Page 9

Chapter Nine

Fen

“I found Arley sitting at the kitchen table at three a.m., crying.” Neal sat down next to me in physics class and unpacked his notebook and pen. “I didn’t know if I should talk to him or not, so I just backed out of the room and went back to bed.”

“You did?” I hadn’t even noticed he’d left the bed. What kind of a mate did that make me? “He didn’t say anything this morning, just went to class at eight a.m.” I felt horrible not knowing that my mate was struggling. After coming home from the doctor’s office yesterday, we cooked another meal together, baked some cookies, and snuggled in bed until we passed out from exertion. Was that too much on my mate? I thought we were both excited. Yet how could I even compare what I was feeling when my mate was the one carrying our extra load on top of classes and all the changes that had been happening. I should have made certain Arley was perfectly happy before we split for classes. Why didn’t I pick up on it?

“What’s going on?” Neal asked in a hushed voice, leaning in conspiratorially.

We hadn’t talked about not telling anyone, and Neal would find out soon enough; they already knew Arley was pregnant, just not the surprise number that went with it. Was he breaking any rules by telling first? “We found out that we are having more than one baby.”

“Twins? That’s awesome.” Neal sounded a bit envious, and I knew one day he’d find his mate.

“Times that by three.” Oh, just saying it out loud made me a little queasy. No wonder Arley was struggling. Any normal omega would. That was a lot of extras to add to a family all at once.

“Wait. What?” His eyes bugged out of his head, brows disappearing into his hairline, jaw slacked, mouth hanging open as if he didn’t hear when I knew very well he had.

“Yep. We are having a little squad of babies, Neal.” My own little squad of babies. I hoped they were all like Arley. It would be so cute to have mini Arley’s running around.

“Yeah, I would be crying at the kitchen table at three a.m. too.” Neal shifted in his seat suddenly nervous. “You aren’t leaving the house, right?” The urgency in Neal’s voice had me doing a double take.

“Oh, ah, no.” I shook my head. “We were hoping you guys would be okay with us staying for a while.” At least, that had been a little bit of the plan. The house was close enough to classes, and it made sense. While they could afford something by themselves, they weren’t ready yet.

“Of course we are, man. There is plenty of room.” Neal tilted his head. A smirk on his face, he did a little shimmy of his shoulders. “Maybe we will study up on noise proofing the rooms though.”

I slapped his arm. Sure he was joking.

He has a point though.

“I’m going to go find my mate after class and get him to talk to me.” I couldn’t let him stress out alone. We were a team. I had to make sure he was okay with everything that was going on, and if there was a way for me to assist in any regards, then I needed to find out how and make it happen. “The news we received is massive, but he needs to remember there’s nothing we can’t handle as long as we tackle it together.”

“Good man.” Neal nodded, sending him a wink that was not salacious in any form. “Now be quiet and start taking notes. Professor Newton is giving us the evil eye and I can’t afford one of her jinxes.”

Luckily class went by quickly and I was able to find Arley before his afternoon classes began. It was nice that we were on the same campus, making catching up for a snack or lunch easier on both of us and our animals.

“You know we are going to be okay, right?” I found Arley outside of his statistics class and wrapped my arms around him without giving him any chance to refute his advances. “I don’t like hearing you were crying alone in the kitchen last night. You should have woken me.”

“Which one tattled?” He pouted, arms crossed instead of around my waist. I wanted Arley to lean into me, to accept my warmth.

“Which one?” I guess I know which one I will be able to trust to tell me anything. It helped in the long run, but it wasn’t something I wanted to deal with constantly.

“Yeah. Neal or Dean?” Arley pulled away and narrowed his eyes; his stubborn steak was getting the better of him. But he came back willingly when I pulled him back into my arms. “They both saw me but then twisted around and pretended it never happened. I was hoping that would be it, but apparently one can’t keep their mouth shut.”

“Well I am glad Neal told me.” I pulled Arley’s stiff body closer and he let me, even if it took a few moments wrapped in my hug for him to relax. “Why didn’t you want me to know?” I asked quietly, resting my cheek atop his head.

“It’s not that,” he sighed. “I just didn’t want anyone to know.” He sounded like a petulant kid just then, but I was smart enough to keep my mouth shut on that aspect. I liked my balls right where they were. “I just keep crying. I blame hormones. If I tell you every time they get the better of me, eventually you will not take me seriously when I really do need you.” I ignored the shaft of pain that went straight through my heart.

