You idiot! How could you possibly even think about rejecting our mate? What's wrong with you, Rafe? Scared that Riley is too much for you to handle? My wolf said as he smirked in my head. How the hell could a wolf even smirk? Apparently, mine was enough of an arsehole to do that.

Shut up, Kai. At least one of us is still thinking clearly. We don't need a mate. We are better off on our own, just me and you. I snarled back at him, trying to state my dominance.

You are a fool, Rafe.Our mate will make us stronger rather than weaker. Do you honestly think that we would ever be at peace without her? Ha, and I thought that your father was the ignorant one in the family. Your mother would be ashamed to see you deny our mate like that.

My mother? How do you even dare speak of her. You know what, fuck you, Kai. I'm shutting you off now but you better be on point tomorrow because if anything happens to Natalia, you will be sorry. And with that I blocked him off.

The walk and the air were meant to help me clear my head but that seemed like an impossible task right now, so I decided to head back to the house. It's not like I could avoid Riley tonight. And besides, I didn't care, right? This whole mate business meant nothing to me.

The moment I walked back in the house though, her scent invaded my senses. It was crazy how I hadn't noticed it until she said the words that were written across my body, the words that confirmed to Kai and me that she was our mate. Thinking about the whole situation was giving me a headache again, so I allowed myself to close my eyes and inhale the sweet, feminine scent that covered the whole house. Shockingly for me, I immediately felt calmer. I was no longer angry or confused, nor did I feel anxious anymore. I simply felt at peace. Like I was floating in the air without a single worry in my life. As if I had found my nirvana.

I heard Riley's door on the floor above open and close which brought me back to reality. Then I saw Aiden make his way down the stairs, humming and smiling. What the hell? I had never seen Aiden hum before. He was a fire dragon, for goodness sake.

"Ah, Rafe. There you are. How was your walk?" Aiden walked over to me and patted me on the shoulder. I didn't like this one bit. I might have cut Kai off but he was also on the edge inside my mind.

"Fan-bloody-tastic."

"Sarcastic much, Macalister? What's up your arse?"

That's when I sensed it. I nearly would have missed it, seeing as her scent was all over the place, but as I leaned closer to Aiden, I realised that he was covered in the sweet smell of Riley, the kind of way that one can only be covered where there was a close body contact. The thought of the two of them having been together made me angry with jealousy. Not because I was jealous of Aiden, that was not it.

It's because you wish it was you, Rafe. I heard my wolf chuckle inside my head. How the fuck was he able to reach me after I had cut off our link for the night.

I told you, you prick- she makes us stronger, not weaker. Keep denying it, you idiot. You are fighting a losing battle. He let out a howl as he retired to the back of my thoughts again.

Fuck, Kai really knew how to piss me off sometimes. Unfortunately, it was Aiden who was going to bear the brunt of it. "You wasted no time, I see." I growled at him which caught him by surprise.

"What the fuck are you talking about, Rafe?" The annoyance in his voice was clear.

"Oh, don't play coy with me, Aiden. I can smell her all over you- you just waited for me to get out of the house before you decided to screw her."

His eyes flashed yellow and I knew that I had pissed him off royally. So much that he shoved me against the wall in the hallway, his hand pulling my t-shirt.

"Watch your tongue, Rafe. I don't care what you say about me but I won't let you disrespect out mate." We were now having a staring contest, each of us eyeing the other one angrily. "And besides, I was there to ask Riley to give us a chance. Both of us."

"Sure you did.'

"Oh, for fuck sake, Rafe- it was only a kiss. Nothing else happened. And anyway, she is my mate too. The pull we feel towards her is impossible to fight. Why are you acting like this?"

Why was I acting like that? I didn't want a mate. I didn't want Riley.... Or did I? Fuck- I couldn't allow myself to even entertain that idea. Aiden was right- she was his mate and I had no right to say anything to him or her. What they did was their own business.

"Sorry, man. I don't know what got into me. Forget about what I said. As soon as Nat is safe and sound, I will look into the unmating ritual and will be out of your hair as far as Riley is concerned. You can't get rid of me for the rest though." I tried to laugh to break the tension but Aiden was not having any of it.

"Goddess, Rafe, it's okay to admit that you want her too. It doesn't make you any less of a warrior, nor of an alpha. But stop with this whole hot and cold shit. It's not doing anyone any favours and you are acting like a bratty teenager who doesn't know what he wants."

"Thanks for the pep talk, Captain Cupid. I will let the Goddess know that you did your best to defend her choices but this is not happening and I am not changing my mind about that," I said with the most confident tone that I could come up with.

"Fuck, mate, you really are a wanker sometimes. I thought that Riley would be difficult to persuade but you are on a whole different level. I plan to date her and get to know her until she can make her own choice of whether she wants to accept this or not. You will have to be a real idiot to let this woman go." He paused, clearly thinking about what to say next. "Damn it, Rafe- all you need to do is show her that you are not a dick. Is that really so hard for you?" He was exasperated by now but I was not going to budge.

I heard a deep male laugh and flirty giggling on the other side of the front door before Callum and Riley's friend Scarlett walked in with the pizzas in hand. They were so captivated by each other that they only spotted us when they were about to crash into us.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," the petite redhead mumbled apologetically. "Where is Riley?" She smiled at both Aiden and me, both of us exchanging an awkward look. Callum didn't miss a thing though.

"What the hell is going on here? Aiden, why the fuck do you have Rafe pinned against the wall?" The bear Alpha demanded from both of us but I had no plans to explain anything to him.

"Nothing more than a misunderstanding, Callum." Aiden let go of me. "Let's go eat and get some sleep. We only have a few hours before we have to go."

"Already?" Scarlett exclaimed with sadness. I was not sure what was going on between her and Callum, but neither of them seemed pleased with the idea of our nearing departure.

"I'll go get Riley," Aiden said before disappeared.

We sat in Riley's living room, the three of us eating in silence, while Callum and Scarlett couldn't stop talking but it was okay because the rest of us didn't want to talk. Once we were done, we all decided to call it a night, despite Scarlett's protest and suggestions to play drinking games. I wasn't sure whether I was going to be able to sleep but the fact that Riley retired to her room with Scarlett seemed to ease my mind for some reason. Before I knew it, my eyes were closing themselves as I fell asleep.

When I opened them again, it was just before 3 am. We had forty minutes until we had to leave the house for our rescue mission but I was happy to be the only one up yet as I needed a moment for myself. All this mate business aside, I was a mess on the inside with all the worries about Natalia. I got up and made my way to the kitchen to grab a glass of water when I heard a knock on the front door. Who the hell could be knocking at this time?

I made my way to the front and unlocked the door, opening it slowly as the scent hit me.

"Missed me, wolf?"