by Megan Linden
No. Roy would take that break alone.
He grabbed his phone and his wallet then left. The quiet tone of Bill’s voice talking on the phone accompanied him out of the building and faded away only after he’d crossed the street.
The familiar jingle of the bell over the diner’s door and the smell of fried food made him smile and he turned to head to his usual booth—and he froze.
It was impossible.
But his sense of smell had never been wrong, and this scent… It wasn’t one he would confuse with anything else.
Roy’s heart thundered as he turned around and his gaze fell on a man he hadn’t seen in ten years.
Adrian Marlow. Fuck. It really was him.
The wolf inside him wanted to howl to the Moon, wanted him to go up to Adrian and touch him, mark him with his scent right now. Roy was almost shaking as he fought to stay in place.
You have no right.
Bill’s on the other side of the street.
You haven’t seen Adrian in ten years.
He’s with someone.
Blind rage took him over for half a second at the smell of another wolf on Adrian’s skin, the same wolf who was sitting right beside him, but Roy caught himself before he could make a move. No. Not allowed.
His wolf whined.
Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he could breathe a little easier. He looked up to see Taylor Harrington, the Alpha Son of the pack.
“You need to calm down,” Taylor told him, staring Roy straight in the eyes.
“I’m trying,” he whispered, and he could feel the tension dissipating under Taylor’s gaze.
When Roy managed to get himself together, he grimaced. He’d made a spectacle out of himself—in public and in front of the future Alpha. He could bet the gossip would spread through the town in less than a day.
Taylor let him go but didn’t turn away. “Do you need anything?”
Roy glanced at Adrian without thinking and he found him staring right back for a moment before looking away.
Fuck, what a mess.
“Roy?” Taylor’s tone left him no choice but to turn to him.
“I’m— I’ll be fine.”
Taylor raised his eyebrow in clear disbelief but nodded anyway. “You want to join me and Kevin in the back?” he asked.
Roy shook his head. “Thank you, but…I need to do something else.”
Because that was the thing. Now that he’d seen Adrian, there was no way he wouldn’t go over there. It was physically impossible. He knew it sounded crazy, but it was true.
Taylor just nodded. “Find me if you need me, then.”
A moment later, he was alone again, and he turned back to watch Adrian, his heart hammering.
When he focused, he could hear Adrian’s companion speaking.
“Say the word and I won’t let him anywhere near you.”
Roy was across the room in a second.
“Adrian,” he breathed out like a plea and hated himself for it, but then his anger focused on the way the man Adrian was with—the strange wolf—stood up and put himself between the two of them.
Roy was this close to putting the man in his place but the soft voice disarmed him instantly.
“Patrick, it’s okay. Don’t make a scene.”
The man took another second to stare Roy down but finally backed off and slid back into the booth.
Adrian looked up and met his gaze again. “Hey, Roy.”
Then Betty came out from the kitchen, and Adrian’s eyes went wide. Roy watched as he gave Patrick a panicked expression.
“I got it,” Patrick said and got up. Between one moment and the next, he put on a big, charming smile and left their table.
Roy relaxed a fraction at that and even hearing the man talking to Betty and making her laugh didn’t concern him. He was focused on Adrian now.
He slid into Patrick’s seat and just in time, too, because as he took another breath and Adrian’s scent overwhelmed his senses. He felt as if he had been kicked in the back of his knees.
“How—” He paused, shaking his head. There was a part of him that still couldn’t believe his own eyes, his own senses. “What are you doing here?”
Adrian peered down at the table between them and rubbed the nape of his neck. “I was dropping Patrick off. I’m only passing through.”
No! Roy wanted to protest. No way. Not now, not after ten years of nothing but the sporadic, guilt-filled memories.
“Did you remember I was from—?” Damn, why was he asking this?
The shadow came over Adrian’s face for a split second—there and gone. He nodded, once. “Of course, I remembered,” he said, lifting his gaze to meet Roy’s. “Didn’t expect to see you, though,” he added in a dull, quiet tone that made Roy’s wolf whine again.
