6- Secrets and Surprises

*Picture reference: This is one of the two covers that I have made for my story in addition to the present cover. Please comment which one you prefer, this one or the one I already have as the cover. I might post the other cover in the next update. Thank you!*

** *Hides in shame* I cannot apologize enough about not updating for over two weeks, to put it simply, life got in the way. The result of a shameful writer, is a treat to her readers. This update is the longest one yet, I hope you enjoy it and comment on your thoughts. It’s one in the morning and I have school in a few hours, ugh, see you soon!**

Kaspar’s POV (Who’s excited? Because I am!)

As Kasey and I rose from our chairs at the dinner table to chase after Elian, King Caspian signaled us to remain seated at the table. While we halted in our attempts, the pestering merprince, continued to walk out of the dining room and towards the door to presumably look for Elian. A growl nearly made itself audible in irritation as we were stopped but I swallowed it down.

“Alphas, let Elian cool off and collect his scattered emotions. He will be okay. Not to mention, Daniel is looking out for him as we speak,” Queen Cara advised.

We both nodded, still uneasy about letting Elian go out there alone. It shouldn’t be this guy going after Elian, it should be us. Let’s not forget the fact that this Daniel just declared he was gay and Elian is as well. Daniel could possibly come onto Elian in a matter that Elian does not prefer. All of these thoughts disgusted and angered me until my nails on my fingers were piercing the skin on my palms as my hands were shaped into fists. Once I felt Kasey’s hand on my shoulder, I immediately relaxed to be able to control my anger and emotions.

It was a mystery as to why the two of us always seemed to feel strongly about Elian’s well being, though it always felt like we were like this from the beginning, as pups looking over their treasured friend. Elian was always in great danger, being the Lord of the Fae and not identifying his parents’ murderers yet.

“Now, boys, I am about to open your eyes to something that you may or may not have wanted by the moon goddess. Be aware that this does not usually happen in supernatural history,” Queen Cara spoke as Kasey and I were utterly confused by her cryptic words.

Though, we nodded, anxious to know the information that Queen Cara kept to herself till now.

“Alphas, your mate is here.”

And that was definitely the last straw for pent up emotions, as I abruptly stood up and let out a growl.

“That’s impossible, there is no way that our mate would be among the people with us, we would have surely known. And a mate is a treasured privilege given by the moon goddess. It would be shameful to know that our wolves could not even identify our mate when she is right underneath our noses. Wait, there are no women that accompanied us. Are you claiming that our mate is male?”

Before someone could answer me, Kasey spoke from his chair, not bothering to stand, “Are you mocking our incapability of finding our mate? Ones as yourselves were thought to be kind and truthful. Tell us why we should believe anything that you speak of.”

“Cara, I told you not to enclose this information to them. Speak no more of their mate. They are now riled up and believe nothing of our promising words. They should have been able to solve this dilemma themselves,” King Caspian scolded Queen Cara softly as she sighed.

“I couldn’t hold it in Cas, it was impossible to watch the unnoticed motions of the mates without them even knowing. It is better that they know, it will make each one stronger and a better leader for their people.”

King Caspian smiled softly as Queen Cara tried to explain herself. She then turned to the two of us, presumably ready to answer one of our many questions.

“I never speak anything but the truth, sure, this truth I speak of is hard to imagine. What werewolf cannot find their mate when their mate is always close?”

A soft whimper came from Kasey as the insult was sad to hear for our wolves. But nonetheless, Queen Cara continued.

“Your mate is being helped to cover their scent which is what alerts your wolves of your mate’s presence. Therefore, don’t be discourage in finding your mate or upset about your wolves. Obviously, since no females are with you today, it is a male that holds the key to your hearts. With that said, don’t interrogate every person here until they come forth, keep this information to yourselves and simply be more aware of the people around you.”

We warily nodded as she concluded her message, “Time will be the enemy when this journey comes to an end.”

The two merpeople rose from their chairs and gathered the dishes after advising us to go out and look for Elian ourselves. We hurried out of the door and walked down the beach to spot Elian and Daniel sitting together and talking among themselves. Crouched down behind a rock, I decided to eavesdrop on their conversation, and motioned Kasey to do the same.

“Daniel, I have only come to realize now after all of these years without seeing you that I love you,” Elian said in a lovely tone as the two of us growled but kept listening.

“Eli, I never thought that you’d feel the same as I do, I love you too. May I kiss you?” The slime ball asked and that’s when Kasey and I rose from our positions.

