mate do what was best for the realm and both of them.

He wondered about a lot of things, and the fact that he would never get to know all that because of his father’s upbringing was something that had Gabriel’s heart shattering in the worst of ways.

This was not the kind of fate anyone would have wanted to be gotten into and yet as he lay there on the bed, his father’s mouth opened and closed like a fish on dry land. Gabe knew he was alone.

Completely and utterly alone.

He couldn’t even trust the father he had loved all his life, so what the fuck was left for him? What card was he supposed to play when he was the son of the devil bastard who didn’t know the difference between what he could touch and what he couldn’t?

Perhaps Tamiko had been right all along.

Gabriel was not deserving of love.

"I loved your mother. She was the most beautiful thing that I had ever seen. She was life and love. She was a beam of light—" Ashton said as he thought of his wife. He had loved her, truly.

But with the way he had long blamed his son for her death, there was never going to be a day when Gabriel willingly agreed to listen to his father. The man was a monster and no number of insanities would ever be able to translate that shit to him.

Perhaps this was what life was meant to be for them, right?

"Yeah right. Loved her too much to the point that you had to murder her and blame me for it my entire life. You’re so fucked up and you don’t even realize it yet. You think all this is just some ploy to get to the mad king—

"...when you won’t ever have enough balls to love your mate like he loved his Erasthai until you came after him. He had chosen to let everything be. He had chosen peace, but you couldn’t just let him be.

"Queen Liana could have saved us all, but you and your group of fucked up wolves and Lycans just didn’t want peace, did you? You follow Zula blindly as if she has all the answers. She is using all of you and you can’t even see it.

"She is the one with the problem with the king. Besides, anyone in their right mind already knows that King Zaffuto couldn’t be tamed. The only person who could have tamed him was snatched away from him.

"The one who could have found a way to his heart and made him normal was tortured day and night. If I were you, I would just prepare for my death, because no matter what you do, you will never beat the Hinatas, father. Never.

"You will never be able to get Tamiko to kneel, especially now that his Erasthai is fully bonded with him. Have fun trying," Gabe spat bitterly and his father reached out to him and smacked his face.

But Gabe was not going to relent this time, he had seen their lives get destroyed because of a selfish decision his father had made with the Furfantes. They should have given queen Liana a chance and yet they took that choice from the people of the realm.

There was nothing that would ever scream peace for them. It would be war after war and Grealor would be blamed for it all. Gabe felt bad for the young wolves who had just been born because he knew that life was never going to be normal for them.

He knew that regardless of what they all did or tried to do, no one would ever be able to save them. Not even the moon goddess would save them from the wrath of the Hinatas, and the Lycans of Kawai — if ever they learned that the queen of hearts was murdered by wolves.

It was something that was cooking softly and with time, it would explode and Gabe knew that they would never get to go past the past that was haunting them already. But hey, his father was already trying to fuck up with Tamiko, right?

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!"

"The truth always comes out eventually, father. No matter how hard you try to hide it, it will come out. Who knew that you and your psycho Lycan friend would be up to us like that," Gabe said and the alpha stilled.

He knew his son despised him more than life could ever possibly accommodate for them at this point.

He knew that his son wanted nothing to do with him and with the way things were going through was a chance that Gabriel would leave him and go to the enemy camp. The spit that Gabe had for this father would be studied and yet it wouldn’t ever find an equal truly.

"Don’t even think of tattling to that Lycan prince, he hates you. He will kill you before you get close. He will ruin you and the pack," Alpha Ashton said and this time, it was Gabe’s turn to laugh at his father, again.

This man was really unpredictable, wasn’t he?

Perhaps he needed a lesson on what he could touch and what he couldn’t touch, right?

Insanity had been a boost for alpha Ashton.

Gabe wished that someone could shut his father up, because the more that this man spoke, the longer Gabe realized that perhaps it wasn’t as bad if someone tried to take his father out.

So many accusations were waiting for his father Gabe would never defend him from it all.

Alpha Ashton was a monster and no one would ever convince him otherwise. Not even the pack that he loved and the pack that helped him ruin the greatest love of his life. Perhaps this was what his karma looked like, no?

"Nah, that is too much work for me. I won’t tattle, because I know Tamiko well, father. I know the man I love like the back of my hand, and if there is something that rogue Lycan is, is intelligent.

"He could run this pack for years without any wars and murders, and people would want him to stay if ever he chose to leave. He’s the prettiest and most intelligent man I have ever met.

"His intelligence is more than you can ever start to imagine, and that is also how I know that he will beat you. Whatever shit you are thinking of right now, you shouldn’t even bother, because Tamiko is coming.

"He will ruin you and I will watch in awe," Gabe said proudly and his father sighed angrily before walking out of the room.