Chapter 24

~Carson’s POV~

“I still can’t believe you’re alive.” Lucas said clearly still in awe.

“Yeah well I wouldn’t be if Thomas hadn’t found me when he did.” I said and we both looked over to the other room where Thomas stood talking on his phone.

I stretched out my legs trying to get comfortable on his couch, careful not to jar Laken who was stretched out on the couch sleeping with his head in my lap. I ran my hand through his curls. I’d never seen his hair this long before and I liked it. He shifted in his sleep his brows furrowing and I smoothed them out with my fingers.

Ever since I’d gotten here he hadn’t left my side. After the initial shock had worn off and he’d cried a bit he’d settled in the couch beside me and fought to stay awake for as long as he could but as expected after the crazy day he’d had his eyes had finally drifted close.

“How’s he been?” I asked Lucas who was sitting in the chair across from me, his eyes on my mate.

“He missed you.” Was all he said, his eyes still glued to Laken.

It was things like this that could make a man jealous but seeing the look in Lucas’ eyes made me realize just how much he cared for Laken and I could only be grateful that he had taken care of him. I’d made the split decision to leave Laken with him that night because instincts told me it would be a right one and it turns out I was right.

Laken was in good hands here. I’d constantly worried about him during my recovery, wondering how Lucas was treating him or if Victor had caught up with them, it very nearly drove me crazy and so as soon as I was recovered to the point where I no longer needed to be bedridden I’d asked Thomas to track him down and despite Thomas’ skill it certainly hadn’t been easy.

“Hasn’t he been eating?” I asked with concern. I had his hand in mine, he was practically skin and bones.

“Do you have any idea how stubborn he is? Getting him to eat something daily was like pulling teeth.” He said shaking his head.

“Yeah that’s Laken alright, stubborn as hell.” I said with a small smile, tracing the outline of his face with my index finger.

“I get how you got away but…how did you survive that? You got five shots man, how does a person get shot five times and walk away from that?” he asked, his voice was low but the incredulity was still there.

“Wasn’t my time I guess. The bullets missed all my vital organs and every single shot went clean through. It sounds impossible but that’s what happened, got minor surgery on my shoulder but that’s it.” I answered, not quite believing it myself.

Of course I had the scars to prove it and the pain pills I was popping three times a day pretty much confirmed what happened, but Lucas was right, nobody just walked away from something like that. It was a miracle, one I’d be thanking my lucky stars for everyday.

“Damn.” Lucas intoned shaking his head in obvious disbelief; “when death’s not ready I guess it’s just not ready.”

My eyes narrowed at his tone. “Why do I get the feeling you wouldn’t have minded if I hadn’t come back?” I asked. Then my eyes drifted back down to Laken and I had my answer.

Lucas only shrugged but his expression gave nothing away.

“What’d I miss?” Thomas asked entering the room and flopping down on a nearby couch.

“Only that Lucas here isn’t too pleased with your rescue effort.” I said with a grin.

I was only joking but Thomas’; eyes flashed to Lucas’ face with a glare. Thomas wasn’t a big fan.

“You can’t separate a guy from his mate you know,” Thomas addressed Lucas. “No matter how much you cared for him and told him how you felt Laken would have never loved you the way he loves Carson. It’s like finding a soul mate, there’s nobody else out there who will have that kind of impact on you.” He said with a sad smile and I nodded at his words.

Thomas knew what it meant to love a mate. He himself was going through some issues with his own mate and I could only sympathize with him. His mate was his best friend, but that wasn’t the problem, nope the crazy thing was that Thomas’ mate was human, he had no idea werewolves even existed much less that Thomas was his mate and to make matters worse, he was homophobic. That’s one situation I was glad I didn’t have to deal with. I had Laken and he understood what I was feeling and he felt it too.

Thomas on the other hand was pretty much alone in this, to have your best friend (and mate) so close at all times but having to hide everything you were from him?

Brutal. My heart went out to my beta.

“Are you quite done?” Lucas asked rudely, directing his question at Thomas who bristled from his words.

I figured now would be the best time to make my leave, we couldn’t afford any violence right now and with the tension building between these two, violence was highly likely. I shifted in the couch, moving carefully so as not to wake Laken, I held the back of his head, carefully lowering it to the couch as I got up with some amount of effort.

“I think it’s time we got out of here.” I announced and watched as Thomas pushed up out of the chair. “We have a long flight back and his parents must be dying to see him.” I went on.

Lucas’ eyes widened “You can’t seriously be thinking of taking Laken back to your camp!” he said, clearly surprised.

“It’s his home, where exactly do you want me to take him?” I queried, slightly annoyed now.

“You were abducted in your own camp, what does that tell you about its security?” he growled at me

“That was a minor setback, we’ve made changes and now it’s virtually impenetrable, he’ll be fine there.” I said waving off his concerns.

