Eric POV

"Babe, are you sure this is a good idea? Confronting your mother without backup?" Vince said rubbing my shoulders. 

"As much as I've moved on in my life and past the hurt. I have so many unanswered questions about why she is the way she is. Why did she leave dad like she did? All those questions are still left unanswered and I want to know why. Besides, I'm not going to be alone, dad deserves answers as well if not more." I said. 

"I'd still feel better if you took some warriors. The last time you met up with her she pulled a gun on you." Vince said kissing my mark. 

Fuck this cheeky bastard that I love so much. 

"Fine, I'll take a few warriors. Apparently, my mother has a record and should have been locked up years ago so Baine is having a few cops on standby." 

"Love, what if that's why she ran. Your dad was assigned to arrest her. It makes perfect sense why she ran." Now that I think about it, it does make some sense and it's too coincidental that my dad got shot the day my mom decided to leave town. Did she plan the robbery?

"I'll bring it up with her when we get there." I said. 

After we talked about my mother,  talked a bit more about random things, and then got in the shower. 

"About time, I was about to send a search party." Dad chuckled as he was sitting on the couch. 

"Well, morning to you." I sassed sitting next to him. 

"Morning kiddo." He smiled. 

"How are things going with Baine and Gio?" I asked. 

"Fine, nothing's really changed. We're doing our own things when it comes to working and when we're home we're a happily mated pair." He said and God how I never wanted to see that smile disappear from his face. 

"I'm glad things are well." I said. 

"Come on you two, breakfast is ready." Adin said breaking up our moment of bonding. 

I just huffed and went to the table. 

"Don't pout lover, you'll get wrinkles." Vince said. 

"Yea yea." I grumbled and they all laughed at me as we ate. 

"So are you guys just going to talk to that woman or do stuff before then?" Adin asked. 

"Not quite sure." Dad said. 

We were talking for a bit then Seth called us over to the living room. 

"Breaking news, American Soccer Star and captain Caleb Blackstone was shot last night." The news announcer said. 

"Authorities say the shooter is a crazed fan who has had an obsession with Caleb since the start of his career. Caleb is said to be in stable condition but has unfortunately lost a lot of blood." The announcer spoke. 

We were all speechless, to say the least. Our mate... Was shot. 

"This can't be real…" Seth said. 

"They can't fake his blue eyes." Adin said. 

He had a point. Caleb's eyes are unnatural and unique. 

"We have to find out what hospital he's at." Nathan said. 

"I'm not at a hospital." We all turned to see Caleb at the front door.

"Babe, what the hell happened?" I asked. 

"Some crazed fan shot me, luckily I was able to perfect my flame armor and it just bounced off." He said like it was nothing to him. 

"And the blood they found at the crime scene?" I asked. 

"I used some of my own blood." He said. 

"I'll just alter everyone's memory and then meet up with the team at our next match as if nothing happened." He said plopping in the recliner. 

"You could have at least called." Adin said pouting. 

"I'm sorry, I just missed you guys and knew the news would make it more dramatic than needed." He said and we hugged him. 

"How are you doing love?" He asked Seth.  

"It feels good to not have a stomach I have to be careful of." He said chuckling.

"When's your next appointment? I hope I'm here for it. My next game is in two days then like a week or two after is my last game of the season." Caleb said. 

"My appointment is actually tomorrow." Seth said. 

"Ok great. I'm going to go see them." Caleb said heading upstairs. 

It's only after ten in the morning and it's already been more eventful than it's been in a while. 

"Kiddo, we should go." Dad said. 

"As much as I don't want to, let's get this over with." I sighed. 

I don't think I'll ever be ready for this but at the same time, this is the last effort I'll make. 

When we got to the park we walked to where we would be meeting her.

"What took you both so long?" My mother asked with her arms crossed. 

"Do you really care enough?" My dad asked. 

"Not really but seeing as you both asked to meet up first, I figured you'd both be here on time." She huffed. 