“So you planned to just…leave?” His heart hammered against his ribs at the thought.
Adrian turned away. “What did you expect me to do? Was I supposed to look for you?” He turned to Roy again and this time his eyes were bright and angry—and alive. “To do what? Say hello?”
Roy almost nodded, almost said that yes, yes, he would have taken anything—anything other than nothing. But he kept his mouth shut.
He had no right. He was the one who had left.
“The sad thing is that I was tempted,” Adrian told him, shaking his head and snorting, without a trace of humor in it. “I thought about it. But what good would that do me?” He lowered his voice. “I wish you well—I really do—and I’ve always hoped you are happy. But I don’t want to see it.” I don’t want to see you with him. Adrian didn’t have to say it for Roy to hear him loud and clear.
Before he had left San Francisco, he’d told Adrian about Bill, about their plans for the future and how he’d thought that Bill was the guy for him, regardless of the pull he’d felt toward Adrian. Roy had known he was breaking Adrian’s heart. He’d just… He hadn’t felt as though he had a choice.
He couldn’t imagine his life without Bill in it. It had been true ten years ago and, no matter how bad things sometimes got between them, it was still true today.
So what could he offer Adrian, really? A friendship? There was no way he’d be able to just be friends with the guy. He’d tried that in San Francisco and it hadn’t worked out that well—or at all.
Before he could figure out what to say and how to stop Adrian from leaving, the jingle of the bell over the diner door dragged his attention.
Roy froze. He knew who it was without turning around.
He’d thought the situation had already been fucked, but now? Now it was just so much worse.
Chapter Three
Bill Soreno had come to the diner on a hunch, a weird feeling in his chest that something was wrong. He’d picked up on Roy’s distress as soon as he’d left their office building and he’d quickened his pace.
He’d expected to find Roy in trouble or possibly in danger.
He’d not expected this.
Bill had never met Adrian Marlow in person, but he’d seen a few pictures, and if there was a face he would never forget, it was this one—the face of a man who had almost cost him the love of his life. The man who, Bill was pretty sure, was still—ten years later—responsible for the fact that Bill and Roy weren’t mates.
He’d never thought of himself as an aggressive man. He’d never even been in a real fight—in either human or wolf form. His friends joked that he was the definition of a strong and silent type, and he was usually the one who was called to mediate things.
Now, though… Now there was something primal clawing at him, something he hadn’t even known he had in him until he was pushing his way next to Roy in the booth and putting his arm over his shoulders as he stared straight at the man in front of him.
The man who, it seemed, had thrown in the towel before any fight could really begin. There was a flash of hurt that Adrian wasn’t quick enough to hide, then he looked down and away, sliding lower in his seat.
Bill h
adn’t expected to feel good, perhaps, but he had thought there would be some level of satisfaction in putting the guy in his place—of shoving in his face something, someone, that he didn’t have.
But Bill felt sick instead. That weird feeling in his chest only grew as he took in Adrian’s defeated expression, and Bill wished he could rewind the last few minutes and do it all over again.
Before he could say anything, though… Before he could maybe try to salvage the situation somehow, a man he had never seen showed up next to Adrian and put a hand on his shoulder.
Bill felt his hackles rise at the sight and glared at the man, but the guy just glared back, jutting his jaw in a silent challenge.
Bill was out of the seat and facing him before he knew what was happening.
Then the Alpha Son was there.
Taylor didn’t come between them. He didn’t have to. “Gentlemen, let’s not make more of a scene.” His firm words were enough to make them stand down, although Bill’s opponent did it with an apparent frown.
“Now,” Taylor continued when they stepped away from each other. “Can somebody tell me what is going on here?”
To Bill’s surprise, Adrian was the one who spoke up. “Nothing, really. We were just—”
“It’s not nothing,” the guy who had defended him told Adrian, and Bill narrowed his eyes.