The boys were faced this way and caught us in the act of spying as they clutched onto their stomachs from laughing too much. A permanent frown was upon our faces as we went over to where they were seated. As we stood there, looking at Elian, Daniel awkwardly coughed.

“Well, I’ll be on my merry way. Catching up was great, Elian. You should come around more often. Farewell, lover!” He hopped off of the rock that they were seated on and I glared at his retreating figure.

Could you imagine if that thing was our mate? I asked my brother through the mind link.

Hell no. I’d never survive. If he truly was our mate then maybe… Never mind, I’d rather not jump to that conclusion. Kasey chuckled at the end.

To be honest, if the irritating merprince was our mate, we would tame his ass and love him unconditionally. Fortunately for Kasey and I, Daniel wasn’t our mate. Although, Queen Cara mentioned that whoever our mate is, they’re currently hiding their mate scent from the two of us. I honestly doubted that Daniel was our mate though.  I simply knew it in my heart, or at least hoped it wasn’t.

The sound of someone clearing their throat brought Kasey and I back to reality as we turned to Elian, finding a scowl etched onto his face.

“Can you try and refrain yourselves from talking telepathically while I am around? It’s irritating to have no idea what you’re conversing about.”

I chuckled, “As you wish. Luckily for you, you’ll ever have to endure the conversations that are between Kasey and I, with the exception of our mate and our pack, of course.”

Once that statement was said, Elian nervously laughed at my joke and scratched the back of his neck.

“Are you okay, Eli?” Kasey asked.

“Yeah, a little nervous about the two of you finding out about my sexuality preference, to be honest. I mean, do you want to end our friendship? I’ve never seen you associate yourselves with gay people, I simply thought that you’d never want anything to do with me anymore. Otherwise, I would have told you about this secret a long time ago. And, I know that you said you wouldn’t care if your mate was a male but that’s because you will always find a way to love him till your last breaths.”

I shook my head in disbelief, “Elian, nothing you will do, feel, or say will ever make Kasey nor I feel any different than we do in this exact moment. You are one of the only people that we care for deeply and would put our lives on the line for you at any given moment. Kasey and I always mention to each other that you don’t truly know how much you mean to us.”

A small smile crept onto his face as he nodded and looked at his feet. Kasey placed his fingers under Elian’s chin and lifted it up so his eyes were met with Elian’s.

“Do you understand now? Do you understand the depths of our care that we feel for you?” Kasey asked as he gazed into Elian’s eyes.

“Yes,” Elian replied breathlessly as if he was holding his breath while Kasey was speaking to him.

In that gesture, between Kasey and Elian, a bizarre yet sensible thought came to mind. Could it be that Elian was the true mate to Kasey and I? No, it was impossible. His kind of people embraced the notion of having a mate because others are not presented with the opportunity. If it were true, he would never hide himself from the two of us, it simply wasn’t something that was done by Elian.

I shook my head to clear the cluster of thoughts in my head and stood up from my previous position.

“Ready to get going? It’ll be dark soon and we need to start packing the cars for our next destination.”

Kasey and Elian nodded and stood up as well, walking towards the Queen and King’s home. When we reached the home, everyone was scattered around the first floor of the house. Conversing with one another, waiting for the next set of rules to follow. Kasey stayed by my side and Elian walked over to Daniel and his mother. Just as I was going to announce that we needed to pack up and get going to wherever we needed to be, King Caspian approached me with a worried expression.

“Alphas, I strongly do not recommend traveling tonight, rain will be poured down on us heavily tonight. In fact, it should be starting soon.”

I sighed and tried to come up with other possible plans with Kasey, “We didn’t plan to stay for the night, King Caspian. We haven’t mapped out locations for hotels or places to stay.”

He shrugged off the statement, “Kaspar and Kasey, please call me Caspian. We are already well acquainted with one another in the small span of time. And, no worries, we can squeeze all of you in this home of ours. It’ll be the least we can do for the gracious time we’ve spent with Elian.”

Kasey nodded as I bit my lip, “Okay, thank you for being so welcoming with your home.”

How was everyone going to fit in this quaint house? That would result in people needing to share rooms with one another.

As the moon rose in the night sky, and the waves of the sea were calm and soothing, everyone waited in their sleepwear to know where they would be sleeping for the night. In total, the King and Queen had four rooms, in which they argued that large company do not come around often. One room was theirs, another belonged to Daniel, and the leftover two rooms were guest rooms.

