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So, I kept on trudging. I walked her home. I helped her upstairs and tucked her into bed. The rest of the afternoon had passed without much activity, and I left her sleeping to head to Adrian’s condo. My walk was a blur. I couldn’t even remember how I had reached the front door and knocked. The fact that I managed it at all was wild.
The door opened, shedding firelight onto the porch. Adrian squinted at me. “You alright, Hector?”
I drifted past him and sat on his rustic couch. Without a word, he closed the door and poured me a cup of tea. When he handed it to me, he touched my chin, making me look up at him the way he’d always done as my alpha. “What's wrong?”
I laughed while lifting the teacup to my lips. “What makes you think something is wrong?”
He gestured to the window. “Ah, so I was hallucinating you walking in here like a ghoul, eh?”
He wasn’t my alpha anymore. I shouldn’t have been prone to seeking him out. I should have been sitting with my thoughts and handling it by myself—like a man.
But I was so lost. I needed someone to help me. I needed him to tell me what to do.
“What if Faye and I aren't really mates? I’m asking if it, uh… affects my position as alpha or something. Just business talk.”
Adrian hummed thoughtfully and sat back in his seat, the leather creaking under him. Behind him was the fireplace and a large portrait of his family, and then smaller pictures here and there on the mantle and on the wall of everyone in the pack.
A recent picture of Faye was placed up next to one of me. I smiled at it. Adrian always had a soft heart and a strong mind. And right now, in his aged face, I could see he could read me like a book.
He knew exactly why I asked that question. Still, he didn’t question my spoken motives. He simply gave me a calm nod and threaded his fingers together under his chin.
Worry snuck into his features, making me feel a little bit of dread. “If you're not really mates, then the pack will reject Faye.”
I hissed.
Adrian continued, “She’ll be sent into the woods to live as an unmated marked woman. Your true mate will have to perform the mating ritual with you to ensure that she is marked and that you don't lose your status.”
I frowned. “Is she really just a status maker for me?”
“No, that's not the case. And you know, that's not the case. But this pack does see things differently.”
I shook my head. “I can't reject Faye, not again.”
“Then you better pray that you’re true mates.”
“I don't want to lose her again.”
He smiled brightly. “Then I suppose you should try to do things to ensure her stay.”
I thought about a few days prior in Cliff's house. I thought about her parents talking in the kitchen, how innocuous everything seemed. It was normal. It was the way things should have been all along. But something was up with Faye. It had been all over her face.
I focused on Adrian, who was looking at me with a knowing grin. “You're losing touch with her.”
I scoffed. “No.” I rubbed my shoulder. “Not exactly.”
“You two aren't talking. I can tell.
I waved off the observation. “I don't know about you, old man, but my eyes and ears work just fine.”
“Then you'd notice that she's been withdrawing from you.”
I stood up and walked to the window, staring out at the starry sky overlooking our pack. There were a few street lamps,but not so much that it would detract from the gorgeous view of the cosmos.
I rested my hand on the glass. “I don't know how you can tell things like that.”
I heard the leather seat squeak again. I think he was adjusting his position, maybe even crossing his legs the way he did when he got really serious about a topic. “You two take daily walks. She usually touches your shoulder. She hangs on to you. But the past few days, she has only barely touched your elbow. She doesn't look at you. Her smile is too bright for her face.”
I didn't look at him. Instead, I cocked my ear in his direction because I was interested in hearing more about these observations he was making.
