Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

Oliver had lain awake most of the night. Not by choice, obviously, and at first, he’d been frustrated to no end. After years of being afraid to even close his eyes with the Murphys, he hadn’t experienced sleeping issues since arriving here. Kinda hard to relax when consciousness wasn’t a requirement for the Murphy alphas to have sex. Oliver had woken up more than once with a cock shoved into his mouth or halfway up his ass.

But from the day he’d arrived here, he’d felt safe. He hadn’t been able to explain why because it wasn’t like he’d known no one would harm him. The omegas who’d fled the Murphy clan all agreed it had almost sounded too good to be true, this whole Hightower pack, but they’d had to try and see for themselves. But Oliver had known deep down that he was safe, as if his subconscious had been way ahead of his rational brain. And he’d slept and slept and slept.

But last night, sleep hadn’t come. His mind had kept pondering the problem he’d become aware of. Delton was in love with Adar. In hindsight, Oliver couldn’t believe he’d missed it. It was all so obvious now.

He was almost one hundred percent certain Adar had no clue. Bless him, but the man was a bit thick when it came to things like that, though he wasn’t the only alpha by far. How could Oliver blame him when he’d only realized the truth himself the previous day?

But the question wasn’t whether Adar knew or even how he would react when he found out. The question was what it meant. Why wasn’t Oliver jealous? By all standards, he should be because Adar was his fated mate. He had no doubt about that whatsoever. So why was he not feeling threatened by this new development?

He wasn’t stupid. The most obvious answer was that Delton was his mate too. That they were a triad. The entire pack consisted of triads—Rhene and Erwan being the only exception—so that explanation would make total sense. Except it didn’t.

If Delton was Oliver’s mate, why didn’t he feel it the way he did with Adar? He liked Delton well enough, and he trusted him, but that deep sense of knowing Oliver had experienced with Adar from the start was missing. What did that mean? Surely, if Delton was his mate too, Oliver would’ve had that same feeling, no?

Along the same lines, it was also weird Adar and Delton had known each other for, what, two years before Oliver had come along. If they were fated mates, why hadn’t they ever connected? They’d barely known each other, so it didn’t make sense at all.

Plus, Oliver was pretty certain Delton didn’t feel about Oliver the way he did about Adar, which only clouded the whole matter even more. It was so messed up, and Oliver had no clue how to unpack it all.

He’d finally fallen asleep, but here he was, still groggy from a lack of sleep and praying for the caffeine to kick in, and his mind was already returning to the problem that had kept him awake. Was he doomed to keep spinning this around in his head? Surely, there had to be a way to find an answer, right?

The irony was that the one person most qualified to help him make sense of it all was Delton, considering he was a psychologist, but, of course, that was impossible.

Wait.

Was it? Would it be out of the question to talk to Delton about it? Be honest with him and see if he had any theories on how this all fit together? Oliver put his empty coffee cup down. Going straight to Delton felt much more honest than discussing it with anyone else behind Delton’s back—and that included bringing it up with Adar.

The more he thought about it, the more he liked the idea. He waited until he knew Delton’s training session with Adar was done and headed to the beta’s home office, hoping he wouldn’t be with a client. When he arrived, Delton sat on the bench in front of his cabin, sipping from a cup of tea and reading a book.

“Hey.” Delton closed his book. “You’re here to hear how the session went, I assume?”

Oliver nodded. He still preferred to use body language rather than his voice. “And to talk to you.”

“Oh. Of course.” He gestured, and Oliver sat next to him on the bench. “Can I get you something to drink?”

Maybe he would be less nervous if he had something in his hands. “Water, please.”

It took all of thirty seconds for Delton to come back with a glass of water. “How did it go?”

That was a safe start, right?

“Good, I think. Adar is still sleeping. His friend said he always sleeps for a few hours right after. His body needs time to recover.”

That made sense, though Oliver still found it hard to wrap his mind around the whole concept of someone liking pain and actively seeking it. Maybe he would never understand and have to take Adar’s word for it? “How was it for you?”

Delton looked surprised. “Good? I mean, I learned a lot, and I think I did well. He got what he wanted out of it, he said, so…”

It would be easy to keep up the farce and ask what Delton had gotten out of it, but that wouldn’t be fair. It felt too much like playing with him and his feelings, and Oliver could never be that cruel. You didn’t choose who you fell in love with. It happened, sometimes against your will. No matter how things would play out, none of this was Delton’s fault.

Oliver took a deep breath and met Delton’s eyes. “I know you’re in love with him.”

Delton froze, then seemed to shrink, his shoulders slumping as he broke off eye contact. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to⁠—”

“Why are you apologizing?”

Delton glanced up, a frown marring his forehead. “You interrupted me.”

Oops, he was right. Oliver had. “Sorry.”

“No, that’s not why I said it. I’ve never heard you interrupt anyone. Stupid as it sounds, it’s a good thing. It means you’re getting more comfortable using your voice. I’m excited for you.”

Oh. That wasn’t the reaction Oliver had expected, but his insides got warm. “Thank you. I didn’t do it consciously.”

“Which makes it even cooler.”

Oliver chuckled. “I never thought I’d get praised for interrupting someone.”

