Love Is Always Write Volume 4

off the mountain. Your sister asked me before to pair with her and I told her no, so she took what I wouldn't give her. I thought that we trusted each other but you branded me a rapist and that was the end of it."
    "She was my sister. You were my best friend and my lover. What was I supposed to think when I found you in bed together?"
    "Well I thought you would want an explanation. Instead you went for bullets."
    There was a sharp kittenish scream coming from the bathroom. Travis moved to rush there but was strong armed to a halt with a forearm across the chest. Rod shook his head. "The last thing that boy wants is to be seen as a weakling. He will come out when he's good and ready."
    "You've gotten hard."
    "The world is a cruel and unforgiving place."
    "Roddie doesn't need to learn that yet."
    "Which is why you're going to take him back up to sanctuary."
    "He wants to be with his father."
    "I have nothing to teach him but the dark side of life."
    "Then come home."
    "I am home. This is the home I've been forced to make."
    "You didn't used to be this way."
    "No, I trusted my family to be there for me." Rod reached out and cupped the side of Travis's face. "I ran with a golden cougar out in the highest of mountains and trusted that his love for me was pure and true. I was wrong. So don't expect me to welcome you back with open paws and an exposed throat. You almost killed me last time. You think I'm going to give you another chance?"
    "You have a home, Rodrigo. You had a misguided sister, an overreacting brother and a lover so blinded by jealousy that I couldn't see the truth. Even if you can't come back to me, I am raising your son. Come back with us."
    "Come back to you? I'm not the one who left."
    Rod followed Travis's gaze and saw tan skin, black curls and huge golden eyes staring back at them. He might have the appearance of a young human but the stance he was in screamed different. Roddie moved forward on all fours as if he were still in cat form, his naked butt high in the air but unstable because of the loss of the tail. The little were shook with the effort to walk but he made it all the way over to his father and uncle. Small hands tried to dig into denim to find purchase then awkwardly closed around handfuls of material. Rod stood still allowing the cub to climb up on hind legs to an upright position.
    "Good job." Rod reached down and tousled the soft black curls.
    Roddie opened his mouth but all that came out were growls and a hiss of frustration. "Human talk takes a while. Same with walking upright. Your uncle was teaching you how to stalk. It's the same thing, you have to practice every day."
    You show me. You promised.
    "You can't stay with me, cub. I'm an enforcer here and I've created many enemies who, just like that wolf who hurt you, don't care if you are still a cub. You say there are no black cats in the mountains. Well there isn't in the city either so we stand out anyway. They will look for you because you look like me and when they find you…"
    They will kill just like those hunters shot mom.
    Rod stared over at Travis with a puzzled expression on his face. Travis reached out and twirled a curl around a finger. "No, he didn't see it but it happened on the grounds. Close to the house." Travis squatted and ran his hand along his nephew's back, which was perfectly formed for the first attempt at human.
    Unca killed them.
    "I guess I'm an enforcer too, Rowdie, just not on the same scale. We need you. Your son needs your guidance. Your brother needs your support. Your lover…" Travis looked up from his crouched position, tears glistening in golden eyes, "needs to know if anything can be done to fix what went wrong."
    Daddy?
    Hot wetness coated Rod's leg as his little boy lost control and peed. The mortification on the cub's face was priceless. "Take it in your hand and shake it."
    "I'm so sorry." Travis leapt up to his feet.
    "Getting pissed on by my own cub is nothing compared to some of the other stuff that's been on me. Go to my locker and get a t-shirt. You, little man, you remember what that felt like before you had to go. When you are hairless, humans go and use the toilet. If you pee in public you can get into trouble."
    Together Rod and Travis got a squirmy hairless cub into a massively oversized t-shirt. Once the black curls popped through the neck all the fight seemed to go out of the little cub.
    "I've been searching for him for almost two weeks."
    "The news was reporting sightings. You