Alpha Meeting

Osprey
I paced in front of the gate to the town while I waited for Logan to arrive. I was anxious about this conversation that I was going to have with him. It could very well drive him away from Annie, and that was the last thing that I wanted to do. I was trying to save her. Both of them. When Logan pulled up in front of me, I quickly climbed into the passenger seat of his rental car.
“Let’s go into the city,” I told him.
He raised his eyebrow at me. “Is everything okay?”
“We’ll talk when we get to the city,” I answered.
“Alright.”
He turned the car around before heading back toward the city. As soon as we entered it, I guided him to a small human-owned diner in the middle of it. After making sure that there were no shifters inside, we ordered our food and drinks before I took a moment to study his face.
“Tell me, Logan, are you sure that Annie is your mate?” I asked.
“I can’t be entirely sure, as I haven’t met her in person or smelled her scent, but Luge is infatuated with her,” he answered.
I reached into my bag to pull out Annie’s pillowcase before tossing it at him. He raised it to his nose, repeatedly inhaling deeply as a soft growl rumbled in his chest. His eyes shifted to the black of his bear before sliding back into the honey brown eyes that belonged to Logan.
“Can I keep this?” He asked.
“Yes. If you still want to after I tell you what I have to tell you…”
He lifted the pillowcase to his nose again before tucking it into his pocket. “There isn’t anything you could tell me that would make me not want my mate, Osprey.”
“I hope not.”
We fell silent as our waitress put our plates and drinks down in front of us, smiling flirtatiously.
“Is there anything else I can get for you gentlemen?”
I narrowed my eyes on her. “Our wives will be joining us soon. We’ll need you to come back when they do, but until then we are fine.”
She cleared her throat before saying, “Of course, sir.”
When she walked away, Logan chuckled. “Will Alpha Sow Scarlett be joining us?”
“No. I just don’t like it when women flirt with me. I’ve always found it better to tell them she’s going to show up than that I have a wife. Now she’ll be careful about what she says to us. She doesn’t want one angry wife here, much less two. Anyways, we really should talk about Annie and what’s going on,” I told him.
“Is she okay?” He inquired.
“Yes. Kind of. She is involved with someone that she shouldn’t be. I am hoping that if she meets you, she will leave him alone,” I said with my eyes on his.
He remained quiet for a moment as he took a few bites of food. “May I know who the guy is?”
“Gerald.”
He froze, his burger falling out of his hands as he stared at me. “Gerald? As in your brother Gerald?”
“Yes, as in my brother Gerald,” I admitted, pushing my plate away.
“What in the fuck is going on in your sleuth?” He growled.
“It’s not my ‘sleuth!’ It’s just the two of them!” I snapped before taking a deep breath. “I thought something was fishy a few years ago when he wanted to leave. Their relationship changed after her first heat. He became distant from her. They had never been apart before. They ate all their meals together. He helped her with her homework. They went on runs together. Hunts. Literally everything. After her heat, he found reasons to be away from the house. He avoided her like she was the plague while she was confused as to why.” I paused as I pondered whether or not I should tell him about the main reason I had been suspicious about them.
“Tell me the rest,” he told me. “I need to know how deeply they’re involved.”
I sighed. “All the way.”
“All the way? As in they’re sleeping together?” He growled with his teeth bared.
“Yes. A few years ago, I heard Annie moaning one night. I had never heard her moan before, and I knew that she wasn’t involved with anyone, so I went upstairs to check on her. I crossed paths with Gerald on the stairs. He reeked of arousal, but he explained it away, saying that he woke up with an erection and wanted to go run it off. When I got upstairs to her room, I was almost suffocated with her arousal. I knew she had orgasmed. When I knocked on her door, she didn’t answer. I knew she was awake, but I couldn’t force her to speak with me. The next morning they both acted like nothing happened, and I couldn’t prove it. Annie was getting to that age where she would start discovering her body, while Gerald was a horny teenager.”
“Why didn’t you call him out on being close to her room?” He snarled.
“Because their rooms were always close together. There was no way to prove that anything happened. My mother wouldn’t allow my fathers to put cameras up. She said they had recorded too much already. She really hated cameras. I tried to get cameras installed but I couldn’t exactly tell them why. They wouldn’t have believed me. I don’t think they would believe me now either. Annie and Gerald are as close as Elena and I are. The only difference being that I never looked at Elena in any way except as my sister and beta.”
“Do you think Annie is a willing participant in this?” He asked quietly.
“I think that Annie was lost without her rock for so long. I think that she is acting solely on the fact that she has him back. She never bonded with the rest of us like she bonded with him. All of our siblings kind of paired up. I think that she wants to keep him to herself because he was always there for her. I think she would do anything to ensure that he didn’t leave her again, even if it meant believing that she had romantic feelings for him,” I said.
“How certain are you of her reasons?”
“Very,” I told him smugly.
“Why are you so certain?” He asked.
“Because I made her dream about you yesterday and I left her in control of her own reactions.”
He immediately perked up. “How did she respond to her dream?”
“She was smitten and kissed you back. She was ready to mate with you. I have no doubt that she would leave him in a heartbeat to be with you. You are her fated mate, and having you means that she will never be alone. I think she would take that type of forever love over this thing she has with Gerald. Once she leaves him, he will be free to focus on finding his mate and ta-da! They both have their person and can move on from each other. I hate to break their relationship completely, but it has gone too far,” I said.
“And how do we do it? Do I just show up and say I’m her mate?” He inquired.
“That’s where the problem lies. I do not think that he would let you get close if she knows you’re her mate,” I answered him.
“So, how do we do it then?”
“I don’t honestly know. You have all the information that I do. It’s up to you how you want to move forward with it. Scarlett does not want us involved. She thinks that they will fizzle out eventually and go on their own paths, but I don’t think so.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “In order to keep her happy, this is all the help that I can offer you. I hope you understand. I just pray to the Goddess that you don’t give up on her. She really is a good girl. She just wants to be loved.”
He lifted the pillowcase to his nose again before nodding. “I’m not giving up on her, Osprey. She’s my mate, and I want her. It doesn’t matter to me what she’s doing now. When I take her home to our sleuth, she won’t think twice about him. That I promise you.”
“I hope not. Now, I better get home. Scarlett is waiting for me to go hunting, and well, you know how pregnant sows are.”
He nodded, lost in thought. “Yeah. Tell Scarlett I said hi.”
I stopped next to him to place my hand on his shoulder. “Good luck, Logan.”
“Thanks, Osprey.”
I paid for our meal before jogging outside. I ran for 6 miles before I was able to shift to finish the race to get home. The closer we got to town, the more anxious Godric got. When I finally arrived at the house, Godric growled loudly before shifting back and getting dressed quickly. I sprinted into the house, skidding to a halt when I saw Annie and Gerald.
“What are you two doing here?”