Sebastian rolled his eyes, and Logan knew what he was thinking. “Not for the sex,” Logan amended.
Apparently that wasn’t the right thing to say either though, because Sebastian just glared at him. “Because you get enough of that away from home?” His voice was cold, but Logan clearly heard the hurt under his harsh tone.
With a sigh Logan leaned against the counter. “I’d never cheat on you.I was saying that I needed more time with you. I’ll always like having sex with you. I liked it even before we were mated. But this morning, waking up next to you, actually getting to see you when the sun was up, that’s something I needed. Why do you always think the worst of me?”
Logan watched as Sebastian sat down at the counter. He seemed to be carefully picking his words, which Logan never wanted him to have to do. They weren’t a couple that had to be careful with each other, or at least they hadn’t been. Now...now he wasn’t so sure. They were definitely disconnected, and Logan needed his mate back to how they had been before whatever had happened to get them this way.
“I don’t always think the worst of you,” Sebastian finally said. His voice was quiet, and he sounded tired. Like he was worn out from feeling this way. Logan was too. “But I expect you to be with Alyssa. I figure one day you’ll give in and she’ll get her way and then...I dunno. I don’t expect you to join her in planning my murder or anything like that, but...”
Logan tried not to be hurt by what Sebastian was saying. “I’m not ever going to cheat on you, not with Alyssa or anyone else.”
“I’ve seen the way she looks at you,” Sebastian countered.
And Logan hadn’t been about to deny that. “She flirts. So what? It’s all one-sided. It’ll only ever be one-sided. You’re my mate. That means something to me.”
“It means something to me too.”
Logan hoped that this insecurity that Sebastian was feeling was the root of all their issues, but he doubted that he would get that lucky, or that they could be fixed so easily. “I miss us,” Logan quietly admitted.
Instead of brushing him off, Sebastian simply nodded. “I do too.”
“So what changed?” Maybe they could start there. “I wish you could work less. Or that I was busier so I didn’t notice when I never really see you. I get that you’ll be busy sometimes, but a lot of the time you come home after I’m already asleep and then I wake up alone. I don’t want to be mated to you just for the title. I don’t even care about the title, or the status, or anything else. I just want you home more.”
It was good to be wanted, but Logan had no idea why Sebastian wouldn’t want all that time to himself. If Logan had entire days of nothing to do he knew exactly how he’d fill them—with movies, junk food, and running around outside. “But without me around you get to do your own thing. You can watch TV and read books. You could read everything you ever wanted to. You have all kinds of time to do whatever you want now. You don’t have to rush around doing errands for the pack anymore like you used to before we were mated.”
For a moment Sebastian looked like he was going to toss one of the mini donuts at him, but then he just ate it instead. “I liked being busy. I liked having things to do. Now I watch marathons and I’m bored and lonely.”
“You need a hobby.” Logan was sure that would help.
But Sebastian just glared at him. “What I need is for my mate to delegate things to that assistant who doesn’t do much besides flirting with him. Then maybe I’d see him more and things could be better between us.” He took a deep breath. “I miss you. All the time. I don’t want more movies to fill my time. I don’t want to get a hobby. I want to see my mate more. I want to know that at least half of the week we’ll get to have dinner together and it won’t just be you taking the leftovers of what I made the night before for lunch the next day. I don’t expect you to never have late nights ever again. I just don’t want your late nights to be the norm for us. I don’t want a mate that I never see.”
“Okay.” Logan knew that they could do that. “I’ll make a list of what Alyssa can start doing. She won’t like it, but she needs to do more than I’ve been asking her to do. I just like doing it all myself. I like being in charge of what happens. But if this is that important to you—”
“It is.”
Logan nodded. He was starting to get it. “Then I’ll make sure it happens. Give me one more week of late nights to get everything ironed out and then things will be different. I promise.”
Sebastian looked relieved, but also just happy, and that made Logan feel better as well. “Thank you,” Sebastian said.
“I’m glad we talked.” Logan offered Sebastian his hand, and he loved when Sebastian not only took it, but got up and settled himself over Logan’s lap as well.
“I am too,” Sebastian said.
Logan would have loved to leave it at that, but he still had one more question for his mate. “Why didn’t you say any of this before? I would have cut back sooner. We didn’t have to be like this for as long as we have been. You didn’t have to be lonely and miserable here if you’d just spoken up and said that you were unhappy with how things were.”
Sebastian gave him a dark look that made him wish that he’d never asked his mate that question, but he wanted to know all the same. They clearly needed to fix their communication. Maybe they could start here. “Please?” Logan pressed him, hoping his gentle insistence would help Sebastian decide to talk to him.
Sebastian sighed. “What could I have said? ‘Hey my mate, I’m bored doing exactly nothing all the time, and you’re a higher-ranking werewolf than me so I really don’t get a say in what I do, and I should be happy with where I am in life now and I have everything I’ve ever wanted, except someone to share that new life with.’ Would that have helped? You thought I was happy. I was trying not to be a burden to you. I knew you were busy. You’re always busy. I didn’t want to add to your issues.”