"My mate was just shot so excuse me if I wanted to know whether he was alright or not." I growled. 

"Don't sass me, boy, whether we like it or not I'm still your mother." He glared. 

"What mother tries to shoot their son?" I half yelled. 

"At least you're alive." Is she fucking kidding me? 

"You tried shooting me on purpose." I was pissed. 

"You're right, I did. I'm… sorry." She said. 

"You tried shooting our son and had me shot when you staged that robbery." My dad said out of the blue. 

"You can't prove I did anything. I wasn't happy in our marriage so I left. It was only a coincidence you got shot the same day." She said and her heart rate began to speed up.

"Your brother was the shooter, that's not a coincidence. What I still can't figure out is why." He said. 

"I told you, I was unhappy so I left and took my son… only to find out that my son was going to be a disappointment and betrayed me." 

"You can't honestly believe that just because he's gay that he's a disappointment." Dad said. 

"I do and you can't change my mind, Drew." My mother said. 

"You are unbelievable and screwed up." My dad said getting up. 

"Not as screwed as you two are." She laughed. 

What the hell did that mean?

"Did you take me from dad and had him shot because you knew you were going to be arrested?" I said seeing red.

Before we could react, my mother was making a run for it as we were surrounded by rogues. Dammit… 

"What the hell are we going to do, she's getting away." I said to my dad. 

"Don't worry about her, we're not the only ones who were set up." Dad smirked as he punched a rogue. 

"What?" I asked, strangling another rogue. 

"You'll see." He said and winked at me before we shifted taking out the rest of the wolves. 

By the time we finished off the last few rogues, we walked to the car and changed into new clothes since we tore the ones we were wearing. 

"Now are you going to tell me what you meant?" I asked. 

"Quit whining and look over there." He said and pointed to my mother in the back of a police cruiser banging on the bars on the windows. 

"You're evil." I chuckled as I hugged him. 

"Not evil, just protective over my pride and joy." He said smiling as we drove away from the park. I know I'm a grown man now but hearing him call me that made my eyes sting and my chest get tight. 

"I love you, dad." I said getting a bit choked up. 

"I love you too kiddo. How do you feel about hanging out with your old man a bit?" He said. 

"That sounds perfect." I said yawning as I felt my eyes get heavy. I didn't realize I could be this tired until now. 

I don't know how long I was out but I was being woken up by dad. 

"Kiddo wake up." He said and I groaned. 

"Where are we?" I asked. 

"Well, I know how much you said you still love looking at the stars and planets so I figured why not come to a space museum." Dad said. 

"As grown as I am, you still manage to spoil me." I chuckled getting out of the car. 

"And I'll continue to, I've missed so much for your life Eric, I missed all your games, I wasn't there to help you after your first mate broke your heart… I just want to make up for all my failures as your father." Does he think he failed me? Is this man crazy?

"Dad, in no way have you failed me. Mom screwed us both over. You did what you could and from what I could remember, you were the only one to accept me for being gay. I now see that you being pansexual made it easier but you didn't treat me any differently and made my childhood the best as possible." I said smiling, wiping his tears. 

"I love you, dad." I said kissing his cheek. 

"I love you too kiddo." He said as we went into the museum and walked around. 

"How was that kiddo?" Dad asked. 

"I loved it, thank you for bringing me." I said.

"No problem kiddo, I'm glad you had fun. Is there anywhere you want to go now?" 

"We haven't done much of what you want to do. For the past month, it's always what I want and although we've rebonded, I still know very little about your likes and dislikes. How am I to buy you anything or plan a hang out properly?" I said. 

"Eric calm down. If you really want to know what I like and don't like them you could have just asked. I'm very much an outdoor person but at the same time I love being home and having family time, I don't really have any dislikes other than disloyalty and liars. " he said.

"Ok, dad." I said and we drove to get lunch. 

"Hello, welcome to Outback Steakhouse." The hostess said. 

"Table for two please." Dad said. 

"Right this way." She said. 

