by Elsa Aarden
Before he could ask Garth again to take him back to Rowan, a young woman came out of nowhere. She had wavy, long black hair and big green eyes. The way she walked was elegant, especially for her tall height.
“Uncle G, you have to stop bringing your partners here. I know it’s been a while, but anyone can walk in on you like I just did,” she said. The young woman got the remote from the coffee table and turned the television on. “Who’s he?”
Garth sat Cecil next to him. “Cecil, meet Vivian, my niece. Vivian, Cecil is my mate,” Garth said, and she turned to him in a split second. “Also, he’s human.”
Vivian jumped over the coffee table and took a close look at Cecil. Cecil jolted back, gripping his shirt. “Wait, why is he so scared? Uncle G, where did you find him?”
“Well, Cecil is Alpha Rowan’s mate,” Garth said with a sigh. “I’m trying to think of a way to keep him around, but he wants to go back to Rowan.”
Cecil was taken aback when Vivian narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m supposed to be here only for a bit,” he said.
Vivian sat on the coffee table, looking at Cecil. “Alpha Rowan is strange. I think you should pick my uncle.” She continued when Cecil became confused. “Rowan, your mate. Uncle has done business with him many times before. Whenever Rowan comes here, he has this cold expression like everyone is below him or something. I heard that’s just how he is. He doesn’t have to look like he’s always having a bad day, though. Well, that could be his resting bitch face,” she said in thought.
What was she saying? Cecil was more confused than before. “I need to go back,” he said with a quiet tone. “Garth told Rowan he’s going to keep me here. I never said I could.”
“How long?” Vivian asked Garth.
“He has been Rowan’s mate for about two days.”
Vivian switched her attention back to Cecil. “That’s not long enough to form a strong bond. That means you don’t have a strong attachment to Rowan. Maybe we should test this, right, Uncle G?”
“I guess,” Garth said, gazing at Cecil.
Cecil glanced at the two of them. “Test what?” All he wanted was Rowan. Why were they trying to distract him?
“Cecil, listen carefully. Let’s start simple,” Vivian said. “Who do you choose between Rowan and Garth? Imagine you’ve never met them before. Just from their looks.”
Never? Cecil’s mind went to his father instantly. It was because of Rowan that he had gone days without starving or being beaten. His chest tightened, but he shook off the bad feeling and tried to answer the question. Vivian and Garth were waiting. But from looks? Cecil looked at Garth, who offered him a smile. Garth was handsome. Rowan popped into his mind. “Rowan,” Cecil said.
Vivian grumbled, “This is not going well. Now, Cecil, which do you choose from the interactions you’ve had so far?”
“Rowan,” Cecil answered without a second thought.
Garth chuckled. “You don’t like that I’m too pushy? Most wolves are like this as soon as they meet their mate.”
Cecil shook his head. “I’m also not comfortable with Rowan touching me for too long. It’s only what I think. I can’t choose anyone else.”
“Then, how about this?” Vivian said in a louder voice, startling Cecil. She was getting frustrated. “What if Garth can keep you safe forever and Rowan can’t? There are wolves out there that can become a threat to any pack. Who would you choose?”
Again, his mind went straight to his father. He had to choose between never seeing his father and the high possibility of his father coming for him. A tight knot formed in Cecil’s throat. “Uh…” The thought of his father paralyzed him. He didn’t want to say anything else but Rowan.
“See? You’re hesitating,” Vivian said. “That means your attachment to Rowan isn’t as strong as you make it seem.”
Cecil brought his hands to his head. “Please, I don’t want to talk about this. Rowan. I just want Rowan. Please!”
Garth rested his hand on Cecil’s back. “Hey, it’s okay. This is your past talking. Trent told me that Rowan saved you. I understand that giving up the person who saved you is hard,” Garth said. “We’re not saying you’ll never be able to see him again.”
The doorbell rang, and Cecil jolted. “Is it Rowan?”
“Can’t be. He can’t come here without permission from the Alpha in charge,” Vivian said on her way out.
