Chapter 24
Konstantine
Drake was fortunate I had been able to gain control over Apollo before he tore his face apart.
I’d spent the entirety of that fucking dinner calming my wolf after he saw how overly affectionate Drake was with Arax.
I had barely been able to register a word of the conversations around me due to Apollo’s incessant growling and spittling.
I went to shut the mutt out for the rest of the night but saw it was no longer necessary. The shock of physically hurting his mate sent his block up, and he was already punishing himself with shame and regret as bedfellows while I dealt with the fallout of his impetuousness.
I took a detour to my office, knowing I had little time before Penelope would find me and demand answers.
I sank onto my chair and out of habit reached into the drawer for my painkillers, except…
I had no pain. None. My headaches, which had been persistent from the very moment of my mate’s departure, were no more.
I held the bottle defiantly, then tossed it back into the drawer for however long I could do without its contents.
My recess was short-lived. True to form, Penelope threw open the doors and steamrolled her way in, with everyone else in tow.
Drake was the last to enter, Vallon holding him by the elbow, talking quietly and guiding him inside.
They dispersed about the room, each finding a seat, except for Penelope, who stood in front of my desk with her hands on her hips.
“Are you just going to sit there, or will you enlighten us?” Pure rage laced her tone. “We were having a perfectly nice dinner with our guest until you ruined it, so tell us, Alpha,” she said, hawking out the word. “Tell us what the hell crawled up your sphincter and died.”
I said nothing but rested my eyes on Drake, who avoided them, still seething.
Penelope looked at me, her gaze shifting back and forth from Drake to me. “Well?”
“It’s nothing,” I replied.
“Bullshit. Stan, either you tell us… or I’m going to say it for you.”
I scowled at her but said not a word.
“Fine!” she exclaimed. “You’ve had your chance. Let me know if I’m right about this, Konstantine.” Penelope paused for effect, making good on her threat. “Arax is your mate, isn’t she?”
I looked away.
Everyone was deathly quiet, contemplating my sister’s words, and in my silence lay the truth.
“Oh, damn. She is, isn’t she?” Jason asked.
Drake finally turned to look at me. “Is she?” he asked, his question laced with ire.
“Yes.”
“Oh, Stan.” Penelope’s expression went from hard to soft, then graduated from sympathy to empathy. Her hands dropped from her hips, and she came around my desk to give me a sisterly hug from behind. “This past year must have been so difficult.”
More than anyone, she understood what finding and letting go of a mate actually meant. My sister had been through worse herself, and with that experience on her resumé, she could read me like a book—if Pen read books.
Years I’d waited for it to happen, ready to reject whoever my mate was, yet I couldn’t. The one glimmer of hope I had was that I’d never have to see her again.
“Why—How is she back?” I asked the group, though my question was aimed at one specific person.
Drake couldn’t look at me when answering. “I knew she came to these parts around the same time every year…”
“That’s why you kept disappearing,” Cyrus sneered at him.
I couldn’t believe my ears—or the extent of Drake’s stupidity. “You went looking for her?”
“Yes.”
“Drake,” Vallon said on an exhale.
“How the fuck was I supposed to know she was his mate?”
“That doesn’t change anything! It has no relevance!
You went looking for a human! A human, Drake!
In her world. One who isn’t your mate! She is nothing to you!
” Cyrus shouted, rings of black circling his irises, making his light-brown eyes appear almost gold.
His wolf, Rostam, was beneath the surface, his appearance a mark of Cyrus’s frustration at Drake’s thickheadedness.
Everyone looked uncomfortable at his words.
I could tell Arax was already well-liked, and if I had to be honest, I could understand why.
At first she’d seemed shy and reserved, only to turn around and surprise us with her quick wit and sharp tongue.
She had a quiet confidence that made her even more attractive than she already had been.
Had been. Rebuffing the mate bond had affected her adversely, and I was as guilty as Apollo for what I had caused.
“Wait a damn minute.” Penelope’s eyes both went blue, and she let her wolf, Cynthera, take over in response to her mate. “Cyrus, you little shit, did you know about this?”
“Know what?” he asked, playing dumb.
“Don’t pretend to be an idiot! We are all well aware how far up my brother’s ass you are! You knew, didn’t you? You knew about Arax, and you didn’t tell me?”
He was delivered a vicious smack upside his head.
