“Your brother lives like an animal,” she snarled at Rory before spinning on her heel and charging up the stairs.
“Shay…”
“I can’t believe you make him live like that. I thought—no, hoped—you were better than this.” In the living room she spun to face him, hands on her hips. “If, God forbid, our child comes out flawed”—she spat the word—“is this how you’ll treat her?”
“Shay, you can’t believe I’d want my own brother living like that.”
She formed a V with her fingers and pointed them at her eyes. “Tell it to the eyes. I know what I saw.” Shay was beyond angry, beyond horrified. She was sick. She turned her back, unable to stand the sight of him.
Between one breath and the next, he was on her. Shay let out a squeal of fear as Rory snatched her off her feet and into his arms. As he stormed up the stairs, Shay pushed at his chest and wheezed out, “Put me down.”
“When I’m ready.” He stalked down the hallway and stopped before a closed door. A quick twist of the knob, then he pushed the door open so hard it rebounded off the wall. Rory set her down, none too gently, and went to the closet, flinging open the double doors. Inside were rows of men’s clothing—shirts, pants, suits, belts, and hats. He crossed to the dresser and began opening drawers, leaving them open. More clothes.
Confused, Shay glanced around the room. Done in shades of blue, it was a man’s room. No doubt about it. The walls and dressers were stark, lacking any personal decorations such as pictures, awards, and the like. The furniture and its surfaces were pristine, but that didn’t negate the empty, unused feel of the place.
“Kian’s room. The one he refuses—has always refused—to use.”
Rory stood, hands on hips, breathing hard. “The locks you objected to? They’re not to lock Kian in. They’re to lock us out.”
Shay tore her gaze away from him to take another look at the room. “I’m sorry,” she said finally, hoping he’d see the regret in her eyes. “I know what it’s like to be different, to be shunned because of those differences. I projected. I should have known—”
“Aye, you should have,” he snapped. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, he was much calmer. “I’m wrong as well. It bothers me, because at one time he was treated as no better than an animal—by my father. And the pack followed his lead.
“I did my best to change his status. To change the status of all of those who were thought of as lesser, as lacking, within the pack. Kian refused. He prefers his wolf, and I can’t—won’t—force him to change, to be what he doesn’t want to be.”
“What happened to Kian?” she asked. “Why is he mute? Some type of childhood trauma?” When he simply stared at her, Shay said, “I know you said he was born this way, but did anyone ever say why? Being born mute is a rarity, even among humans. If he was deaf, I could understand it better. But he’s not.” Though she voiced the last as a statement, her eyes questioned him.
“No, he’s not deaf,” Rory confirmed.
“So what happened? What did the doctors say?”
Rory sighed and went and sat on the bed, motioning for Shay to join him. “Shifters come in four basic classifications, with varying levels within. Rogues, at the bottom, have no control over their beast. They are ruled by instinct, barely one step above our animal counterpart. Omegas have more control, but their beast still tends to dominate their human nature. Betas have complete control over their beast and know how to work with it. Alphas can not only control their beasts but are able to tap into and use the power of their beast when necessary, without giving control over to it. And then there’s me. As pack alpha not only can I draw on the power of my beast—the two of us working together in harmony—but when necessary, I can pull power from the pack as well.”
“Sort of an alpha’s alpha,” Shay commented.
“Aye, though we don’t really have a name for it. Remember what I was saying about shifter females earlier?”
“About that ‘survival instinct’?” she asked, making air quotes. “It’s not limited to shifters. Human females tend to be drawn to alpha males as well.”
“In shifters it works both ways. The higher ranked the male, the stronger the female he’ll want, just like in the wild. Strong pairings produce strong offspring. It’s when you start mixing ranks that things get a little iffy.”
“Like your parents,” Shay stated, wondering what he was getting at.
“Yes. When an alpha and an omega mate, there’s no predicting the classification their offspring will fall into. That’s why to ensure succession, pack alphas will only mate with the strongest female of the pack—normally.”
He ran a hand through his vibrant red hair, a sure sign of his agitation. “Da lucked out with me. I turned out to be an alpha like him, although he really had no way of knowing for sure until I went through my first change at puberty.”
“Your personality didn’t give him a clue?”
“It gave an indication of the type of man I’d be, but there’s no way to tell about the wolf until it emerges.”
“So your wolf’s an alpha, and Shannon’s wolf is an alpha. What about Kian?”
“Kian’s wolf is as strong as, possibly even stronger than mine, since he spends so much time in wolf form. But something went wrong with his human side.”
Shay pondered this for a moment, letting the silence settle. “So let me see if I understand correctly. Kian’s mute because your dad’s an alpha but your mom’s an omega, and her wolf being weak somehow caused Kian to come out with a human disability.”
“Yes.”
“Bullshit.”
He blinked, his mouth sagging open the tiniest bit.
“Complete and utter bullshit. Genetics don’t work that way.”
“Maybe in humans but in wolves—”
“First of all,” she cut in, “you’re not wolves. You’re shifters. That means you’re human with a little something extra, and I beg to differ with you, but genetics work exactly the same way whether we’re talking humans or animals. I don’t know what caused Kian to be mute, but it damn sure skippy isn’t because your momma was an omega.”
Rory shook his head and opened his mouth, but Shay cut him off. “Don’t you dare tell me I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about. I know. I’ve run the tests. My mother’s an expert, remember? You think I wouldn’t have checked this shit out as soon as Kiesha told me what she was mated to, whose child she was carrying?
“If this is the kind of bullshit your parents were spouting, I’m guessing no one ever bothered to take Kian to a doctor, have him checked out. See if his problem could be fixed.” She gazed off, staring blindly at the mirror on the dresser. “Of course you didn’t. You probably don’t even go to doctors. If you can’t shift and heal it or Laurie Bell can’t treat it, you’re stuck with it.”
She turned her attention back to Rory to find him sitting there, dumbfounded. “When Alex returns from his honeymoon, you take Kian to see him. Get his throat checked out. I understand not wanting to expose your secret, but there are treatments, surgeries, things that can be done to give Kian his speech.”
“What if they don’t work?”
Shay shrugged. “At least you’ll have tried.”
When he still appeared troubled, she added, “I’d have to research the affliction, but from my understanding, muteness comes in two different forms. Either there was trauma to Kian’s vocal cords during birth that caused them to become damaged, or the portion of his brain that develops speech didn’t receive enough oxygen while in the womb. Did something happen when he was born? Did your mom suffer some type of mishap?”