Garth held Cecil’s hand and pulled him gently onto his lap, facing him. He smiled when Cecil sat on his thighs with hesitation. “Cecil, if you’re my mate, that means you can also have feelings for me. Mating wouldn’t work if that weren’t possible. You can see this by how you like Rowan. That’s because you were with him for a while. If you stay with me, you will also like me.”
Cecil turned his head down. “I’m sorry,” he said under his breath. “I can only choose Rowan…no matter what happens.” Rowan came to mind again. He recalled how Rowan ruffled his hair as he woke up next to him. How they hugged. How he had kissed Rowan. Cecil’s heart thumped.
“Seems like you’re in deep already,” Garth said. “As far as I know, Rowan and his pack are being investigated. We’ll see in a while how you feel about me.”
* * * *
“Not good enough,” Rowan said with a sigh. “There’s no time to look for a mate for Garth. That’s taking a shot in the dark, Landen.”
Stella paced into the living room. “Alpha, Trent is just as surprised as we are, but he can’t do a thing about it. He’s taking care of your case right now. Can’t we go there and take Cecil? Cecil doesn’t belong to them.”
Rowan took a sip from his glass of water. “If Cecil is his mate, Garth won’t take his eyes off him. It would only take him seeing one of us there, and a war will start.” There had to be a way to get Cecil back. They couldn’t take longer than two days, and that was already too much. Feelings between mates developed at different paces.
“Call him back,” Gun said. “Ask him to meet and talk about Cecil. If Cecil is still going to start feeling something for Garth, it’s the same for Garth himself. There’s no intense attachment between them yet.”
Stella approached the table. “I’ll take care of that.” She looked for a number and waited for the call to go through. Stella put it on loudspeaker. “Hello, Nino, it’s Stella from Alpha Rowan’s pack.”
“Yes?”
“Alpha Rowan would like to set up a meeting with Alpha Garth. Is it possible?” Stella asked.
“I’m at his house right now. Give me a moment,” Nino replied from the other end.
Rowan listened intently, in case he could hear Cecil. He picked up on the distorted sound of two people speaking.
“I figure that Rowan must be listening?” Garth said this time. “Rowan, you’re under investigation right now. Do you think Cecil should be living in that kind of environment?”
Gripping his glass, Rowan tried to keep his cool. “Alpha Garth, he’s my mate, and I want him back. You know fully well that you can search for another mate, not take another Alpha’s mate. You’re holding him there against his will.”
Garth chuckled. “Is that a threat, Alpha Rowan? My niece suggests we wait two days with Cecil here. It’s fair, don’t you think? It’s the best deal for you because you can take care of that investigation of yours. I’m not in any kind of trouble, so Cecil is safe here. Call again in two days, at around this time.”
Rowan nearly turned wolf when Garth hung up. “He’s making it hard not to start a war between packs.”
“Alpha…” Mia paused. “Do you want to wait for two days? I think it’s the best option. We should trust Cecil. He’ll make the right decision when the time comes. All you have to do is endure.”
Endure Cecil being in someone else’s arms? The thought angered Rowan tenfold. He stood, taking the pack members by surprise. “Two damn days. I’m going out for fresh air.” As he made his way outside, Gun followed him. “I need time alone. We can talk later.”
“I just want to say tha
t you can trust Cecil,” Gun said. “Cecil might be naïve or oblivious to the world, but he cares about you. It’s not only because you saved him from his deadbeat father. Cecil will choose you over anyone, Alpha.”
Rowan opened the kitchen door and stepped outside. Those words didn’t put him at ease. Cecil was still out there with another possible mate. Developing feelings was inevitable, especially when Cecil couldn’t define his own.
Undressing, he couldn’t think of anything else. The investigation or his work were long gone from his mind. Rowan left his clothes behind and turned into his wolf form. He ran toward the left, into the dense woods. He needed to get Cecil back.
Chapter Ten
Cecil watched as Vivian took the tray away. He could barely eat half of the food they gave him. They wanted to stuff him until he choked. At Rowan’s house, they always gave him a good amount. Were they more mindful that he was a small human compared to them?
Garth walked into the living room. “You haven’t left your spot yet,” he said when he sat on the couch, next to Cecil. “I thought you’d be interested in going outside and seeing what things look like. All you did so far was go to the bathroom and back.”
