The Challenge Two Alphas, One Girl

Chapter 33: Aggravated Alphas

Thaddeus’ POV:

Friday’s scent seemed to fill the entire Alpha floor. I tried to engage the rational part of my brain and not fight Theo and the other warriors. They dragged me to the Beta floor where I could still pick up her scent though the intensity of it faded. If I had not been somewhat compliant they would not have been able to move me. I kept my eyes on Maze too, ensuring he had vacated the top floor as well. Eventually they got us down to the ground floor, to the common grounds which had been evacuated. Only mated warriors and their she-wolves were still permitted in the pack house for the remainder of her heat.

A Luna’s heat causes much crazier behaviour than that of a regular she-wolf. Friday must have been the Luna of all Lunas. I could not relax even this far away from her. My wolf was clawing at me from inside, howling and whimpering. He was worried about his mate. I was worried too. I hated thinking of Friday in pain. If not for this challenge, I could have claimed her already and her heat would just be a time to bond further. I hoped a rut was not coming on. I could not chance it. Ruts made Alphas totally irrational and sometimes coincided with the Luna’s heat. All an alpha cared about during a rut was getting his luna pregnant and all a luna cared about during her heat was getting pregnant. Once Maze and I were not in ruts, if we were far away from Friday during her heat, we could act normally. If we went into ruts, no matter how far away we were, we would try to seek her out.

Igroaned, putting my head in my hands, hoping that my little Luna was not in too much pain. I had left her with her weirdo brother who seemed truly believably concerned for the first time ever. I had an idea but first I needed to make sure Friday was being taken care of properly.

“Theo, I need you to watch Fang when he’s watching Friday! Take the mated Berryndale warriors as well!” I said, grabbing his shoulder and meeting his eyes.

“Of course, Thaddeus, I got you, you know that,” Theo said reassuringly. “Maze!” I called.

Maze was slumped over in arm chair like he was in a drunken stupor or something, not moving, his dark hair blocking his face.

“MAZE!” | yelled. My alpha voice made no difference to Maze as he too was an alpha but at least it was louder and much more demanding.

Maze stirred, looking up at me with haunted eyes. “Let’s go!” I said. “Where?” He asked, looking confused.

“Away from Friday, Theo and Fang and the mated warriors will protect her for the next couple of days,” I said, finding it difficult to even utter the words “away from Friday.” Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“What about the challenge?” Grumbled Maze, narrowing his eyes slightly.

“Is this not challenging?” I growled.

Maze sighed. He shut his eyes tightly. I waited for him to argue or growl and snarl back at me but to my surprise, he got to his feet. He stumbled over to the door. One of the mated Berryndale warriors came to me. It was Athens, a tall dark-skinned warrior with a consistently stone-faced expression.

“Alpha, Theo sent some necessitates for you and the Marigold Alpha,” Athens said. I clapped Athens on the back. “Thank you,” I said, nodding. He was constantiy giancing over his shoulder. I knew he was thinking on Friday. I was aoing the same.

“What is this brilliant plan, pray tell?” Maze asked, his tone snide.

I sighed, “We’re going to Friday’s old cottage. Her non-heat scent will linger there. It will be soothing and far away from her for her own safety.

Maze was silent Maze’s POV

Thaddeus was leading me to Friday’s cottage, the place where I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I groaned inwardly but I could not deny his logic. We would be far away from Friday. She was somewhat wolf-less. She was in heat but she had still never shifted so she could not outrun us even if her foot was not broken. She needed round the clock surveillance and us staying nearby was the biggest threat to her. A regular werwolf attracted by her-smell would be easily subdued by our mated warriors but they could not overpower their own alphas for long if at all.

I trudged behind him. I kept looking over my shoulder back at the pack house until it disappeared from view and trees surrounded us. We walked through the woods in silence. I hoped they were guarding Friday with their very lives back at the pack house. If anything happened to her, I would have the head of the person responsible on a spike.

The cottage came into view. My wolf groaned. This was where I had angered him greatly when I rejected his mate. He grumbled. At least the front door had been fixed. Fang’s door removal skills had helped us earlier. I smirked at that. He was a good Beta but a terrible brother. He had seemed concerned about Friday in earnest for the first time ever tonight.

Friday’s cottage did smell like her. I shivered in delight. I immediately dove into her little cot and grabbed her pillow, sniffing it, inhaling her scent deeply. Thaddeus had wrapped her blanket around himself.

“Remind Theo to take care of Saturday,” I said, remembering the cat when he had hissed at me on that first night.

“I already did,” Thaddeus said.

Saturday was well-liked by the pack house warriors so I knew they would still spoil him even if Friday could not look after him herself for a few days.

Thaddeus and I were both lying as far away from each other as possible on Friday’s little cot which was mildly hilarious. The cot was way too small for even one of us but we were each curled up on an edge

just so we could breathe in her scent. I was surprised to find the cottage so well-kept in her absence. This must have been Thaddeus’ doing.

Sleep would not come easily. My wolf was pacing back and forth. He would only be satisfied when Friday’s neck bore his mark and his seed was inside of her. I missed her too. I hoped I would not miss out on too many days with her. They were more precious than gold.

Thaddeus’ POV

Friday’s delicious scent surrounded me. My wolf enjoyed it but he was not that easily fooled. He knew the real Friday was currently in heat and the remnant of her scent prior to this would not suffice. He wanted his mate. I wanted my Friday. I groaned. This stupid cot was so small. Maze was very still but I knew he was awake.

