He made me feel like a selfish brat. As if I would literally hold him from taking care of the pack. If I'd known that a member was found dead I would never have fought him so hard to stay and explain himself to me.

Osiris was good at making me out to be a fool. He was always able to make me feel a wheel of emotions before flipping them a whole one-eighty. It was natural to him, from what I have seen, that he had no trouble having small talk one moment than being insensitive the next.

My fingertips trailed over the edge of the hardcover book I borrowed from Jensen. After our discussion, I wanted to know as much as I could about this witch stuff. Jensen seemed pretty adamant about the possibility of a witch par-taking in my mutation.

Ever since my parents had left this morning, I've buried my attention in the old textbooks. Andy had spent much of the morning taking notes for me and gossiping about Dark Titan's drama.

Learned that Natalie, the alpha's daughter, was in fact gay, I mean she was a lesbian. Honestly, the news sounded fake when Andy first told me but the fact that he had photos of her kissing another she wolf at a fair, was all the proof I needed to know he was telling the truth. There wasn't a thread of a fib.

It was nice having a familiar face around. Ivy was fun to hang out with and entertaining to listen to but something about having Andy around felt comfortable. I didn't feel like I was to be extra careful about what I said or what I asked. Andy didn't make me feel like he was holding anything back from me either.

"So, Philip has been a mess lately. Talks about him prohibiting Natalie from leaving the house have spread. It wouldn't be surprising if he was trying to reform her or something." Andy said unfazed by the image of a father locking away his daughter for being a lesbian.

Though I was straight I never cared much about someone's sexuality. I never could understand how upset some people could get about who was attracted to who and who loved who. I'd always been a firm believer in if something didn't involve me, didn't harm me or someone else and it made someone happy who am I to prevent someone from being happy.

"What you think he's trying to change her mind?"

He shrugged. "I wouldn't put it past him. You know how traditional he is."

I scoffed, as if. "Philip isn't traditional, he's ignorant. Everyone in the werewolf community knows that mates aren't only heterosexual."

"Psh- I know, but try telling that to that homophobic dickhead."

I tucked a paperclip in between the pages I stopped at. Shutting the book and placing it on the desk I flopped onto my back on the bed.

I stared up at the same fifty-two wood panels on the ceiling. I played with the loose curls of my hair as I recalled the way that Philip treated Natalie. It was a secret that he despised his daughter for being a female and when the luna was unable to conceive again he was furious with her.

The bed dipped next to me and when I turned to look at the person I came face to face with Andy who lay next to me. He propped himself up on his elbow to look at me, a beaming smile planted on his face.

"You don't look happy Sera."

I wasn't and I knew that I was most likely making that more than obvious with my closed-off disposition. Andy on numerous occasions had tried to spark some sort of conversation but I couldn't get myself to care enough to gossip too.

There was something about the way that Osiris acted, that had grabbed my attention. The shaking on his face when I pointed out that I heard him was alarming. It was like he didn't expect me to hear him.

If he didn't want me to hear what he had to say then he shouldn't have spoken his thoughts out loud. Now, I know that he felt that odd feeling like I did. The feeling gave me a load of questions but the fact that he felt that same feeling too left me with more baffling questions.

Like, why was he trying to gaslight me when I called him out? Why not just say, yea I heard you and kept it pushing? It was like the subject I was talking about wasn't meant to be spoken out loud.

A hand rested again my chin guiding my eyes sight to side until I connected them with Andy's. He gazed at me with a caring tenderness that I had missed over the last couple of weeks.

"Are you happy, Sera?" He wondered rubbing the pad of his thumb up and down the edge of my jaw.

I opened my mouth to speak but instead sighed at his question. I turned away from him making his hand drop from my chin.

I was happy but I wasn't at the same time. I was happy that Osiris allowed Andy to stick around and keep me company but the distance that Desmond continued to place between us unnerved me to no end. It confused me. Mates were supposed to be obsessed with one another and Desmond just didn't seem like he was.

I could say the same about myself though. I wasn't exactly obsessed with him either. Every time that I would think about Desmond it would fill me with joy and safety but my mind never failed at redirecting me toward Osiris.

It didn't matter what I was thinking about at first, my mind wandered to the shadowy-eyed devil man. I take that back Osiris wasn't a devil, but he sure as hell wasn't an angel, not with his snippy behavior and less than kind words.

I didn't understand it though. How could he be kind and patient with everyone but me? It was like he just couldn't stand me.

Poke.

"Hello, earth to Sera."

Poke.

"Is my best friend still in there?" Andy joked.

I giggled at the ticklish feeling I felt when he poked my side. Swatting his hand away I propped myself up on my hands to sit up.

"Yes, I'm still here, and to answer your question Andy, I don't know."

"What do you mean? You have a mate and an impressive mate at that."

I shrugged. "Yea, he's nice and all and treats me well but I can't help but feel he enjoys his time away from me more than with me."

"Have you mentioned that to him?"

