His words finally push Maddox to move until he is standing next to Daniel. “Hello,” he says awkwardly.
Goddess! Is he always this awkward, or am I only noticing it now because it’s the first time I’ve watched him properly interact with someone? Well, not that I care much. Leaving the two men in the living room, I distract myself by making coffee and putting the first batch of cookies on a plate before joining them in the living room.
There, Daniel happily accepts both the coffee and the cookies, munching on one of them while Maddox keeps moving one of the cookies between his hands, awkwardly, shifting around, and then takes his cup of coffee.
“He usually drinks it with milk and sugar,” Daniel says dryly.
My lips tug slightly at the look of surprise on Maddox’s face. “No, that’s fine,” he says. “I… I don’t mind.”
I decide to ignore him and grab the two items. Marina used to drink her coffee the same way, which is why I always have these items here for her morning coffee.
Once Maddox has his coffee, I sit down again, and silence engulfs us. The minutes seem to drag by with no one saying a word, until Daniel pinches the bridge of his nose. “Would you just tell her?”
“I was still finding the right words,” Maddox says.
“It’s not rocket science,” Daniel pushes. “Just tell her straight out.”
Maddox clears his throat, and I can see his stance changing slightly. He sits up straight, suddenly looking stronger and more confident, more like a typical alpha. Is this just a pretense? I feel like I am just seeing something I probably shouldn’t see.
Maddox pulls an envelope out of his pocket. “I am sorry, Gwendolyn,” he says. “I… Daniel is right. I should have stopped Brandon and the others the moment I noticed what they were up to. I truly didn’t know what he was planning. When they were chasing you, I was on a run myself.”
“You mean, you simply ran into us?” I ask.
He nods. “I know you don’t believe me. Why would you? But Brandon and Josie set it up themselves.”
I do believe him. When he saw us, he did seem to be surprised. “And when you spotted us-“
“I didn’t know what was going on at first,” he says. “My mind works slowly sometimes,” he explained.
I look at Daniel, and he nods subtly.
What does he mean by ‘his mind works slowly’? Maddox is incredibly smart. He was always ahead of everyone else in school, and I heard he is doing well in college now, too.
“My reasons don’t matter,” he says. “The moment I saw them, I should have acted. It was my failure not to do so.” I stay silent; there isn’t much to say that he doesn’t already know. He hands me the envelope. “Against popular belief, I live pretty frugally and have saved a lot of money. I don’t spend much of it. This is part of a fund I have, and it should get you, Marina and Faye, through a couple of months.” He hands me a sheet of paper next. “This is my cousin’s number. She left the pack a couple of years ago to be with her mate. She is not loyal to anyone here.”
“She really isn’t,” Daniel says. “I know her. She thinks this place and its leadership suck.”
Nice way of throwing the alpha under the bus without doing so obviously.
“My father has plans,” Maddox says. “He doesn’t wantanyhumans on pack grounds, and I am not sure what he is going to do with human hybrids.”
My heart drops. What the fuck? “Can’t you take over the pack?”
“Not yet. I need to finish my studies first. It will take me another year, then I should be done, and then the pack will be mine.” To my surprise, he doesn’t sound happy when he says it, just tired.
“A year is pretty soon,” I add. “Didn’t you start studying together with…” My voice runs dry even thinking about mentioning Brandon.”
“Yes, I did,” Maddox says. “But I put in a bit of effort to finish sooner. However, a year might not seem like much, but in this scenario it is.”
“He is right,” Daniel says. “A lot of things can happen in a pack in the space of a year.”
Again, my heartbeat picks up.
“I wanted to give you the money and my cousin’s contact a couple of months ago, but then you started to see Brandon,” Maddox says.
“And?” Daniel pushes. “Why did that stop you? You knew he was just fooling around with her.”
Wait a moment…
