15

15

"You owe me one." Erin said as he led the way back to my Den. I know he was talking about when he saved me from my father's inquisitiveness.

"Has the person who ordered the shooting be found?" Erin asked my father, the perfect question to turn his mind away from my mate and what not.

The playful inquisitiveness in my father's eyes disappeared all together. He was never one to play when it came to me.

"unfortunately not yet. I am working on it though. I questioned the omega that fired the gun. He said when the order was given to shoot at the human, he just shot the gun, in the direction of the human. But he aimed at you instead, and it was quite unfortunate that the gun with the silver laced bullets was the first one he grabbed."

"Do you really believe that? That story?" Erin pressed, his mission to change the topic forgotten, he really didn't believe the story the omega spun.

"Yeah, how convenient was it that he shot the gun at the human and somehow it hit me, and it gets even better, it's the silver laced bullets? Chances like that are slim." I jump into the discussion, mostly so they won't be remembering the conversation from earlier.

My father nodded his head full of greying hair in agreement.

"The chances are slim but they are not impossible. I checked the surveillance footage and it shows that Millie was in fact a few inches away from the human, jumping in front of him seconds before the bullet hit. That alone tells us he was not aiming at Millie at all." My father ended his statement with a pointed look in my direction.

I shift uneasily where I stood. The conversation had circled back to me again. For no reason. Or for some reason. Either way, it was not supposed to happen.

"I panicked, a bullet to me was no threat, but a bullet to him might mean no way of finding the corona Fletcher until it resurfaced in the market, and we don't know how long it will take."

And the fact that the human is my mate also helped with that. I add in my head. There was no way on earth that I was going to tell my parents that he and i were fated. I was going to send him back and no one will know better. Yes, I would remain mateless for the rest of my life, being the first ever alpha with no mate but all will work out as long as i had the Fletcher in my possession.

"plus, I never knew the bullets were silver laced. If I had.." I pause, because I know I would have still taken the bullet, it was aimed at him after all.

"The table is all set now!!" Mom had announced, drawing all three of our attention back to the food served.

"Yes, I do owe you one. Speaking of, we haven't gone for our morning run in a while." I tell Erin just as we neared my Den. We were walking in a snail's pace, me because I was not particularly thrilled about spending the night alone.

"What do you say we go tomorrow?" he asked me.

I thought about what I had to do tomorrow. Meeting with the leader of Ginny, the security issue had to be dealt with as soon as possible.

Also visit the pups school. Those children must have been scared for life after the events involving Charles. Then go back to the dungeons, even when I didn't want to. I could not leave Lia to her devices for too long, lest the thief died on my pack land.

All planned for tomorrow needed the sharpest, most focused me that I could present, a run would do just that.

"Of course. Meet at usual?" I finally answer.

Erin nodded. He eyed my Den and i know he was thinking about going in again. But he was not going to risk it. The stakes were too high, we both had things to lose.

"You have to do your groceries." He tells me out of the blue. That only meant he had something serious to say and he was looking for how to approach the matter without making it look like he was overbearing.

"Right now?" I decide to humour him.

He nodded.

"It's pretty late." I tell him while gesturing to the sky. It was dark now. Stars illuminated the night sky.

"And I am pretty full. I need to walk it off, lest I don't sleep comfortably."

I sighed. Erin was like a shark, once he bit something, he was not going to let go until you let him do it. We started in the direction of the general mall. Walking in the slowest pace possible.

"You are paying for everything." I tell him.

"You are the alpha, the whole pack land belongs to you, you don't have to pay for anything." He pointed out.

I let myself smile. One of the perks of being Alpha. One of the privileges others wanted to swipe away from me.

"And you know I like to pay for my stuff."

"Well, seeing as none of us brought our wallets. You will be using your alpha rights."

This time I let myself chuckle. I never did things because I was alpha. Except things I had to do.

"And you have to decorate the house."

I roll my eyes at that one. If he was stalling this long the thing he wants to say must feel wrong to him.

"just spit it out already, jeez." I say as we approach the front of the mall.

I look up at him, annoying male hormones by the way. I was older and he was at least two feet taller than me.

He bit his lower lip in thought.

Wow. Whatever he wanted to say was bad. My guess was, he had gotten in trouble in school and needed me to use my alpha "rights" to solve the problem.

"Why are you so strongly against the thought of us being mates?"

I blinked rapidly.

"What?" I gaped at him.

"Whenever they say it.."

He must mean they as in our parents.

"You refute it with every thing inside you. But today, you were so sure. I saw it in your eyes. You can't tell me otherwise."

I swallow.

"You always refute it too."

"Yeah, mostly because I think the mate thing is complete bull. I haven't felt it before. I am not even of the age to feel it. But you are. So.."

"It's because I haven't felt with you." I tell him as i pull out a shopping basket.

"But you have felt it."

It was not a question. It was a statement that said he was sure.

I don't answer. I enter the vegetable aisle. He followed me like a puppy. Or an overgrown dog mostly.

"You have felt it haven't you?" a question this time.

"Do you, like our parents think we are mates?" I ask as I pick up broccoli.

"No. I hope not. I see you like a sister."

I raise a brow.

"A hurt to my female pride. But i do see you like a brother as well."

"Good. Because I don't want to think of how awkward everything would be if I turn eighteen and we are mates."

I place a zucchini in my basket beside the broccoli that I am certain will sit pretty in my fridge till whenever.

"Yeah. It will be bad. Thankfully, I don't feel the pull towards you."

"The moon goddess would not be that vile as to pair two of us together. She is always looking out for us."

I stop in my track. He thinks she is not vile. But I know how terrible she could be. Tying a human thief to my soul permanently when it would always be one sided was the very definition of vile.

"Stop picking out vegetables you know you won't be eating. Think of all the others that actually need it, whilst it goes bad with you."

I scrunch up my nose at him but he had a point. I was certainly not going to eat them. But having a basket of groceries without vegetables seems like a sin.

He led us to the aisle that I was actually going to eat, cereals. Erin knew me best. If the moon goddess was actually looking out for us, she would have paired us together. We only had to untangle ourselves and make it not weird. I'm certain we can do it.

Erin looked at me solemnly. I knew I wouldn't like what he says next.

"The human.. Seth. He is your mate right?"