“Maze?” I had no idea why I was even talking to him.

“Yeah?” He said softly.

Maze actually laughed. I had thought his sense of humour had been surgically removed or something

“I hope she’s not in a lot of pain,” I said. “We could fix that,” Maze said. “Not without endangering her,” I retorted. “I know,” said Maze. Maze’s eyes were black. Who was he mind-linking? “Who are you mind- linking?” I asked. “Fang,” Maze said. “Ew,” I said. Maze laughed again. Maybe he really was drunk

“I told him to take whatever he wants from your room and mine or let Friday sleep in one of them. If she wants those scents around her? Your idea reminded me she might want the same thing. I knew you wouldn’t mind her having your stuff,” Maze explained.

Maze was being thoughtful? “That was a good idea,” I said begrudgingly. “So was yours,” Maze admitted. “Good night, Maze,” I said. “Good night, Thaddeus,” Maze said. Friday’s POV

“Friday, you wanna sleep in Maze’s room or Thaddeus’ room?” Fang asked suddenly.

Huh. Was that a trick question? He would get angry is I wanted to sleep in Thaddeus’ room. I did not actually want to move, but I wanted to smell Thaddeus or Maze.

“You want their stuff then?” He prompted, surprisingly not angry at how long was taking to answer.

The pain was waxing and waning. It was intense sometimes and mild at other times but it never left me completely. I had sweated a lot earlier. Fang had put a cool washcloth on my head. He kept refreshing it. I had taken a shower to with help from Astrid. Theo checked on me like every fifteen minutes and I could see Fang’s eyes turn black every now and then. I knew it was Theo mind-linking him. Theo probably did not trust Fang because Thaddeus did not trust Fang. Fang looked tired but he was calm. He sat across from my bed on the floor with his back against the wall. His eyes were closed.

“I want their stuff yeah,” I mumbled. My voice came out like a little squeak. The pain gripped me. I whimpered. “Anything in particular?” Fang asked.

I thought about it. “I want a T-shirt from each of them, one they wear often or one that they wore recently. You can sniff and know which one has the strongest smell.”

“Can you smell Thaddeus and Maze?” Fang asked suddenly, his eyes snapping open. “Yeah,” I said, confused. “How strongly?” Fang asked as though it were the most important question in the world.

“Um, pretty strong. I can smell them coming from a few yards away maybe,” I said, thinking about

Fang looked like he was calculating something. He got to his feet suddenly.

L “Um, you could have mind-linked,” Astrid mumbled, stepping into my room.

The two warriors flanking my door had let her in. There were two more patrolling the Alpha floor. They were others positioned outside, assigned to watch my windows. All the floors had warriors assigned to

various tasks all concerning me and my heat which the old Friday would have been mortified about but the new Friday felt…important. I meant something…to Thaddeus and Maze. I had to be ok for them and for

myself. I had a future now. I liked certain things about myself. I disliked other traits I had but that was life. I

had worth even if no one saw it but I was glad my alphas did. Maze had taken longer to see it but he had still come around. Everyone had worth. I was not sure why I had thought myself exempt from that, the only worthless person in the world. There was no such thing.

Astrid and Fang were behaving a bit strangely towards one another and I knew it had nothing to do with me. Something was off about them both. Astrid stayed with me while Fang went to Maze’s room to get the T-shirt I wanted. I knew Theo was probably in Thaddeus’ room getting a T-shirt too. I smiled. I anticipated my alphas’ T-shirts. The inner me was grumbling. Her alphas were far away. She was angry at me. She thought I had not done enough in time to entice them so we could get their pups. We would get their pups eventually. I shook my head. Huh. Why was I thinking of myself in plural like that? Was I going crazy?

Fang’s POV

I entered Maze’s room. It was just as organised as I had expected. I tried to never disturb him here so I had not seen it often. I was not best buds or “bros” or whatever with my Alpha like Theo was with Thaddeus. Theo was so far up Thaddeus’ass, he knew what the Alpha had for breakfast the night before he had it. I went through Maze’s clothes. I had the urge to mess up his room and blame it on haste in trying to get the T-shirt to Friday but lignored that urge. I found a plain black T-shirt that smelled a lot like him and was well worn. Bingo. I took it. I should grab a few other things she did not ask for just in case. Look at me, all helpful and thoughtful and s**t. Big Brother of the Decade. I took Maze’s fancy ass pen and one of his journals. Whatever. If it were meant to be private, I’d just get Friday to make puppy-dog

eyes at him and say she had needed it to feel close to him. He was smitten now and Friday was being agreeable with me.

I realised this room had once belonged to the former Alpha, Maze’s Dad. I was looking at the wall. There was a rough area of paint behind the clothes in the walk-in closet down. It was dark and faint but I was a Beta. I spotted it. I ran my fingers over it. It was loose? I picked at it. I peeled about an inch of paint off. Maze had repainted this room. He did not like the Marigold colours that much, not enough to want his room that colour. I had been sent to buy the paint a while ago. I looked at the area I had peeled off and the old paint underneath. There was a name etched into the concrete wall that could have only been carved with the sharp nail of the previous Alpha.

Felicity

The name carved on the wall of the former alpha’s bedroom belonged to my mother.