"Where the hell were you, guys?" I uncrossed my arms and pushed myself off the wall I was leaning on. It had been ten minutes since the lunch bell had rung and I was starving. Seneca, Micajah, and I had had different classes, so we had agreed to meet outside the cafeteria. It was only the first day and they were already late.

"Sorry! We were just—" Micajah started, but Seneca cut him off. "We're late because we were doing something for you, asshole."

"Ohh, am I getting a surprise?" I grinned, following them into the wide doors of the cafeteria. "It's not even my birthday for two months!"

"You wish." Seneca scoffed, getting in line after her mate. I took the spot behind her. "It was that monstrosity of a bed of yours."

"Uh huh." I nudged her arm, "Like you didn't order a king for yourself, right?"

She smirked, putting her hands up in surrender. "Guilty. Anyway, the shipment arrived. Poor guys. They had to wait forty minutes for me to sign and receive it. I know it's only the introductions, but I couldn't bring myself to leave class halfway."

"Ah." I sagely shook my head. "You should've just mind-linked me. I'd have skipped class and waited for the delivery."

"Exactly why she didn't do that," Micajah called from the front, rolling his eyes. Okay, he did look a lot like mini-me when he did that. Should've guessed he was my brother way back. "It's the first effin' day, dude. You could wait at least a week before you start skipping."

"A week?" I chortled, "Yeah, no."

Micajah grumbled something under his breath and turned back around, but something behind me caught his eye. He smiled widely all of a sudden, flashing his pearly whites in an overly sweet, yet genuine, 'Micajah' way of his that only he could pull off. "Theon, Nyah! Hey!"

Shit.

I spun around so fast that I thought my neck would crack.

What were they doing here? Together, that too!?

'They're here to eat, dumbass. What else?' My wolf sniped, voice heavily laden with sarcasm.

Right.

"Hey." I smiled awkwardly, suddenly feeling unsure of myself. It was a foreign feeling, this moment when I second-guessed my next actions because as far as the opposite gender was concerned, I had never felt this way before. Flirting and wooing women came naturally to me, and I had considered myself somewhat of an expert.

'That's cause it's not just the opposite gender, you dolt.'

'Did I sign up for your running commentary?' I snapped back at my wolf, having had enough of him.

"Hey." Nyah smiled, taking a step closer. Before I could ask her what she was doing, she took both my hand and Theon's in each of hers for a second, sighing in an almost relieved manner as her eyes drifted closed.

Ahh, so this was what contentment felt like.

'Now, now, this would just be perfect if you also take Theon's hand.'

"There." Nyah opened her eyes and let go of our hands—much to my dismay—stepping back with a smile. "My wolf needed that so damn badly. I had no clue Alphas had it this hard." She swallowed, turning her gaze to Seneca. I knew it was technically supposed to be stronger for her, but it was impossible for me to imagine anyone feeling the effects of the mate-bond stronger than I did. "How did you manage to keep your hands off your mate after you met him, Alpha? I could really use some pointers."

"Oh, we're practically family. Seneca is fine." My best friend smiled excitedly, dismissing Nyah's formal tone, "And I totally get what you mean. Finally, someone who relates!"

"Well." Nyah shrugged with a tiny smile.

Seneca moved, motioning for Nyah to join her as she made some room in the queue, leaving Theon with no option but to stand near me. "And to answer your question—"

"She didn't," I interjected, rolling my eyes. "They only stayed apart for a night. Then, Micajah moved to our pack to live with us, and there was a misunderstanding the evening he arrived. Seneca made a big deal out of it, saying that she was going to sleep away from him to prove that she could do it or some donkey shit like that. Didn't even last a whole night. They were entwined like a pretzel when I found them the next morning."

"Oops. Awkward." Nyah cracked a wide grin, her face shining with mirth.

Micajah reached the front of the line just then, so we had to pause our conversation and focus on choosing something. Nothing was all that great, and I couldn't make up my mind between the two available desserts, so of course, I bought one of each; a nice chocolate sundae and a really crispy churro. Nyah's eyebrows slanted up and Theon shook his head, but they were no better than me in the food department, either. The lunch lady's eyes were the size of saucers as she surveyed all our stacked trays, probably surprised because humans didn't consume as much food and stay as fit as we did.

Thank Goddess for that wolf metabolism.

"We were not naked." Seneca put her tray down and shot me a sideways glare. It was a round table, and Nyah was sandwiched between me and Theon, with Micajah near him and Seneca near me, completing the circle. roundtable

I grinned, going straight for my vanilla milkshake. Oh, I liked vanilla, alright. Just not between the sheets. "Babe—" Micajah began with an amused smile, but Seneca went on, "We slept together. That's it."

Nyah's eyebrows went up as if to say, "Your point being?"

"No!" Seneca's cheeks turned pink and Micajah put his head in his hands, chuckling, "We only slept!" My out-of-control friend couldn't seem to stop her ramble. "There was no touching of body parts. Well, not ones that counted. Okay, there was a little as his head was on my boobs—"

"Babe!" Micajah laughed, "I think they get the point."

