EXXXXXTRA LONG DOUBLE UPDATE! Yayyyy.

"Theon!" I heard Micajah's joy-filled cry despite the booming thump of the bass reverberating across the large living room walls and vibrating through the floor underneath. It was as if my brain had been programmed to listen for the names "Nyah" and "Theon", and even so much as a whisper was enough to send my sharp, whipped-wolf senses into high alert.

I had been hoping like hell that Nyah would show up earlier than Theon so I could get some alone time with her.

There went my fantasy down the drain.

It was Saturday, and the party was already in full swing. The second day of college, a Friday, had flown by pretty quickly as I had only had two classes in the morning, which in turn had freed up my afternoons and give me a long weekend. Seneca and Micajah had different professors for the two of the same subjects I did, so they hadn't been as lucky.

This had given me ample time to throw together everything on such short notice, because obviously, Saturday was the best day of the week to throw a kickass event like mine. Sunday evenings were too risky, considering the majority of the partygoers were also people who secretly cared about their grades, and showing up to class with a hangover on a Monday morning was just not worth it.

It had been cutting it close with all the work and the DJ had almost canceled on us, but after pulling a ton of strings and sending about a million e-invites to every important person and their mother—not really, no parents or real adults were allowed to be present—the party had finally happened.

I had been a little worried that informing people roughly a day before the party was too short of a time for anyone to show up, but I had already spotted more than five Alpha and Beta couples from a few neighboring states, and it was only nine in the evening.

Such was the power of Alpha Seneca Mordecai and Aleph Micajah Rye.

"Hey." I spotted Theon giving Micajah a small nod as he returned his greeting about ten feet away, and decided to walk over. I had to force myself to keep my eyes from raking up and down his form appreciatively, because damn, he looked positively delectable in that pair of black jeans.

Wait, what? Delec-freakin'-table? What the heck, Ezra?

'Yum, right?'

I was definitely turning redder by the second. 'Oh, shut it.'

"Glad you could make it." Micajah was saying just as I neared them, "Ezra would be thrilled."

"Somehow, I doubt it." Theon shook his head in a good-natured manner, none of that ever-present snideness seen in his expression. Apparently, only I was considered worthy of such scorn.

"Hey, you." I mustered the best tight smile I could pull off, hoping my cheeks had cooled down enough. In spite of the small goodnight exchange two nights ago and his short, but civil reply to my invite, I felt awkward being the first one to make nice.

Everything was easy in text. When it came to doing things face-to-face, it was a whole new ball game.

"Nice party." Theon sucked in a short breath, thankfully not adding something sarcastic to make it mean. How was he so fucking unruffled by my presence? "Nyah's here?"

Normally, I'd be startled if he had asked me that question because it was impossible to be incapable of sensing one's own mate. But this ancestral mansion owned by the Mordecai pack in the small town of Hillbridge was huge, and it was already packed. So it would be an understandably arduous task to sniff out her scent in this roaring ocean of bodies.

"Nope." I glanced over to see that Micajah was already silently removing himself, a sly grin playing on his lips as he mouthed 'good luck' to me. I resisted the urge to say something childish to him and focused on my goal for tonight, determinedly ignoring my wolf's reaction to his proximity. "So . . ."

Theon waited for me to finish my sentence, his jade eyes casually fixed on me. See? Unbothered. When I said nothing, he quirked one golden eyebrow, the side of his full mouth tipping up as if he couldn't rein in his amusement. "So?"

"So, nothing!" I exclaimed, rolling my eyes. Don't you dare glance at his lips. "I just said that so we'd have something to start a conversation with."

A twinkle in his eyes had me temporarily struggling to breathe. Good goddess and all things holy. He really needed to slip up sometime soon and show me he was feeling the same way I did when looked at me, because this shit was just too fucking complicated to deal with alone. "Only you." He shook his head, but there was no malice in his words.

Good.

"Yeah, I'm cool that way." I rolled my eyes, ignoring his strange look. "How's college so far? Was the second day any better?"

His eyes appraised me calmly as he considered my question, and the strangeness of this situation wasn't lost on me. While going for his throat and throwing snappy comments at him did sound appealing, I wanted it to be in a cool, playful way that clearly conveyed neither of us meant the insults we threw at each other. It sounded like a pipe dream—us ever getting together and sharing Nyah without a fist fight or a verbal throwdown happening every ten minutes over something inconsequential—but a guy could hope, right?

Wouldn't it be nice to have something like what my brother and Seneca had?

But was I ready to share Nyah wholeheartedly without letting my ego get the best of me?

I didn't know.

All I knew was that I wanted out of this spaghetti-like tangle we've been cast into.

Theon nodded, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Less boring than I'd thought it would be." A beat passed. "How was yours?'

Neither of us mentioned the fact that we had ignored each other in the math class we also apparently shared. It had come off as a shock to both of us when I had entered and spotted him, but there had been no Paige Summers present to force us together, and neither had been Nyah, so we hadn't had much of a choice. His wolf, much like mine, must've pestered him throughout the hour about taking the first step, but obviously, his ego, like mine, hadn't let him do so.