Delton laughed too. “I’ll admit it’s unusual, but I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you.” Oliver took another deep breath. He refused to get too far off track. “As I was saying…”

Delton sighed. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t figure it out until yesterday when you offered to help Adar, and I put two and two together.”

“It was never my intention to hurt you.”

“I’m not hurt. Why would I be? My guess is you were in love with him before I showed up.”

Delton hung his head. “From the moment I met him. It’s stupid, but…”

Things clicked. “You thought he was your fated mate.”

“Clearly, I was wrong.”

Was he, though? This only reinforced how little sense all this made. “Adar and I are mates. Don’t ask me to explain it, but I know deep down we are.”

Delton slowly nodded. “I don’t doubt that. That’s why I said I must’ve been mistaken about him and me.”

All the beta’s usual quiet confidence had evaporated, and Oliver could barely resist the urge to hug him—and he was not a hugger. He took Delton’s hand, and the beta jerked his head up. Hell, Oliver was probably even more surprised by his move than Delton had been. “I’m not sure you’re wrong.”

“What?”

“You know we can both be right.”

“Are you saying you think we’re a triad?”

“It’s a possibility.”

Delton shook his head. “Adar would know by now, wouldn’t he? He doesn’t feel anything for me.”

“He likes you.”

“As a friend, maybe. If even that.”

“Don’t give up hope yet.” Oliver squeezed Delton’s hand.

“As much as I want to believe you, it seems cruel to harbor hope. All this time, I thought he’d come to realize the truth as I had. That time was all we needed, but I was deluding myself.”

Something tickled at the back of Oliver’s mind. He couldn’t put his finger on it, but his gut told him he was on the right track and that Delton was wrong. “What was it like for you, seeing Adar and me together during my heat? That must’ve been brutal.”

Delton hesitated. “Not as awful as I had expected.”

The gut feeling grew stronger. “No?”

“Maybe because I had prepared myself for the worst, but you so obviously needed him, and it was… I felt sorry for you that you were suffering, and seeing Adar take away some of that was good.”

“You said no when I begged you to…” Oliver made a vague gesture, not knowing what to call it himself.

“I would never take advantage of an omega in heat like that. You weren’t yourself. If I had gone along with your suggestion, I wouldn’t have been able to look at myself in the mirror.”

He was a good man. Oliver had never realized so profoundly how decent Delton was, how strong his moral fiber was. “Thank you. I don’t think I ever told you that, but thank you.”

“Please don’t thank me for something that should be normal. I didn’t do anything special.”

Oh, but he had, and with the knowledge Oliver now had, he saw that in a different light too. “You watched the man you love have sex with someone else. Don’t tell me that’s not special.”

“I’m not… I don’t think I’m in love with Adar. It’s more that I thought we’d end up together, that we were mates. We’d barely exchanged any words before you joined the pack.”

Oliver shrugged. “Call it what you want. The result is the same. You had to watch us.”

“I made that choice myself. No one forced me.”

Oliver cocked his head. “Why did you do it? You could’ve refused, and no one would’ve thought less of you.”

“I would have. It wasn’t about how others would judge me. There was no reason for me to say no other than my feelings of being butt hurt. I deemed those irrelevant.”

Like Oliver had said, a decent man through and through. “When I realized the truth, I wasn’t upset with you either. Or angry or jealous. Don’t you think that’s strange?”

“Not really. You have no reason to be because we both know Adar worships the ground you walk on and hardly knows I exist.”

They’d never find the answer going back and forth like this. Arguments could be made for either side, so they weren’t going to solve it by talking about it. “I want you to spend time with him.”

Delton gaped at him. “Excuse me?”

“You have my permission to spend time with him, with or without me present. And not just for when he needs you for the impact play. Hang out with him, talk to him, maybe do something together. Give him a chance to get to know you.”

Delton opened his mouth, then closed it again, a deep frown line appearing on his forehead. “I don’t understand. Why would you want that?”

Wait, Oliver was still holding Delton’s hand. How had he not realized that? They’d been holding hands this whole time, and it hadn’t even registered with him. Another layer to the whole mystery. “If you’re right about being wrong about you and Adar, I have nothing to fear, now do I? I know he and I are mates, and I also know he’d never cheat on me. The man is far too honorable for that.”

“Agreed.”

“But if I’m right and we are a triad, this will prove it. He will see the truth, and things will change.”

Delton was quiet for a long time. “Do you really think we belong together?”

His voice was barely audible, and it hurt Oliver. “I’m not ready to rule it out, so why not try my way and see where it takes us?”

“I still think you’re wrong, but if we do this…” Delton blew out a breath. “You can’t tell him. I don’t want him to know and feel pressured. Promise me you won’t tell him.”

“I promise.”

“And it has to be about more than Adar and me spending time together. I want to hang out with you too.”

He was right. Not only that, but his proposal sparked joy inside Oliver. Funny, but he was looking forward to getting to know Delton better. If that didn’t prove that things weren’t as clear-cut as they had seemed, what did? So yeah, they would spend some time together, the three of them, and see what happened. Because if Oliver’s gut was right, he didn’t have just one mate. He had two.

Now, all he needed to do was convince them.