The challenge two alphas one girl novel Chapter 38

Maze’s POV

It was midday on the third day of Friday’s heat. Thaddeus and I were roasting hotdogs on sticks over a small fire we had made outside. He had said this way I could cook my own food for once. I had glared at him but I was happy to roast my own hotdog. I had always wanted to go camping and do stuff like this with my Dad but he never had time for me and I did not have siblings to go with instead. My mom was an aristocrat and very girly and clinically depressed so she took pills to perk up and pills to sleep. I would lay in bed next to her and tell her stories when she cried over my Dad ignoring her. She had been soft-hearted in her youth like my Friday. I pictured Friday that day at the Cat Cafe when she sobbed so bitterly over my rejection and criticism of her. My stomach was in knots. I should have known so much better than that after what I had seen my mother go through. I was still so ashamed of how I had behaved.

“Bro! You’re burning your hotdog!” Yelled Thaddeus in his deep voice, making me jump as he snapped me out of my thoughts.

I looked at my hotdog. It was completely black on one side. I roasted the pale side a little then blew on it and took a bite. It was good still! Crispy! I ate the whole thing.

“I want another one,” I said.

“Maze, what do we say?” Said Thaddeus in his snooty Marigold voice.

“Now?!” I tried.

Thaddeus threw a cold hotdog at my face but I caught it easily, laughing.

“Bro!” I exclaimed. “Not cool.”

“Getting hit in the face by a frozen hotdog is a rite of passage in Berryndale. Haven’t you ever been camping, you beast?” Thaddeus said.

I rolled my eyes. That was another favourite of Thaddeus and Theo, calling each other “beast”. I wondered if Theo would be annoyed when we got back to the pack house and he realised that Thaddeus was now fond of me. I wondered if he would be a little jealous. I felt smug. I had never had a best friend or anything, just servants and sycophants.

“No, I never got to go camping,” I admitted. “I always wanted to go though.”

“Maze!” Exclaimed Thaddeus in mock horror. “Sleeping outside is for vagabonds!” Scolded Thaddeus, again with his snobby Marigold impression.

I grinned.

“We can go camping properly in Berryndale,” boomed Thaddeus.

“What? You’ll let me sit in on one of your dates with Friday?” I asked.

Thaddeus shrugged. “The fifteenth day is our travel day and it won’t take all day to get to Berryndale. As that day is a no man’s land like the first and last days of the challenge, we can all camp that night,” offered Thaddeus.

“You’re taking me on a date?” I teased.

“It’ll be so bro-mantic just you wait,” Thaddeus said, chuckling.

“Poor Friday, she’ll be a third wheel,” I joked.

She’d be the meat in our sandwich which was the exact opposite of a third wheel but I could not say that out-loud. I had suggested that we share Friday when I was drunk out of my mind but now that I was sober, it still seemed plausible. I dared not bring it up again though. I sighed, conflicted. Did I want that?

“You ok, Bro?” Thaddeus asked when I fell quiet.

“Yeah, I’m ok,” I said, smiling. “You’ve made this time away from Friday bearable which is a great feat honestly.”

“Well, I’m a great guy, seven feet tall, smart, handsome, funny, the best warrior, a chef, modest, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…” said Thaddeus starting off in his deep regular voice but trailing off into his higher-pitched snob voice.

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I laughed and then looked down only to realise I had also burnt my second hotdog while overthinking.

Theo’s POV

“What was that, Theo?” Exclaimed Friday, getting to her feet. She was a bit shaky. I helped her back to her bed.

“I’ll check, ok,” I said. “Promise me, you’ll stay put!”

She fixed me with an innocent wide-eyed look, nodding. I grinned at her. I bounded down the stairs to the Beta floor where all the noise and rumbling had come from.

Fang, his mother and father were in the middle of a stand-off.

“He’s your mate, isn’t he, your real one,” Fang said, sniffling, tears evident in his eyes.

I knew immediately of whom he spoke. Maze’s Dad, the former Alpha Malachi.

Felicity, Friday’s Mom, looked shell-shocked. A snarl ripped from Farris’ throat. The former Beta’s eyes turned black. Fang quickly put his mother behind him, getting between her and Farris. I sprang over there, also standing protectively in front of Felicity.

“Is what he’s saying true, Felicity?” Snarled Felix. “IS IT?!”

His voice rang out throughout the pack house. Felicity trembled.

“I’m so sorry, Farris,” she whimpered. “You have every right to be upset.”

Fang gulped but maintained his protective stance, defending his mother despite being furious with her too. Farris lunged at her and we grabbed him, pushing him away from her.

“Two Betas defending that dishonourable w***e?!” Spat Farris.

Fang growled at the word w***e used against his mother.

“No one is saying she’s in the right, Dad, but you need to calm down. You have four kids together. You’re not about to attack her. She’s still done right by you in other ways,” Fang said.

Farris was seething. “Everyday, every single day, that man made my life hell and I never knew why! I never knew why he hated me so much! It was because of you!” Growled Farris.

“STOP!” Bellowed a voice that shook the whole house like only an Alpha command could. I gasped. The voice was distinctly female though. Friday stood panting on the staircase.

“I don’t hate you,” said Farris simply. He sighed. “I don’t hate you,” he repeated.

She nodded, keeping her face buried in the back of her son’s shirt.