“Then I suggest we take it someplace else and resolve it,” Taylor said, and from his tone it was clear that he wasn’t really suggesting so much as telling them. “My name is Taylor Harrington and I’m the Alpha Son of the Harrington Pack,” he told Adrian and his defender, who froze for about half a second then nodded.
“Wait? Isn’t that what—?” Adrian started, but the guy shot him right down.
“Not now,” he snapped.
Bill had had enough of his attitude. “Watch the tone.”
Everyone stared at him like he’d lost his mind, and he probably had. He had just taken the side of the same guy he’d wanted to hurt a few minutes ago.
“Gentlemen,” Taylor addressed them again, “I’m going to insist. Can we go to your office?” He looked between Roy and Bill. “It’s the closest.”
“That’s really not necessary,” Adrian said then turned to his companion again. “Patrick…”
“We do have to go,” the man—Patrick—told him, stepping back so Adrian could leave the booth.
“I don’t understand why we can’t just go our separate ways,” he uttered under his breath as he did so, but every werewolf around easily picked it up.
“Two out-of-town visitors got into some kind of misunderstanding with two high-ranking members of my pack,” Taylor told him, more patiently than he would surely have been if it had been a werewolf who kept questioning him, “in public. My role here is to see it to a satisfactory end.”
Adrian opened his mouth but Roy spoke up first, “Please, just go with it.”
Bill realized it was the first thing Roy had said since he’d gotten to the diner, and it hadn’t even been directed at him but at Adrian.
He should be hurt—or furious, maybe—but he just…wasn’t.
Taylor’s mate, Kevin, stood back for most of the conversation but joined them as they were heading out. The six of them exited the diner, leaving behind a dozen or so witnesses who were probably only waiting to see the door close before they would start gossiping.
Bill winced. The next few weeks were going to be a nightmare, unless they were lucky and someone else’s scandal would drop sooner than that.
As they were crossing the street, Bill’s gaze was drawn to Adrian. He was tall, around six-three or six-four, more lanky than muscular but still pretty fit and his long fingers were definitely…
Bill shook his head. Yes, Adrian was good-looking and there was something in his eyes that seemed to just grab a person by the lapels and shout, ‘Pay attention to me!’ Bill would give him that. But Adrian was still the guy his partner had kissed once upon a time and had never been able to forget.
Neither had Bill forgotten, for that matter.
He’d felt righteous in his anger over the years. He’d never kissed anyone other than Roy. As he’d grown up, he’d figured it wasn’t a competition, but Adrian was still a living and breathing embodiment of hurt and heartbreak in Bill’s mind. Or rather, he had been. Now, as Bill watched him, the guy stopped being this caricature of a person in his mind and became a real human being with his own personality, emotions and history.
When they got to Roy and Bill’s office, the two of them exchanged glances.
“Conference room?” Bill suggested and Roy nodded. Even if either of their offices was big enough to seat them all, everyone—including them—could use a space that was as impersonal as possible.
As they all sat down, they mirrored the seating from the diner. Patrick sat next to Adrian, glaring at both Roy and Bill as he did so. Roy took his chair next to Bill almost reluctantly. It hurt, but it was also something Bill could have seen coming. He knew his partner was furious about the scene at the diner. The question only remained, what was he angry about the most? Was it the fact that Bill had hurt Adrian? Or that they’d had an audience? Or maybe because Taylor had felt the need to step in, which was something that had never happened to either of them prior to this?
“Before we begin,” the Alpha Son said and he turned to Adrian and Patrick, “I would suggest a round of formal introductions, because I’m guessing at least part of the group doesn’t know everyone present. I know I don’t, so I’d like to ask the two of you to start. If you could tell us who you are and what brought you to Harrington Hills…”
Adrian and Patrick exchanged glances then Patrick nodded and turned to Taylor. “My name’s Patrick Donnelly. I’ve been looking for a new pack and the Harrington Pack’s reputation convinced me to try my luck here.” He turned to Bill and Roy. “I have to say that it’s nothing like advertised, so far.”
