Rowan heard the door open and footsteps, and since there was only a small wall with a coat closet when you first entered and then a large square archway, he knew Zac would definitely see him.
Rowan had timed it and called out surprise, but it was actually him who had been surprised to find Zac with a man in his arms, the two of them making out.
Ro had stood there completely frozen, his mouth open but no sound coming out, until Zac said, “Welcome home, my love,” to the man with him.
He must have made a sound because suddenly there were two sets of eyes on him.
“Rowan.” Zac’s voice had got him moving. He’d run out of the room in his robe, grabbed his keys that were thankfully in the bowl on the entrance table, and he’d never seen Zac again even though he’d texted Rowan a lot and left several messages, all of them with the phrase ‘fated mate.’
Rowan had blocked him a few days later and switched his placement so he wasn’t working with Felix anymore. It wasn’t his friend’s fault, but it had just been too hard.
Ro wasn’t sure how long passed, but his phone rang and snapped him out of his memories.
He looked at the screen, and sure enough, it was him. Rowan swallowed as he stared at the ringing mobile, but even as his finger hovered over the button, he still wasn’t sure if he was ready for the conversation that was bound to come out of this.
If you want a chance to be happy like Axel and Alfie… if you want Mikhail…
He shook his head.Nope, one step at a time.Rowan took a deep breath before pressing accept.
“Rowan?”
Just the sound of his name from that voice took him back to a time in his life he kept securely locked away. But he guessed it was time to face him.
“Zac.”
Twelve
Mikhail
Mikhail was all checked in to his hotel in the centre of town and had even unpacked since this was sure to be a long stay, but now he wasn’t sure what his next step should be.
It had taken him a couple of days to leave Whitfell since he’d had to help his papa with an omega’s birth that had gone really wrong with severe complications. They had gotten a call during Christmas dinner and both him and his papa had rushed over to the house. It had progressed from a natural birth to needing surgical intervention… and quickly. And although his family lived in the forest, there were many other shifters who stayed in town, and Mik’s family still technically took care of things—of them—even though there was no official pack anymore.
“You legged it down here with no game plan. Nice one, Mik,” he muttered under his breath, annoyed with himself.
As much as he knew Rowan was his mate, following him about would be creepy. Maybe he could get Axel to find out where Rowan was and accidentally bump into him.
That seemed like as good a plan as any.
He got his phone out of his pocket and went over to contacts, then dialled Axel’s facetime. The call was answered almost immediately, although it sounded like his nephew was not in a good mood.
“Should I ring you back?” Mikhail asked. The phone must have been put down because Axel disappeared from the screen.
“Nope, it’s fine. Teething for pups apparently sucks the same way it does for everyone else.” Axel sounded tired, and Mik was about to make an excuse and hang up when he heard Malek’s voice.
“Here it is.” Mikhail wasn’t exactly sure what ‘it’ was, but the crying tapered out pretty quickly after that. He heard Axel’s voice say, “I’ve got Mik on the phone. Why don’t you hold on to Mase for a little bit?”
Then his brother’s voice replied, “Okay, love.”
After that, it was quiet for a moment, although he could still make out breathing sounds, then footsteps.
Less than a minute later, he had Axel back on his screen.
“Frozen washcloth,” Axel said.
“What?” Mikhail wasn’t sure if his brother-in-law was sleep-deprived or what, but that didn’t makeanysense.
Axel rubbed his eyes and walked over to the small couch Mik knew was in Mason’s nursery and lowered himself into it.