"Your waitress will be with you shortly." She said and we nodded

I can't believe how amazing dad has been. Especially with the kids. I wonder if they'll have any more with there being ten kids already. 

"Dad, are you planning on having any more kids?" I asked. 

"I'd like to, and I thought I was pregnant but I wasn't. I just had really bad food poisoning. It would be interesting what our kids would like if I had any with Baine and Gio." 

"Understandable." I said. 

When I got home, I was tired as hell. After lunch, we went to the arcade and then the movies.

"Did you wanna come in and see your grandbabies?" I chuckled getting out. 

"I'll stop by tomorrow." He smiled. 

"Have a good rest of the day kiddo." He said before driving off and I went inside.

"For once Liam didn't kidnap Gavin and Hayden?" I chuckled looking at Vince and Caleb both having a twin.

"He said no more baby swapping, he misses Ethan." Caleb chuckled. 

"Ethan really has become attached to you like another dad." I said sitting with them on the couch. 

"Where are Nathan, Seth, and Adin?" I asked. 

"Bathing the babies with Altan's assistance." Caleb said and I sighed. 

"He really is like you in almost every way personality-wise." I smiled. 

"Minus his temper and sassy attitude, that's all Adin and some." I shook my head. 

"At least he's not acting out and being a wild child." I said. 

"With him having a tiger spirit we know very little about, he's unpredictable." Caleb said.

"That may be so but we all know Altan is a great guy nonetheless… unless you piss him off, then he's ready to burn down the entire town." Vince said chuckling. 

"That kid had it coming, he hurt someone I care about." Altan said coming downstairs. 

"You sent him to the hospital for three days Altan." Caleb said putting his dad pants on. 

"Grandpa said you had anger issues too." 

"I did, and I went to a shifter school to help me work with Raja." Caleb said. 

Just them bickering back and forth had my head spinning. 

"Can y'all stop arguing, the kids are going to wake up." Adin said.

"Altan, go to your room and cool off." Adin said, leaving no room to argue so he marched upstairs to his room. 

"Caleb, when are you going to learn he's not a little kid anymore. You know people in this family mature rather quickly. He feels horrible about that boy the same way you do about what happened to your brothers." Adin said. 

"I know all that… it's just I want him to be better than I was. Ethan and the other two were born with several things wrong and there's not a day I don't feel bad about it. I want him to be able to control himself before he does what he did again. Luckily the kid was supernatural and not human. Unintentionally killing someone or even intentionally killing someone sticks with you for life. I don't want that for him." Caleb said. 

"We know love but you have to help guide him… without yelling. Since the soccer season is almost over maybe you can help him prepare for the shifter academy when he turns fourteen." Vince said squeezing his hand lightly. 

"I'll try." He said and all hugged him. 

"I can't believe how fast all our babies are growing." Seth said as we were watching all nine doing their own thing. 

"It seems Gavin and Hayden's eyes are changing." I said randomly. 

"They change, Dr. Balwin said they're naturally blue but change like mood rings in a way. His words, not mine." Caleb said and we chuckled. 

"Did they eat?" I asked. 

"Yea when you came in they had just been fed." Vince said. 

I nodded and the six of us just watched tv in the living room and smiled when Holt and Altan came down to join us. 

"Papa Eric, you never told us how things went with your mother." Holt asked and they all turned to me and I sighed. 

"It was a trap and she tried killing us again, we were surrounded by rogues but luckily with the training, Sebastian put us through, we managed." I said. 

"You didn't take any warriors?" Caleb asked and I sighed. 

"Baby, I was a nervous wreck. Do you honestly think that was my main focus?" I said. 

"You're right, I'm sorry. So what happened to her?" Seth asked. 

"Well, I guess my dad figured out she never really wanted to repair our bond so he had a trap of his own and she fell for it and she was arrested." I said shrugging. 

"Well here's to hoping she gets what she deserves." Nathan said and I nodded. 

Even though she's my mom, I hope she rots in hell.