KODA'S POV
My grandfather's face went from white to gray, and he started shaking his head frantically. "I... what I meant was..."
"Silence!" My father's voice boomed through the dining room, rattling the windows. He stood up so fast his chair scraped against the stone floor. "Not another word from you, old man."
He turned to me, and I had never seen him look at me like that before. Like I was a stranger. Like I had betrayed him in the worst possible way.
"Talk," he said. His voice was quiet now, but somehow that made it more terrifying. "Tell me what your grandfather means by mate."
The word stuck in my throat like a piece of glass. I could feel sweat beading on my forehead, could hear my heartbeat thundering in my ears. I had practiced this conversation a thousand times in my mind, but never like this. Never with my grandfather looking like he wanted to disappear into the floor and my father's eyes burning holes through me.
