A/N I had to make some changes because I forgot to change something in the editing process that a reader thankfully pointed out.
Lyle called me up a few days later for our regular chats on the phone. It was hard trying to make time for each other considering we were both running packs unofficially. Xander was finding his adjustment to being Alpha rather stressful. He was often calling me, Oliver, or Hayden to help him figure out solutions for problems he encountered or sometimes just to take a load of paperwork off him. I often took over the training sessions he was supposed to run or his border patrol when he was drowning in things to do. Uncle Zach tried to make the transition as smooth as possible, but without having an official Luna and still being in high school made it all the more difficult. Lilith going crazy over her pregnant mate didn't help Xander's stress either.
Lyle often called me during mealtime so there would be a better chance of me answering. I wasn't surprised to see his caller ID pop up once I sat down to eat my lemon chicken. I swallowed my food before answering.
"Hey-"
"We are going on a date," Lyle cut me off.
"Oh? When?" I stopped eating my food to give him my full attention.
"In like a half hour. I'm picking you up. I already talked to Xander and he's aware you are going out tonight. Hayden is gracious enough to take over your border patrol, so you are completely available for me to whisk you off for the night," he explained swiftly, not letting me get a single word in. I looked down at the clock to see it was only half past five so that meant he'd be here by six. But he wasn't driving yet, so that was suspicious.
"I have lots of questions," I stated.
There was a slight chuckle over the line that didn't fail to make my heart flutter. It's taken some time in order to truly see Lyle as a significant other rather than the boy I grew up with, but the mating pull was making it easy to forget that minor detail.
"I know. Now go get ready. Casual attire, but I have a feeling you will manage to dress up nicely no matter how I tell you to dress," he teased. I rolled my eyes even though he couldn't see me.
"The curse of being friends with Weston for so many years." That earned me a snort over the line. Not as heartwarming as the laugh, but still enough to make me smile.
"Now get ready. I'll text you when I'm there," He ordered just before the line went dead.
I finished my little dinner, knowing that if he gave me more food I'd be more than willing to eat it anyway. My closet was filled with a lot more clothes than I came with. I learned very quickly that LIlith had a shopping obsession, and if she couldn't find something in her size, she'd manage to use her magic to make it fit perfectly. It was much to my benefit as she often lengthened my pants that were a bit too short on me. A curse of being 6'3 but ever so lean. Her shopping obsession only got worse with the news of her pregnant mate. Baby clothes galore.
I chose my typical black shirt and paired it with a new green hooded jacket that Lilith got me recently. Changing it up, I went with some light-washed blue jeans but kept to my usual black combat boots. I glanced in the mirror to examine my black curly mop on my head. Lilith got me on this curly hair routine that has made my curls more defined and less frizzy. I was grateful for that because I barely needed to mess with my curls now to make them presentable.
I was about to leave my room to wait on my couch until I got a call from Weston.
"Hey-"
"Send me a pic of your date outfit. I need to approve it," he insisted. I wasn't sure what was with people cutting me off today.
"How did you find out?" I questioned accusingly. I have always been a private person. Not even Lyle grew up feeling like he knew me when we shared a wall for ten years. But ever since I've switched packs, this makeshift family has been up in all my business. I was having rather mixed feelings about it.
"I was with Xander and Oliver when Lyle called Xander. I knew it was sus when Lyle asked for Xander's number a few days ago. Anyway, I'm gonna facetime you so you can show me." Within a second, a facetime request popped up on the screen. I was faced with Weston and his vibrant red hair filling the screen. I sighed before turning the camera to face the mirror so he could get a whole look at me.
"Hot dayum! Is that a new jacket? When you wear green your eyes make me want to die!" I noticed he screenshotted the screen, so I quickly turned the camera to face my face instead. "I'm sending that to Emerald. She's gonna be so mad you are going on a date without talking to her. At least hopefully she'll never find out that it's Lyle. It would be her dream come true."