Nyah seemed thoroughly amused, and I glanced over at Theon's face, seeing his gaze fixed on our mate's widely grinning expression with awe, too. Seeing her happy made him happy, and for obvious reasons, seeing both of them smiling soothed my wolf like nobody's business.

'This is real contentment.' My wolf purred, 'Now about that physical contact—'

"Oh, please." Someone said dramatically, snagging all our attention. A petite blond was standing a couple of feet away from our table, glaring down at Nyah with scorn-filled brown eyes. "First day and the bitch has already ditched me."

I rose from my seat instinctively at the strange woman's unnecessary rudeness towards my mate, but Nyah grabbed my arm, pushing me back down. Another thud heard made me realize that Theon had just been pushed into his own chair as well.

"Alphas. I apologize for my friend's rude behavior." Nyah glanced pointedly at the short girl, standing up and receiving her full tray to put it in the only available gap between me and Seneca. "This here, is Alessia Clarke. My best friend of nine years. Who apparently doesn't know how to address Alphas and who is also deeply sorry for her slip up. Alessia, this is Alpha Seneca Mordecai and Aleph Micajah Rye." She stressed on their titles, making the girl go beet red as she bit her lip in panic.

Not so sassy now, are we?

"I'm so sorry!" She covered her mouth with her now empty hands, brown eyes wide, "I didn't realize! I only saw Nyah and her mates and didn't even think—"

Seneca and Micajah couldn't hold onto their serious expressions any longer. They burst out laughing, and Micajah stood up to grab a chair from an empty table nearby, putting it by her tray next to me. "It's completely alright. We don't mind. Any friend of Nyah's is a friend of ours. Come on, join us."

Alessia seemed torn. "But I'm not a Beta or a Delta or—"

"Shush." Seneca rolled her eyes and stood up, grabbing the girl by her arm and dragging her to her seat, "Do you seriously think your Alpha would be friends with us if we were that uptight?" She winked, giving Alessia's small shoulders a shove that forced her to sit down. "We're not on a business meeting here."

"Okay. Alph—Seneca and Micajah." Alessia corrected herself when my friends shot her a look. "Nice to meet you all." She smiled, her shoulders relaxing a little. "I've heard great things about you and your pack. It's admirable how you've managed to care for such a large population and still keep everyone happy. Meeting you, I can tell that you've rightly earned your reputation as the best pack in the country." Seneca and Micajah seemed pleasantly surprised by that comment, but I knew Alessia was one hundred percent right. The girl had given most of her life away to be the Alpha she was now.

That was why I loved being Seneca's Beta. She was perfect in balancing duty and friendship, and her management of the pack was outstanding. The people were in such order that the pack could almost function on its own without any chaos. It was that perfection that had let her breathe without guilt when she had decided to apply for college, because our trusted Delta and Gamma were more than enough to take care of emergencies in our absence.

If it weren't for that, even I, the Beta, wouldn't have been able to leave for college.

"Already heard plenty about you two from Nyah, and I have to say, she wasn't exaggerating when she described her mates." She fanned herself, winking, "It really is hot in here."

"Alessia!" Nyah cried sharply, but her cheeks were tinted a dark pink and her lips were struggling to hold in the smile that was threatening to show, "Should I tell them about the incident-that-shall-not-be-named?"

My mate's friend went pale. "No. You wouldn't."

"Oh. yes. I definitely would." Nyah grinned, and Alessia shut up, shoving a forkful of spaghetti into her mouth as if to show her compliance.

Nyah sat back, looking pleased with herself.

"Aw, man." I said, smirking, "There goes my opportunity to get inside info about you."

Nyah shook her head and got back to eating, and I snuck a look at Theon, finding him gazing at everyone with an expressionless mask as he chewed on his sandwich. I realised only then that throughout it all, he hadn't uttered a word.

And no matter how much I tried to tell myself it didn't, it made me feel a tiny bit bad that I hadn't made an attempt to include him. It really was better to have him snark at me rather than sit silently like he didn't belong.

More verbal wars, it is, then.

~

"Oh, abso-freakin'-lutely nice." I groaned, watching the devil walk into my English class. Just when I had assumed that him majoring in something different meant that we wouldn't be sharing any classes, the Goddess had to go ahead and place him in my language class, because why not, let's just mess with Ezra's life and have fun.

"Mate drama?" A voice called beside me, making me spin around in surprise. This class had those long desks that many people had to share, but with enough room between each row that everyone didn't have to get up just so one person could leave.

As our group of nerds had dispersed five minutes before the lunch hour got over, I had arrived early and had naturally chosen an aisle seat somewhere in the back. Theon and Nyah had gone in different directions, and that had made me sigh in relief because that meant that the two of them weren't spending time alone without me. Once here, I had decided to text my Delta back home to check in on everything. I had been so immersed in my conversation that I hadn't realized the row I was sitting on had started to fill. I had only been minding my own business. Up until that sudden awareness had washed over me, anyway, immediately informing me of the arrival of my other third.

What? 'Other half' was okay but other third wasn't?

