The Gentle Wolf by Pia Foxhall

Author:Pia Foxhall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Paranormal Romance, Shifters, LGBT, Gay romance, Contemporary
Publisher: Pia Foxhall
Published: 2020-11-12T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Aodhan walked quietly around his father’s room at Moreland Aged Care as his father talked to him in half-rambling sentences with half-finished words throughout. It was the second time that week he’d needed to drop everything and come in. Niall’s health was fading, the dementia eating away more of him and there was a rattle in his chest when he breathed in. Aodhan turned to face him, biting at the inside of his lip, then tapping on a bit of wall nearby.

It seemed ironic that his father wanted to see him so often now that he thought he was someone else. He’d wanted nothing to do with Aodhan when he’d turned thirteen. But that was Aodhan’s fault, wasn’t it? That’s what they’d said. Everyone except for Iona.

He needed to see her too. He’d been putting it off, aware that bringing Thomas over had stirred up old enmity.

He walked over to the window and forced himself to breathe in the air from outside, and he missed Thomas with an ache. He wanted to be there, not here. It was a weekday, Thomas would be working, Aodhan was supposed to be working and sometimes he wondered if he needed to make Jesse full-time in part because he was sure his father was going to die in the next year or so.

When his father first mistook Aodhan for Odhran Donne, it hadn’t been easy, but Aodhan had assumed it was temporary. But it swiftly became the norm. Worse, when he’d arrived today, it had been to screaming and broken, agonised wolf howls that hurt Aodhan’s heart to hear. He hadn’t been emotionally close to his father for a decade, but no wolf should hurt like that.

He waited until his father seemed to talk himself into a state of staring into the room and not seeing anything – usually a prelude to rest – and he stepped outside, flagging Dewi.

‘I know,’ she said, as soon as she saw him. ‘I know, Aodhan, it’s getting worse. We are trying to work out ways to deal with Niall. We’re looking into a new pain medication made especially for shifters, but it’s expensive. It’s not covered by Medicare.’

‘If it works, I’ll find a way,’ Aodhan said, then closed his eyes. He wasn’t made of money. Maybe Iona could release some of the Donne family trust. The idea of talking to her about it ate at him. If he saw her today, he could get it out of the way.

‘Your sister won’t come at all?’ Dewi said in concern.

‘No,’ Aodhan said. ‘She hates him.’

‘Maybe if she saw Niall, how he’s doing.’

‘I don’t even know if she’d be upset to see him this way.’ Aodhan was horrified by his own words as soon as he’d said them and grimaced in apology at Dewi. She didn’t look shocked. He wondered how many toxic family relationships she’d seen, how much she’d learned about families that would surprise most people. But Aodhan only had his own, and all he knew was that the Donne surname was just that: a surname, not a family.

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