When he grabbed my good shoulder Thomas took a step towards us and I held up my hand to stop him. “Let me take him to London, there’s no way Victor can find him there, then when it’s safe he can come back.” He pleaded with me.

“I’m not letting him out of my site again.” I said firmly, grabbing his hand and flinging it off my shoulder.

“Is fulfilling your own selfish desires more important than his safety?” he asked glaring at me.

“My own selfish desires? What the fuck does that even mean? I’m looking out for him like I’ve always looked out for him. Just because I want him by my side instead of off on some god damn getaway with you doesn’t mean I care any less!” I rounded on him, up in his face fully prepared to start a fight right there in his living room.

“He’ll be safer in London far away from all this. You are a target, and if Laken is with you then so is he, listen to reason!”

“You can honestly stand there and tell me he’s happy here? Look at him, he hasn’t been eating and from what you said, he hasn’t even had to drive to do anything at all. He needs me and I won’t leave him, never again.” I roared.

“His happiness takes a back seat to his safety-“

“That’s where you’re wrong neither is greater than the other and when he’s with me he’ll have them both. Nothing you say will-“ I started.

“What’s going on?”

I spun around when I heard Laken’s sleep filled voice to see him looking at us, his eyes wide with uncertainty.

“We’re leaving go get your stuff.” I told him and watched as he pushed off the couch, his eyes darting between us and his brows furrowing in confusion before he turned towards the passageway that would lead to his room.

Lucas heaved a sigh of frustration rubbing his hand over his face. “At least let him get some sleep tonight, he’s had a rough day, then you can decide what to do in the morning.” Lucas said to me.

“Yeah leave him here with you so you can drag him off to God knows where without-“

“Then by all means plant your ass too!” he said throwing his hands up in the air.

“Soo…we’re staying?” Laken asked from where he still stood at opening of the passageway.

I looked at Lucas then back at Laken and nodded.

“Well then I call dibs on this couch!” Thomas said flopping down into the longest couch in the room and putting his hands behind his head, all the while grinning with satisfaction.

“Then you can stay in my room Carson.” Laken said with a hopeful smile.

I looked up at Lucas to garner his reaction to Laken’s suggestion, but while his mouth tightened infinitesimally, he gave a brief nod

“Alright lead the way” I told my mate with a gentle smile.

Before I could move to follow him however, Lucas spoke up; “You may think I’m the bad guy here Carson, but I only want what’s best for him.” He said and after a short pause I nodded and followed Laken out of the room.

……………………

“I still can’t believe you’re actually here, I’ve dreamt about this.” Laken whispered tightening his arm around me.

“I told you I would come back for you, I always keep my word.” I told him, planting a kiss on the top of his head.

We were lying on his bed. Laken hadn’t been able to go back to sleep since he’d woken up and caught my face off with Lucas and hour ago, so we’d been talking ever since despite the fact that I was tired as hell and the pain from my still healing wounds were starting to bother me.

“I was waiting for you you know, even though I knew you were dead I still hoped.” He said tilting his head so he could squint up at me through the dark.

“If I had died you would have moved on eventually, you wouldn’t have waited forever.” I told him with a gentle squeeze.

“I would.” he said firmly, almost angry and I had to smile at that.

“As nice as that is the hear Laken, I wouldn’t have wanted to you to hold on to me. I’d want you to be happy.”

He paused for a second then; “Even if it was with Lucas?”

“As long as he made you happy then it wouldn’t matter.” I told him honestly.

“Yeah well I know myself, I’ve loved you before I even understood what the word meant, if you die that’s it for me. I don’t want anybody else but you.”

Laken-“

“No I’m serious, you’re everything to me Carson.” He mumbled, hugging me tighter thereby irritating my wounds. I fought back a groan, warmed by his words.

“You really hurt me when you told me to go with him you know. You thought you were protecting me but it was probably the worst thing you could have done, I felt like I’d go crazy without you, more than once I thought dying would be better than being here, knowing that you were never coming back.” He whispered, his voice trembling.

I winced at his words, speechless.

“I’m not trying to make you feel guilty or anything, I just…I promised myself that if you ever by some crazy miracle came back to me I wouldn’t ever keep things from you anymore, nothing at all. So this is me keeping my promise; just letting you know what it did to me when you tried to save me.”

I lifted my good arm from where it rested around him and brought it up to cup his upturned face; “I’m sorry, I just had to protect you and it was the only way I knew how.” I told him.

“Promise me you won’t do something like that again. Promise me if you have to make that decision again, you’ll come with me and we’ll deal with whatever happens together, don’t ever sacrifice yourself for me.” He said firmly.

