And the Cat's in the Cradle

Rhyme stared off into the distance, lost in his thoughts. He hadn’t noticed Valentine approaching until it was too late. His bright blue and lavender gaze were swift to find him as he approached. The decision had been made for him, he had to talk to his father. Affection was something he was beginning to get better at, it felt natural with Shaye or Rhythm, but with his father? Rhyme remained still, barely managing to seat himself as the old king spoke. ”Nothing escapes you," He managed to chuckle as he found his father’s bright blue gaze with his own.

He sighed heavily, his gaze falling to the ground between them. "I came to talk to you." Rhyme admitted, realizing how much he had avoided talking to Valentine about. He’d never actually announced his rank as alpha to the old king, and he’d even gone as far as to hide the pregnancies of the two women he loved. "I want.. my Dad’s advice." He always called Valentine ‘Father’ but Dad seemed more appropriate in the moment. "I made a couple of bad decisions recently. Mainly drinking too much." He tried to chuckle away the how severely he’d screwed up, but he couldn’t consider those beautiful little bundles a mistake. "I got really drunk and got a couple of pack members pregnant."

That was an easy way to ease into all this right? The beginning? "Tana, the tiny woman you probably noticed at the party." She might have looked like a tiny waif but Rhyme knew she was stronger than many wolves emotionally at least. She’d watched her newborns be murdered in front of her eyes, he wouldn’t have stayed sane after watching that. "The other is Shaye." He admitted, wondering how Valentine might take that news. "Four girls and a boy." Rhyme choked on his words and averted his gaze to the horizon as his eyes stung with tears. "Two boys." Darilnor’s loss weighed most heavily on him. "He was so tiny and perfect, and I couldn’t bring him back." His voice was hoarse by now and he looked up into the heavily starred sky as he blinked back tears. He couldn’t cry in front of his dad, that wouldn’t help with anything.