I mumbled an incoherent response about my annoying friends. Lyle texted saying he was here so I was able to cut Weston. He wished me luck and made some sexual inneundos before hanging up.
Sauntering through the halls of the packhouse suddenly made me nervous. I had never been on a real date before. Alex and I casually hung out a couple of times, even got dinner a few times, but it was never like this. It didn't help that I had a feeling that Lyle had something big planned.
Lyle leaned against his car outside of the house. A few wolves passing through gave him odd looks. It was always weird to see an Alpha-blooded person of a different pack casually in your territory. Though many people knew Lyle as my brother, it was still odd.
Lyle wore a white shirt with a denim jacket that matched with his denim jeans. Double denim was his style. His white converse were also his typical look. I was glad neither of us felt the need to change our regular appearances for this date. It made me relax a bit.
He smiled as soon as he noticed me approaching the car. "Hey." He gave me his award winning smile, the one all the girls in school fell for: the perfect football team captain. His defined muscles peaked through his shirt. It took everything in me to keep my eyes on his face rather than his gorgeous body. We were complete opposites physically and personality wise, but we worked.
I walked up to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before walking to the passenger's side of the car. "Hey, what do you have planned for us tonight?" I watched him hesitate with a newfound rose tint to his cheeks. He looked back at me, still flustered, before hopping in the car the same time as me.
"Uh, you'll have to wait and find out, Mr. Alpha," he teased, starting up the car. I leaned against the cool glass of the window. If I was human I'd be shivering from the cool February air.
I hummed in response, letting him drive away from the house.
"Are you still having your coronation? Wasn't it supposed to be in February?" He glanced away from the road to look at me with a grimace on his face. He always expressed his emotions so clearly on his face. A sharp contrast to me who basically had to fake reactions just to make people feel more comfortable with me.
He scratched his head before looking back at the road. "I pushed it back. The elders weren't happy about it, but I said I wanted to wait until I graduated high school. I just want to make sure you are all safe and secure with your life before doing something drastic." I felt my chest tighten at his words that dripped emotion. Emotion I felt for him as well, but couldn't express as easily.
"Lyle..."
He waved his hand to cut off any of my thoughts. "You aren't changing my mind about this, okay? It's just a ceremony, nothing special. I'm already basically acting as the Alpha. Right now it's not about me. It's about you," he insisted. The swelling feeling in my chest didn't stop. This didn't sound like the Lyle that used to do everything possible to shove me out of the spotlight. He sounded mature and caring.
"I know I can't fix my past, and I surely can't fix yours. But I'm going to do whatever I can to make you feel safe and loved now. Starting by taking you on a date, and then moving on to killing every single person that tried to kill you." He growled the last part, bringing me back to the thoughts about him being so expressive.
I let out a deep sigh, staring at his chiseled jaw as he drove. "Thank you. I- um- I really appreciate it. Everything you've done and everything you will do." My voice was stale, but small. It must've been enough for Lyle because he just gave me a small smirk.
We sat in silence for a few minutes as I noticed we left Black Hearts territory and entered no man's land. The stereo was playing Fallout Boys, which was a band Lyle despised for being overrated but I loved. Sometimes I felt like he didn't know me at all, that we were strangers. Yet when he does little things like playing my favorite band on the radio, I felt like he knew every small detail about me.
We didn't drive for long before we pulled up to a small beach on a frozen lake. Lake Venus was a hotspot for ice skating during the winter months, which was obvious from the dozens of skate marks. I quirked my eyebrow up at him as we parked. The sun was settling over the horizon, making Lyle's soft brown eyes glow an orange tint.
He smirked, reaching behind me to grab a very familiar bag. "I had Lilith steal your hockey bag, so I could get your skates without you knowing." I was a little speechless at his elaborate plan.
I managed a small smile. "I can't wait to see you fall on your ass. You fucking suck at skating," I deadpanned. Lyle made a sound of protest.