I'd thought it was better to keep a distance than bicker. An hour of being chastised by my wolf later, I wasn't so sure.

The bickering wasn't all that bad . . .

Speaking of which, I wondered how the lunch hour had gone by for Nyah and Theon yesterday. Had they secretly made any plans for a date? Or had Seneca and Micajah's cockblocking presence—yes, it had been my idea, thank you very much—forced them into avoiding discussing anything mate-related?

"Good because I only had two classes." I shrugged, and then, because I was a fool who couldn't help myself, I asked, "How did lunch hour go by? Was my presence missed?"

The smirk that curved Theon's lips was downright illegal. I must've really tested the limits of the Goddess' patience as a womanizer during my high school years because this much bad karma was just unexplainable. "You jealous, Harland?"

"Of what, Berkeley? Your stunningly impressive conversational skills?" I scoffed.

"Afraid she's gonna decide two is too much, after all?" The smirk didn't dim in the slightest despite my not so subtle insult.

Fuck.

"Yeah, right." In hindsight, I realized I had turned this into an argument despite my previous thoughts not to, but that didn't deter me in the least from saying the next words. "Good looking, awesome and funny." I rattled off my attributes triumphantly, shrugging in his direction as I thought of his. "Passable looks but an asshole." I mimicked a pitying-look, patting his shoulder as if to say 'better luck next time'. "Gee, I wonder who she'd pick."

'Liar, liar, your ass will be on fire.' My wolf growled, bombarding me with an image of Theon doing exactly that to my precious bottom.

'Come on,' I swallowed, ignoring the flush of heat that spiked through me. 'you're supposed to be on my side—ugh, okay, who am I kidding? He looks like a god.'

"I'm five minutes late and this happens."

Theon's open mouth automatically fell closed as we both twisted around, chagrined that we had gotten caught and also being careless enough to not sense her arrival, yet above all, feeling a delectable ripple of want that rendered us silent for a second as her instrumental voice cut through the air.

Oh, how I'd longed to hear it for the past two days.

It took me a painstakingly slow moment to swallow my tongue as I took in all of my lusciously dressed mate. Clad in a blood red dress that clung to her mouth-watering curves and flared down to the middle of her toned thighs, Nyah Pineda was without a doubt, the best looking woman I'd laid eyes on. The deep V of her neckline was nothing if not naughty, showing off a hint of those perky breasts and a cleavage that made me think thoughts that were probably banned in a handful of countries.

Was she dressed like that to send me into an early cardiac arrest?

'I can't believe I'm about to do this but I agree with you.' My wolf wheezed, and I shared the sentiment. 'Does a woman more perfect than her even exist?'

"He started it." I jabbed a thumb in the air, the words muttered in unison with Satan's spawn as soon as I recovered from my reverie. "No, you did." We chorused again. For some unexplainable reason, my annoyance peaked all of a sudden, raising my voice a few notches.

"Stop copying me!"

"Stop mimicking me!"

Theon burst out at the same time I did. The silent, disappointed exhale of Nyah's breath at that snapped me out of my unrelenting need to be right, and I was glad that my wolf senses were sharp enough to hear it despite the throbbing music in the background. It seemed that Theon had heard it too, because the shame that colored his features was easily one of the most real expressions I had seen up to date.

"Sorry," I mumbled. "I'm sorry, too." Theon gazed at her quickly from under his eyelashes as he peered at the tips of his battered Adidas shoes, before turning his gaze elsewhere to avoid our mate's.

Her plump, red lips kicked up on one side as if she couldn't help herself. She hastily schooled her expression, her teeth sinking into her bottom lip in a thoughtful, but also innocently torturous move, making me seriously consider reciting the periodic table or something to get ahold of myself.

Don't you dare get hard, Ezra. Don't. You. Fucking. Dare.

Great. Now I was thinking about fucking.

I took a deep breath, carefully keeping my eyes glued to her almond-shaped ones instead of letting it roam any more south. I'd embarrassed myself enough as it is. "Would you two like something to drink?"

"Ah, the man of the hour!"

I had just been circling around the dance floor to find my way back to my mates with the necks of three bottles of unopened beer clutched in one hand—all this jostling would've definitely made me upturn my drinks on someone if I had opened them—and thinking of ways to make nice to Nyah, when the vaguely familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I spun in its direction to see none other than the widely grinning face of Angier Wellington—a guy I'd known all through my childhood through our various vacations and numerous parties. He was neither an heir, nor did his parents hold any significant ranking, but since he was the best friend of Alpha Karas' only daughter, he was like a son to their family and always tagged along with them to these Alpha-Beta occasions.

Despite my sole focus set on trying to win over my mates a second ago, looking at the face of a friend I hadn't seen in such a long time managed to pause my thoughts and bring a huge grin to my face."I hear someone is gonna become Beta!" I exclaimed as I rushed forward and pulled the blond man into a one-armed embrace, still grinning as I turned to his best friend and extended a hand, "Ms. Karas."

"Beta Harland," The dark-haired, Grecian future-Alpha returned just as formally with a small smile, seemingly very amused at the look of comical shock on Angier's face.

