"A good friend is like a four-leaf clover. Hard to find and lucky to have" -Irish proverbs
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It's been a day since Aaron arrived at the pack. After the encounter between Aaron and Ravi, things between them have been awkward. Ravi did his duties as an attending servant but other than the respectful bows and greetings, the two have no interaction.
Cameron saw a chance for Aaron to move on from Ophelia, a chance for him to go back to his former kind and carefree self. Despite the shock and surprise he felt with Aaron not only having a second mate, but it was a guy. He would not let a heaven sent opportunity go to waste.
That was the reason he was currently strolling about the pack looking for Ravi. He stopped a passing blonde, "Hey, do you know Ravi?" The teen nodded. "Do you know where I can find him?" She frowned and looked around as if seeing her surroundings would remind her of the people she'd seen so far.
"I think I saw him by the well." She glanced back and her eyes widened and she immediately bowed, "My apologies, Beta."
Cameron chuckled and shook his head. "It's fine, can you point me to this well?"
The blonde lifted he head and pointed to the direction she came from. "You just have to keep going straight until you see a fork in the road, go on the left path and it will lead you to the well." Cameron nodded and thanked her before running off, hoping he'd reach before Ravi left.
When he reached, the first thing he noticed was the platinum hair with black at it's roots, indicating his dye was wearing off. Ravi was sitting down on a small log beside an abandoned looking well staring at nothing in particular with a wistful look in his eyes.
"Sup." Cameron greeted, taking a seat beside Ravi.
"Did Alpha vermillion send you?" Ravi asked with a slight bow of his head. Cameron chuckled and gave him a light pat on the back.
"No need to be so formal." He smiled as he waited for Ravi to raise his head. Slowly, Ravi lifted his head but still did not meet the gamma's blue orbs. "So, your eye color changes according to your emotion, huh? That's pretty cool."
A slight smile graced Ravi's light pink lips and a look of nostalgia flashed in his eyes as they shone a golden color. "Yeah, my mom said I am blessed by a goddess, she used to tell me a lot of stories about how our family won the favor of said goddess."
"I've heard about blessings, but this is my first time seeing one." The conversation ended there and a soothing silence entered the area. The sound of birds chirping floated through the air and the calming breeze the ocean brought with it kissed their cheeks gently
"Are you happy to have met your mate?" Cameron asked. When he didn't receive an answer he was about to apologize but Ravi's voice beat him to it.
"All my life I was told that it wasn't in my destiny to have a mate. I believed it." Ravi smiled but Cameron could see that it was a smile that masked his sadness. His eyes had also changed from the bright golden color from before, undoubtedly indicating happiness and was now a soft ocean blue. He could only guess that blue was sadness.
"When I realized that your Alpha was my mate, I was happy. Even though I was told I'd never get one, a part of me still hoped for a mate so of course, I'd be happy. But I was also sad, I saw it from the moment I looked into his eyes. He didn't want me." His eyes dropped to the floor as he watched a line of ants pass by slowly.
"It's not that he doesn't want you. it's more accurate to say he's not ready to accept you." Ravi's eyes snapped up clouded with many questions. He wanted to ask what Cameron meant by that, he wondered if it was because he was a guy. Most wolves didn't care about gender though, a mate was a mate.
"He once had a mate." Cameron paused and gave the Ravi time for the information to sink in. Ravi was shocked, he never expected that. He heard the past tense used and automatically guessed what happened. Though he felt a bit of sympathy, the dominant emotion was jealousy.
"She died a few months ago, only a year after the two met. Aaron loved her very much, it wasn't just the mate bond. He truly loved her. After her death he closed himself off to the world and drowned himself in work to ignore the pain losing his mate and love brought." Cameron gave Ravi a smile. "He'll come around, don't worry about it."
Despite Cameron's speech, Ravi felt even more discouraged. His mate was in love with someone else, dead or alive it was still love and something hard to forget. He believed a rejection was only a matter of time. And though rejection for wolves was illegal due to the deaths it cause, Aaron could just ignore him and he wouldn't blame the Alpha.