"Hey! I've gotten much better!" He defended himself as he threw the bag at me. I gave him a look that made it obvious that I doubted his statement.
We stepped out of the car into the chilly air. This was probably the coldest day this month, so I wasn't too surprised there wasn't anyone else skating. We probably would look nuts considering neither of us were bundled up like a human would.
We sat down on a nearby bench and began lacing our shoes. Somehow Lyle managed to get his tangled in the matter of a minute I wasn't watching him.
I rolled my eyes at his frustration with the laces as I bent down in front of him and began lacing them for him. He looked fairly pleased with me doing it for him. Our relationship was a weird range of dominance. Here we were on a date he delicately planned out, but here I was tying his laces as he smiled triumphantly at me. I enjoyed that fact neither of us were particularly worried about our masculinity being damaged.
I also had to help him stand and walk over to the ice. He was definitely wobbly looking like a newborn fawn attempting to walk. He gripped my wrists tightly as I glided him out to the ice. I waited to see if his tight grip bothered me, but it didn't. Thankfully I was a natural at skating backwards so I could keep a close eye on him.
"Stop looking down," I ordered him, causing him to flick his eyes up from his feet with a small blush glazed over his cheeks. "Just concentrate on me, okay?" His eyes grew a bit with concern, but he didn't look away from me.
After a few minutes of gliding him around, he managed to only almost fall twice. Both times I had to wrap my arms around his waist before he fell to the ground. He always stood up with a blush, but I don't think he was ever embarrassed about falling as he was with my hands lingering on his hips.
"I think you are ready to try skating on your own now," I announced, slowly detaching me from him. His eyes grew wide as he frantically tried to snatch me back, but I was too swift. "Just skate to me, it's only like ten feet. You can manage." He still looked hesitant. He kept his eyes on me as he moved his feet side to side to get to me. He didn not know how to stop though, so I had to catch him by the hips before he ran off the ice and into a tree.
"I have no fucking clue why you like this. I can barely stand up straight in this!" He threw up his hands in exasperation, nearly knocking me in the head while doing so. "Just tow me around!" He commanded, grasping my wrists again.
I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "Well if you are going to date me, then you'll be doing a lot more skating. You'll get that hang of it, but I suppose I can tow you around for today." His eyes lit up at that. He brought my hand to his mouth and planted an exaggerated kiss on it.
The sun was almost completely down, only leaving a small glistening light to reflect off the ice. I skated to the middle of the lake, dragging Lyle along. Once there, I swirled him around me as he giggled.
"See, skating can be fun," I teased, clasping his hand in mine.
"You'll have the honor of teaching our kids because I will take no part in this 'fun' as you call it." I stiffened at the mention of children, glancing at him warily. I knew Luna had talked a decent amount about it, but we didn't discuss it much. Lyle gave me a confused look at my response, but then I watched the puzzle pieces fall into place.
"Do you- uh, do you even want kids? I know we haven't really discussed it. I figured we'd save that for a later date," he rambled, looking anywhere but my face.
I blinked at him, and I knew that my stoic expression was making him more nervous as he shifted uneasily. "I never really thought I'd have a mate, to be honest, so I never thought about kids. I've never been very good with kids, but I'd do anything if it's with you," I answered honestly. He visibly relaxed into my grip. He leaned over and laid his head on my chest witb me gripping his entire body now. We stayed like that, curled up with each other in the middle of the lake, until the sun's last drop of light. I thanked the God Apollo for the sunlight lasting longer than usual.
I skated us back to the edge of the lake and helped Lyle unlace his skates. ONce we got into the warm car again, it felt like our relationship just became more solidified. We went on a date, talked about important topics, and had some friendly banter.
