Page 25 of A Chance at Love for the Twin Alphas

My ears keep ringing. It’s like a slight humming sound that vibrates through them. I shake my head to chase both the feeling and the ringing away. Somewhere in the pack house, I can hear kids yelling and laughing, enhancing the uncomfortable feeling in my ears.

The ball,Arlo chimes in.Search for the ball.

I have no mental strength to cling to my pride and instead listen to his advice. I dig through one of my drawers, taking the most embarrassing object in my possession. A stress ball. I’m an alpha who needs a stress ball to squeeze and relieve tension because I had a fight with my brother.

I take a few shaky breaths, squeezing the soft object between my fingers. After a while, my senses calm down, but my soul still hurts.

I can focus on my goal again: getting to my mate. Before I can do so, though, I decide to look for Dad. He is still in his suite, cleaning up a bit. “Didn’t go well, huh?” I ask him.

“You tell me.” He sighs.

“He is more pissed at me than he is at you,” I tell him quietly. “He feels like I betrayed him. Maybe he is right.”

“You didn’t betray him.”

“He is right, though,” I point out. “I should have put more effort into talking to him. I’m just so bad with this stuff.”

“Maybe you should tell him that,” Dad urges. “I’m bad with this crap too, which is why I always let your mother handle these kinds of talks. I didn’t want to bother her this time as she’s pregnant. See how it escalated? So, my advice is, don’t run from difficult talks, or it will come back biting you in the butt, eventually.”

I sigh. Tony told me to stay out of his mind and business for now, and I figure I should respect his boundaries until he is ready to talk to me.

Dad hands me the leftover lemon pie. He probably had it prepared for Tony, as it’s his favorite. “Take this with you. I assume you are going to meet your mate?” When I nod, he smiles slightly. “I would have kept this for Tony, but I doubt I’ll see him much during the next few days.”

For Tony to run off in anger and cut us all out is unusual. That’s normally what I’d do.

You’re awfully quiet.I link my lycan.

Just feeling guilty for pushing you into this,Arlo says.And I still feel it was the right thing to do, although you feel guilty.

He is right, though; I didn’t put effort into talking to him.

There would have been no use to it,Arlo says solemnly.Besides, there is no time to waste. Lys needs help now. In a few weeks, it might be too late.

You could have told me about this earlier, too, you know?

I know.He lets his head hang down.Throughout the last weeks, I felt our mate approaching. I had a feeling we would meet soon and could only focus on finding her. I didn’t pay much attention to Tony and Lysander. I should have.

You have nothing to apologize for,I say bitterly.I did the same.I normally know instantly when something is off with my brother. The fact that this time it took me so long is on me.

I pack the lemon pie into my bag and grab a few clothes and other stuff I might need to stay overnight. I check my bag at least four times until I’m sure I got everything.

We’re only staying one night,Arlo nudges me.

I know.

Still… it’s difficult to give up control. Today, more so than ever.

I close the door to my room and office and, to my own frustration, cannot fight back against my mind as I return at least three times to ensure the door is closed. In my mind, I know it doesn’t matter if I leave it open or not, but I need to do it the right way. And the more frustrated I get with myself, the worse my control issues get.

When I’m finally sitting in my car, I let out a deep breath of relief. Even thinking about how I will meet Elodie soon sets my mind already at ease. The drive to her hotel takes around half an hour. Fortunately, the hotel has a private garage adjacent to it, and Elodie has made sure I can park there whenever I visit.

I grab my bag, basically running towards the elevator, pressing the button just to step back again.

Henry,Arlo says, his voice sounding worried.

I ignore him and run back to my car, checking on every door to see if it’s closed before checking again. And then once more. Fuck, three is a bad number, so I check once more before going back to the elevator. My hand trembles slightly when I press the button again. Today, it’s worse than usual. Fighting with Tony fucked me up more than I could have imagined.

I clench my fist. The doors of my car are closed. They are closed. I checked them four times. I… Did I switch off the light, though? And pull the handbrake?

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