by L. C. Davis
"I know you can, which is why I'm giving the reins over to you. Officially."
Benjamin frowned. "But I don't have a mate."
"That's something else I've been meaning to talk to you about," he said sternly. "But mate or no mate, you've been running this show for a long time now. It's time it was made official."
"But it's not the tradition."
"Wouldn't be the first time someone bucked tradition in the Council," Heinrich said with a snort. "May as well do it in a positive way."
"I don't know what to say, dad."
"Say you'll take a heavy load off an old man's shoulders and be the Alpha in name you already are in every other sense."
Benjamin's throat was tight as he swallowed. "Yeah," he said hoarsely. "Of course I will. It's an honor."
"Good," Heinrich said, slamming his palms down on the table. "Now, let's talk about your mate while we're getting all my affairs in order."
"There's nothing to talk about," Benjamin murmured. "Yuri made his choice."
"I know, and you're the one who's given up without a fight."
The words stung more than Lita's had. "I haven't given up, I just can't--no, I won't--force him to stay with me. Yuri has already had enough decisions taken away from him."
"I'm not talking about making the decision for him. I'm talking about making the decision easy."
Benjamin frowned. "I don't follow."
"You young wolves put so much stalk into your mate bonds and love at first sight," he scoffed. "When I was your age, if your mother had run off, you'd better believe I'd be fighting for her. There are more ways to wage a war than on a battlefield, son. You want Yuri's heart? Win it. I know you love him, and that's a force greater than destiny itself. I know why you get up in the middle of the night and haul yourself back in before the crack of dawn. That's the kind of devotion that makes you a good mate, the kind lifelong bonds are forged with. You just need to let him see that for himself instead of sneaking around, acting like the way you feel is some kind of shameful secret."
Benjamin listened, his father's words striking a chord with his intuition that all his logic and reasoning had failed to. "Okay," he murmured. "And how exactly do you suggest I go about convincing a gun-shy omega I love him without pushing him further away?"
Heinrich leaned in with a twinkle in his eye. "Call me old fashioned, but flowers and chocolate never got a man into the dog house."
Chapter 17
YURI
For another night, sleep eluded Yuri when he needed it the most. He had thought so many times of calling Benjamin, but with each day that passed, he convinced himself that the alpha was glad to be rid of him. And why not, after what he had pulled? No one needed a trouble omega, least of all an alpha as good and honorable as Benjamin. Surely he had better things to worry about. After all, he hadn't come back after that first day. Maybe he had even found another omega. One who deserved him and would appreciate all that he had to offer.
The thought made Yuri's heart ache in ways it had no right to. He rolled out of bed and went over to the bathroom sink, washing his face. The cool water helped stave off the nausea that had plagued him ever since he had run away weeks earlier.
A knock at the door made him jolt and he quickly answered. Angel was standing on the other side of the door, wearing a plush white robe and a sleepy look on his face. Whatever the cause for his visit, it had to be important enough to get him out of bed. "There's a visitor for you," he said with a gentle smile. "Downstairs, if you want to see him."
"For me?" Yuri asked in disbelief. "Who?"
"Benjamin."
The mere sound of the alpha's name made Yuri's heart skip. "He's here? Why?"
"He said he was hoping enough time had passed that you might be comfortable with a visit. I told him I'd tell you he was here, but you don't have to go," Angel promised. "If you decide to, you can stay in the lobby. There are guards everywhere, and I can come with you if you like."
"No," Yuri said, his cheeks growing warm in humiliation. He already felt guilty for being there, when there were other omegas who had run from actual monsters, alphas who gave them reason to fear for their lives and those of the children they had brought with them or carried in their wombs. Yuri knew what those alphas were like, and after all the stories he had heard of Benjamin in his time at Mountain Ridge, he knew for certain that the Cold Water alpha-to-be wasn't one of them. He had won the lottery as far as alphas went, and he knew he more than deserved the bewildered looks he received from the other omegas when they realized he had thrown it away. "I'll see him."
Angel gave him an approving smile and a tight hug. "Just call if you need anything. Good luck."
