Mated to alpha triplets at all-boys school Chapter 166

Everett pov

My reaction to mom's statement is kind of disrespectful. Okay, I take it back, it's downright disrespectful since I laugh at her face.

But how else am I supposed to react to the most ridiculous words I've ever heard leave her lips?

Mom has always loved thinking up fairy tales for us before we went to bed, but this one takes the cake. And the cherry on top of it.

The look on her face perfectly reflects every emotion that runs through her, most of them negative. I understand, it can't be pleasant that her own son laughs in her face but I can't help it.

“Mom,” I breathe out and wipe the tears off my cheeks. “You can't be serious. I know you aren't, but even voicing the assumption is a little too far. Even for you.”

“Why?” She frowns. “This Ash seems like a nice girl. Why couldn't she be something more than a friend to my boys? Are you implying you're not good enough for her? Haven't I raised you three into fine young men?”

I can't believe this, but mom sounds genuinely offended by my reaction.

There's no situation in which I would deliberately want to make my mom feel bad, but right now, she's stepping a little too far over the boundaries of what I could call normal behavior.

“Mom, Ethan already spilled the beans on her life story, why would you even voice thoughts like that? Can't we switch the topic and focus on something else? Like the council and some guesses how the meeting will end?”

She remains silent for maybe five seconds at best and then, shows me her tongue like some toddler who's in a playful mood, checking now far the parents will let the kid go.

“Nope,” she drags the word. “I don't think that changing the topic for your benefit is fair. I want to gossip. The council situation is pissing me off and unless you want to watch your mother get drunk off her butt, I suggest you entertain my curiosity.” She grins and leans forward, as if I already agreed to share some drama with her.

I look away to hide how I roll my eyes and grumble, “I can't believe dad has survived all of those years next to you. I love you, I really do, but sometimes you're simply insufferable.”

Instead of taking offense to my words, mom laughs and produly agrees with my statement. Great, now I can clearly see where Ethan got his hyperactive crazy from, because it definitely didn't come from dad.

“I take pride in being difficult, you should've learned that by now, Everett,” she almost sings the words, probably doing that on purpose just to annoy me a little more.

Since there's no way I'm letting her get so drunk that dad will blame me for it till the end of my days, I give up. “Okay, tell me what you want to know and I'll gossip with you.”

Mom claps her hands and jumps to her feet so fast, she almost doubles over, saved only by my reaction and ability to catch her before she falls. “Shit, sorry, I got a little dizzy there,” she giggles.

Great, she might not be drunk off her ass just yet, but she's already drunk enough to lose the simplest of the motor controls.

When I finally manage to straighten her out, mom hops around the small table and drops her body next to mine, looking nowhere near the drunk state she was in just seconds ago.

“Start with the beginning. Ethan was too frantic to give me the details when he first shared the story, so I'm sure I'm missing some important pieces to the puzzle you boys call Ash. Also, after he found out about that rumor concerning the hunters, you too got to see his reaction. No way he's telling me things while acting like that.”

“We met her at the Academy, she was our assigned roommate,” I lay out the very beginning of the story, sharing the part of our first meeting.

“But how? Dad and I sent you to an all boys school, not the regular one. How could a girl join an establishment that is specifically created for young boys only?”

I look down at mom and chuckle at the way she scrunches her nose, the same as she does every time something confuses her.

“She was pretending to be a guy,” I offer the easiest of the answers. Going into details about why or how would be too daunting.

“Okay, so why did she need to pretend to be a guy then?”

“Because,” I start and instantly stop to think about the words I could use. How do I explain such traumatic things to my mom? This isn't my story to tell, I would much rather appreciate it if Ash told the story herself.

But, since I don't have Ash here, I'll have to make do with whatever I still have. “Because she was trying to escape her mate, cue to remember the mate is the prince and he rejected her. From what Ash was willing to share, she couldn't find the strength to accept his rejection before she ran and months later, the prick changed his mind about having her.”

“I remember Ethan mentioning that. Is there more?”

“Nope,” I too drag out the word, a little payback if you will. “Ethan told you that Ash was hiding there from the prince and after that one masked dance party we really wanted to go to, the prince eventually found Ash and she had to come clean with us about her true identity.”

Mom thinks for another minute and eventually speaks up again. “I don't trust the Academy principal at all. I don't trust far too many of your classmates and teachers, but while I haven't met Ash in person properly, I trust her. She's good for you boys,” mom steers completely off topic, slurring her words.

I realize that the little alcohol she had was too much and now, I need to look after her so she doesn't do anything stupid or reckless. So much for shifters being able to hold their drinks.

“When the day comes and you two finally meet, let's hope you don't overwhelm her.”