"Now our next destination!" Lyle cheered as he began driving away. I wasn't aware of a secondary destination, but I wasn't complaining about the prolonged date. We drove to a familiar diner, the one Xander and I always met at. I gave him a questioning look as we pulled up. "Xander told me about this place. I figured we should stay in no man's territory and this place has mint milkshakes. Your favorite!" He smirked with a glint of excitement in his eyes.
"They have great burgers, too," I commented, making his smirk grow into a smile. He practically dragged me inside. The waitresses recognized me and greeted me warmly as one of them showed us to a booth with a window facing the woods.
"I think Alex found his mate," Lyle dropped on me after we sat down. My eyebrows immediately shot up at the comment. "He keeps making comments about mates. He knows I have a mate, just not who, so I didn't think anything of it at first until he started asking what to do about a human mate."
"Huh, well I hope it works out for him. A human mate isn't the end of the world, just takes some patience and extra steps," I shrugged off. My mind immediately thought about Quinn and his difficult situation.
Lyle hummed in response, focusing on the menu now. "How's Emilie and Lilith? Any news about the baby?"
"Emilie is about 33 weeks, further along than we initially thought. Lilith has been taking it like a champ. She and my aunt are preparing a baby room in an apartment in the packhouse. Emilie has been staying with them in Xander's old room for now, but they are going to move into the apartment together," I explained.
"Is there going to be a baby shower? I'm sure Mom will want to go." I shrugged, not really being sure myself.
The waitress came over and got our orders. The food came out quickly, and smelling it made me realize I was hungrier than I thought.
"What's the plan with Vance?" Lyle asked before he bit into his bacon burger.
"Not sure yet. The witches have been tracking the pack, and they are getting closer than we'd like. We think they might be trying to track down Emilie, so Lilith put some scent blocking smell on her and made a border around their house to block anyone from trying to track it or something." It was a complicated process, but I knew I was getting antsy. I really just wanted to rip my claws in his neck and watch him bleed out in front of me. Not like I'd admit that to Lyle.
I was going to say something up until I got a whiff of an all too familiar scent. My eyes went wide as I made eye contact with my human friend emerald and a wolf I recognized. Emerald squealed, drawing Lyle's attention to her as well. She scurried over with her date awkwardly following her.
"Blazen! I used to see you everyday, and now you've got a new family. I haven't seen you in months!" She flicked my head as Lyle sat awkwardly eyeing the wolf.
Emerald paused, glancing at Lyle with confusion. "Weston said you were going on a date? What happened?" I internally grimaced at the statement but managed to stay cool as on the outside.
"Bailed." Emerald gave me a small pat on the back with a sympathetic look. Then turned to acknowledge her date again.
"That sucks, you'll get them next time," she stated. "This is Cynthia, the girl I've been telling you about!" That was her name.
Lyle cleared his throat, obviously trying to hide his awkwardness but failing. "We know Cynthia. She lives down the street from us," Lyle managed. Cynthia could obviously tell that I was an Alpha, which explained why she stared at me with a full blown look of confusion. She could probably also tell that Lyle and I being together in no man's land was beyond weird.
"Oh! Isn't that a coincidence? Can we sit with you guys?"
"Oh, we wouldn't want to intrude on your date," Lyle faked concern, but Emerald waved off.
"We've been dating for almost two months, so it's not much of a formal date, anyway," she claimed. Lyle slid out from his side of the booth and next to me with a look of resistance. Emerald took that opportunity to plop down in the booth.
There was an awkward silence for a moment before Lyle spoke. "Two month, huh? That's a pretty long time. Both of you are seniors? 18, I suppose?" I could see where he was getting at, and so did Cynthia.
"Yeah, my birthday is right around the same time as yours," Cynthia admitted, confirming our suspicions. Emerald was Cynthia's mate.
Lyle hummed, grasping my hand under the table. "I can't believe it's been two months and I haven't heard about you two going out," Lyle persisted. It was strange. Normally as soon as someone finds their mate, the Alpha is notified, especially if the mate is not also a werewolf.