"Thanks," Yuri said, slipping back into his room to get dressed into something halfway decent. He decided his hair was a lost cause but he didn't have time to do much about it, so he trudged downstairs, ready to accept whatever anger the alpha felt like dishing out to him. Surely, it would be nothing more than he deserved.
The sight of Benjamin waiting for him alone would have been enough to make his heart stop, but the alpha was holding flowers and a box of chocolates, throwing confusion into the mix. Yuri stopped in the doorway, struggling to make sense of the scene in front of him even as some invisible tether pulled and stretched in a desperate attempt to pull him closer. He had assumed the dull ache and emptiness inside of him were the result of anxiety, but when the illness faded and was replaced with an overwhelming amount of warmth and peace in the alpha's presence, he knew otherwise. He had more reason to be nervous than ever, yet Benjamin's presence brought instant calmness.
"Yuri." The way Benjamin breathed his name made the hairs all over Yuri's body stand on end and a shiver ran its way down his spine. He took a step forward on impulse and somehow found himself enveloped in the alpha's embrace. If Benjamin had leaned to kiss him as Yuri thought he might, he would have returned it with abandon. Instead, the alpha helped him into a nearby chair and kept his hands on his shoulders to steady him. "Are you alright?"
"F-fine," Yuri stammered, staring at the alpha like he was an apparition. A ghost would have made more sense than the look of genuine concern on Benjamin's face. Concern and something else entirely, meant only for Yuri.
"Are you sick? You look flushed," Benjamin said, frowning as he pressed a warm hand against Yuri's forehead. The omega leaned in, swooning in spite of himself.
"I'm fine. I was sick earlier, but I'm better now," he said softly.
Benjamin didn't look convinced, but he glanced down at the flowers he had dropped to catch Yuri and gathered them up. A few petals fell to the floor, but they were beautiful. Vibrant. "These are for you."
"Me?" Yuri asked in disbelief. "Why?"
Benjamin stared at him with a look that paralleled his own bewilderment. "I, uh, thought it would be a good way to say I'm sorry."
"Sorry?" Yuri frowned. "Why would you say sorry?"
"For everything," Benjamin murmured. "For the way you came to my pack, for misreading your signals, for thinking you felt the same way about me as I felt about you."
Yuri's heart beat a little faster. "How do you feel?"
The alpha seemed taken off-guard by having his own words echoed back to him. "I...uh," he paused, clearing his throat. "Jumping the gun is what got me into this, so if you're willing to give me the chance, I'd like to show you."
Yuri looked him up and down, struggling to make sense of the alpha's strange request. "What do you mean?"
"I know you don't want to be my mate, Yuri, but I also know that you felt something that night," he murmured. "Maybe not the same thing I felt, but something."
Yuri fell silent, afraid to confirm just how right the alpha was.
"Ever since you've been gone, I've felt like a huge part of me was missing," he continued. "If you don't feel the same way, then you can tell me now and I'll walk out that door and you'll never see me again, but I need to hear that from you."
The alpha's voice was as earnest as his gaze
, which Yuri suddenly found impossible to meet.
"Do you want that, Yuri?" Benjamin asked, his tone gentle but firm. "Now that you've had time away, now that you know you're not a prisoner, are you happy being apart?"
Yuri gulped. The truth was bubbling in his throat, threatening to spill over the moment he lost his hold on his tongue. He wanted to lie, but Benjamin was right. He had the freedom that he wanted, but he had never felt more confined. He had chosen to leave, but now the outside world felt like a prison keeping him from the freedom he had known in the arms of his alpha and the safety of his pack. He just hadn't recognized it then. He shook his head faintly. "No, I'm not."
Rather than the gloating Yuri expected, Benjamin gently cupped his cheek in his hand and smiled. "Then maybe you'll give me the chance to do things the right way this time."
"Meaning what?" Yuri asked warily.
"Primarily? Getting to know you. Spending time together, taking you out on dates... Courting you the way I should have from the very beginning."
