22 And Another One!

22: And Another One!

Reuben

I drove Alpha Quake around for about an hour, then I had to head to the school. He was fine with that, seeing as he had no idea where his mate might be, and we quickly realized we were going in the right direction when he became more and more agitated. He was all but bouncing in his seat as I pulled into the parking lot near the gym.

Seeing Elijah chilling near the bleachers, I linked him I was here. He looked up, grabbed his gear and trotted over. When he opened the back door and dove in, a wave of summer heat came with him, and Alpha Quake yelped, "Mate!"

I knew it wasn"t my fifteen-year-old brother, so I put the car into park and looked around. There was a group standing around Luna Posy near the gym doors, but either they were already mated, very definitely not gay, or too young to find mates.

At least I thought so. I knew Yolanda, Sophia, and Bram"s birthdays were coming up, but not exactly when. As I scanned the group, my eyes settled on the little omega. I"d never noticed before what a fine ass he had...

My thoughts were cut off when Alpha Quake jumped out of the car, leaving his door hanging open.

"Mate!" he yelled again as he ran.

"Who do you think it is?" Elijah asked as he leaned up from the back seat. "I don"t see anyone— Oh."

The Hall twins whirled around at Alpha Quake"s shout, revealing the blue-haired fairy who moved here with her cousins to open that cake shop. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open as Alpha Quake raced toward her, and I smirked.

Good for him.

Then a little breeze carried a new scent inside the car, and I nearly had a heart attack as the fragrance of magnolias flooded my nose.

"Mate?" I whispered, and Larch finally stirred.

My wolf had been in a heavy sleep since Monday, and I hadn"t bothered to try waking him. It was better that way, I figured. He was so sad and sick - just like me - and I couldn"t do anything to help either of us.

Now he leapt up and began dancing around like a pup. His tail wagged frantically, his ears stood up, and his eyes shone like diamonds.

"Dude! You smell your mate?" Elijah excitedly pounded on my shoulder. "Who is it?"

"I don"t know. Someone nearby."

"Well, don"t just sit here, moron! Go find them!"

Nodding, too dazed to think, I got out of the car and followed my nose, vaguely aware that Elijah trailed after me. The scent led to the group around Alpha Quake and Delilah Evergreen, who were holding hands and staring at each other in wonder.

"Mate," I whispered, my gaze locking with the most alluring eyes in the world.

How hadn"t I noticed them before? I"d looked into them dozens of times, yet my brain had never registered their unique beauty. Brown near the pupil, encircled by olive green, and edged with light blue.

"Gamma Reuben?" The luna"s voice was as sweet as always, but nowhere near as sweet as the smell of my mate.

I tore my eyes away from Bram Merriweather"s, but didn"t see my luna anywhere. Frowning, I scanned the group again, then spotted a pair of pink slides behind the wall that was Jared Hall.

"Gamma, who is this?" he rumbled, jerking his head toward Alpha Quake.

"Alpha Kayvon Quake of Cold Moon," I explained quickly. "He"s an ally. Luna is safe. You can stand down."

He did, and our tiny luna darted around his tree-trunk self to stare at me with concern in her blue eyes.

"Reuben?"

"I found my mate," I whispered, too awestruck to add more.

"The omega?" Elijah scoffed. "Damn, bro! The Goddess screwed you good!"

Everyone around us either gasped or growled, except my little mate. He bit his bottom lip and bent his head to stare at his battered Converses.

Anger shot through me and if he weren"t my brother, Elijah would already be bleeding on the ground.

Before I could defend my mate, however, the luna stepped forward.

"Apologize to both of them! Right now!"

Unable to defy his luna, Elijah mumbled out a quiet, "Sorry."

"Apologize properly," she demanded.

"Bram, Rube, I"m sorry for what I said," he mumbled. "Congratulations on finding each other."

"What"s going on?" growled Beta Tyler as he and Landry loped over.

"Mates, george-us!" Thoreau squealed and hopped up and down. "Mates everywhere! I don"t know this man, but he"s Dellie"s mate, and Gamma Rube just found out he"s mates with Bram!"

The gym, Reuben, Luna Posy linked me as Thoreau distracted everyone and Alpha Quake introduced himself. Take Bram inside the gym, please. He"s shy and uncomfortable with attention as it is, and now he"s embarrassed and upset.

Good idea, luna. Thanks.

Don"t hurt my friend, gamma, or you"ll answer to me.

I won"t. I"m only ever going to love him, I swore and meant every word.

Good. She gave me a nod of approval. That"s the way it should be.

My mate"s pretty eyes were fixed on his shoes, misery written all over his face. Wanting to comfort him, I picked up his hand and paused to marvel at both the fizzing mate sparks and the soft texture of his palm against my much rougher one.

"Let"s talk," I said quietly. "Just the two of us, okay?"

He lifted his head enough to glance at me, and I gave him a small nod of encouragement. For some reason, that made his shoulders droop more, and a tear slid down his cheek.

Panicking, I squeezed his hand, hoping he"d look at me again. He didn"t, but he nodded, so I tugged him toward the open gym doors.