“I say, the Alphas have one room, the Fae warriors scatter around the living room with the sofa beds, the other wolves have another guest room, and Elian bunks with me. We all know that no one is stepping foot into my parents’ room to put it lightly,” Daniel suggested in a hopeful tone as I shook my head in protest, not wanting Elian anywhere near the pest.

I cleared my throat to advert everyone’s attention to me, “I say, some Fae warriors stay in the living room as suggested and others can take over one of the guest rooms to make it more comfortable, my wolves should bunk with Daniel, and Elian should be okay with Kasey and I.”

Daniel huffed and turned to Cara, “Whose plan do you prefer, mom?”

“I am quite content with Alpha Kaspar’s to be honest,” Cara picked with a slight smirk upon her face.

Daniel sighed and turned to go upstairs to his room, and Maddox, Arvel, and Jasper trailed behind him. As I glanced at the three wolves, I noticed that Jasper was slightly frowning as he walked up the stairs of the house. I decided to talk to him privately through the mind link.

Jasper, everything okay? I know the sleeping arrangements are not the best, but it is only for one night. I said in a soothing tone to understand what was wrong with one of my closest friends.

Alpha Kaspar, all is well. A wave of uneasiness came over me for a short amount of time that you must've seen. He assured me as his body vanished from my sight and onto the second floor of the house.

With that being said, I felt a bit better about Jasper and informed Kasey who had noticed the change in his behavior as well. Jasper was one of the unfortunate wolves in the Celestial Hala Pack. At a young age, he had already met his mate in his original pack. As he grew up with her and became friends, then a couple, their strength as mates were one of the strongest anyone had ever seen. A week before he and his mate were going to perform the mating ritual, his pack was attacked by a team of hunters and rogues, who killed off most of the pack, including his mate and his family. Terran, his younger brother was spared and rescued by Jasper before they fled with other surviving members to our pack.

In return, the rest of his pack and him were welcomed with open arms into our pack. The grief that he endured was one that no one would ever want to experience. Not only had he lost his family, but his one, true mate. Now, he may seem like he is brand new as if nothing had ever happened all of those years ago, though I know that he is hiding. Hiding behind a mask of the expectations of everyone else. Behind that mask, is a man filled with sorrow and sadness. These pent up feelings only seem to grow as time moves on, the cure will always be a mate. Hopefully, the moon goddess answers his calls for assistance.

“Kaspar, Earth to Kaspar. Kasey and I are figuring out where we are sleeping in the guest room,” Elian said as I was taken out of my worried thoughts.

“On the bed, of course,” I said in an obvious tone as Elian’s jaw dropped onto the floor and Kasey smiled.

Elian sighed and held both of Kasey and I’s hands as he dragged us to the guest room. In the guest room was a sitting area, a television set, shelving for items, and a king-sized bed in the middle of the room.

“Oh,” Elian said in a hushed tone as he most likely realized that we would all be able to fit onto the bed.

Sleeping in the same bed was not that bad of an idea, was it? Why did Elian always have a problem with being in close proximity with us? Did we smell? I asked Kasey as he shrugged and went over to the bed as Elian walked into the attached bathroom.

Only the moon goddess may know, he is always nervous as well. Perhaps we should question him about these observations when he returns. Kasey mentioned and I sighed.

I shuffled through my suitcase for sweats and quickly changed. My shirt was taken off and thrown somewhere else. When I rose from my crouched position, I found Elian outside of the bathroom, gaping like a fish.

“Yeah, this is not going to work, you need a shirt,” he ordered as he went over to the bed.

“It’s too hot in this home, besides what is wrong?” I asked.

He froze and shook his head, “Nothing, never mind. Just don’t touch me.”

I tilted my head in confusion and agreed to please him. Kasey was already under the covers as Elian snuggled into the spot next to Kasey. I figured that I’d be at the other end as I lifted the covers and got into the bed. As I laid down, finding a comfortable position, I found Elian pouting.

“Now what’s wrong?” I questioned him, wondering why there was such a sour expression worn by him.

“I’m being sandwiched between the two of you.”

“Don’t act like you don’t like it,” Kasey stated as he turned around to face Elian.

A smirk rested snugly onto my face, remembering that he had the hots for boys. I scooted closer to Elian and soon enough he placed his hand onto my chest, all hot and bothered.

“Stop, right there. Don’t come any closer.”

As he said those words to me, Kasey pressed up against Elian’s back and whispered into his ear, “What about me, Lord of the Fae?”

Elian shook his head and tried his best to ignore the two of us. He clutched onto a pillow and closed his eyes shut. I chuckled softly and closed my eyes as well.

It was simply silly and fun notions, right?