I shook my head; “I can’t do that Laken. If I had to do it all over again, I would choose to let you go with Lucas and I would stay behind. If it’s the only way to keep you safe then my life means nothing compared to yours.” I told him earnestly then had to suffer through the silence that followed for a good three minutes before he spoke again.

“You think I wouldn’t do the same?” he asked in a small voice.

“I wouldn’t want you to.”

“That’s exactly how I feel about you doing it for me. I wouldn’t want you to but I would do it for you in a heartbeat because I love you.”

“I love you more.” I said playfully.

He chuckled; “I’m not even gonna start this with you because we both know I love you more.”

I grinned; “I wish you could feel what I feel every time I look at you or think about you, then you know I do.”

He sighed, giving up; “This is a pointless argument.”

“I agree.” Then after a pause; “I’m going back to camp in the morning, Lucas suggested you go to London with him until all this blows over, but I’m giving you a choice, no matter what decision you make I’ll be fine with it, I just want you to be safe.” I told him.

He didn’t even take a second to think about it; “I’m coming with you.” He said and that was that.

………………………..

~Laken’s POV~

“I’ll send back whatever aid I can, then I’ll be back to help.” Lucas told Carson.

We were standing in the open doorway of his front door, Thomas and Carson both held one of my bags in hand.

“Thanks I appreciate that.” Carson told him shaking Lucas’ hand.

“Take care of yourself Laken.” Lucas said, his eyes on me and a small sad smile on his face.

I dropped my bags and hugged him, he returned it with a nice tight embrace. “Thanks for everything Lucas.” I said, then backed away from him and gathered my things once more.

“I’ll see you soon.” Was his reply then I turned to leave, walking down the snow covered path with Thomas. We both looked back when Carson turned back to the door;

“Oh and one more thing.” He said, dropping my bag to the ground.

We watched as he closed his fingers in a fist and sung his arm, punching Lucas right in the face “That’s for getting us in this whole mess in the first place.” He said, then took up my bag and made his way over to us.

I watched Lucas straighten with a growl, holding his bloody nose and I shook my head. Guess they couldn’t be friends after all.

……………………………

“So you knew all along?” I asked Thomas who sat to my right in the comfortable plane seat.

“He’s my beta I tell him everything.” Carson answered for him.

“Wow, you never gave any indication that you did though, no weird looks or anything? And you’re all right with it? Us being gay I mean. Doesn’t it bother you?” I asked Thomas again who grinned.

“I’m cool with it, kinda hard to have a problem with you guys being gay when I am too.” He said with a shrug.

My eyes widened and I almost choked on my soda. “You are?”

He nodded in reply and I looked at Carson surprised.

“Wow, the two pack leaders are gay, I wonder how the pack will react if they ever find out.” I said with a shake of my head then my eyes narrowed; “Wait, you mean, you’ve been gay this whole time….so before Carson and I met…” I started.

“I know what you’re thinking Laken and you’re wrong. Thomas and I never thought of each other that way. I’ve only ever had eyes for you and besides he has a mate.” Carson said to me.

“Really? In our pack? who is it?” I tried to think of a guy in the pack I’d seen him with a lot but nobody came to mind.

“No he’s not a werewolf, he’s human.” He said.

“Really? That can happen?” I asked, very interested now. I had no idea werewolves could mate with humans.

“Well it happened to me so I guess so.” He said with a sad smile.

“You have a mate so why do you look so…sad?” I asked, eyebrow raised in confusion.

“Alright Laken that’s enough.” Carson said seriously.

“No it’s ok, I don’t mind telling him.” Thomas said “He’s been my best friend since elementary school” he chuckled then continued. “But he doesn’t know I’m a werewolf, hell he doesn’t even know they exist!” He told me exasperated.

“So that would mean he doesn’t know you guys are mates then? Why don’t you just tell him?” I asked again.

“How do you tell one of the biggest homophobes in school he’s your mate?” he said and my eyes widened in comprehension.

“Wow.” Was all I could say and Thomas nodded, turning his attention back to his drink.

Some people were so unlucky I thought, looking over at Carson who was looking out the window of the plane.

Thank God for small favors.

AUTHOR'S NOTES

THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER PEOPLE(FOR THOSE OF YOU WONDERING) ANYWAY, YALL BETTER START LIKING THOMAS BECAUSE HE'S THE MAIN CHARACTER IN MY NEXT STORY!! THOUGHT I'D JUST GIVE YALL A LITTLE CLUE :D

ShOut OutS: To Katelandruff you have yet to share your cake with me!! :D and to Nerdpants I love when you comment :) and to xxCookieMasterxx; a new reader whose comment made me smile :).......you guys are awesome!

Also to Totallytasha and anitablake427 who never fail to vote

-DoUbLe.A

-unedited as usual.