“I’m okay right here,” Cecil said, looking away from Garth. It was night out. Garth had gone somewhere while Vivian kept an eye on him. No matter how much he asked, she had refused to go ask her uncle to call Rowan.
“You’ll see me in another light soon,” Garth said. “Humans always take a while longer to warm up to the idea of having a wolf partner. We always move quickly because our instincts tell us where to go.”
Cecil nibbled his bottom lip. Garth knew he could get another mate. He also knew about Rowan. “I don’t understand why you don’t want to search for someone else.”
Garth rested his hand on Cecil’s knee. “There’s nothing wrong if I want you and no one else. It soothes me to just look at you. Everything about you is perfect, and I want you to realize that.”
“I don’t want you to be angry with me, but I can’t,” Cecil said. He had been rejecting Garth all along. Would it be a matter of time until Garth snapped at him?
“It doesn’t anger me, Cecil,” Garth said with a smile. “I only return the favor to who deserves it. You refusing to be with me isn’t a reason to upset me.”
Cecil sighed. He looked at Garth’s hand, which was still on his knee. Before he could move it away, he heard something bumping into the sliding glass doors. He froze at the sight of bright gray eyes outside. Sharp teeth were revealed when the eyes turned to Garth’s hand.
Garth scoffed. “Your mate really did it.” Garth stood and made his way toward the sliding doors. “Cecil, Rowan has just started a war between packs. Seems like I have a reason to show him when to back off.”
Was that Rowan? It was dark outside, and he could barely see. Cecil rushed toward the door, but Garth stood in his way. “He’s right there. Why can’t I go to him? What do you mean by war?”
Garth slid the door open and stepped outside. “I’m going to show you why I’m the best mate for you.”
Cecil stared at the large wolf standing on the grass. From the head to the paws, Rowan was massive. His fur was dark gray and looked soft. Cecil jumped away when Garth grew and changed. The sounds of the bones snapping and distorting were disturbing. Cecil gripped his shirt. Garth as a wolf was larger than Rowan, his fur caramel brown and his eyes green.
Rowan growled under his breath. The growl turned into a loud snarl as Garth approached him. Garth pounced onto Rowan and bit his back. Rowan whimpered in pain.
This wasn’t right. Cecil took a step back. Were they fighting because of him? Why? “Please, can you stop hurting Rowan?” he asked with hesitation. He felt like a small animal among much larger ones.
Garth shoved Rowan with his head, throwing him down. He jumped onto Rowan, bit his neck this time, and shook his head violently.
“Wait, please stop,” Cecil begged. He didn’t know if he could speak louder. Garth was hurting Rowan. Swallowing hard, Cecil got closer to them step by step. “Garth, please!” He stared at the blood that covered the grass.
Garth turned his head to Cecil, blood dripping from his snout. Rowan took that chance and attacked Garth’s front leg with his razor-sharp teeth. Instead of pulling away in pain, Garth moved his head down and mauled Rowan’s rib cage.
Cecil had no idea what to do. They were thrashing, their paws creating loud thuds. Cecil looked toward the house and saw Vivian watching. “Can you help? They’re fighting.”
“No one can get between two Alphas fighting,” Vivian said, not taking her eyes off them. “As you can see, my uncle is stronger than Rowan, not to mention larger. I told you to pick my uncle.”
This was his fault. Cecil clenched his jaw, gazing at Rowan, who struggled on the ground. “O-Okay, Garth. I choose you. Can you leave Rowan alone? Please!”
Garth came to a stop, but didn’t give Rowan any space. He turned back into his human form and passed the back of his hand over his jaw. It was dripping with blood. “Rowan, Cecil said it. Now go home. I told you to call me in two days. You’re lucky I haven’t killed you or started a war between us. Vivian, can you take him out of the property?”
“Of course, Uncle G,” Vivian said on her way toward Rowan.
Cecil rushed to Rowan and got on his knees next to him. Rowan melted into his human form as well. “Why did you come here? I didn’t want you to get hurt like this. This is all my fault for going with those detectives,” Cecil said, holding back his tears. He could barely see through his blurry sight the cuts all over Rowan.