Yuri's guard flew up. So that was Benjamin's game. Waltz in with flowers and promises of romance so he could get Yuri away from his guards and take back what belonged to him. The alpha seemed to sense his hesitation and added, "We could stay here. This pack isn't exactly a thriving metropolis, but there are things we could do, places we could go until you trust me enough to leave."
"Why do you care if I trust you at all?" Yuri asked, unable to hide his suspicion any more than his curiosity.
Benjamin didn't respond right away. He listened when others were talking. Most people, especially alphas, replied immediately, like the entire time the other person had been speaking, they were just formulating their own rebuttals. Yuri found himself more cautious of his choice of words in a foreign tongue than he ever had been, since Benjamin was the first wolf to consider them so carefully.
"I could say it's because I just want you to feel safe and return with me eventually, where I know we can both be happy. As true as both of those things are, that's not the entirety of it," he admitted. "You're a challenge, Yuri. My whole life, I've backed down whenever I was faced with a challenge for something I wanted. I told myself I was just doing what an alpha should do, by putting others first, but I can see now how many times I took the easy route. When you left, I felt myself slipping back into those old ways, and it took the words of the only person in this world I can always trust to call me out on my bullshit."
Yuri started, not for offense but from surprise at the rare use of profanity for a Council wolf. In fact, after living among them for so long, he had been convinced that they would burst into flames if someone ever dropped the F-bomb. "Who is that?" he asked, unable to quell his curiosity.
"My father," Benjamin said, his reverence for the older wolf evident in his tone and the way his eyes shone with pride at the thought of him. "He made me see that giving you space and letting go are two entirely different things. You don't belong here, and I can say that with all the confidence in the world because I believe it, but it doesn't matter if you don't believe it. The thing is, whether it's stubbornness or something more, I can't let you go. I won't. Not without a fight, and Yuri, you are worth fighting for." He reached out and cupped the omega's cheek in his palm. Yuri's skin hummed wherever the alpha touched as it had that night they had shared, as if there were parts of him that could only be awakened by whatever magic spell or key Benjamin had in his possession.
"If it was the old me, I would give up," Benjamin said, his voice sure and earnest. "If I was the kind of wolf my father would like me to be, I'd probably be at the Council right now, fighting to bring you back by force. The thing is, I'm neither of those people and I haven't been ever since you came into my life. You make me something better and that's why, no matter how long it takes, I'm going to win your heart. The old-fashioned way, the way you deserve, and the way it should have always been."
Yuri stared up at him, slack jawed and breathless. The alpha was out of his mind, of that he had no doubt. The madness had just progressed to the point where Yuri was convinced it was a case of mistaken identity. Virgin or not, Benjamin had to understand how out of his element Yuri was in the Cold Water Pack. He should have been grateful to be rid of a problem omega, but instead, he was talking of claims and fighting, like the object in question was something of value. Something so unlike himself he wanted to look around the room just to make sure Benjamin wasn't speaking to someone else, but the alpha's hand, warm and sure on his neck, left no doubt as to what and who he wanted.
Benjamin leaned in and Yuri's eyes fluttered shut. This time he knew he would return the kiss, but instead of claiming his lips, Benjamin pressed a soft yet intent kiss on his forehead. The gesture was chaste but somehow far more intimate than any of the acts that had transpired in the alpha's bed. "I just wanted you to know that," Benjamin whispered, gently brushing Yuri's chin with his knuckles as he pulled away to stand.
Yuri watched him, feeling like a lovesick pup drunk on the faintest touch of the alpha he had somehow come to admire more than fear. "I'll be back tomorrow evening," he announced. It wasn't a question, but it had the undertones of a proper invitation. "Can you be ready by eight?"
Yuri nodded, not quite trusting his voice.
"I'll see you then." And with that, he was gone.
So there it was. Benjamin had finally revealed the side to himself that Yuri had been expecting all along, only rather than the abusive and domineering core that seemed to lie just beneath the surface of all the other alphas he had known, Benjamin's hesitation had peeled away to reveal something else entirely. Boldness looked good on the alpha, but Yuri was filled with a whole new kind of dread. If running away from Benjamin had been as hard as it was before, returning to him could surely become the most dangerous kind of temptation under the force of that dark blue gaze.