I turned to face Andy. He was giving me advice that I had already thought of on my own. I've told myself for weeks to confront Desmond about how I was feeling but I just never grew the courage to speak with him.

I shook my head. "No, but now that you bring it up, I think I will."

"Good, you deserve to be happy Sera. Seeing you like this just makes me mad. If I had known that you were this down I would have pushed to see you sooner." He shared sitting up. "When will talk to him?"

There was shuffling coming from downstairs as I scanned Andy's face and tried to put together a response. Footsteps could easily be heard coming from downstairs and as I listened more closely I recognized the gate at which they sounded and knew it to be Desmond. He was ascending the stairs at the moment.

"Now," I replied.

Andy furrowed his brows bemused as I suddenly stood up and stepped toward the door. I opened the door just as I heard Desmond round the corner of the staircase.

When the door opened it revealed an awkwardly standing Desmond. His hand was held up as if to knock on the door that was already opened. His eyes darted between his enclosed fist and me. Desmond looked over his shoulder in the direction he came and then back over to me his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

Dropping his hand he gave me a puzzled look. "H-how did you know I was coming?"

"You aren't exactly a quiet walker," I muttered gesturing for him to come into the room. He stood still in his spot.

Stunned and wide-eyed he stared at me dumbfounded. "I didn't even creak a floorboard."

I shrugged as if that mattered, the man walked like he was goliath. Anyone would have heard him coming.

Desmond walked into the room shaking his head. Moving on from the topic he glanced at Andy who sat silently on my bed. His eyes slightly narrowed seemingly bothered by the fact that Andy was in my room.

My heart did a little flip at the fact that Desmond showed some sort of annoyance at another male being near me. It was normal for male wolves to be overly possessive and protective and this was the first time that I had seen Desmond show some sort of reaction. He never seemed bothered by Osiris being close to me but I just blamed that on the fact that Osiris was the alpha and his brother.

"Could you leave us for a moment, Andy?" He asked though it came out more of an order than a question.

Andy jumped to his feet nodding and offering me a reassuring smile before exiting. Desmond shut the door behind him before speaking up again.

"If you want to hang out with Andy in your room keep the door open."

"Keep the door open? Am I fourteen or something?" I blurted out caught off guard by his demand.

I knew that males were possessive and protective but I wanted to still have the freedom to do as I wanted as long as I wasn't harming myself or others. Hanging out and talking with my best friend shouldn't be seen as a threat. Andy was not a threatening person in the least and I was dead set on showing that to Desmond.

"I'm being serious Sera, for your friend's own good keep the door open when you're both in here."

"The door is closed when Ivy and I are in here alone," I pointed out. "You've never gotten upset about that before."

"Ivy is a female and is also a mated wolf."

"And Andy and I have been friends for over fifteen years. We grew up together, he'd never do anything to harm me. You have nothing to worry about."

Desmond was silent for a moment his eyes fogging over briefly before they returned to their normal golden brown. He sighed making his way over to me. He cautiously placed his hands on the tops of my hips.

There was hesitation in his movements and to help him become comfortable I placed my hands over his securely resting his palms against my body. This was the first time he approached me on his own and went out of his way to touch me and I intended to milk this for as long as I could.

I couldn't help the bubbly feeling that coursed through me at the elation of him coming up to me. It was what I had been waiting for all this time. Maybe now was the best time to bring up spending more time together.

"Desmond," I curled my arms around his neck and stretched onto my tippy toes in an attempt to match his height. I still only reached to top of his shoulders. "I'd like to start spending more time with one another."

He blinked. "Uh- okay. I was actually coming to see if you'd like to go hiking up into the Reign mountains."

My smile grew wider at the idea.

"Desmond Wraith are you asking me out o a date?"

Nervously, he ran a hand through his curly hair. "Uh- yea I guess I am."

His cute little dimple on his chin showed as he rolled his lips into his mouth shyly a hint of blush showed beneath his stubble.

Stretching as far as I could on my toes I pulled his face lower to mine, planting a kiss against his full and soft lips. Desmond didn't pull away right away but he didn't put much effort into the kiss before pulling away.

He removed his hands from me and took a step back.

"Desmond have you ever been with a woman?"

He had let out a dry laugh. "Yes, many."

I frowned. Not the response I was looking for but okay.

"Sorry, that was out of pocket for me to say, but yes Sera I've been- with women before."

"Then why do you seem so out of touch when it comes to me?" I pressed my frown deepening by the second.

"I-," Desmond groaned squeezing his eyes shut. He opened them to look at me with a somber expression before continuing on. "I just don't want to rush you into anything."

"You aren't though, I'm more than ready to move onto the next step together as mates."

Desmond took another step back appalled by my claim. He quickly tried to change his face but it was too late I had seen it all. He looked petrified with the idea. Why? It wasn't like we weren't mates. I thought this discussion would bring us closer and he'd be ecstatic but the man I was looking at now was far from joyous.

"What do you mean exactly?"

"I'd like to sleep in the same room as my mate and if and when you are ready, I'm ready to bare your mark."

🥰