“I’ll be all right. Wolves can…regenerate,” Rowan said, struggling to breathe. “I wasn’t thinking. All I wanted was to bring you back home. I couldn’t bear to see you with anyone else.” He reached over to Cecil and pulled him closer by the wrist.
Cecil went still when Rowan kissed his lips. Someone wrapped their arm around Cecil’s waist and lifted him away from Rowan. Cecil looked up to see Garth gazing at him. “You hurt him,” Cecil said in dismay.
“I’ll take him far enough until he can go back on his own,” Vivian said. She got a hold of Rowan’s ankle and dragged him away with ease. “I’ll be right back.”
“Rowan,” Cecil said under his breath, not able to do anything but watch. “I need to go with him.”
Garth turned around and took Cecil into the house under his arm. “Wolves are resilient. I didn’t harm him to the point that he won’t be able to regenerate. It was just a lesson for him not to come here again unannounced. This is my territory.”
Cecil looked away. His father always told him it was normal to get hit, but this felt wrong. It didn’t matter to him that Rowan had come into Garth’s territory. He hated seeing Rowan in that state.
“He’ll be fine,” Garth said, putting Cecil down. “You should get some rest now. I’m going to take a shower and put some clothes on.”
Cecil sat on the couch. He wanted to go with Rowan instead. It seemed that packs could start a war if anyone trespassed into their territory. Garth had called it a warning, but Cecil called it causing pain.
A few minutes later, Garth returned with freshly clean clothing and sat next to him. He pulled Cecil by his wrist and sat him on his lap, facing him again. “Why are you shaking? I’m not going to hurt you,” Garth said.
“You hurt Rowan like that,” Cecil murmured. He jolted when Garth wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer. “If you don’t mind, I don’t want to be this close.”
Garth gave him a smile. “Didn’t you like how powerful I was? Rowan as a wolf is much bigger than your father was, but it was still easy for me. If it were someone else, wouldn’t you feel protected by me? If someone enters my territory unannounced, I deliver on a promise. Rowan knew what would happen.”
Cecil’s heart skipped. If it had been someone else? Like his father? Cecil shook the thought away. “I know Rowan shouldn’t have come here and he broke the rules, but you didn’t have to hurt him
that much.”
“That was nothing, Cecil,” Garth said. “He seemed to be in bad shape, but it’s not as bad as it looked. I didn’t even break any of his bones. He’s lucky that you like him. Otherwise, I would do worse. I didn’t. So you know, werewolves can regenerate from cuts within ten minutes. It’s like nothing ever happened.”
Rowan must have still felt pain. Cecil remembered what Rowan had mentioned and moved away from Garth’s lap. “Rowan doesn’t want me to be with someone else like this. I don’t want to, as well.”
“Cecil, I can’t let you leave my sight at this point,” Garth said. “Rowan has come into my territory, and he can come again. As your mate, it’s my duty to keep you away from him. He can’t break the rules and get away with it. Come with me.”
“Rowan is my mate,” Cecil said quietly. Garth held his hand and led him somewhere. “Where are we going?”
Garth glanced at him as they went upstairs. “You need sleep. We’re going to sleep in the same room.”
Cecil nibbled his bottom lip as they walked into a spacious bedroom. The bed was quite big. It didn’t surprise him that this was Garth’s room. He moved his hand away from Garth’s and stood in the middle of the room. For some reason, he didn’t have the sense that his father was close. It wasn’t the same as Rowan’s room. Was it because Garth’s house was farther away from everything else?
“You seem more relaxed than I expected,” Garth said, removing his slippers. “Get in bed. Don’t worry. I won’t do anything to you. You’re my mate, so all I want is what’s best for you. Rowan must be going to sleep soon, too. I’m sure he wants to get up early to make up a plan to get you.”
There was no point in protesting. Garth had chased Rowan away. If what Garth said about Rowan was true, he needed to sleep and wake up as early as he could. Rowan could come in the morning to pick him up. He needed to be ready. “Your pack doesn’t mind me?” Cecil asked as he sat on the bed with hesitation. If only this were Rowan’s bed…