Logan hated that Sebastian thought like that. And, also, that he probably never would have said anything about it at all if Logan hadn’t pushed the issue by bringing Connor into the picture. “Were you ever going to tell me?”
“My purpose in this mating is to support you and make sure you’re the best beta for the pack that you can be, not to whine at you for doing your job. Happiness was never supposed to be part of this new life of mine .”
Logan couldn’t help wanting to throttle him. “You were never supposed to give up your happiness for me, or for us. That’s the most idiotic, most ridiculous-”
“Then I guess it’s good that we got it figured out, so that I can stop being so dumb taking care of you.”
Logan heard the hurt in Sebastian’s words, but he knew that they could get better now that they’d talked this through. “You’re not dumb, you just have a different idea of what your role in the pack is now than I do. And I still want you to be happy.”
“I’d like to go back to being happy too.”
Logan smiled at him. He knew they’d be okay now.
* * * *
Connor gave them most of the day to themselves and when he came back to their house he was glad to see them lying together on the couch, though he didn’t love that the TV was on and they weren’t doing something else like playing a board game together, or something equally interactive. Still, it was a vast improvement from the isolation he knew Sebastian had been experiencing. He knocked on the front door and waved to them from the window.
“It’s open,” Logan called out, and Connor let himself in.
“You two look happy,” he said as he came in and joined them in the living room.
Sebastian smiled at him and he did look genuinely pleased. “We’ve got a plan moving forward. Logan will work less and delegate to Alyssa more.”
Connor was glad to hear it. “Good.” He was rarely only needed for this short of a time, but if they were really okay now he didn’t need to stick around any longer. “I’ll call for a ride back in the morning, if it�
�s okay with you both if I stay another night.”
“Yeah, I’m fine with it. I guess we really just needed to talk about things,” Logan said.
Sebastian looked thoughtful as he stretched his arms over his head, then came right back to laying in Logan’s arms in practically the same position he’d been in before. “How often do the couples you try to help just need to work on their communication with each other?”
“Most of them,” Connor said with a quick laugh. “Sometimes there will be a lot of talking to me, but in general I talk to one person, then the other, and then I tell them to spend time together and since the issues are fresh in their minds from discussing it with me, it helps them to be able to talk to each other. Then, if they need help coming up with a plan going forward the three of us sit down and work on one. But you two did that yourselves, and I hope it helps you both out. If you ever need to go over things again, you can always call Allen and he can send me out here again. Or you can call or text me too.”
“I hope we don’t need you to come back out,” Logan said. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Connor said with a smile.
“What about abuse?” Sebastian asked after a moment.
Connor wasn’t sure what he was getting at. “What about it?”
“What do you do when one partner is abusing the other?” Sebastian clarified.
Now he was making much more sense. “I don’t help people who are being abused. If I see that, I call their alpha, or I call mine, and they handle it. That’s abuse, not a mated issue. I help relationships work.”
Sebastian smiled at him and Connor was very glad he wasn’t dealing with that with them.
He left them alone most of the night, just keeping watch and checking for any signs that he might still be needed in the morning. But there were none. Logan and Sebastian, they seemed happy together again. Connor imagined that he was probably seeing a glimpse of them at how they were when they were first mated.
When they went to bed, he stayed up and quietly continued to watch TV. When he needed to turn the TV up to not hear them, he did so. He was happy for them, and glad that their fix seemed to be an easy one. It would take some work, and some understanding and patience from both of them, but he had faith that they would be able to get through this rough spot and be happy together again.
He was jealous too, though. Connor’s whole life, his whole purpose, was all about helping others. He went from pack to pack seeing how he could improve the relationships of the werewolves in them, and yet he’d never have his own person. He could have fun, whatever that meant to him from one moment to the next, but a mate? That was out of the question. Omegas could never have mates. They were too important to everyone else for them to have ties to just one werewolf.
Although he understood that, Connor still hated it. It would have been a welcome treat to know he could curl up next to someone the way Logan and Sebastian had been tonight. It wasn’t just the sex, though that was part of it. Having a regular partner would have been really nice as well. He enjoyed having his different people just fine sometimes, but he would have loved to have someone that knew him and what he liked. Someone who wasn’t full of surprises like his occasional hook ups could be. Someone who would hug him, kiss him, and take him to bed just like he wanted.
But that life wasn’t for him. And that made him just a bit annoyed. Not at anyone in particular, but at life in general. He couldn’t help it that he was an omega, but he could decide not to focus on the life he’d never have. With that thought to focus on, he headed upstairs to his room.
At Logan and Sebastian’s bedroom though he paused. He listened to their soft breathing and imagined them smiling as they slept wrapped up in each other’s arms. Connor was happy for them, even though he was jealous. He tried not to be, but he couldn’t help it either. He wanted what they had. And, maybe a little, he wanted them too.
Sighing, he stepped back and shook his head. Maybe he’d hit up one of his old partners for some fun. It had been a few months for him.
He was looking through his phone, trying to figure out who he wanted to message as he got ready for bed. Before he started to fall asleep though, someone knocked on his bedroom door. He got up and opened it for whoever wanted to talk to him this late.
