Augustus woke up when the sun was already dipping toward the horizon. It was one hell of a night for him – Ashley sobbed on his shoulder for half of it and seemed to lock herself up in her bedroom afterward. On top of that, he was going to fight Lucas in two days…
He didn't want to admit that but Augustus was starting to regret this. It wasn't that his leadership was questioned – he still saw Lucas as inferior in strength and experience, - he was more concerned about other alphas deciding to stay longer because of it. Even though this fear was completely irrational, Augustus worried that Lucas might blow their secret. He couldn't think of why it would be important now that the mating season was over, but this thought kept on scratching the back of his head.
With all these worries on his mind, Augustus wasn't looking nor feeling his best – something that happened admittedly often whenever Lucas was around. He walked into the living room that was dark and lifeless with heavy, plum-color drapes still closed. He yawned and sat down on the light-grey couch, putting a coffee mug down on the coffee table in front of him.
"Careful not to spill," Lucas's voice came from the dark corner. Augustus jumped almost a meter up, his heart skipping a beat.
"How the hell did you get in here?!"
"Elias shared a couple of tips – vampires love that shit," Lucas walked to the window and opened the curtains, bright light shining on his wide smile.
Augustus instinctively sniffed the room but still couldn't smell Lucas who was standing right in front of him. 'How is it possible?' – he thought, a look of utter confusion on his face. Lucas seemed to notice this and laughed to himself.
"What are you doing in my house?"
"Nothing much – just came to say 'hi' and clear up a few things about the upcoming brawl. See, you didn't tell me the exact time and place."
"Don't act like it's your first alpha brawl," Augustus replied with visible irritation, his heart still beating fast after that jump-scare of a person showing up in his living room unnoticed.
"Sparring ground at midnight then? Good," Lucas nodded and sat down in an armchair nearby. "You've got a quite nice house. I like the interior. Did you hire a designer for that?"
"You said 'hi' and got time and location. What else do you want?"
"Oh, I'm just admiring the surroundings. I'll be visiting more often once I get the leadership of both packs, you know. An alpha needs his 'fated mate' by his side, right?"
"Once I get control of your pathetic pack, you'll be the first one to be expelled."
"You couldn't even detect me in your own house. Do you really think it'll be that easy?"
"I'm just tired and hadn't slept well, all because of you," Augustus said calmly, but they both knew it couldn't be the real reason.
"Then I shouldn't let you sleep tonight as well," Lucas smiled innocently.
"You know what, I'm not going to expel you. I'll just kill you. It's a pity you won't live to see your pups pledging loyalty to me, but then again, you have no empathy or shame."
"Kill me, huh? I'd love to see you try."
"So no 'not if I kill you first?'"
"No, I don't want you dead. I still need you. Until then, I have to excuse myself," Lucas stood up and pretended to take an invisible hat off his head, bowing. Augustus followed him with his eyes as he left.
***
"How did the negotiation go?"
Elias opened the door of his apartment, letting Lucas in. He lived downtown as well, just a few meters away from Lucas's favorite bakery. The latter handed the owner of the apartment one of two paper cups and a small box.
"Are these coffee and cake? How nice of you to forget I don't need human food."
"Oh, shut up, this is not funny after the hundredth time. It's chocolate and salted caramel cake."
"Sorry, won't happen again. Or maybe it will, depending on your choice of coffee."
Elias lived in a spacious studio apartment. It looked a lot like those from the 90s and early 2000s sitcoms: a big leather couch right next to the kitchen island, a small round coffee table in front of it standing on a large square carpet, an artificial plant on top of it, framed paintings of random objects hanging on the walls in clusters. He also had a waterbed with LED lights and a ton of colorful pillows on it. Even though the design was outdated, it felt homey here.
"So, tell me what happened," Elias brought plates and spoons and sat down on the couch together with Lucas.
"Just the normal conversation involving threats to kill each other, nothing unusual," Lucas shrugged and put a piece of cake on his plate.
"Well, look at it from the positive side – if one of you dies, you're no longer mated."
"I don't want to kill him yet. In general, his death won't accomplish anything. He seems serious about it though."
"Did you talk to him about the switching mates thing already?"
"No, I didn't. It completely flew out of my mind," Lucas mumbled to himself and put a big chunk of the cake into his mouth, thinking.
"Maybe you should. Or do you want to play in "who's more of an alpha" for a little longer?"
"Nah, I'm getting tired of that game. The thing is, he might not believe me if I just go there and say 'hey, Ashley read about this one ancient ritual in the teens' magazine, wanna help me find an astral witch?' Also, I don't have anyone to swap with Augustus yet."
"Hm, could the astral spellcaster switch it to themselves?"
"Do you want me to seduce the witch?"
"It's not like you've never done it before. Besides, it could be a handsome warlock," Elias smirked and gave Lucas a nudge.
"Yeah… I don't know about that. I've never considered dating another man."
"Well, you did consider sleeping with one."
"I just don't know how it would work. You know, the power dynamic. I don't see neither of us seeking a compromise nor giving in."
"Are you sure you're still talking about the spellcaster?"
"I might've talked about Augustus for a second there," Lucas put his index finger up, "but switching mates is more important."
"Oh, c'mon, we're just getting somewhere."
"We're not. Let's discuss the brawl instead."
Elias looked Lucas up skeptically but didn't want to push him. He thought it would be better to give them some time – in the end, as an immortal vampire, all he had was time.