Page 35 of The Alpha: Part One
“I don’t want to be at Mateo’s. I want to be at home. Are you sure you have to go?”
She’s never, ever, not once, hinted at asking us to stay back. Not even when the fires were so bad that half the city had to evacuate. “Yes, baby. We have to go. You know that. Will you please go to your brother’s so we don’t have to worry as much? Please?”
She sighs. “Fine. I’ll go. But I don’t want to.”
“I know. We’ll make it up to you when we get back.” I try to make it sound lewd, but that’s more Ben’s forte. She smiles for me, though.
“You better. I’ll get some things together and leave out when you do. Have you already let Mateo know, or do I need to call?” She asks, already digging in the dresser.
“I already called. Your bed is still up. He said you might want to bring the blankets from our bed, though. And the laundry basket.”
She rolls her eyes, but pulls up the corners of the sheet on the mattress and dumps the basket of our clothes into the center of the pile. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”
“We won’t stay out longer than four weeks at a time, but it won’t be that long before we come back. We’ll get back inside of three weeks,” Ben says, taking off his shirt and putting it into the bag Desie’s packing. I do the same.
“Thank you,” she says, smiling at us. “I was going to feel ridiculous asking for them. You promise to call?”
“Every chance we get,” I assure her.
After we follow her to Mateo’s and get her settled, we get to the station in time to be yelled at for dragging our feet. Benny informs everyone they can fuck right off and I back him up. We get our base gear on and pack the rest and our essentials into our assigned truck and wait for the chief’s pep talk before we head out to the mountains.
He gives a good speech and we all give him the reaction he needs from us to feel like we’re ready to go, then he comes over to where Benny and I are standing in front of our truck.
“I know your situation, and I agree that you don’t need to be out here, but we need everybody on this. They started earlier than usual and they’re already moving fast. I’m sorry. I’ll get you two back as soon as I can send you home, but I’ll probably need you back out after a few days. I’m going to try to give everyone two day breaks.”
“We know,” Benny says, “and we appreciate it.”
The chief looks around us and whispers, “any luck with the third?”
He’s one of the only people not directly involved in our situation who knows about it. He’s been trying to convince us to give his son a chance for a couple years. We don’t want to offend him, but Xavier is just too young in spirit and age. We need a pack mate, not a babysitting gig.
“Some. We may have found someone we like. It’s going to take some work, though.” I hope he doesn’t take it badly. His son will make some other pack really happy one day, just not ours.
“Good, good. Alright,” he claps his hands and yells to everyone else, “let’s get going.”
~
I know, without doubt, that Desie isn’t doing well when we call her the first night. She’s pulling it together like she always does when she has to deal with difficult shit, but this is going to be more than that. By the fourth phone call, Ben and I need to make a decision. She isn’t okay. The separation is more than she can take alone. She’s been asking about going back home, but she can’t be there by herself. And, just like I thought, being around her brother’s pack is just reminding her that hers isn’t with her. We asked about leaving out early, but we knew that wouldn’t happen.
“We could call Seth,” Benny suggests.
We could. I’m just not sure that we should. I don’t know if it’s a good idea to leave her with him if there’s a chance that he wouldn’t be okay. And then there’s the other thing… “Do we think that’s a good idea? Think he could handle it? Would it help without the bonds? I don’t know. What if he has another episode and Desie has to deal with it alone?”
Ben sighs. “I think Desie can handle anything, for the most part. This separation is hurting her, though. Too much. She won’t be in heat, he should be fine. Right?”
I drag my hands down my face. “Alright. Let’s call him first to see if he can go get her. He has to take her to the house, though.” I close my eyes and take a breath before I address the unspoken issue we’ve been avoiding talking about. “She wants…I think…”
“What if he fucks her, right?” Ben asks dryly.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I don’t know if he would, or could, you saw him. But Desie wants him. Obviously. What do you think?”
I think I might be jealous, but I’ll never tell Desie she can’t have Seth. Especially considering the fact that we’re likely going to try to convince him to be our third anyway. And it isn’t like he’d be our third and she wouldn’t be his omega, too. “I think Desie can decide what she wants to do with herself and we can just deal with it. It’ll be fine. Her at the house with him will be a whole fucking lot better than her shutting down at Mateo’s with us all the way out here.”
So, we call Seth.
And he says no.
