Chapter Two
Seth was grumpy when he woke up. He should’ve gone back to Theo’s house to talk to Chance yesterday after interrupting the fight in the forest, but he hadn’t wanted to see Theo’s disappointed face and Chance’s angry one.
Besides, he was pretty sure he would have interrupted something he never wanted to interrupt.
When he and the others had left the house, it had been obvious what Theo and Chance were going to do as soon as they were alone.
Seth shuddered in horror at the thought. He really needed to stop thinking about his brother in that kind of situation. He was glad Theo had Chance, but as far as he was concerned, the two of them never had sex.
“What did your coffee do to you?” Thomas asked from where he was sitting at the kitchen table. He was spooning cereal into his mouth and eyeing Seth as if he expected him to explode.
There used to be a lot of noise in the house back when they’d first moved in.
Now, it was silent. Only Seth and Thomas still lived here.
It was way too big for just the two of them, and after so many years of sharing living spaces with their pack, Seth found that he missed not having everyone else around.
They all had their own lives now. They’d found partners and were building their futures.
Seth and Thomas had been left behind, but Seth hoped that Thomas would find someone eventually.
Thomas wasn’t as bitter as Seth. He was also only eighteen, so he had time. In the meantime, Seth was more than happy to continue sharing the place with him.
“There’s not enough of it in the cup,” Seth said with a smile.
“Then get more. You’re weird, Seth. “
“All of us are a little weird. “
“You’re a lot weird.”
“Yet you love me anyway.”
Thomas’s expression softened. “Yeah, I do. I love all of you.”
Seth groaned and took a sip of coffee. “It’s way too early in the morning to start talking about feelings.”
“Is that what’s happening? You’re thinking about feelings?” Thomas gasped. “Are you having feelings?”
Seth flipped him off. He didn’t even deserve an answer.
Thomas laughed. “Seriously, stop it. You look like someone killed your puppy.”
“They might as well have. I need to talk to Theo.”
“Oh? Has something happened?”
“Yeah. I found two shifters attacking one of the mages when I went for a run yesterday.”
Thomas grimaced. “Yeah, Theo and Chance are going to be disappointed. What did you do?”
“I stopped the assholes. They know better than to attack the alpha mate’s brother.”
“That was nice of you.”
“It was what anyone should’ve done.”
“Yeah, but you know as well as I do that not everyone would have. Is the mage okay?”
Seth thought about Ryan. He’d been intrigued.
It would’ve been easy for Ryan to use his magic against the two dickheads, but he hadn’t.
He’d probably been trying to keep the situation calm and not start trouble, but it would’ve been easy for him to defend himself from that slap before he could get hurt.
It would’ve been just as easy to react and hurt Christian.
Instead, he’d taken the hit without reacting to it.
That didn’t sit well with Seth. Even though the mages had just arrived, Ryan and his people had as much right to be here as the shifters.
People might not like it, but that was the truth, and they needed to learn to deal with it instead of being children and attacking people when they were alone walking in the forest.
“I walked him back to the house where he lives with his family, and he was fine when I left him there,” Seth confirmed.
Thomas nodded. “That’s good.”
“But now I have to tell Chance and Theo, and I already know that Theo’s going to be disappointed and that Chance will ask me why I didn’t tell him yesterday. I really don’t want to do it.”
“Well, the sooner you do it, the sooner it’ll be over.”
He was right. It was why Seth had been planning on doing it first thing. He still was. He just needed coffee first.
Thomas took his time with breakfast, but Seth didn’t.
He didn’t usually eat anything in the morning, so once he was done with his coffee, he went back upstairs to his room to get changed.
He was out of the house half an hour after his conversation with Thomas.
He wasn’t looking forward to what he was about to do, but it needed to be done.
Instead of using the front door when he reached Theo’s place, he walked around the house and knocked on the kitchen door. He knew that was where he’d find his brother and Chance this early in the morning.
Sure enough, the door opened a few moments later. Theo blinked at Seth, then stepped aside to let him in. “Did we have something planned this morning?” he asked.
Seth shook his head and made a beeline for the coffee pot. He nodded at Chance, who was sitting at the table, eating eggs. He didn’t say anything until he’d poured himself a cup of coffee.
