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Never step between an alpha bear and his omega. Zane’s eyes were taken over by those of his beast, a deep rumbling in his chest warned off all others. He was ready for a fight. A fight that didn’t need to happen.
“Do you have a problem, Beta Zane?” Aydan said. His voice was full-on Alpha now. He would not tolerate insubordination at this moment. To do so would make him look weak to the other den.
Zane didn’t take his eyes off me. His body rippled and trembled as he fought back his shift. My brother might’ve been Alpha, but Zane wasn’t going to bow to anyone when he thought I was being threatened.
“Zane, stay calm, please,” I said.
“What is the meaning of this?” the visiting alpha asked. He pushed his brothers behind him, and the crowd all stepped back. It was just Aydan and Zane, the center of everyone’s attention.
The poor alpha was thrown in the middle of this, and his only crimes were being lonely and hoping to strengthen his den.
“That’s what I would like to know,” Aydan said. “My apologies to you all. It appears that my Beta needs to take a break.” He went to touch Zane, to push him farther away from me. Even as this played out, my brother had no idea what was happening before his eyes. He was going to soon find out.
“You can’t do that,” I said. “Zane’s reaction is totally natural. He’s not meaning any disrespect, Aydan. It’s just—” I turned to the visiting alpha. I really ought to have learned the name of the man I had been intended to mate with. “I apologize, alpha. I had every intention of coming here to my brother’s den and helping him to form alliances. We know how important that is. However, when I arrived, I found that my fated mate was here.”
I went to Zane’s side and put my hand on his arm. He instantly calmed and so did I. “Zane is my mate, Aydan. I cannot mate with anyone else.”
The other alpha’s eyes darkened. “Are these the sorts of promises I can expect from your den, Alpha Aydan?”
“He didn’t know.” My words came out in but a whisper and everyone ignore them… ignored me.
The last thing I’d wanted to do was do this out in the open for everyone. It wasn’t meant to embarrass the visiting alpha or my brother, but leave it to me to manage to do both of those things.
“Perhaps we should speak someplace more private,” Aydan suggested, his face a calm facade, his beast closer to the surface than normal.
“Yes, perhaps,” the alpha agreed.
I wasn’t sure things could get any worse, but given the way things were going today, the chances were, they would.
Chapter 14
Zane
The bear in me hated that my Alpha was displeased. Shame filled my gut and weighed down on me like a heavy, wet blanket. I was his second, the one he relied on the most. My job was to make his job easier, not more difficult.
It wasn’t as if I had a choice, though. His brother was my mate. Fate deemed it so, not me. Denying him was outside my abilities. He was mine, full stop.
I followed Aydan and the rest of his visitors back inside the diner to the back room, where there was a private area set up for us to chat. I don’t believe the intention had been to utilize that room today, but it would work well now. I wasn’t sure I’d have been able to wait long enough to get us all back to the Alpha house before talking. This had to be dealt with now if I were going to keep control of my bear. He wasn’t having any of this arranged mating thing, and his power was rivaling my own at the moment.
“Go ahead and deliver our food in here, Stacy,” Aydan said, his voice calm to all who didn’t know him. But I saw it as the facade that it was. He was holding on by a thread and it was our fault.
No, screw that. It was fate’s fault, and I couldn’t allow myself to be sorry about it. It wasn’t fair to my mate, and he came first. Always.
The young bear waitress nodded, her eyes wide. She could feel the tension radiating off her Alpha. Aydan touched her shoulder. “All is well,” he whispered. “I promise you that.”
She visibly softened at his words. “Thank you, Alpha.”
No, Aydan wasn’t mad at anyone else in the pack or in this room even. It was me who had disappointed my Alpha. A man who was not only my Alpha, but my closest friend. I wished that my mate could be by my side for this conversation, except I didn’t want him anywhere near this other alpha who thought he had a claim on him.
We should’ve told Aydan before now. It could’ve avoided all of this. My mistakes in this were piling up like a laundry heap.
“Zane,” Aydan’s voice broke me out of my stupor. The rest of the group had sat down. I sat next to Aydan on his left, just as I would as his second, which for the time being I still was. I didn’t know what the future was going to hold on that front, though. Only time would tell.
“So, this omega you promised me you have also promised to another? This man here, your Beta?” the visiting alpha asked.
I couldn’t read him. Was he mad? Frustrated? Relieved? He needed to take up poker. The guy was good. I opened my mouth to speak, but Aydan held up a hand.
“I’m not sure what has transpired while I’ve been away, Griff. As you know, this mating was not set in stone; we had talked about it. That was all.” Aydan could’ve gone in so many directions, and he took the one that protected his brother. He was a good man, a great Alpha. That didn’t mean this was all going to work out with ease, but there was hope. “It appears that my brother is rethinking his decision, and I will respect his desire to do so. I do apologize that it seems you have come all this way for nothing.”