Bill wished he could take offense but he couldn’t. The guy had rolled into town and soon after that, he’d found himself in the middle of a dispute that needed the Alpha Son’s intervention. It couldn’t be a great first impression.
“I assure you it’s not our standard welcoming policy,” Taylor told him with a nod toward Bill that made him cringe. He knew he’d messed up.
“We’re sure it’s not,” Adrian spoke up and managed a weak smile toward the Alpha Son. “It’s just a…misunderstanding. Anyway, I’m Adrian Marlow. I’m a human, but I know you can tell that. I won’t be staying here long. I’m just dropping Patrick off on my way farther east.”
‘I won’t be staying here long.’ Bill frowned at the unease he felt after hearing that. Shouldn’t he be happy Adrian wasn’t sticking around? What reason would the guy have to want to stay in Harrington Hills? Other than…
Bill glanced at his partner. Roy’s face was tense and a little gray. He for sure didn’t like Adrian’s plan of disappearing right after he’d arrived.
And that? That hurt. The unease shifted into cold dread in the pit of his stomach. It brought back the memories Bill would rather forget—ones of Roy from ten years ago, at once happy to have returned and wistful over something he’d left behind.
“My name’s Roy Cocker. I’m the Harrington Pack’s lawyer and a member of the Alpha’s Council.”
As he spoke, Roy twisted his fingers under the table and Bill had to curl his own hands in his lap not to reach out and cover Roy’s to calm him down, not sure if the touch would be welcomed.
It was Bill’s turn next, and he had to stamp down all the things that made his wolf want to whine. He introduced himself, his voice staying steady, thank the Moon. Then Kevin finished the circle, and they were done with the formal part of the conversation.
“Excuse me. I don’t want to overstep,” Adrian cut in right after the Alpha Son and his mate exchanged glances, “but I just wanted to stress that nothing that happened was Patrick’s fault. We didn’t know you were all high-ranking members of the pack, and I don’t want thi
s to—”
“Adrian, relax.” Patrick put a hand on his forearm in a soothing gesture.
Roy’s quiet growl was quickly followed by Bill’s.
They were quiet enough that Adrian hadn’t heard them. Unfortunately, everyone else had, and they were now looking from Roy to Bill and back, frowning.
Bill frowned, too. Sure, he could figure out Roy’s behavior, but what had happened to him? What the hell was he doing, growling like this after an unexpected jolt of possessiveness?
Maybe he was reacting to his partner’s growl.
That would make sense—the need to reassert himself in his relationship with Roy.
Yes. That has to be it.
Chapter Four
Adrian looked around the room but everyone was staring at Roy and Bill.
“What did I miss?”
He’d never before been in a situation when he was the only human present among a bunch of werewolves, so he just now realized that it meant he might be the one who didn’t know something. That was even worse in practice than in theory, especially when every werewolf present decided not to clue him in.
“Nothing important,” Patrick told him, but he was glaring daggers at Roy and Bill again, so Adrian was pretty sure he was lying.
“About the issue you raised,” Taylor said, turning back to him. “You don’t have to worry that we would punish Patrick for what happened by not allowing him into the pack. We’re here to settle this without violence, and I stepped in because that’s where the situation seemed to be headed at the time.”
Adrian shot a look at Bill. If anyone should be punished for taking this in that direction…
“So”—Taylor leaned on his forearms—“can somebody please explain to me what happened?” When no one spoke up, he sighed and pointed at Roy. “You’re up. I saw you first and knew something wasn’t right.”
Adrian turned to Roy, who winced and rubbed his jaw with an open palm, the same gesture Adrian remembered from years back. It still felt surreal that he’d met Roy again, that the man was sitting there on the other side of the table as if there wasn’t a ten-year-old chasm between them and a painful and bitter goodbye on top of that.