"Shouldn't you be in middle school?" were the first words out of my mouth, because the girl staring back at me with an arched eyebrow and a sassy expression painting her cherubic face was no more than eleven or twelve—with a button nose and blond hair pulled back in a neat ponytail, her light blue eyes sharp and assessing.

Judging by her scent, she was definitely a wolf.

Her small face turned super annoyed at that. She pursed her lips as if she was about to say something back just as snide, but looked to the front like she had just thought of something better. "Hey, blondie!" She called loudly, garnering every single person's attention in the class. My eyes went wide when I caught up to what she was doing, and before I could slam a hand over her mouth, she raised her own hand and waved, "Calvin Klein face!"

Theon didn't seem to realize what was going on at first, but when everyone's eyes fell on him, he looked up in confusion, spotting me and this crazy kid. "Me?"

I facepalmed.

"Yes!" The little girl stood up and shifted one seat over, beaming, "Come here! Sit with us!"

Theon seemed even more confused. "Uh . . . no, thank you?"

"No, please!" She smiled sweetly, an expression that must hurt her dark insides I was sure. "I insist!"

Everyone turned their expectant gaze back to Theon, wondering if he was going to say no to the sweet little kid. Even he seemed to be wondering whether or not to risk saying no, because I was sure this kid wasn't above using fake tears to get her way.

Seriously, who was she?

"Okay." Theon sighed and started to walk over, and the girl turned to me with an expression that could be only construed as pure evil. "Take that, you thot."

"You—" I started but Theon put his bag down, dropping into the seat the kid had just vacated from. "Un-fucking-believable, Harland."

"What did I do!?" I exclaimed.

"Using a kid to force me to sit next to you." He rolled his eyes. "Shows just how desperate you are to be near me."

"If by 'using' you mean getting told by her, then yeah." I rolled my eyes right back at him, feeling my wolf's happiness at finally having talked to him after so many hours. It was like the beast didn't even mind that our words were full of bite; all that mattered was that there was some kind of contact.

"Blame the kid, why don't you." He slammed his English textbook down on the desk. "Next, you'll be saying that it was her idea. Poor girl looks like she has no clue what's happening."

"Excuse me." That annoying voice returned, and I looked up, shooting daggers at Satan's mistress in disguise behind Theon's back. "I couldn't help but notice you telling him off." The girl smiled widely at Theon, eyes twinkling like she knew something the rest of us didn't, "Very nice to meet you. I'm Paige Summers."

"Theon Berkeley." He took her extended hand with a nod, and I had a feeling that was one nod more than what most people got. "It's amazing that you're at college at such a young age. You must be crazy smart."

How was he acting so nice and social all of a sudden?

The girl—Paige—preened, waving his praise off. So this was how other people felt when I did that. "Thank you. It's great that at least some people—" She glanced over at me not so subtly, her black-rimmed glasses not diminishing the power of her semi-poisonous look, "—understand how hard I've worked to get here."

"Of course. Who wouldn't." Theon seemed to catch on that there was some bad blood between us. So of course, he had to take her side. "I'm a scholarship student too. I hate it when people act like that's not something to be proud of."

"Okay, stop!" I slammed my phone on the desk unthinkingly, then winced at the thud. Phew, tough armour phone cases worked wonders. "I never, for a second, undermined your hardwork to get into college at a young age or say that scholarships were something to be ashamed of. I got into this college with my marks too. My Dad doesn't freaking own this place. So I'd appreciate it if everyone could cut out the judgment."

"Fine." Paige stuck her hand out. "Let's start over again. Paige Summers."

Oh, if I had known such speeches actually worked, I'd have used it a long time ago.

"Ezra Harland." I nodded curtly, unsure if the girl was going to retract her hand and go, 'Ha! You sucker! You thought I'd actually say that?' I risked taking her hand anyway, and thankfully, she didn't resort to childish measures, shaking it normally.

"So." She closed the manga on her desk and put her elbow on it, resting her chin on her palm, "Mate problems?"

"No." Theon and I chorused at the same time, our voices hard.

"That confirms it," She shrugged, turning away.

"Confirms what?" I asked.

"Y'all are mates. And also in denial. That no homo, BS."

My jaw went slack. It was like she had spied on us at George's the other day.

"First, we're not in denial cause there's nothing to be in denial about." I put a finger up, ticking off my points. Theon glanced at me quickly with those light emerald eyes and nodded, "I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with him. We're not gay. Or bi. Or anything."

"Yep." I nodded to emphasize my point, "And second, how the hell did you even guess we're mates?"

I wasn't worried about humans overhearing our conversation, as the word 'mates' was commonly used in many slangs. They'd probably assume me and Theon were friends.

"I'd have to be blind not to see it." Paige smirked, "You sat up like you were electrocuted the moment he stepped in," She gestured to me with a jerk of her head, "And he," She smiled, "Couldn't drag his eyes away for more than two seconds. I may be young, but I'm smarter than both of you combined. So." She shrugged, bending away from us to grab her backpack and rummage into it for something.

There was absolute silence for two awkward seconds.

"I did not do that."

"I so didn't do that."

Theon and I said at the same time, and Paige stopped rifling through her stuff, meeting our eyes with a sly look. "Told ya. I'd have to be blind not to see it."