Cameron got up and left, feeling accomplished. His next stop was his Alpha. He went back on the path he took and sauntered over to the guesthouse. It was gonna be hard to have a conversation on this topic with his Alpha but it had to be done. He could speak to Ravi and give him Aaron's side of it but only Aaron could truly bring a happy story to a start.
When he entered the guesthouse, Aaron was seated on the couch staring into space. Cameron snickered at the thought that they were both doing the same thing when he saw them. "Hey..." he called out as he sat himself on the couch. "You alright?"
Aaron didn't answer him, he leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes. "I'm scared." His voice was soft, almost inaudible but Cameron still heard it. He snapped his head to look at his Alpha and friend.
"Of?" Cameron didn't want it to end, he wanted Aaron to release all of his worries on him.
"Of accepting him," Aaron opened his eyes and stared at the light bulb above, "Up until now, I didn't even know I could like guys. I'm also still in love with her. There's also the fear of him leaving as well, what if I accept him and then fall in love and he leaves as well?"
This was the first Cameron had ever seen Aaron so vulnerable since that day. "That is only a what if. You can't let your love for Ophelia stop you from falling in love again, she wouldn't want to see you suffer. What if you accept him and fall in love? You'll be happy, if you don't want him to leave like she did, just protect him as best as you can and you won't lose him."
Aar0n glanced at Cameron as if he had never seen him before, and in a way he hadn't. Usually, Cameron didn't give off much of a wise vibe. Just chilled and as if he was rolling through the day. "Thanks," Aaron whispered as he got up, he left the lounge and entered his bedroom, flopping himself on the bed. He stared at the ceiling and thought about Cameron's words.
In the end, it was already set in stone for Ravi to return to his pack with me as Alpha mate so it wouldn't hurt to at least try and get to know him. He fell asleep thinking about how he'd approach Ravi later.
Aaron awoke to a commotion outside, due to his hearing it sounded as if all the screaming and shouting was happening right beside his ear. He sprung awake and glanced through the window automatically. Seeing that it was sunset outside, he figured he must have fell asleep earlier. Another scream reminded him of what exactly woke him up.
A loud wail filled the air and soon as Aaron was getting out of bed. He froze, even though he'd only heard it once or twice or maybe even thrice, he would recognize that voice anywhere. The voice that would be filled with respect and nothing but when greeting him now had agony, despair and pain.
Aaron ran out of the guesthouse, not wasting another second. Cameron had raced out right behind him. The two didn't need to speak, the first though of both was to find and protect Ravi.
When the two arrived at the scene. Ravi was kneeling on the floor eyes switching between blue and red, holding someone in his hand. Aaron's automatic response was to head over and yank them apart but thankfully he didn't, he saw who his mate was holding.
It was a man no younger than 40, dressed on old clothes that were no better than rags. He had scars littered across his body but the most noticeable one was the long red scar along his chest. There was also a knife stuck in his thigh and Aaron could make out what looked like a white paper.
Ravi was too busy mourning for who seemed to be his father to notice. Aaron walked over to the two and bet down. Ravi looked at him seeming surprised and was about to say something but was distracted by Aaron ripping a knife from his father's thigh. "What are you do-" He paused when he saw Aaron take up a piece of paper and unfolding it.
Jonathan arrived just in time for this and hurriedly asked. "What's that?" Aaron glanced up at him and got up as he opened up the note. It read; 'Your father was the favorite of all my kills, I'm coming for you next.' Aaron frowned and crumpled up the paper in anger feeling the need to rip it apart then find the writer and do the same.
"Let me see it," The voice cracked from previous crying, Aaron glanced over at his mate whose eyes were a dim and pale blue. He finally found out what blue was. Aaron handed the note over to Jonathan.
The Alpha quickly ran his eyes over the note and glanced down at Ravi with worry. "Let's talk." Jonathan looked back at Aaron and saw that his eyes were filled with a cold killing intent. He wondered why Aaron was like this and there was only one way to find out, so he nodded.
"Let's go."