Alaric
Walking away from Radley, leaving him fast asleep in my bed, was not something I wanted to do. My wolf was whimpering in my mind, trying to get me to turn back, to crawl into bed with my mate.
Between his wolf trying to force him to shift, to finding out that he was a werewolf ... Radley had had all kinds of shocks today. His body would need to get used to it. To recover. But my wolf didn't understand that. He just saw his mate in pain and wanted to comfort him, and he was whimpering loudly in my head, hating the fact we were walking away from Radley.
"But, Mom, so much of this doesn't make sense." I followed her as she walked along the hallway towards the stairs, while trying to block out the noise of my wolf. "Why is Radley's wolf just showing up now? He's nearly nineteen ... he should have had his wolf for almost a year now."
Mom stopped, and spun on her heel, her eyes glazed. "I think some of this was because of a decision. Made nearly nineteen years ago." She sniffed and dropped her gaze to the floor. "Your grandfather made a decision all those years ago that hasn't helped Radley at all."
"What are you talking about, Mom?" As if today wasn't confusing enough, my mother was talking in riddles.
She reached out and squeezed my hand, a tear running down her cheek. "We'll talk later. When your father comes home. He's talking with Claudia now. To get some more answers before we ... talk to Radley."
"Mom, please, just tell me." I pleaded. "What is it? What's going on?"
She pulled her hands back. "Let's wait for your father." She wrapped her arms around her waist. "Why don't you ... look after Radley. Watch over him while he sleeps. I think his wolf has forced him to rest, to gather some strength. He's had shock after shock today." She glanced over my shoulder towards my bedroom door. "Poor guy."
"But, Mom ..."
She held a hand up, silencing both me and my wolf. "We'll talk later, Alaric." Her words were stern, but the shake in her voice and tears in her eyes gave away her true emotions. My wolf whimpered once more, and I was pretty sure it was because his Luna was sad.
I stood where I was and watched as she walked away, disappearing down the stairs.
Running a shaky hand down my face, I heaved a sigh. This was all too much. For me. For Radley.
How would Orion fair under all of this information?
Fuck! Orion ... Radley still didn't know he was here, in the cells.
Shit.
That would be another shock to add to Radley's already fragile state.
I could feel my wolf lying down, his nose buried in his front paws. It seemed that he was just as confused as me.
Fucking hell.
"You okay?"
My head snapped up. Enzo was walking towards me along the hallway, his face etched in concern, his blonde hair a mess.
"No." I answered his question, walking towards him to meet him in a hug.
Fuck. I needed this guy, my best friend. Now more than ever.
"It's all one big fucking mess," I mumbled as I pulled away, wiping at my eyes. More tears. Radley. My mother. Me. All three of us just couldn't stop fucking crying.
"What's going on?" Enzo squeezed my shoulder. "Seriously ... what the fuck?"
Shrugging, I leaned my back against the wall behind me, knocking my head against the plaster. "Beats me. First, I found one mate. Then, another mate pops up out of fucking nowhere. And not only is he a human, he's a fucking wolf hunter. Now I find out that Radley has a wolf after all ..."
"Woah!" Enzo dropped his hand and stared at me, his dark eyes wide. "Radley has a wolf?"
I nodded.
"He's had a wolf all this time?"
I stared at Enzo as he balled his hands into fists.
"He's been a wolf all his life and we were led to believe that he wasn't?" He raked a hand through his hair. "What the fuck?" He pulled on his hair a little, his face turning red, anger pinching his features. "This whole time we were told to keep away from him and he was one of us after all?"
"Calm down, man." I reached for him, grabbing one of his hands. "If anyone's going to be pissed off about that, it's going to be me. Got it?"
He stared at me, his fingers pinching mine. My wolf was on high alert, growling, unhappy that another wolf was angry, even if it wasn't at me.
"We've got a lot to figure out." I sighed as I let his hand go. "And I need to see what my dad found out about wolves with two mates."
"Your dad said it wasn't as uncommon as we first thought." Enzo shrugged. "He came out to the bunker, met with me and Dad. Said he'd been reading up on it. Apparently, there's quite a few wolves with two mates. Living happily ever after and all that shit."
"You saw my dad?"
Enzo nodded. "Yeah. Before he and my dad went to talk to Claudia. Told me I couldn't go with them." He huffed. "They wanted to speak with you before they got me involved."
That didn't surprise me. I was the future Alpha. I had to be privy to a few things that Enzo wasn't. Dad told me that I could always tell Enzo whatever I learned, with him preparing to be my Beta, but had advised me not to give too much away. Sometimes, it was better to bear the burden alone.
Enzo walked over and leaned against the wall next to me, his shoulder brushing against mine.
We both stared at the door in front of us. My bedroom door. My wolf was back to whimpering, trying to urge me forward, to open the door and snuggle up to my little mate.
"So, two mates, huh?" I could hear the amusement in Enzo's voice. "You couldn't have just one, could you?" He nudged my shoulder. "Had to go and take two for yourself." He shook his head, a smile tugging on his lips. "What about the rest of us? Leave some wolves for us poor mere mortals, please."