Sebastian was on the other side of his door, looking tired, but happy. “Hey.”
Connor leaned against the doorframe. “Hi. What’s up?”
Sebastian gave him a sleepy little smile. “I just wanted to say... Look, I know I was a jerk. Thank you for talking us through this, though. Thanks for sticking with us, even with me being how I was to you.”
Connor really wasn’t that worried about how Sebastian had been to him. “You were fine. It’s hard to have someone jump into your relationship and tell you how to fix it. That takes a lot of trust, and I got why you were so defensive. I’m glad that you two seem to be doing so much better already.”
Connor thought that would be the end of what Sebastian wanted to say to him, but he still just stood.
“What if we need you again?” Sebastian asked him. He sounded worried, which Connor understood, but he didn’t need to be.
“I’ll always come back to see if I can help you again. Whenever you need me. What’s your number? I’ll text you mine.” He already had his phone out anyway, so he might as well get their information now while he was thinking about it rather than waiting until tomorrow, or never. He didn’t usually contact the couples he helped, but he thought he might want to keep in touch with Sebastian and Logan.
He got their numbers, even as Sebastian yawned through telling them to him.
“Goodnight,” Sebastian said as he stepped back.
“Night.” Connor resisted the urge to hug him as he’d done for Logan the first time they’d met. He often wanted to hug the people he was around, but it felt like it might have been crossing a line to do that with Sebastian. So he simply waved to him and went to bed.
* * * *
Sebastian expected Logan to go into work early the next day. He’d said that there would be another week of long days ahead of them after all. So when Logan was still getting ready as Sebastian woke up earlier than usual, it was a nice surprise. “Hey,” he sleepily said as he smiled at him. They’d had a good night together. He felt reconnected to Logan in a way he’d definitely needed.
Logan came over and kissed him. “Hey. I’m running late. I’m glad you woke up now though, so that I got to say goodbye.”
“Me too,” Sebastian said as he stretched out. He normally would have just gone back to sleep but he was in the mood to get up. He put on some shorts and followed Logan downstairs. Logan didn’t grab more than a yogurt and a spoon on his way out the door but they still hugged and shared another kiss on Logan’s way out, which was more than they’d done in a long time in the mornings.
Sebastian went back upstairs, got showered and dressed, then came back down with the intention of making pancakes. He was on his tenth attempt at the perfect pancake when Connor came down and joined him. He looked sleepy as he yawned and rubbed at his eyes. “You can have as many as you want,” Sebastian said with a nod to the growing stack between them on the counter.
“You are quite a bit more amicable toward me compared to when we first met,” Connor said as he pulled a pancake off the stack, folded it in half, and began eating it plain.
Sebastian scrunched his nose up at him. “There’s syrup, and butter, and probably even a banana if you want it. You don’t have to eat it like that.”
Connor just shrugged. “I’m not really in the mood for fancy fixings this morning. So, I told you two that you needed to talk and now all the sudden you’re making me breakfast? It seems like a fair trade.”
“Technically I’m making myself breakfast, there just happens to be enough left over for you,” Sebastian said with a roll of his eyes. “But, yeah, I guess. I mean, without you coming in and saying hey, there’s this thing that’s wrong and
here’s how to help, I would have kept my mouth shut. Logan would have just kept working all the time. I would be miserable. And, worse than that, I would have thought that a mating like ours was just supposed to be like that. But the truth is that I mated my best friend so we shouldn’t be like we were. I shouldn’t have ever been miserable. So thanks for that.”
Connor took another pancake and shoved it into his mouth. “You’re welcome. You two made this easy, and I’m glad that you came around. When you first came downstairs and asked if I’d had sex with Logan I thought for sure you were going to be a nightmare to work with. But you turned out okay. And, you know that if you ever have any issues in the future, you can always text me. Or call me. Or, if you’re in the area, feel free to stop by the pack and say hi. I may be three hours away but that’s not all that far. It’s not like I’m across the country from you or anything.”
Sebastian hoped that they wouldn’t need to talk to him again, but he was thankful for Connor’s offer anyway. “Thanks.”
Even as they took their time eating, Sebastian and Connor were still on the road by noon. “Did Logan walk to work today?” Connor asked as they started out.
“He had a friend pick him up.” Sebastian wished that Logan was driving instead. He was a better driver. And, moreover, he actually liked to drive. Sebastian really didn’t. “What do you do when you’re not helping couples?”
“Not a whole lot actually.” Connor played with the radio a little and then seemed to give up when there was nothing good on. “I’m mostly lazy. And a little lonely.”
Sebastian had no idea why that would be. “I thought everyone would want to be around an omega.”
Connor let out a harsh snort. “You’d be wrong. Sure, I might be fun at first, but I’m not sexy like most omegas are. Or, rather, I don’t go around having sex with people like other omegas do. I’m not out there petting everyone in their wolf bodies. I don’t break up big fights between people. I mostly just talk to people and get them to see that they already know what to do, they just needed a little push to get it done. Like you two did. You would have come to the right decision in time. Eventually. You just needed some encouragement to actually talk to each other.”
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