Enzo
"Dad!"
My father slowed down, and spared me a glance over his shoulder, before walking away from the bunker, from the intruder I'd caught on the pack lands only the other night.
"You can't show any sort of emotion when questioning an intruder, Enzo," he scolded as he wrapped his coat around his body, trying to keep out the biting cold of the wind that blew around us, pushing dead leaves along the woodland floor. "It makes you weak. Gives enemies something to hold over you."
"But, Dad ..."
Dad stopped and spun around to face me, his cheeks pink with the chill of the wind. "Enzo, I know you liked Tala," I lowered my gaze, the heat of tears pricking the back of my eyes, making me blink, "but you have to keep it together. Intruders, hunters, prisoners ... they will use others to get to you ... pack members, your mate, and anyone else you care about." I felt him squeeze my shoulder as I wiped my nose. "I've seen it happen. And I don't want it to happen to you." He sighed, his hand squeezing a little more. "I brought you along to give you a bit of training. And it seems that you may need a little more."
Hurt stung my heart, making my chest squeeze. I wasn't sure what hurt more ... the thought of Tala or the fact I'd felt as though I'd let my Dad down.
I knew I still had a lot to learn. After all, I was going to be Beta to this large pack. I had to be ... well, more than I was already. My job would be to help Alaric, stand in when he needed me.
If I couldn't hold it together with a prisoner ...
My father wiped a stray tear from my cheek, before ruffling my hair.
"Come on, son," he muttered as he draped an arm around my shoulders. "Let's get back to the mansion. There's a lot going on there at the moment."
My ears pricked up, as did my wolf's, and I looked over at my dad. "What is going on, Dad? You never told me when I asked you before."
Dad sighed, then ran a hand over his short dark grey hair. He started walking along the path that cut through the woods, pulling me along with him, a guard walking right behind us, keeping a watch over his Beta.
"I'm not sure myself, to be honest." Dad shook his head. "Conri sent me a message over the mind link, saying he had something to sort out with Alaric, and asked if I could question the hunter a little more. Find out what his relationship with Radley was."
"How do we know he's telling the truth?" That had been bugging me.
"He was." Dad shrugged. "You know as well as I do how to know when someone is lying." He shot me a sideways glance. "Was he lying?"
Casting my mind back to the bunker, I remembered hearing the hunter's steady heart beat, his bored expression, his steady breathing. He seemed as though he really wasn't interested in being in the pack ...
But the way he'd reacted once Radley's name had been mentioned ...
"He really knows Radley, doesn't he?" I realised out loud.
Dad nodded. "Yeah. He does."
"And he's mated to Alaric?" Still couldn't get that out of my head.
Dad blew out a breath. "Yeah, he is."
"But I thought -" I clamped a hand over my mouth. I nearly gave away Alaric's big secret. No one else knew he was mated to Radley. I had nearly said something to the hunter back in the bunker.
So, that meant that my future Alpha had ... two mates? Two Lunas?
Wait ... would a guy be called a Luna? Or was it a Lune?
"You thought what?" Dad's voice broke through my thoughts and I shook my head.
"Nothing. I thought that Alaric would have a werewolf mate ... not a human one."
Dad sighed, but said nothing.
Silence washed over us as we walked along the path that would lead us out of the woodlands and on to the main walkway of the pack lands. The chilly wind blew around the trees, teasing my hair. The bright morning sun shone in the sky, but it did little to heat the cold autumn air.
My wolf was stretching in my mind, feeling smug, almost as though he had achieved something today by being in the bunker, watching Dad question the hunter. I shook my head at him.
We have to do a lot better than that, pup.
He slumped down and huffed.
Casting a quick glance over at my father, I watched as a frown pinched his face. He was thinking ... and he wasn't telling what it was.
"Alaric," I called my best friend over the mind link. "Are you okay?"
If anyone was going to tell me about what was going on this morning in the mansion, or with the hunter, it would be him. I felt so ... in the fucking dark about everything.
"Enzo?" Alaric's voice floated into my mind.
"Hey, man! When were you going to tell me about your human mate?" Might as well get straight to the point.