Chapter 18
YURI
As the day after Benjamin's arrival passed, Yuri had found all sorts of ways to convince himself that the alpha hadn't meant his words, even if the man's voice was still ringing in his mind, as calm and certain as ever. He had been a mess of distraction and nerves all day, bumping into things, sometimes people. Angel had been giving him the side-eye throughout most of the art class and when the other omega had finally approached him, Yuri had reluctantly admitted that the source of his anxiety was the promise of courtship. Or rather, the threat of it.
Angel had laughed. Yuri hadn't thought it was all that funny, but Angel had assured him that there was nothing at all daunting about courtship. At least, not for the omega in the equation. He had reminded Yuri that he had the option of saying no, but confessing that he had been far too enraptured in Benjamin's gallantry to think clearly enough to turn down the invitation would have required foregoing more pride than Yuri was willing.
Once class was over, Angel had helped Yuri pick out something to wear for the night ahead. The other omega assured him that there still weren't any black-tie establishments within the pack lands, and that a nice pair of jeans and a blue button down would surely suffice. Yuri found himself waiting in the downstairs lobby earlier than he was supposed to arrive, if only because focusing on anything else was a lost cause.
He would humor the alpha this one time, he decided. He owed him that, at the very least. If Angel said courtship was nothing to be feared, Yuri believed him. The other omega had yet to lead him astray. It was just a matter of being polite enough not to humiliate himself in front of the other Mountain Ridge wolves and open enough to allow Benjamin to see how wasted his romantic efforts were on Yuri. One date, two at the most, would surely be enough to set the alpha barking up a more fruitful tree.
At eight o'clock to the minute, Benjamin strode in wearing a dark gray blazer, a button-down that did little to hide the muscular physique underneath it, and slacks with a crease pressed so sharply it could cut glass. Just like that, all Yuri's plans went up in smoke and he didn't need to look any further than his own core to know exactly where that fire had stirred
...
The alpha's eyes flitted him up and down, making him self-aware and excited at once. "You look...wow."
Yuri gave a nervous little laugh. "So do you." He chastised himself immediately for acting like a foolish schoolboy with a crush. This date was supposed to be tolerable, nothing more or less, and flirtation certainly wasn't going to help with that. When Benjamin offered his arm, Yuri took it and allowed the man to lead him out of the compound. At first, he was worried Benjamin might try to whisk him away after all. It would be a foolhardy endeavor, even for the muscular alpha, considering that they were surrounded by no less than several hundred soldiers at any given moment, but his nerves calmed when Benjamin led him further into the town square.
Central Unit was a town, more or less. Yuri had expected that the pack would live up to its Spartan reputation, but it had more in common with the larger Federation packs he had stayed in than what little he remembered of his homeland.
"I hope you don't mind diner food. It's not exactly five-star dining, but we'd have to leave the territory for that."
"No, the diner is perfect," Yuri said quickly. It was quieter than usual when they completed the short walk from the barracks to the diner, and the waitress led them over to a secluded booth in the corner.
It didn't take long for the food and drinks to arrive, which was a relief to Yuri, since he and Benjamin had both run out of small talk. Yuri noticed how vague the alpha was about his life back home. He could only imagine how his running away had affected the pack and the Stillwater family and felt another pang of guilt. Word traveled fast in a small town, especially when the alpha's family was at the heart of the scandal.
"So," said Benjamin, "I was hoping you could tell me a little about where you come from."
Yuri looked up in surprise. "You probably know as much about Ice Canyon as I do."
"Not Ice Canyon. The pack you were born into. Your home." Benjamin's voice was stiff with something Yuri could only assume was sadness. He thought of confessing that in some ways, he had felt more at home in the Cold Water Pack than he ever had in the fleeting memories of his homeland, but he doubted Benjamin would believe him and wasn't sure he was ready to say the words out loud.
