Chapter 20 Tanner
TANNER
Fate can be a B…
I was fuming. My brother came home when he wasn’t supposed to. Fine. That happens. But at no point did that mean he had to be a fucking dick about things.
Poor Candrin was so embarrassed. It didn’t help matters that I fucking called him our tenant.
It wasn’t a lie or even a negative term in general.
In any other context it would’ve been just fine.
But I went from having my tongue on his slick entrance to calling him a tenant when what I really wanted to yell was he was my mate.
Only Candrin was human and had no clue what a mate was.
In my head at that split second of time, tenant was the better option of the two.
Of course his name was also an option, but my stupid brain didn’t bother to take the time to think of that.
And given my brother called him an omega, we’d both royally fucked up.
I hated my past word choice. I freaking dehumanized my mate and in front of my brother which made it worse somehow. Not that it felt like it could get worse at this moment.
“The fuck you are!” I shouted at my brother.
“Why are you…” Candrin never finished his thought, instead running upstairs… running from me, his mate.
And just like that I learned that this night could get freaking worse.
“Why are you here?” I turned to my brother. “Everything was going great and then you decided to just traipse on in and make Candrin feel awful.”
I looked to the stairs wishing he hadn’t run away. Not that being down here with me yelling at my brother was a better option. This entire thing was completely fucked up and my head was spinning. I didn’t even know what to do about any of this.
My bear was pushing at me to run up the stairs and comfort my mate—to make everything alright. And besides, what could I possibly say that could fix this mess?
“Why were you fucking Candrin?” My brother was seething. And I got it. We were technically in a power position since we were the ones who owned the house. But it wasn’t like that. He was my mate.
I was just about to explain that to Huston when the door to Candrin’s room creaked open.
My eyes shot to the stairwell, unsure if he was coming out to throw shit at us, which we both deserved, or to yell some more, or simply to gather his clothing.
Whichever it was, I refused to make the same mistake again and treat him as less than the gift he was.
“This is my fault,” Candrin said halfway down the stairs, wrapped in his robe, hugging himself as he spoke. “All of this is my fault. I should’ve known better—I did know better, but Tanner you are so… and Houston you’re so… how could I not.”
It took me half a second to realize he was talking about both of us as if he’s been with both of us as if he’d seen our dicks, had them inside him.
Not just me, but my brother too. What the fuck?
Didn’t he feel our connection? Mates are different—special.
Even as a human he should feel it, right?
But he didn’t, not if he was banging my brother too.
“I’m sorry about what I said. You’re not just a tenant. You’re more.” Because fuck it. I didn’t care that he was with my brother, not in the way I should. It would hit me… probably. But for now I just needed to get my omega back. Not that I ever really had him.
Huston
“And I’m sorry I called you the omega. I really am.”
Candrin visibly relaxed at our apologies. Not a lot, possibly not even enough for most people to notice, but I did.
“I’m the sorry one. I was with you Tanner and I felt all these feelings,” he mumbled. “I won’t say love because it’s too soon, but also it’s the only word that fits and I don’t know what to replace it with.”
He turned his head slightly, locking his eyes with mine.
“And then I met you, Huston. And it’s not the same as with Tanner, but our connection is as equally strong.
I care about you as deeply as I do about your brother and the guilt I had cheating on your brother with you… it wasn’t fair to either of you.”
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
A single tear trickled down Candrin’s cheek and I longed to go wipe it and give him a hug letting him know everything would be okay. But would it? I didn’t know. It was such a clusterfuck.
Neither my brother nor I said anything, probably there was nothing to say.
“I didn’t mean to come between brothers. I’m really sorry. I’ll pack and figure out someplace to go.” He turned and ran up the stairs and this time I started after him.
I couldn’t lose him now. He was my mate and I loved him. I wasn’t even sure when that happened, but it did. His leaving would break me.
Tanner’s hand wrapped around my arm. “Give him time.” His voice cracked, his emotion just as high as mine.
“I can’t. You don’t understand, but I can’t let him leave without fighting for him.”
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
My mate was in his room and safe for now. And as much as I hated not rushing up there to be with him, I had to deal with Tanner first. He needed to know that Candrin wasn’t just a hook-up for me. That he was so much more.
“I can’t either,” Tanner’s bear was showing in his eyes. “He’s my mate. I scented it the first day. Fate put him on this earth for me and even being away from him had my beast in a frenzy. I can’t lose him, brother. I can’t.”
Mate.
Mate.
Mate.
I nearly crumbled to the ground. He couldn’t be Candrin’s mate. He couldn’t. I was. My bear wasn’t wrong on this. How could he be? We scented him and he knew in an instant. Candrin was our mate.
“No.” It came out as all but a whisper. “No. You’re wrong.”
“I’m not wrong.” He closed his eyes. “I’m not. He’s my mate. Had he not been human, he’d have already worn my mark.”
He believed every word. I could feel it. Tanner believed he was Candrin’s mate. Was it a brother thing? Did our bears get the mate thing confused because we were both sort of close enough? Or was fate just messing with us. Testing us like in the days of old.
This was so fucked up, I couldn’t even.
“You’re wrong.” I took a deep breath. “Candrin is my mate. My bear knows it and I know it. The only one who doesn’t is Candrin because he doesn’t know our kind even exists.”
“He does know it though,” Tanner pushed hair from his brow. “That’s why he said it wasn’t love but it was. He feels it too. We are both his mates and before you ask, the fuck if I know what that means.”
Mate.
Share.
Mate.
“My bear says to share. Maybe that’s why he didn’t want to rip you to shreds when he figured out you were sleeping with him.” And on some level why I didn’t either. At the time it didn’t make sense, but then again nothing had. “He sensed you were Candrin’s mate too.”
“What now?” Tanner picked up his discarded clothes and got dressed.
“He’s packing to leave thinking he ruined everything.
We can’t let him leave and even if he stays I have no idea how to make this all work.
” Tanner shoved his hands in his pockets.
“If we mess this up… we can’t… we have one chance to do this right. ”
Something thudded on the floor upstairs, my guess being his suitcase. He really was leaving.
“We can’t let him go,” I said.
“We can’t make this an uncomfortable place for him to stay, either.” Tanner was right.
“What if we leave instead?” I offered. “We could stay at a hotel and figure shit out without making him uncomfortable.”
Stay.
Mate.
Ours.
I pushed my bear down. This was time for the human part of us to deal with things. As much as I wanted to side with my beast on this, I couldn’t.
“We do need to figure shit out. How do we tell him we’re leaving without making it worse?”
In the end we decided to leave a note taped inside the front door telling him that we both wanted him to stay and to not leave until we could talk about this. We let him know he could call us and that neither of us were mad at him. It was the best we could think of. Please let it work.