“Ow, zanike!” He got up quickly. “Put your psycho bitch on a leash, will you?”
The slurs, Farsi and English, earned him a growl from Cynthera, and he reciprocated, undaunted.
“How could you not tell me? I’m your mate,” Penelope whined, returning.
“And he’s my alpha,” Cyrus answered softly. He knew his mate well. Penelope’s abrasion and aggression were often how she expressed hurt feelings.
He took her hand in his. “It wasn’t my secret to share, baby.”
“Does she feel it too? Does she know?” Penelope asked me.
“No, how could she? She’s human,” I replied coldly, though an annoying voice in my head told me otherwise.
I caught Drake’s eye as he shifted in his seat. “I think she does,” he said quietly. I detected a bit of disappointment in his voice.
“How do you know?” Jason asked him.
Drake sighed, as though the realization had hit him hard.
“When I was driving her back after her first visit, she was fine at first,” he said.
“She was sitting in the front seat, but then as we crossed the territory boundary, she had me pull over. She just threw up.” He fixed me with a steady gaze, which didn’t mask his frustration.
“Are you going to reject her?” Vallon asked, and I felt my nails digging into my palms. I was right back where I’d started.
“I don’t know,” I replied.
“Why would he reject her?” Penelope asked, surprised. “She’s a bit of a fixer-upper but she’s still too good for you.”
“Well, I guess that settles it then,” I said sarcastically.
“No it doesn’t, dickbag.” Penelope was pushing my limits on purpose. “What it means is that she feels the bond subconsciously, probably because she’s human. Her heart and body are reacting to it, even though her mind has no idea why.”
It made sense but had no bearing on my indecisiveness.
“What are you going to do?” Cyrus asked again.
“I don’t know!” I snarled at him.
“Well, you better figure it out,” Penelope replied, then paused as she looked at me. “You could always ask to turn her.”
“Out of the question,” I replied firmly.
“Why?”
“Why? Because she doesn’t belong in our world! I can’t just ask her to give up her life because a world she doesn’t even know exists has ordained us to be together!”
What I was saying was the truth, but it wasn’t all of it. Secretly, I dreaded what would happen if she were to find out. She may have returned, but would she want to stay? Probably not. Who would? Who would want to walk away from everything they knew and willingly enter this life?
“You don’t know if you want her,” Drake said slowly, an edge to his voice. “But you nearly throw me off the deck because I do?”
I glared at him as he continued.
“I understand why you wouldn’t. She’s not a wolf, and this… Well, this isn’t an ordinary pack, and being its Luna could be challenging.”
“But?”
“But,” he replied, measuring his words carefully. “I’m not the alpha. I don’t care that Arax is a human and not my mate. She’s great. Smart, and funny and not to mention beautiful.”
None of what he said was a lie. I hated that he could state it so plainly. Her intelligence showed in her face, and her beauty was classic, subtle and deep. Mate bond or not, anyone could see it.
“And what happens to her when you find your actual mate? Would you leave her?” I asked.
Drake didn’t answer right away.
“I’m twenty-nine. I’ve been waiting a long time for mine, and it hasn’t happened. Not all of us have our mates just fall into our laps,” he said bitterly.
I put my head in my hands. I couldn’t deny what I felt for Arax, but I cursed the gods silently. “I need to think,” I said with a groan. “And until I figure it out, Drake, stay away from her. That’s an order.”
“Pulling rank, huh? Couldn’t just ask me to back off a bit, could you? You had to get draconian about it.” Drake shook his head. “How do you know what she wants, anyway? Maybe she wants me and not you. Maybe you need to get over yourself. Mayb—”
“That’s enough!” I roared, my chair crashing into the wall behind me as I rose.
Drake stood, challenging me. “How are you not all over her, Alpha? How? How are you resisting the bond? She’s not even my mate, and I can’t stay away. She’s damn near perfect.”
“I said, that’s enough! Shut your mouth, Gamma, before I Command it!”
“Stop. Please!” Vallon leaped to her feet.
Neither Drake nor I moved.
“Listen to her,” Jason said, backing up his mate. “You’re best friends.”
We held each other’s angry gazes until another plea from Vallon broke the hostility just enough for us to relax slightly. The tension in the room was still high. Turning my head toward Vallon, I gave her a slight nod to continue.