"You know about him?" He sounded ... surprised.
"Yeah, I do. He's quite the catch, too. Tall, dark, handsome ... looks like he works out. You hid him well."
He chuckled, making me snigger. My father threw me a sideways glance and I dropped my smile, shrugging at him. He rolled his eyes as we continued walking.
"What's going on with you?" I asked Alaric, sobering slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"We went looking all over for Radley the other day. Dad said something was going on at the mansion this morning. And then this hunter is your mate ... seriously, what's going on with you?"
Silence.
I frowned, listening for Alaric. He hadn't cut the link. So, why didn't he want to tell me anything? We talked all the time and I knew so much about my best friend. Or, I thought I did.
"I don't know what's going on," he said after a moment. "I'm so fucking confused."
He wasn't the only one.
"It's gonna be okay," I assured him, even though I had no idea what was going on. "We'll work it out. We always do, right?" I had to say something. He was my friend. I had to let him know I was here for him.
A beat.
I could almost hear the wheels in his head turning as he thought about his confusing life.
"Radley's ... uh ..." I could almost hear him heave a sigh. "Something's happening to Radley ... and it's ... well ... it's ..."
Huh?
"He's ... well ... he's ..."
"He's what?"
"Mind linking my son again, Enzo?" Conri's booming voice shocked me to a standstill.
I froze on the spot, my attention coming back full force, and looked up at Conri's large frame as he walked towards us, his strides steady, confident. He was smiling, but it looked ... strained. Like he was forcing it.
I swallowed as I cut the mind link with Alaric. My dad dropped his arm from my shoulder to walk towards his Alpha and pull him into a quick hug.
"Conri," my father said as squeezed his friend's shoulder. "What the fuck is going on?"
Conri ran a shaky hand down his face as he blew out a breath. "Too much," he muttered. "Too much is going on. And I need to talk to you about ... well, all of it."
Dad nodded. "Sure."
"But before I do ..." He took a couple of steps towards me, then stopped, hands on hips, a stern expression etched across his tired face. "How long have you known that Radley is mated to Alaric?"
What!?
My Alpha's dark blue eyes bore into mine, almost as if he could see straight into my soul. Lying would be futile.
"Uh ... well ..." What the fuck could I say?
Conri huffed. "Thought so."
He frowned as he turned back to my father. "We have a lot to talk about, Leo. And we need to do it back at the mansion. Not out here." He glanced around, taking in the quiet walkway, the houses dotted along the other side of the path, and the guard that had been walking with us.
"Let's head back to the mansion, then." Dad took my elbow, fully intent on walking me away.
"Wait." I shrugged my arm out of Dad's grip. I looked up at Conri. "What's going to happen now?"
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"With the hunter." I motioned back towards the bunker, hidden away in the woods. "He knows Radley. He's mated with Alaric and he didn't kill ... Tala." My voice caught on Tala's name, as it always seemed to. I just ... couldn't get it together whenever I thought about her ... about how scared she must have been ... about how she was alone when ... when ...
Dad reached over and wiped away a tear from my cheek once more. My eyes seemed to leak a lot these days.
Conri sighed and then walked over to me, before placing a hand on my shoulder, and squeezed it. "There's a lot we need to talk about regarding this hunter, about how we're going to handle him."
"I don't think he's a threat, Conri," my father muttered.
"Honestly, I don't think so, either. But we need to make sure." Conri took a step back and ran a hand down his face, heaving a sigh. He looked over at Dad. "I've been reading up on wolves having two mates as well ..." He shook his head. "Turns out, it's not as uncommon as we thought."
"What does that mean?"
Conri chuckled. "I'm not sure."
"So, what now?" Dad shrugged.
"Now I seem to have so many other questions ... about the hunter ... about Radley ..." Conri rubbed his mouth.
"And how are we going to go about getting those questions answered?" My father cocked a brow.
Conri pursed his lips and looked over his shoulder from where we were standing on the walkway.
"By asking someone who's going to know the answers."
I followed his gaze, and gaped when I saw where my eyes landed.
Radley's house.
"Claudia," I whispered.