"Saph!" I heard from behind me, as I was making my way down the stairs to go to the kitchen.
I stopped on one of the platforms to see Alec making his way down the stairs, stopping in front of me, panting. "You are so hard to find, you know that right?" He said still trying to catch his breath.
"Oh come on Alec your the Alpha's son, a jog around the house shouldn't be hard." I said in a teasing him.
"It is when no one has seen you in the past 2 days and you keep masking your sent. Every time I get a hint of it, once I arrive at its source, you aren't there. I was actually about to give up for the day, but then I saw you walking." He said smiling up to me still bent over.
"Ok, so you found me. What do you need?" I asked circling him.
He stood up straight with soft eyes staring into mine, following my movement. "I wanted to ask you on a date." He said with a grin forming.
"A date?" I asked surprised. If it was the me before my birthday I would have said without even thinking about it.
"Yea, a date." He smiled softly before continuing. "A proper one, one that my brother will never take you on. Let me prove to you that I can give you, what he can never."
I narrowed my eyes, grabbing his shirt pulling him closer. "We don't talk about that in an open area Alec. Besides your 'brother' is my mate, not you. Aren't you afraid he'll do something to you? What about your future mate, you'll be able to find them soon." I asked before letting him go.
"First, he can't hurt me for touching what's 'his' as long as he doesn't know about your little mate bond. And to answer your question, I don't have one." He said with a daring tone that turned into a sad tone.
"What are you talking about Alec? What do you mean you don't have a mate? How do you not have one?" I asked landing my questioning gaze, on his facial features. Which seems to discomfort him, as he shivered under my gaze. He grabbed my hand and started to lead me away, out of the door.
He took me into the woods, about a mile away from the packhouse, away from listening ears. "Are you going to tell me now? What's going on Alec?" I asked again, leaning against a tree, watching him pace.
He stopped pacing, looked at me for a minute before he made his way to me. He crashed his lips on mine, it was rough and rushed. He pulled away staring into my eyes, his eyes filled with hope. But after a while of us staring at each other his eyes filled with sadness. "Nothing, hah I knew it. I just had to make sure, sorry about springing a kiss on you." He said in a low tone before sitting on a log next to me.
"You know- When an Alpha has twin offsprings in this world, only one can be Alpha, and one can have a mate. The other is supposed to live life alone, with no power. That's what the MoonGodess has in stored for the Alphas in our world. Normally, if you are the one with the mate you were to become Alpha, but my father... you know there are cases that the twins can share a mate, or have none at all. Though that is rare among Alphas." He said quieting down, staring down at the ground. Watching a leaf glide on the forest floor.
I sat next to him, tapping his shoulder lightly with mine. "My father... he always taught us to be strong Alphas because his twins 'will be the first of the pack to share a mate', but he always paid more attention to Landon. He took Landon on patrols since we were young, all the meetings whether they were just normal pack meetings or ones with other Alphas he would take Landon. It was like he that it was only going to be one of us and that it was going to be Landon... and not me."
"That's why you sought me out early that morning on my birthday." I said quietly.
His head snapped towards me. "No!" He screamed.
He quickly turned away as if he was thinking of something. "On your birthday-" He faced back to me, locking his eyes on mine, not daring to look away. "The morning of your birthday was like every other. I woke up, went through all my notifications, and checked the calendar to see what was on the schedule for the day. and then I saw it was your birthday. I jumped out of bed, got ready for the day, and looked for you. I think I looked for a good thirty minutes before I made my way up to check your room, and then I saw you on the stairs. I was hoping I was the one you know. But I wasn't.
So I was ok with that, a little disappointed but I could live with it, and then it happened. You kept ignoring my brother, your eyes lingered longer than they used to. I just knew I had to find some time alone with you so I could confirm it. I was desperately hoping it was my imagination fooling me but when you confirmed it, my heart broke. It meant that once again, my brother had one more thing that I didn't." He said softly, breaking the eye contact, bugging his legs, and stuffing his face in the crook.
"What do you mean by 'he had one more thing that I didn't'? Alec, please look at me."
He slowly lifted his head and looked at me. "He was the firstborn, he got the title, he got the friends, he got the popularity, and most importantly he got the girl." he said with a weak smile.
"Does your brother know about this whole ordeal with alpha twins?" I asked softly.
"No, he doesn't. I'm not supposed to know either. I overheard the Elders and my father talking one day, and now that I know the truth about you and Landon that just means I was only born to come in second to my idiotic brother." He grumbled stuffing his head back in the hole that he made with his arms and knees.
"But what was your father going to do if you both ended up with the same mate, you said that you both would become Alpha right?" I asked playing with the ends of my hoodie.
"As much as I love my father, I'm pretty sure he was hoping for only one of us to be Alpha, and you can see who he had his bets on." He said bitterly not bothering to move his head.
It grew too quiet the only sound was from the wind blowing through the trees taking the dead leaves with it. It went on like this for a good while until Alec finally spoke. "I meant what I said that night, and I don't ever plan on taking it back." He said untangling himself, looking at me.
I smiled softly. "I know, but I- I can't Alec you know what happens when you are either rejected, or your mate dies. You fall into a deep depression that is extremely hard to come out of until you end up dying. We witnessed that first hand, with Wyatt's mom, and I don't want to make deal with the aftermath."
"Saph... will you at least grant me one wish, if that's your answer?" he asked scooting closer, staying on his log.
"Yea, sure." I said smiling brightly, slowly getting off the cold ground.
He motioned for me to stand in front of him, and when I did he pulled me so that I was now sitting on his lap, facing him. "Alec," I started but he cut me off digging his face into the crook of my neck continuously whispering 'one minute please'.
I relaxed, hugging him, and playing with the hair at the bottom of his head. This continued for a minute until I heard him sob and felt my shoulder start to get wet. "It's ok, you will find someone else, why don't you go travel the lands, meet a pretty and nice rouge and bring her back, and mark her." I said rubbing his back.
He was quiet, there were no sniffles, no sobbing, no nothing. "What if I mark you?" He asked softly, I could feel his hot breath on my neck as his lips slowly got closer.
"Alec..." I started, but something in me wasn't stopping him. He just kept getting closer, until I felt his canines on my nape. "Wait, you know that a non-mate mark is not as strong as a mated mark. You can't Alec, I haven't decided yet." I said in a low voice as he started to lick where my mark would go.
"Wait-" I said pulling back a little so I could now see his face. "How about that date? That way we both get to... try this out. We just can't let anyone know I don't need all three of them up my ass, because all of my life I said I would wait to date. But now that I've found him, I'm giving my first date to his brother." My voice was filled with a mixture of caution and hopefulness.
He stared at me not saying anything until his lips broke out into a smile. "Yea, I would love that."
I smiled back, "And this means you will have two things over your brother. You got my first kiss and you will have my first date. Not that really matters since he will most definitely reject me." My smile turned into a weak one, as I realized their birthday was just around the corner.
Alec hugged me once more but this time it was him soothing me.
"He knows by the way." He said softly, so soft that I almost didn't hear it.
'He knows... that we are mates?'