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.

Farris got slowly to his feet and sauntered down the stairs. I had no idea where he was going but I felt like we should keep him here at the pack house until he cooled down less he do anything rash.

I moved to follow him. Fang flung an arm out in front of me and shook his head No.

I need you here, he mind-linked me. Friday is the top priority. Think of Thaddeus. He would not be thrilled you left his precious little Luna to go running after her father.

Fang was right. Ugh! That did not sound right. Fang was not wrong. Better.

Farris’ POV

That b***h. Had our whole marriage been a lie? She had been making a fool out of me all these years, harbouring feelings for my former alpha. Back when I was his beta, he abhorred me. I thought there was nothing behind it, that he was just an a.ssh0le. He would make me work late hours and come in early, like he was trying to make me spend as much time at the pack house as possible. He had been keeping me away from his mate however he could, but why had they not pursued the mate bond? Knowing the insufferable snob that Malachi was, it might have been because Felicity was a rogue. Rogues were considered trouble-makers until they settled down in a pack. The wolf was the pack; the pack was the wolf.

I drove away from the pack house. Felicity could find her own way back home. I was speeding through the countryside as fast as this old classic car could go. I had a bone to pick with my former alpha, Malachi Mason.

Malachi’s POV

I woke up next to Elizabeth, my wife. I had beed dreaming about Felicity. All my dreams were about my mate, my would-be Luna, my dearest Felicity. I felt a familiar heat spring up in my lower torso. I stretched and got out of bed. Elizabeth stirred. She woke up too. She did not speak to me and I did not speak to her. That was normal for us. I had not been physically intimate with Elizabeth since before Maze had been born. I had done enough to conceive an heir with her and then I could not be bothered anymore.

I put on my robe and sauntered down the winding staircase, approaching the front door. Someone was banging ferociously on the other side.

“What?!” I spat opening the door to reveal a black-eyed frantic former Beta of mine.

My heart plummeted. Did he know? Had he hurt Felicity?

“Where’s Felicity, Farris?” I demanded sharply. My wolf was snarling. He wanted to know his mate was safe. He could faintly detect her smell on Farris.

Farris laughed bitterly. “Felicity? Don’t you mean Mrs Fenestra?” Snapped Farris.

I was seething. He had come to taunt me. The alpha in me roared.

“What did you do, Farris?” I whispered, my tone deadly.

Farris cackled madly. His smile did not reach his eyes.

“It’s not what I’ve done,” said Farris. “It’s what I’m about to do.”

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