Black, just like his soul.
He flopped into one of the chairs at the kitchen table and took a sip. Theo had sat back and was eating yogurt and staring at Seth. Seth hated this. He didn’t want to take the smile away from his brother’s face.
“Something happened on my way home yesterday,” he said.
That got the attention of both Theo and Chance. They stared at Seth, and he had no choice but to continue.
“I walked up on two shifters attacking one of the mages. Tim didn’t do anything physical, but Christian slapped Ryan. I stepped in before either of them could do anything worse.”
Chance groaned. “Of course it’s those two idiots. They’re always at the scene of the crime.”
“They were telling Ryan that he doesn’t belong. I think they were scared.”
“Being scared is fine,” Theo said as he frowned at his yogurt. “Hitting people because you’re scared isn’t, though.”
“You don’t have to tell me. Things didn’t get violent because they didn’t want to hit the alpha mate’s brother, but I can’t help but wonder what would’ve happened if I hadn’t intervened. “
“What did Ryan do?” Chance asked.
“Nothing. He didn’t attack them or defend himself. He might have if I hadn’t stopped it, but I don’t know. He was trying to calm things down, but I think we could both tell it wouldn’t work.”
“I really hoped I wouldn’t have to treat my pack members like misbehaving children, but clearly, I was wrong,” Chance said.
Seth could hear the anger in his voice, and he agreed with it.
He understood that people were scared and wary and didn’t know if they could trust the mages, but attacking one of them was out of bounds.
Chance had been clear when he’d welcomed them into the pack.
If anyone had any problems with them, they needed to talk to him instead of going to the mages.
They were just people running for their lives and afraid of what would happen if they were forced to go back.
Instead of doing what Chance had asked, they’d attacked Ryan.
Things could have been much worse if Seth hadn’t stepped in.
More than that, it was a disobedience that Chance couldn’t allow. He was the alpha. His pack was supposed to obey his orders, even when they disagreed with them. They weren’t supposed to take things into their own hands and try to scare people away.
“What are you going to do?” Theo asked.
“I’ll have to call everyone in for a pack meeting.
There’s no other choice. Clearly, some of my pack members believe they can disregard my orders, and I need everyone there so that they can’t plead ignorance or fear if anything else happens.
I have to correct this before things get out of hand.
” He looked at Seth. “That’s what they said, isn’t it? That they were afraid?”
“More that they don’t think Ryan belongs here, but I do think they were afraid. They don’t know Ryan or his family, or any of the other mages who live with us. Considering what they know of the coven, I’m not surprised that’s how they feel.”
“How they feel doesn’t matter. If they want me to know, they need to come to me. I was clear about that.”
“You were, but at the same time, they’ve been forced to welcome a bunch of strangers into the pack. You can’t blame them for being worried.”
“I don’t. I do blame them for disobeying my orders, though. Thank you for telling me, Seth. I’m sorry you had to get involved. “
“I wasn’t going to let them threaten Ryan.” Or any other mage or pack member, but Seth couldn’t deny that he found Ryan handsome.
Not that it mattered. It never did because Seth couldn’t trust people, not even handsome ones.
* * * *
RYAN STARED AT HIS reflection in the mirror as he poked at his cheek. It hadn’t gotten any better since yesterday. In fact, it had gotten worse. He was bruising, and with his pale skin, it meant that everyone would know something had happened to him.
When he’d come home yesterday, he’d told his family that he’d hit a branch while walking in the forest. He was pretty sure his sister and his father hadn’t believed him, but his mother had fussed over him and had berated him for not being more careful.
He was fine with all of that. He wasn’t surprised that his father and his sister knew he was lying, but he didn’t want his mom to know how complicated things were.
She wanted to believe they could have a peaceful life here, and Ryan didn’t want to take that from her, even though he might have to eventually.
It depended on what Chance did once he knew.
Seth had to have gone straight to his brother-in-law after what had happened. Maybe it had been stupid to lie to his family because they’d find out the truth anyway, but Ryan hadn’t wanted to deal with that mess yesterday.
His phone vibrated on the counter next to the sink. He snatched it up, used his passcode to unlock it, and opened the text he’d received.
Pack meeting at ten. Everyone needs to be there.
Ryan grimaced.