His gesture only served to upset me more. I wasn’t used to being coddled. My family weren’t huggers or big on public displays of affection.
As we turned into the emergency entrance of the medical center, I stiffened my spine. When I walked into the hospital, I needed to be stalwart, not showing a speck of emotion. My family needed to know I was a leader they could trust, not some whiney bitch. There would be time to cry later; when I was alone.
“Do you want me to come in with you?” Dalton asked, looking scared.
“No, I’ll be okay.” No one outside our family knew we were a clan of bear shifters, even so, outsiders knew enough to steer clear of us.
Relief washed over Dalton’s handsome face. “I’m here if you need anything.”
I nodded at the young man and shut the door. I didn’t look back, instead looking forward to the automatic doors. I caught a glimpse of my reflection as I walked past, worn jeans, black tee, dirty boots, the overpowering odor of fish. Not exactly the outfit of a man capable of taking over in a crisis.
Be that as it may, I headed inside. When I gave the receptionist my name, her face fell. Just one more indication that my father was in trouble. She led me down a hall where several members of my family and the clan elders stood. Some leaned against the wall silently, while others paced.
“What are you doing here?” My Uncle Cedric asked, maneuvering his large body in front of the hospital room door.
In that moment, I felt all of my precious control slip away. “Enough of the bullshit, Cedric. I’ve taken your abuse for the last time. Get out of my way, or I’ll move you myself.”
Growls rose up around me. Two elders stood by Cedric’s side along with two other uncles. Several of my younger brothers stood behind me, with uncertain looks on their faces. I was done with family dynamics, done with being politically correct, and done trying to be the man no one else bothered to see.
Shoving my uncle out of the way, I entered the room. What I saw left me speechless. My father was unrecognizable. His head was swathed in bloodstained bandages and a ventilator breathed for him while his heartbeat blipped on a screen. “Oh, Daddy.”
“You must be Mr. Grimes,” a voice said from behind me. “I’m Doctor Cosgrove.”
I startled. Spinning around, I saw a young woman in a white lab coat. I’d been so focused on my father, I hadn’t noticed the doctor in the room. I managed to nod before my eyes went back to my father. “What happened? Is he going to be okay?”
“From what we were told by the medics on the scene, your father was proceeding through a green traffic signal when a dump truck ran the red light and hit your father’s vehicle.”
“Jesus,” I muttered under my breath. Only a vehicle larger than Dad’s truck could have done this much damage.
“As to your other question, I’m sorry to tell you that your father won’t survive this accident.”
My blood ran cold at those words. “Won’t survive? What are you saying?” I knew what she was saying. The evidence was staring me in the face.
“Your father suffered a catastrophic brain injury. The respirator is breathing for him since there is no brain function.”
“Brain dead.” I looked up at the doctor with tears stinging my eyes. “Are you saying he’s brain dead?”
“I am, Mr. Grimes. We’ve been provided with your father’s healthcare directive instructing that no extraordinary means be used to keep him alive. We’ve been waiting for you to arrive.”
To pull the plug, my mind supplied. I sat down hard in the chair next to my father’s bed. “I understand.” I did. My father had gone over his final wishes with me. I never imagined a time would come when I’d be forced to put his directive into motion.
“Do you want the family here?” she asked gently.
I nodded, not having the strength to say the word. My full attention turned back to my father. He was the one man who’d always accepted me just as I was. What the hell was I going to do without him and his steady influence over my life?
“Well?” Uncle Cedric asked from behind me. “Are you going to shut off the machine or sit there and cry?”
Anger mixed with sadness in my gut. The last thing I needed right now was to let my anger win. I didn’t think I could live with myself, knowing I was the one who ended my father’s life. I made eye contact with the doctor.
“Family members are not allowed to turn off the machines, Mr. Grimes,” Doctor Cosgrove said.
I watched in numbed silence as she pressed buttons on the machine displaying my father’s vitals. She turned off the ventilator and began the process of removing the breathing tube.
With my own shaking hand, I reached out for my father’s. It was warm and heavy. “It’s okay, Daddy. We’re all here and we love you. It’s okay to go.” My emotions threatened to come spilling out, but I reached deep for my last shred of self-control. I was not going to break down in front of my uncle and the clan elders.
One long breath escaped my father’s lips. Seconds later, his heart rate flatlined on the screen. I was expecting the wail of an alarm, but none came. The doctor must have shut that function off. She checked his vital signs one last time. “He’s gone. I’m so sorry for your loss. Please take as much time as you need with him.” She set a hand on my shoulder before leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
In the silence of those moments, I said a prayer for my father’s soul. I hoped he was at peace and promised to see him again someday. Tears slipped down my face to splash against my dirty work shirt.
“As the leader of Clan Sitka, I hereby banish you from clan lands,” Uncle Cedric said.
My eyes flying open, I gasped at Cedric. A million thoughts spun through my brain in a millisecond. Cedric wasn’t the clan leader. I was. As my father’s oldest son, the job fell to me. “You’re not the head of this clan, Cedric. I am.”
“We voted,” my younger brother, Liam, said. He was my father’s second-born son. “Since I’m too young to take my rightful place as my father’s heir, Uncle Cedric will take over.”
“Your rightful place?” I was stunned. In the span of five minutes, I’d lost my father and my birthright. “What do you mean you voted? I am our father’s oldest son.”
“Your father allowed you to labor under the misapprehension that you were his child. It is obvious to the clan and the elders that this is not true. I am clan leader.” Cedric’s eyes glittered with venomous glee. “Get out. Now. Never show your face again on our ancestral lands.”
Looking around the room, I could see my brothers and sisters nodding in agreement. The elders stood in solidarity with my uncle. “DNA. Test us both, and you’ll see I am my father’s son.”
Cedric’s smile deepened. “We did that years ago, foolish boy. You are not my brother’s child. Now get out of here before I call security.”
Liam took a step toward me. He grabbed my hand away from our father and yanked me out of my seat. Our brother, Caleb, opened the door and they pushed me out into the hall before shutting the door in my face.
What was I going to do now? Word of my banishment would quickly reach every member of the Sitka Clan. I knew if I didn’t obey my uncle’s edict, he’d send his goons after me. Bear shifters didn’t often associate with other shifters, but I’d heard rumors about my uncle working with rogue wolves who’d been thrown out of their packs.