Cynthia looked like she was about to crack under the pressure of an Alpha interrogating her. Then, she looked at me and saw zero emotions in my eyes as I stared back at her.
"I told her," Cynthia blurted out, releasing a breath of relief. Emerald looked confused at what she meant.
"You know you are supposed to tell me first, just in case it backfires," Lyle criticized the poor girl who looked helpless. Emerald still looked lost.
"On our first date we ran into a rogue and I shifted to protect her. I didn't know what to do!" Cynthia cried. Emerald eyes widened as she realized what Cynthia was insinuating.
"Oh," Emerald mumbled. "Oh!" She yelled once all the pieces fell together.
Lyle wasn't really interested in Emerald at the moment. "Did you report the rogue?" Cynthia nodded. "Where was it?"
"Here in no man's land, but I put in the report that the rogue seemed more sane than usual. Like it was part of a rogue pack or something. I didn't kill it, just chased it off." Lyle glanced toward me. This wasn't a good sign. That was in December, which meant this rogue pack has been close for longer than we initially thought.
Lyle turned to me. Still ignoring Emerald who was staring at us absolutely apald. "What do you think, Blazen? Vance?"
My face remained neutral as I thought about this information. "It could be possible that the witches lost connection with them because they were too close and they were casting spells to search far away," I suggested. Lyle scrunched his face in contemplation.
"Witches?" Emerald whispered, looking for an explanation from Cynthia, who only gave her a supportive smile.
Cynthia turned her attention toward me. "I'm gonna assume I'm not supposed to know about, uh," she gestured to me, "this whole Alpha thing?"
Lyle's eyes darkened for a moment as he stared at the wolf girl. "No. The people who need to know, know," he snapped at her. She warily nodded, looking petrified by Lyle's tone. I squeezed his hand to calm him down.
"Alpha? You're an Alpha? That's like the person in charge?" Emerald asked innocently.
"Yeah, sorta. It's a bit complicated. Lyle is going to be the Alpha of Cynthia's pack, but I am an Alpha in a different pack. I'm not supposed to be alive, so we are keeping this on the downlow," I tried to explain, but I felt myself clam up. Cynthia looked confused, but didn't say anything.
Emerald looked like she was contemplating this situation before she leaned over the table. "Are you and Lyle mates?" She was not very discrete considering the other two table members were werewolves with super hearing. I couldn't stop my face from reddening as I pushed myself back into the cushion. Lyle laughed and squeezed my hand, which was a surprising reaction.
"How come a human can figure it out in like 5 minutes, but your entire pack can smell us and watch us together all the time and don't know shit?" Lyle chuckled, scooting closer to me.
Emerald squealed while Cynthia just watched us with wide eyes. "I knew it! You guys are meant for each other! All those times you butt heads were just the build up of sexual tension!" Lyle looked amused, glancing at me with a smirk.
"Emerald, this isn't something you can tell people, alright?" I said slowly. She looked at me confused.
"Why? Are people not okay with you guys being adoptive brothers and mates? Because if they aren't, werewolf or not I am beating them up-"
"It's not that," Cynthia cut off her mate. "It's the fact they are both Alphas. Both powerful ones. That is a deadly combination."
Lyle faced me. "If I thought dealing with Weston was bad, now I gotta deal with your human friend too?"
Emerald didn't let me answer my mate. "Weston is a werewolf too?!"
After another half hour of explaining the werewolf complications to Emerald, we finally were able to leave them. Not without nagging from Emerald, though.
The drive back was a comfortable silence. Even though our date kind of got ruined, I think Lyle enjoyed showing me off as his mate, even if it was just to two people. And I liked the fact I was his and he was mine.
Before I left the car, I leaned in for a short but passionate kiss, whisking Lyle away from reality for a moment. "Thank you. For the date. For everything." I left him sitting breathless in the car. He was beautiful. He was my beautiful mate, I reminded myself.