Is he scared of us? Larch rumbled. I told you not to get that neck tattoo! Now our little mate is scared of us because you look like a mean biker gangster thug or something!

I don"t think it"s my tattoos. I rolled my eyes at my wolf. But you"re right. We probably do look scary to a gentle omega. Is his wolf talking to you?

No! See? They"re scared!

Once we were inside and alone, he finally spoke.

"I"m sorry, Gamma Reuben," he whispered. "I"m so sorry!"

"What are you sorry for?" I asked with a frown of confusion.

"That you got stuck with me," he whimpered, breaking my heart. "A gamma should have a strong mate, not an omega. I"m sorry."

"I"m not sorry. Not at all." I grinned, something I hadn"t done in a long, long time. "I"m happy it"s you."

That made his head fly up and those eyes - Goddess, those eyes! - met mine again, this time with hope shining in them.

"You are?" he breathed. "But I thought— I thought you were bringing me in here to reject me in private."

"There are a lot of things I want to do to you in private," I teased with wagging eyebrows and had the pleasure of watching him turn red, "but rejecting you will never be one of them."

"You—" The hand I still held in mine gripped my fingers tightly. "You want me? You really want me for your mate?"

"More than you can imagine. I"m proud to say you"re mine. I want to shout it to the world." I took a deep breath, not wanting to say what I had to, but he deserved to know what had happened to me at Tall Pines. "If anything, I should apologize to you, Bram. I— There was— Back in June—"

"Hey, it"s okay." His fingers threaded through mine to gently squeeze them. "You can tell me anything, and I promise I won"t judge."

I took a deep breath and tried again.

"Something happened to me in June. Something ... bad. I"ll explain more later, but for now, you should know that I struggle with nightmares, flashbacks, and bouts of depression. The witches are working with me, and Dr. York gave me some coping strategies, but it"s slow going. I"m sorry that you"re stuck with a train wreck."

"Oh, no, no! Don"t be sorry for something like that!" His handsome face filled with sympathy, and he dropped my hand so he could stretch up and lay his palms on either side of my face. "I"ll help you, gamma. I"ll do anything I can to help you heal."

"You"re not going to reject me?"

"No, silly!" he giggled. "The only things that will ever drive me away are if you cheat on me or treat me like garbage."

He called you silly, Larch said with a dreamy smile.

I would have preferred darling, I said with an eye roll.

"I would never do either of those things, Bram. Loyalty is the most important thing to me, and I plan to treat you like the priceless treasure you are. In fact, if anyone ever treats you like garbage, I"ll tear them to bits, and that"s nothing to what my wolf will do to them." Pulling his hands away from my face, I laid them on my chest and flattened my palms over them. "Speaking of, Larch wants to know why your wolf won"t talk to him. He"s afraid you"re both scared of us."

"Even you have to admit that you look scary, gamma." His eyes crinkled up as he grinned. "But we"re not scared of you. My wolf is very shy. Larch will have to be patient, but once Smoke warms up to him, he"ll cling to him like glue."

That was the third time my mate called me by my title and not my name.

"Reuben. Call me Reuben. Or Rube. Or whatever term of endearment you want. Just not gamma. And not silly, either."

I fake-frowned at him, and when he giggled at that, my heart blew up like a balloon.

You made mate giggle! Larch cooed.

"Although I admit that"s hardly fair," I continued, "since I"ll probably call you my omega. Would that bother you?"

"I like it when you say it. You make it sound special." He lowered his eyes as the tips of his ears turned pink and whispered, "You smell like old books."

Smoke isn"t the only shy one, Larch chuckled, and I smirked.

"Is that a good smell?" I asked him.

"The best. My favorite."

"I adore you already, my little omega." A thought occurred to me, and I tilted my head to the side. "How did I not know before now that you were my mate? I mean, I saw you just yesterday when I picked Elijah up. Why didn"t I smell you then? Or you me?"

"It"s my birthday today." With a light blush, he ducked his head to press his chin to his shoulder, and my heart nearly exploded at how cute he was.

"Well, birthday boy," I purred, "let"s get out of here and go celebrate. What do you say?"

"I"d like that very much." His smile was impish and his eyes lit with laughter. "Reuben?"

"Yes, my little omega?"

"I adore you already, too, even if you do look scary!"

"Thank you." I leaned down and pressed my forehead to his. My voice grew huskier as emotion almost choked me. "I"m yours, Bram. I want you to mark me, and I want to mark you. I never, ever want to spend even a single day away from you."

"Aw!" he squealed.

Pulling his hands out from under mine, he threw his arms around my waist and laid his head in the center of my chest as he squeezed me. I might not have understood why he was suddenly so happy, but I wasn"t going to miss hugging him back. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and found that he fit into me like a perfect puzzle piece.

"You know," his voice was muffled by my shirt, "for a big, strong, tough, scary gamma covered in tattoos and cut like a bodybuilder, you"re awfully sweet."

"For you," I told him as I smiled into his messy brown hair. "Only ever for you, my dear little omega."