The thing was, when she'd been twelve, Alpha Karas' daughter, Tatum Karas, had woken up one night in unbearable pain, feeling as if her heart was about to rip itself out of her chest. It had later been confirmed that her Mate—wherever he was—must have died. Ever since that incident, she'd closed herself off completely and had stopped attending all events and unfortunately for our friendship, we hadn't seen much of each other after that.

When I'd called this morning to confirm their RSVPs, Tatum had informed me that she had picked her best friend to lead beside her as the Beta. Seeing as she wouldn't have the traditional mate by her side, she wanted her Beta to be someone she chose, and combined with the fact that she and the actual Beta's heir had some bad-blood, she'd told me she had figured that this would be much better. I had completely agreed because if I hadn't been Seneca's best friend and hadn't understood her every move, things would've been way more complicated around the Mordecai pack.

According to Tatum, Angier had been very reluctant to challenge for the position. With a glance at his slightly worried expression, I could tell that she was right about it. "I was informed about it only last week! How did you . . . ?" His flabbergasted expression morphed to one of even more surprise as he turned to Tatum, accusation shooting daggers from his eyes, "You told him!"

"Guilty." The Alpha-to-be replied coolly, simpering just a little. The way she was so closed-off and in absolute control of her every move was such an agonizing reminder of how Seneca used to be before she met her mate, that at that moment, my heart hurt for the girl.

Because Seneca had found her Micajah, who'd managed to draw her out of her shell and bring back the happiness she'd buried.

But who would do that for her?

Maybe as friends, all of us could do our best to full the incomparable void that one person had left behind.

Decision made, I cleared my throat in an attempt to quash any lingering emotion, "So, Ms. Karas, how have you been? It's easily been a handful of years since I last saw you."

The question wasn't a very subtle one, but I figured she must've had enough of people walking on eggshells around her. Some bluntness never did anyone harm.

She nodded politely, her expression so neutral that I didn't have a single clue as to what she might be thinking, "Yes, I've been fine, thank you. And just call me Tatum, Beta, I'm not the Alpha yet."

"Good to know," I smiled. "And as for your request, I'll only comply if you promise to call me Ezra again," I added quickly, hoping not to offend her with any unnecessary pity or sympathy in my expression.

"Sure." She acquiesced, "So . . . had any luck finding your mate?" Her expectant gaze roamed around the room for a short second, and the reminder of my 'mate' alerted me to the fact that the two of them were still waiting for me, probably ticked off beyond belief. I smiled quickly in hopes of covering up my nerves, but her sharp eyes let me know I hadn't been as successful as I'd liked to have been, "Yes, I met them last week."

I spied a shadow of an emotion that resembled sadness pass over her eyes before it disappeared. Instantly, I couldn't help but feel bad again. Being a normal pack member without a mate in itself would be unbearably painful.

But being an Alpha who had to lead an entire pack alone?

That was on a league of unbearable of its own.

Tatum flashed a quick smile that was half genuine happiness and half surprise. Angier's blue eyes went wide beside her. "Them!? As in, more than one?"

"Yes." In spite of myself, I grinned. The thought of them was enough to do that to me, apparently.

'So whipped.' My wolf growled happily.

"Alpha Nyah Pineda and Theon Berkeley," I continued, taking in a deep breath. That was the first time I had proclaimed them as mine out loud to someone other than my friends, and I had to admit it was a wonderful feeling. I pulled out my phone and texted both of them to find me in the east hall near the bar, and that I had some introductions to make.

I also added a gif of a cute puppy with an apology for keeping them waiting.

I glanced up to see Angier squeezing Tatum's palm, and realized with a jolt what a bad feeling it must be to find out that someone had two mates while she didn't have the one she had been meant to. I didn't know how to acknowledge that I understood, so I shrugged and pretended like I hadn't noticed the tiny exchange.

"Wow." Tatum breathed, "That sounds wonderful. Congratulations."

My phone buzzed with Nyah and Theon's replies of "okay", and my grin widened. "Thank you."

"So," Tatum clasped her hands in front of her, her raw emotions now back under their careful wraps. "I assume you're gonna leave the Mordecai Pack and become her Aleph along with your Theon."

Your Theon.

The fact that I might possibly have to leave behind everything I'd ever known and my position as the Beta was still a sore subject. I was nowhere near coming to terms with it, so I shrugged and tried to keep the smile in my face from slipping. "Sure, I guess. I'm still mulling over my options."

Even as I said the words, I knew it was going to take much more than the promise of being an Aleph to leave my pack. Maybe falling in love might change my decision, but from where I was standing, I couldn't see myself being happy doing it.

But then again, would I really have a choice?

"Oh." Tatum's bafflement was evident in her voice, and Angier looked confused as well, "Well, it's either that or she has to step down and you can have both of them at your pack. Maybe you can get her father to accept the gay brother who was thrown out." He suggested with a careless shrug. His words sent my brain spiraling in a new direction with possibilities I hadn't considered before, and it took everything in me to keep my expression neutral.