Page 32 of Mortals and Mayhem

Gathered in the living room, Enzo and Wild again act as my bookends, seated on the couch. Enzo on my right and Wild on my left. Axel sits on the floor in front of the fireplace to my right. Cree and Reed follow us into the living room but don’t fully rejoin us. Rather, Cree stands guard at the entry while Reed watches by the window.

“So there’s no miscommunication between us all, I want to get this straight now. I’m going to move back to my apartment and start training with Enzo. Cree, I think I need to look for a different job. Working at the bar with the drunks and alcohol while trying to stay sober doesn’t seem like a wise choice for me. The temptations there are too great. Plus, there’s the other thing, too.”

Nodding his agreement, Cree states, “I think that’s a great first step. While I hate to lose you, I agree it’s what’s best for you. Understanding your limits, setting your boundaries, and sticking to them is important to recovery, and we’ll stand by you and support you in any way we can.”

Enzo adds, “You can come work at the gym.” A grunt of distaste comes from Cree, obviously, he doesn't like this idea, and I do like to push his buttons.

“That would be great, Enzo, thank you.” Taking a fortifying breath, I look each guy in the eye. Opening myself up, becoming vulnerable, so they can see the truth and sincerity in my next words. “As for all of us. We all feel this connection, I can’t deny it anymore. But I can’t handle that level of commitment or intimacy right now. It’s all just too much. I need time to think things through, really thinking them through.” Grabbing the hands of the two guys boxing me in, I press on, “I’ve been wandering—lost and angry—for so long. Now that I can see and think clearly, thanks to all of you, I need to find me. And find a way to put everything behind me. To deal with the mix of emotions before I bring something as strong as a mate bond into it. So, for right now, All I can offer you is my friendship. I’m sorry if it’s not enough. It’s just?—”

Effectively cutting me off, Reed speaks from his place at the window, “Riley, all we have ever wanted from you was for you to fight to live. You have a long road ahead of you. We’re here in any capacity you need or want us in. If for right now, friendship is all you can offer us … well, we will willingly accept.”

I can see the stiffness in the way he is standing. What he said is true. They’ll take what I’m offering them, however, to their inner beasts, it’s the equivalent of having your heart ripped in two jagged pieces when your mate rejects you. Which to anyone else is exactly what I just did. However, these five amazing, sexy as hell alphas don’t even flinch. They each nod in agreement while tears slip free of my eyes as I thank each of them for their understanding, for their support, and for just being them.

I settle back into the couch, comfortably between my man bookends as conversations spring up around me like it’s a regular weekday evening. It’s comfortable, normal, and I find I’m oddly at peace for the first time in years.

Glancing down the hall towards the bedrooms, I gasp. Wild squeezes my hand in understanding as Enzo frantically asks, “Riley, what is it?”

The breath caught in my lungs punches free as I sob a weak broken, “Gracey?”

Epilogue

ALASTAIR

“She’s what?” I scream at the man speaking on the other end of the open phone line as I pace the small space behind my desk. After the news he just shared, I couldn’t stay seated, my wolf is agitated after what she fucking did to him. So, I put the call on speaker and pace, attempting to expel some of the aggressive anger.

My newest spy inside Riley’s small circle informs me that my little wolf is feeling better after her more than two-year drug and alcohol stint and is now preparing to take back the pack. As if I’d allow that, the notion is nearly laughable. Except, he also tells me that Grace is alive, which can only mean one thing. For that alone, I am not laughing, instead, my heart is pounding.

“That’s not possible. I saw her fucking body. I know she’s dead. I fucking watched them put her body in the ground.” They hadn’t had a clue I was there that night. It was the night I met her man, the human. What a joke. I informed him that should he continue down his current path with Riley, I would tear his body apart, one piece at a time with minimal bleeding. Every time he passed out due to pain, I’d pause and wait for him to wake so he wouldn’t miss a moment of our entertaining time together.

“I know the fucking prophecy. I fucking burned her body to ash because of it. This can’t be happening. Why is this fucking happening? Why now, after all this time?” My voice and panic rise with each pronouncement.

“Listen, I don’t know the how and whys of what’s going on. All I know is what I saw, and what I saw was Grace standing in the middle of the fucking living room. How she got there or how she came back from the fucking dead, I don’t know. Something else I do know, though; is I’m done being your errand boy. I’m not doing this anymore, Alastair. I won’t spy on Riley.”

I place my hands in the middle of my desk and lean it. “Is that right?”

“Yeah, I’m done. You can do whatever the fuck you want to me, send your boys back out here to finish the job they started, I don’t fucking care. But I won’t hurt her anymore.”

I’m prepared for this moment; I knew he’d go soft spending time around her. So, I pull up a message I have saved on my phone and hit send. In the silent moment that stretches between us on the phone, a nearly inaudible beep of an incoming message echoes through the speaker, and I respond to his declaration. “I do believe you just received a message, son. You may want to change the tune of your song after seeing that. Go ahead and check it, I’ll wait.”

A heartbeat passes, and a string of curses spill from the speaker on the desk from the other end of the line. “Sweet music to my ears. Now, do you want to change your stance on the matter? I really am a reasonable guy, you see, and I am willing to give you a second chance here. But, son, there will not be a third.”

“Fuck you, Alastair. If you lay even one finger on either of them … I swear to the gods.” I do believe he is mad. The smirk that plays across my face is devilish.

“Just do your job. I promise, if you do that, they will continue to live quiet and stable lives. With the mountain of medical bills being taken care of and regular weekly stipends for living expenses. If you want them to continue to be taken care of, you will stay near Riley and report back to me. On the other hand.…” I let the threat hang in the air, let his imagination run wild with worst case scenarios of what I’ll do to those he loves. I always get what I want. Right now, that’s Riley. We have unfinished business to take care of.