I believe I said not to text unless you wanted to meet up.
You did.
Then why are you texting me?
Mark walked through to his bedroom, phone in hand. Because you’re notmybeta, I don’t have to do what you say.His cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Alec was used to people doing what he told them to. That message would probably make his eye twitch. Setting his phone back on the bed, Mark started to get undressed, laughing when his phone buzzed three times where it lay on the bed.
He let it sit there while he laid his clothes over the back of a chair, then sat down and picked it up. All three were from Alec.
If I was your beta, we wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.
And I know what you’re trying to do. Stop it.
The last one made his smile falter, the tone more serious than the others.
Thank you for tonight. I needed it. Stay safe.
Mark stared at the screen for a long time as he read the words again and again. No more messages came through, not that he expected them to. That last one was as good as a ‘Goodnight, Mark.’ He didn’t reply either. It didn’t seem like he needed to.
One thing he knew for sure, Alec Knight was not who Mark had thought him to be. The more he learnt about him, the more he wanted to know. And as exciting as that prospect was, he couldn’t see it ending well. The smart thing to do would be to stop it now before he got any more attached.
But fuck that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
For the first time in ten years, Alec woke up on September twenty-seventh to his alarm and not a nightmare. The heavy dose of guilt swept in, as it usually did, but not as all-consuming as he’d expected. He grabbed his phone, stopping the annoying blare, and was instantly reminded of the reason for his peaceful sleep.
Mark.
What the hell had got into him last night? As much as Alec hated how much he’d let slip, how vulnerable he’d made himself to a member of another pack—P-pack for fuck’s sake—he still couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Not if this was the result. Alec prided himself on being an excellent judge of character, relied on instinct when it came to trusting both shifters and humans, and instinct told him he could trust Mark. They’d been part of the same pack once, after all.
He ignored the part of him that wished they still were.
Usually Alec shied away from pack interaction on this day, not trusting himself to be civil. Most of his pack already thought he was a cold-hearted bastard; he didn’t need to fuel their assumptions. A lot of shifters suffered during the pack wars. Plenty had their own anniversaries to deal with. Alec didn’t know when they were, and he didn’t expect anyone to remember his.
Apart from a select few.
But today he didn’t have the luxury of keeping himself to himself. He had a meeting with Cam, followed by a pack meeting, then he really should check in with his own unit to make sure they were prepared for tomorrow.
After a shower and breakfast, Alec dressed in jeans and a T-shirt and was out the door.
He met the others just outside the meeting room doors. Both rooms had been opened up into one huge room to later accommodate the whole pack.
Daryl smirked at him as they went inside and took an exaggerated inhale. “Good night?” He’d never been one to let Alec wallow in guilt. “You seem less of a testy arsehole than I was expecting.”
Alec growled, but Daryl just laughed at him and took a seat at the table. As the other two betas took their seats, they gave Alec a cursory glance, obviously smelling Mark on him since he’d made no effort to hide it, but said nothing. Because it made no difference to them.
He glanced around the table. “We expecting anyone else besides Cam?”
Gareth sighed and glanced at the door before answering. “Tim and Seb, I think. And also Jared… and Nathan.”
Alec’s gaze shot to Gareth’s. “Nathan?”
“Yes.”
Fuck. The one shifter he never wanted to see on this day. Pack meetings or not. “I assumed he wouldn’t be attending any of today’s meetings, considering…”Considering it’s the fucking ten-year anniversary of his parents’ death, and I’m probably the last person he wants to be in a room with. And the feeling is mutual.
Gareth sighed again. “I know, and normally I’d give him the day off, but—”