“I will always take you seriously, babe. Always.” I had no idea how to get Arley to understand that, but one day I would. “You are my mate. If you can’t come to me, and we can’t communicate, then I’ve let you down.”

“No.” Arley clung tighter to me. “It’s not that at all. You haven’t failed.”

“You haven’t either.” I squeezed Arley tighter. “But believe me, I will always be there for you. There’s no need to believe I’d think you’d cry wolf over nothing. No matter what it is, tell me.” Arley nodded into my chest, mumbling something. “What was that?”

“I’m hungry.”

My job was never done, and that was more than okay with me. I had my mate safely in my arms; I just needed to feed him before his next set of classes. It wasn’t good to sit through a lecture on an empty stomach. Not that I would ever let Arley go hungry.

Kissing the top of his head, I turned us toward one of the cafeterias on campus and took care of my mate.

Arley

“Hey. Why don’t you stop and talk to me?” The tall jackal shifter continued to walk after me, even after I sped up and crossed the street.

Don’t answer him. It will only encourage him.

My rabbit and I had experience with this. Back home, we would have to ignore a man several times a month just going to the store or heading to work. Not that I ever expected to have that experience here on campus.

I was a fool to believe it would be different here.

No. It is different. Back home, there would be a few of them this week. And they would have already manhandled you. This guy is just following us. It’s better here. But assholes will be everywhere. No truer words had ever been said, but I hated the fact it was true.

Continuing to walk away from the jackal, I had made it almost to my next class before I felt a hard tug on my backpack that made me stumble.

“I said I wanted to talk.” The jackal now stood before me. Tall and imposing, I felt a tiny trickle of fear enter my system. But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

“I have a class to get to. Now get out of my way.” I attempted to pass him but he gripped my forearm.

“That’s not the way to talk to an alpha, sweetie.” The jackal sneered in my face. That anxiety was back, and had I been anywhere else, I could have run for it. But I didn’t know what to do.

“And that’s not the way to speak to another man’s mate.” Fen appeared out of nowhere like an avenging angel, prying the other man’s hand off me and pulled me behind him. “If you walk away now, we can pretend nothing happened. I’m sure the campus pack isn’t tolerant of such behavior.”

“I was talking to him, man.” The hackle made a play at grabbing me again, but another large hand reached out and stopped him before he made contact.

“Goddess, Henry. He even gave you a chance to escape. I was willing to let it go just this once if you had taken his offer.” Patrick, one of Fen’s friends and campus pack leaders, shook his head and tsked. That was another amazing aspect of city life and shifter life on campus. Not only did everyone—for the most part—get along, but everyone mingled. Prey, predator, human. And the fact the campus had its own security? Why didn’t I call for Fen sooner? “Now we need to go through the whole process with you and the council instead. You really should have listened and chosen more wisely.”

“Patrick, man.” Henry lowered his gaze but continued to speak, his entire demeanor changing in an instant. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Let’s just let this go.”

“Now, see. If you had just walked away when Fen offered you the chance, I would have allowed you to prove you’d do better going forward.” Patrick snapped his fingers and two other shifters came and took Henry by the arms. “Sadly you didn’t stop, and now you are going to make us all absent for the rest of the afternoon. And I hate missing philosophy.”

“Seriously?” I wouldn’t have picked that as his favorite class. Then again, I guess it made him good at reading people and situations.

“What can I say? I like to think. Take care, you guys, I’ll handle this one.” Patrick flashed a cheeky smile and led the group away.

“Well that wasn’t what I was hoping for this afternoon.” I closed my eyes and hung my head. “Now I want a blueberry muffin and hot chai, instead of an hour-long lecture on world religions.”

“Then ditch your next class.” Fen rubbed his hands up and down my biceps. I soaked up his comforting scent. It was just what I needed. “If the professor says anything next class, tell him your babies needed food.”

“I really didn’t want to miss any classes.” I was not whining. I was still on edge and crashing. I definitely needed some food. As much as I didn’t want to miss class, I knew taking care of our babies was top priority. I’d never do anything to jeopardize them.

“Well if you want to go to class, go on. But if you want to go get a treat and go home with your hot and sexy mate, I promise you’ll have a better time reducing stress.” Fen winked, knowing me too well.

Smiling, I grabbed my mate’s hand; it was a no-brainer on choice. “Fine, but you have to throw in a forum too.”

“Deal.” Fen pulled me forward and we headed toward the café on campus. “I promise you won’t regret your decision.” I never did when I was with my mate.