More Truths or More Lies?

More Truths or More Lies?
Falcon
The whole way back to my home in the city, I made sure Carson understood what we had to do. This was quite possibly the third most important thing I would ever do after Osprey and having Tasha and the guys as our mates. We paced around the backyard for a moment, breathing deeply in an effort to calm our hearts. One lie had been proven false and we had been left wondering about another. So far we didn’t have a reason to distrust her and I hope this didn’t give us one.
Carson lowered our snout to the ground and let out a silent, but vibrating growl along the ground, making our request to the forest. After he was finished, he kept his head low and his body tensed, waiting. The forest could choose to deny our request but I prayed it wouldn’t. Our family needed this. Hell, I needed this. We stood still waiting for a response and I was surprised that it came so fast.
Within minutes, the vines that took our bodies away bunched, coiled and bunched on the ground in front of us, filling the entire yard until all we could see were vines. After a while, the vines made an opening in the middle of them, revealing a body that I never thought I would see. I shifted back to carefully approach the corpse and the vines moved out of my way so I wouldn’t step on it.
I knew how disrespectful it was to do so and how fast making that grave error would result in the vines wrapping me up to put me under the earth until my demise. I squatted next to the body that was just bones held together in clothes. Around what used to be its neck a locket lay tarnished but still very obvious in what it was. I carefully removed the necklace from around the bones and walked back to my place. I set the locket on the ground to shift back.
Carson lowered his snout back to the ground, emitting the silent growl again, thanking the forest for allowing us to view the body. We held our position until the body was reabsorbed into the vines and every single last vine had gone back to its place in the forest. I shifted back to open the locket. My heart sank when I saw a young Timothy alongside his father. I closed my hand around it, breathing deeply.
She was telling the truth and it was up to me to fix this mess. I only hoped that it wouldn’t breed distrust between our sleuth and the town. I needed the town more than ever now. My mates were part of it and I would do anything for them, even if it meant holding them hostage in my basement if I needed to. I closed my eyes as tears filled them to take even more calming breaths. I hadn’t put much faith in our relationships and it had proven our downfall every single time. I could continue to act like the big bad alpha who had to be in control of everything.
I set the locket back down to shift again and Carson gently picked up the locket so that it hung off one of his teeth. We quickly took off towards our house, praying to the Goddess that everything would be okay. To say that I was terrified was an understatement. We made it back to the house quickly and hovered in the trees, watching the kids play together. Jeremy and Morgan shrieked with laughter every time Godric rolled around in a cub ball. I smiled before walking off to find clothes. Once dressed I pocketed the locket and went back to my family. Tasha rushed over to me to kiss me.
‘Everything okay?,’ she linked.
I held her tightly against my body, needing her to be close to calm my worry.
‘I need to talk to Tim.’
She rubbed my back and I relaxed a little. She always knew exactly what to do to bring me back down to an even emotional level. I sighed as I inhaled her scent again.
‘Do you need me to be there?’
‘I would like everybody to be there.’
She kissed my cheek. ‘Okay. Dinner is almost done. We can talk about it then.’
I couldn’t do anything but nod. I needed time to enjoy his company if this went south and I was about to take every last second. I let her go to sit next to Timothy and Jamie on the stairs. They both instantly scooted closer to me and Timothy laid his head on my shoulder while Jamie took my hand. I stared at our joined hands for a moment before squeezing his fingers.
“How’s it going?”
“Well, as you can see, Valerie isn’t out here. Neither Osprey nor Godric would leave her alone. I don’t know what’s going on with them but it frightened Morgan when he growled at her when she walked up to her mother.”
I sighed. “I don’t know either. Has he ever acted that way before?”
“No. It’s like he’s protecting her from something.”
“Maybe it’s because she’s pregnant. He’s super protective over Tasha, too.”
Timothy shook his head. “Not like this.”
I watched as he rolled around again. “We’ll figure it out. He can’t act that way. I’ll talk to him.”
Suddenly, Godric came sprinting towards them and I caught him around the waist when the door opened behind us. He started growling and clawing at me and not even a loud warning growl from me made him cease his struggle.
“ENOUGH OR YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO VISIT!,” I almost shouted to be heard over his growls.
He stopped thrashing and resorted to light growls to get his point, whatever it was.
“I’m going to let you go but you will not run up on her. If I have to warn you about anything else, you will not see her,” I warned.
I slowly let him go and he stayed at my side. I bared my teeth at him before standing up. I smiled at Valerie.
“Sorry about him. What’s up?”
“Tasha asked me to come tell you guys that dinner was done.”
“We’ll be right there.”
I made Godric wait until everyone else was inside before taking him to the chair in the corner that was positioned next to a small box that held clothes for all of us. He shifted back and I began to get him dressed.
“You can’t act this way, son. We don’t hurt innocent people.”
He tilted his head to look at his mother who had joined us on the porch. He looked back at me.
“I wish you talked more so you could tell us why you were acting this way,” I tell him. “We want to help you. We just don’t know what’s going on to be able to help you. Is she sick?,” I asked. He shook his head. “Is he hurting her?” Again, he shook his head. “Is the baby sick?”
His eyes widened but he shook his head. Tasha walked over to us to kneel beside him. She ruffled his hair.
“Is it because of the baby? Are you trying to protect her?,” she asks softly.
He nodded before looking between us again. “Mommy, mate.”
“What?”
He looks up into my eyes. “Mate.”
What. In. The. Actual. Fuck?