Alpha. Brother. Mate

EIGHT

EIGHT

I watched in equal parts bemusement and discomfort as Dylan cleared away the plates I had used in eating. My cheeks burned as I yet again offered to take them away and he refused yet again.

“Just let me do this for you, is that okay?” He looked me square in the eye and it took a great deal of willpower to hold his gaze. I nodded. “Good,” He carried the tray out.

For the second time that day, I was left alone in his room. I mused over the fact that he had gotten a house and a part of me itched to explore it, but I knew my place. I contented myself with studying the room I was in. 

The room was white everywhere. The paint, ceiling, beddings, light, furniture, everything. There wasn’t much colour save for a little pile of clothes towards the toilet door. A white fan whirled lazily even though the air conditioner was on full blast. The room was cold in more ways than one.

He re -entered the room and sat right next to me, immediately enveloping my hand with his. My face caught fire. 

We sat in tense silence for a while and I felt his nervousness. It reached out to me and triggered mine and before long we were being suffocated by the silence. I caught him several times, from my peripheral view, open his mouth and then close it. We knew each other yet we didn’t.

We couldn’t very well begin to introduce ourselves yet we couldn’t speak of anything. I knew him. He was Dylan Vaughn, Alpha of the Silver Moon pack, my elder brother a few weeks ago and my mate today. He liked to play football in open fields and his best friends were Mason and Jake. He didn’t like ketchup and he was allergic to pecan. I knew all these and more but I didn’t know him. A pang of sadness hit me. It couldn’t be helped. We were familiar strangers.

I thought of Ashton and after a few minutes contemplating how to broach that subject, I went with the Band -Aid ripping method. “Where’s Ashton?” The growl that vibrated from his chest terrified me so badly, I jumped. His eyes conveyed his remorse but there was no mistaking the hardness in his eyes.

"Don't say his name!" he grumbled and I almost smiled. His jealousy was endearing. 

"I have to see him," I said, pushing to my feet. "I have to see him. He hasn't done anything wrong. He even let me stay with him for the past few days," I explained, hoping he would understand why Ashton’s kindness shouldn’t be repaid with whatever it was being repaid with.

"I should kill him for keeping you away from me," he replied, eyes flashing red. I growled in frustration.

"He wasn't keeping me away from anyone!” I pulled at my hair. " You specifically said you didn’t want anything to do with me! Remember?” I snarled in his face.

I watched his face transform with anger and his eyes turn red. “Step back,” He growled at me but my head wasn’t correct. I crowded further into his space and continued to stare him down. Goddess, I was about fed up with his rubbish!

"Get away from my face," he said quietly and it was the menace dripping behind his words that triggered my fear. 

I quickly scrambled back, eyes blown wide with terror. My heart beat elevated as the magnitude of what I had done hit me smack in the face. I had disrespected my alpha, stared him down in a manner that can only have been interpreted as a challenge for his status as pack leader.

He caught my hands in his and my heart stopped, then started to hammer violently. “Stop it,” He murmured softly. “I’m not going to hurt you,” He had many teeth and his words were a rumble. Somehow, those words didn’t penetrate my skull. 

“Remi, " He breathed slowly before burying his face in my neck. My breath hitched loudly. All those teeth were so close to my neck! I could feel myself slowly begin to hyperventilate and my vision blurred.

He stepped back from me, red eyes glowing with something suspiciously like sadness, then he closed his eyes. A split second later, he opened them again and they were their regular blue. I was still scared, considerably less, but still scared.

"Sorry," I said in fear, concentrating on my bare feet. I heard him sigh.

“Look at me. Please. " I did. His eyes were red. I took a step back. They flashed back to blue. “I would never hurt you,” His eyes pleaded with me to understand and I nodded. “Not me, not Logan. I couldn’t. " He croaked. “ Do you understand? It’ll kill me. It’ll kill us. " 

“I understand. " I did. Not really.

He regarded me with regret, sadness, longing. He reached out to me and I stilled myself. I tried to stop myself from stiffening but I think I failed.

"Do you want to see him?" he asked quietly and at first I didn’t understand.

“What? See -who? Ash? Yeah?" I stuttered. I felt his body vibrate but he cut himself off mid -growl.

“Come along then,” He grabbed my hand and led me out on my first trip outside that room.

Dylan was walking so fast he was almost dragging me along. I had to break into a jog to keep up with him. I'm naturally a fast walker, so the fact that I had to jog to keep up with him should give you an insight into how fast he was moving. He was seething.

I followed him as we crossed the street in a different neighbourhood from the one we grew up in. "You got a house?" I asked, trying to slow him down. I wasn’t entirely certain I cared plus I already figured that out.

"Yes. You would have known if you hadn’t run away," he answered.

It was stupid to feel hurt since I had, in fact, run away. He wasn’t exactly accusing me of anything I hadn’t done, but that didn’t stop my emotions from being hurt. 

We got to his car and I hovered awkwardly around it. I had never seen the inside of it. Even after he got in, I hesitated before grabbing the handle to the other seat. I half expected him to yell at me but he didn’t.

Settling cautiously into the car, I waited for him to start it. He didn’t. "What do you see in him?" He asked suddenly. I glanced at him in confusion. What was he talking about?

"See in who?" I questioned.

"That dude," he grumbled and I still stared at him, confused.

"What dude?" I asked and he glared at me.

"Ashton," he huffed, looking like it physically pained him to utter the name.

All his petty displays of jealous regarding Ashton suddenly becomes too much and I doubled over with laughter. My hand clutched something on the armrest that ended up being his arm as I heaved with laughter. He scowled at me and I immediately sobered up, snatching my hand away.

I had never dreamt of a day when I would laugh at, or even with, Dylan. Doing it then, I realized how weird it felt to laugh in his presence. In the past, all I had ever done in his presence was cry and stutter and feel sorry for myself. He must have noticed because his earlier look of sadness returned.

“I’m sorry,” The words looked like they cost a lot of effort coming from him. “I’m sorry for the past and the mistakes I made regarding you. I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did. " 

"Yeah," I replied dubiously. That didn't seem like an honest apology. I know he wasn't used to apologizing, being an alpha and all, but at least he could say it like he meant it. 

“I was – I was wrong,” He visibly twitched at that. “You’re my mate. My Luna. P -please forgive me for my past words, they were born out of s -s-stupidity. " Goddess, it was sorry to watch. “You’re my mate, Remi , and I want to be with you. Forever,” His eyes shone and he gave me a tentative smile.

“O -okay. ” I flashed him what I hoped was a reassuring smile.

The truth is it was not okay! He couldn’t erase twelve years of spite and cusses with just a simple ‘sorry’. I wasn’t going to suddenly forget he didn’t want me as a mate because he asked for forgiveness. It wasn’t that simple.

A part of me still felt like I was living a dream. I was still questioning why he suddenly changed his mind. Maybe he was playing a cruel joke on me. It wouldn’t be the first. I was going to forever question if I was good enough for him and deep down, a part of me would still feel insufficient. But I was going to try to be with him. I was drawn to him in a way I could not help and I was ready to make things work with him. For me, for Deena, because no matter how much she had tried to hide it while we were away, I felt the grief that had consumed her. After all, we were one and the same.