[THIRD-PARTY]
Alanor came to their rescue. It did take him a while to show up but he did and that was all that mattered. Expectedly, the tongue Wynter sorted things out with the rogues and ensured that the mission that Grant, Zelina, and Ulike had been on was a success.
Anyone with eyes could see the hearts in Grant's eyes when he stared at Alanor and watched in answer as the man worked on the chaos. It was almost disgustingly sweet, but it was forbidden in so many ways.
Grant was a man with a mate, a good one who had never caused him any problems, and yet he had easily left without explaining shit to Nour. he had abandoned his mate to go after a man who was never going to look at him the same way.
Perhaps that didn't matter to Grant, because right now, Alanor was his world. So when they were done and settled, Grant figured it was time to ask the question that had been eating him up the entire time.
"The last time I saw you at the mating ceremony, did you get your mate?" Grant asked and Alanor choked on air. Of the things he had been expecting Grant to ask, the topic of Prince Unar being Alanor's mate was definitely not one of them.
Alanor contemplated telling him the truth to get things over with, but would Grant really take it lightly? Sure, it wasn't like Alanor cared about what Grant felt right now, but damn the question felt like a trick question.
Alanor looked at Criselda, Ulrike, and Zelina, wondering if they had told him about the mate bond, but they shook their heads so roughly and fast, as if to tell Alanor that his mate bond wasn't theirs to talk about.
"Yes, I did get my mate at the ball," Alanor responded to Grant, even though the temptation to ask about Nour was so overwhelming. However, the young Wynter knew he needed to stay calm and not seem like he was dodging the question.
It was too sudden and Alanor wasn't going to deny that.
"Oh, I see," Grant said before adding, "Who is he or she?"
"The lycan prince of Udrad,'' Alanor responded softly, but there was pride in his voice, before adding almost immediately, "and you. How's your mate doing? Are you guys okay?"
The trio that had been watching the two ex-mates, were beginning to feel uncomfortable with where their discussion was headed, however, they decided to sit in a little more. Besides what could go wrong between mates that were once mated right?
Also, it wasn't like Alanor could harm Grant. But then would the young Wynter be as nice to Grant about the lycan prince Unar, when Alanor seemed to be a little too proud of his lycan prince of a mate?
Oh, how Alanor missed Unar's strawberry scent and wanted more of it. He felt like he could plant a whole strawberry farm in the central forest, just to remind him of the man he was falling for, and hard.
"We're doing fine too," Grant responded and Alanor just nodded at him.
"If you need anything, just let me know, I'll do my best to show up for you. I plan on keeping my promise to you,' Grant, Alanor said softly, and sincerely. He knew what it meant to Grant and he didn't want to put him in any danger.
It would seem more like gratitude for coming to help with Heide, but then Alanor also knew that Grant being here was only because the werewolf king had commanded his best enforcer to come along.
"You shouldn't have to worry about me if you already got a lycan prince for a mate," Grant responded quietly, making Alanor raise his head and stare at the young wolf.
The young Wynter knew it would hurt Grant that he had been rejected, but the tone Grant used made Alanor feel like a dick for rejecting Grant and getting himself another mate, barely two months after rejecting him.
Sure, it wasn't the kindest of things to have happened to them, but then it wasn't like Alanor had gone down on his knees to beg the moon goddess for a damned mate anyway.
She had given him one and frankly, Unar was a perfect choice, especially for Alanor's revenge, though his conscience was already eating him up for that.
"Okay, that's it, come along, Zelina, we need to go look for food. We've been out there for a long time and we need some fresh fruits.
"Besides we also need to pick some firewood to keep us warm," Ulrike said to his mate who was more than willing to disappear from beside the two exes who were still stuck in their past. If anything, Zelina didn't mind being dragged by her mate away from that mess anyway.
Of course, it was quite an absurd choice, considering Alanor could get them any kind of food they wanted, thanks to his magic, and they could get the forest warm without ever needing fireworks.
But hey, the forest was slowly swallowing them in, especially around two mates who seemed to have more to work out, than the burdens of Zelina and Ulrike.
"Yup, I kinda need to stretch too," Zelina said and just before they could get up, Criselda spoke.
"I am definitely not staying behind. We need to get enough food for all of us, plus my sleeping husband. Let's go,"' Criselda said and the trio walked away from their mates.
It had been too suffocating an atmosphere for them and they ended up not being caught between the two of them. That wasn't what they had wanted when they showed up and Alanor came to them.
With the trio gone, Alanor and Grant were left with an unconscious Heide at the Wynter gravesite.
They were looking at each other like they wanted to speak up about things that couldn't, but then time was ever going to be on their side Alanor had already made his choice, and if the deities made the mistake of making him choose between Unar and Grant—
Alanor would choose Unar, without a second thought.
He would choose the crown prince, because, for the first time in so long, Alanor felt like he belonged in Udrad, and that too because of the mate that was so adamant in protecting him.
Unar had pulled Alanor's heartstrings in ways that Grant Hendley would never be able to, even if he had an eternity to try it. And Alanor hoped Grant wouldn't make a stupid decision right now. Because Alanor had already made his choice.
'The hell am I even supposed to say now?' Alanor asked himself, when he and Grant sat in awkward silence. He was worried about Grant, but he had a feeling that Grant would lash out at him because he already had another mate.
Well, they didn't have a choice in how fate played out. If anything, Alanor had also been hurt by Grant getting a mate at the ball. He had been in pain and forced himself to wish Grant happiness.
Maybe Grant just needed to be happy for him too, right?
But was it that easy?
"How are you, Grant?" Alanor asked, when the silence was becoming unbearable. Hell, it even seemed like the night insects had disappeared to leave Alanor and Grant alone with their wrong or right decisions tonight. It was crazy and he knew it.
"I'm okay. And y'know they didn't have to leave us alone here it's not like we have much to discuss anyway. If anything we have nothing left, right? You got a mate, I got a mate. I guess everything worked out as you wanted it to.
"Excuse me," Grant said, his voice getting angrier with every word that came out of his mouth.
Alanor wasn't fazed at all. He knew that Grant was jealous since he could tell that Alanor had accepted Unar.
'Great, another person I gotta deal with,' Alanor said to himself as he watched Grant leave. He knew there was nothing he could do and frankly, Alanor was too tired to even deal with a jealous ex.
He had so many worries at the moment and Grant's jealousy and reactions were the least of his concerns at the moment. He wanted to know whether Heide was really recuperating or if this was just him stalling the inevitable.
"Oh, well, seems like you and I gotta talk. It's been a long time," Alanor said to the unconscious Heide, his thoughts of Grant long forgotten.