I chuckled. "I never asked for this. It's confusing having just one mate, but two ..." I shook my head, sighing. "My wolf really didn't know which one he wanted to do first."
"And ... have you?" Enzo wiggled his eyebrows, while I rolled my eyes. "Done one of them, I mean?"
I cocked a brow, pulling a face at him.
His eyes widened as a big grin threatened to split his face in two. "You've done both of them?" He laughed as he elbowed my ribs. "You horn dog!"
"Prick," I muttered as I nudged him, watching as he clutched his sides while he laughed.
Despite the storm that seemed to be swirling around me, the emotions boiling over, the questions taunting my mind, there was one thing that always remained constant - my friendship with Enzo.
No matter what the situation, good or bad, he was there. Always. And I owed him my life for it.
So, no matter what happened, what I discovered, how all of this panned out ... I would keep Enzo in the loop. Let him know what was going on. Encourage him to have his say.
Fuck. I needed him. If I was going to keep my head, if I was going to be the kind of Alpha I wanted to be, then I needed his help.
"What's going on?" A soft voice caused me and Enzo to snap our attention back to my bedroom door.
It was open. Radley was standing in the doorway, his hair messed up, my shirt making his slim frame look even smaller as he wrapped his arms around his waist.
My heart melted and my wolf leapt to his feet and started to wag his tail, getting excited.
"Hey." I pushed away from the wall and walked towards Radley, wrapping my arms around him once I was standing in front of him. "What are you doing? I thought you wanted some sleep."
I sighed as he snuggled into my chest, bringing his hands up so they were tucked under his chin, his head resting on my shoulder.
"I was," he muttered. "But a couple of guys were laughing right outside the bedroom door."
"Uh, sorry about that." I turned around to see Enzo scratching the back of his head, having the decency to look sheepish.
Grinning at my Beta, I turned my attention back to my little mate and buried my nose in his hair, breathing in his rosewood and citrus scent.
Fuck. I was addicted to that scent.
Radley squirmed a little and pulled away, his eyes darting from me, to Enzo, and then back to me. A light blush coated his cheeks and it took everything I had not to drag him back into my room and throw him against the bed.
He was so fucking cute.
"So ... uh ... what's going on?" he muttered as he scratched his head.
"Alaric was just telling me how he was stealing all the best looking wolves as his own." I felt Enzo nudge my shoulder. Radley looked over at him and frowned, a look of confusion on his face.
"What do you mean?"
Enzo glanced over at me, his eyes wide. "Oh ... well ... uh ..."
I pulled back slightly so I could elbow my Beta in the ribs. Resting my hands on Radley's hips, I smiled at him. "He's talking about mates." I let out a sigh. "It's something that we have to talk about. One of the many things we have to talk about." I glanced over at Enzo, then gazed back at my little mate. "It's another werewolf thing to learn."
"Oh." Radley dropped his gaze as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "Okay."
I heaved another sigh as I watched his face, a thoughtful expression on his cute features.
"You said that I was your mate earlier," he mumbled. "Is that what you were talking about?"
Smiling, I nodded at him.
"Yeah," Enzo said as he threw his arm around my shoulders. "Ol' Alaric here has managed to bag himself two cute mates." He chuckled as he jostled me. "You and that human hunter, Orion ..."
"Orion?" Radley's head snapped up, his eyes wide.
Cocking a brow at Enzo and his big mouth, I sighed. "Yes. Orion."
Radley's wide eyes darted from me, to Enzo, and back again. "You know Orion?"
"Yes."
"Is he here?"
I felt Enzo take a step back as his arm dropped from my shoulders and I squeezed Radley's waist. "Yes, he's here."
"Can I see him?"
My wolf whined, his tail wagging, while he bounded around in my mind. He liked the idea of seeing his two mates at the same time.
"Well, he's ... uh ..." How the fuck could I tell him that Orion was in the cells? I mean, I wasn't totally opposed to the idea of getting both of my mates in the same room, but ...
"Where is he?" Radley took a step back, then walked around me and Enzo and looked down the hallway. "Is he in one of these bedrooms?"
"No, he's ... uh ..."
He spun around, his button nose scrunched. "Where is Orion, Alaric?"
Fuck.
My resolve completely melted at the sound of my name on his lips. I wanted to hear him say it again. So did my wolf.
I groaned, realising that now was not the time to be feeling as horny as I did, but knowing that I was probably always going to feel this way in front of this guy.
"Where is Orion?" Radley's voice had taken on a bit of an edge, causing a stronger throb to shoot through my body, spiking my heart rate.
"He's in the cells." The words tumbled out of my mouth, a loud moan following.
Radley's eyes widened. "Cells? Like a prison?"
Fucking hell.
Feeling my breath catch in my throat, I nodded slowly, watching as Radley's eyes grew wider.
"No!" He shook his head, taking a step backwards, away from me. "He can't be in prison. He's done nothing wrong. He hasn't!" He shook his head. "I have to find him. I have to see him."
"Radley." I reached forward, trying to grab him. "I'm not happy about him being in the cells either, but -"
"I have to find him!" Radley spun around and started to run down the hallway.
Throwing Enzo a look, he sighed and nodded, and then we took off after Radley.