Markus had been avoiding Sam since Charles had left the pack house to stay with Cassie and Karliah. Not that Markus or his father knew that was where Charles was, they thought his coven were paying for a hotel in town.

They hadn’t discussed what had been said during the confrontation, Markus had said nothing about missing his birthday and no one seemed to know anything about the mission he went on. He hoped the older boy was ashamed of his behaviour but knew it was more likely that he was staying away from him to avoid hearing or seeing Sam cry if he tried to argue out his position with him. Sam decided to try and force his mate to say something to him, anything.

He knocked on Markus’ bedroom door lightly. The alpha had been hiding away in his room with his laptop, always ‘working’ for his father.

“Come in.” Markus grumbled from the other side. Sam slipped in and shut the door behind him quickly, expecting to be sent away instantly. Markus lifted his head slowly and with a look of exhaustion, although surprise flitted across his face when he saw Sam hovering near his desk.

“I need to change your sheets.”

“Oh, yeah.” He said bewilderedly, lifting his laptop up and climbing off of the bed. He remained beside it with his laptop held up in his arms and continued to click and scroll through whatever he was working on.

Sam gritted his teeth and approached the bed slowly. His mate wouldn’t even look at him, so absorbed with his stupid computer. He deliberately started at the corner that Markus was standing by, pulling up the duvet and beginning to push through the buttons. Markus lifted the laptop over Sam’s head and brushed past him, moving to his desk and placing down his computer, although he didn’t sit in the chair.

Sam released a soft sigh and got on with the chore, he didn’t really need to change the sheets, at least not for another two days, but he had hoped Markus would crack and say something to him. Once he had stripped all of the covers, pillowcases and sheets from the bed, he scooped them up in a pile he couldn’t quite see past and hobbled to the door.

When he returned with the new sheets, Markus was still glued to his laptop. Sam began to re-dress the bed.

He bent over to pull the last corner of the fitted sheet down. A hand crept under his shirt, grazing over his bare back. Sam jolted and turned to give Markus a look of disbelief. Markus gripped his waist and gazed down at him with hooded eyes.

“What are you doing?” Sam whispered. Markus ignored the question and used his other hand to lift Sam’s shirt, sliding his thumb up his chest and rubbing it over his nipple. Sam jerked back and pushed Markus’ hands off of his skin. “Don’t.” He added firmly.

Markus dropped his hands and grimaced, “What’s wrong?” he grumbled.

“You haven’t said a word to me since you threw out Charles.” Sam said quietly, “You haven’t told me what happened on your trip…” he took a trembling breath before continuing, “I was worried about you.” he looked away shamefully.

Markus sighed quietly and lifted his hands to cup Sam’s face and tilt it up, forcing eye contact. He stared into Sam’s eyes with a strange expression Sam had never seen before.

“You don’t need to worry about me,” Markus mumbled and pressed their foreheads together, “I’m worried about you though.” he pressed a gentle kiss on Sam’s lips with a pleading look in his eyes. Sam knew he didn’t want to be asked why he was worried, he could see it in his tight expression, but he couldn’t leave without knowing.

“Why would you be worried about me?”

Markus watched him with a myriad of expressions flitting across his face at lightning speed. The one that Sam noticed flashing up most often though, was guilt.

“The mission…” He muttered, his eyes roaming around Sam’s face. “we found out what the council are looking for…”

Sam couldn’t breath, yet somehow he managed to squeak out, “Omegas?” his heart was racing.

“Alpha mates.” Markus whispered, finally dragging his pupils to meet Sam’s. “They’re planning to use them to start conflict in the packs with the vampires we’re allying with and weaken us… then they’ll pick each pack off one by one like plucking fruit from a tree.”

They stared at each other, Sam’s mouth open and his brain struggling to string together a sentence. There were too many questions he wanted to ask, too many things to be concerned about, too many emotions swirling inside his small chest.

“How would they know I’m your mate?” His voice would be barely audible to a human ear but Markus nodded to him. He stepped back and pulled a small photo from his pocket, he turned it to face Sam. Sam blinked and then very quickly blushed. The photo showed them kissing in the kitchen… It was a little out of focus and it was taken from the garden, the camera pointed into the kitchen through the back window.

“Where did you get this?” Sam asked, reaching for the photo with trembling fingers. Markus held it out of his reach.

“The coven house we broke into… this was in the folder with your profile.”

“My profile?” Sam’s eyes widened.

“They’ve been watching all of the alpha mates for a while.” Was all the explanation Markus gave.

“Cassie?” Sam whispered, his voice filled with horror. Markus nodded gravely. “Does Karliah know?” Markus nodded again. “What happens now?”

“That’s up to my dad.” He said, “I’m just waiting now… writing reports…” he tucked the photo back into his pocket. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said the other day… this trip really made me wary of who I let get near you, you know?”

“Yeah.” Sam said monotonously.

“If they get you,” Markus grabbed his thin shoulders firmly, “they will kill you.” his words should have terrified Sam, and while they did scare him a little, he was far more angry. Why didn’t Markus tell him this to begin with? Why wait till now to reveal that he was in danger? If Sam hadn’t turned down his advances he would never have said anything, it was all a diversion to what Sam was really upset about.

“Right, so you thought the best thing you could do for me in this situation was to ignore me?” He asked with every drop of anger he had infused into his words.

Markus seemed satisfyingly shocked but he managed to find something to say, “I’m not supposed to tell anyone about what we found.” he always had an excuse.

“I’m your mate.” Sam snapped.

“I… I know.” Markus stammered. A silence fell between them and Sam stared into Markus’ golden eyes the entire time, if this man wanted forgiveness he would have to do better than that.

Eventually, Sam gave up waiting, “I have chores to do.” he said sternly. He shrugged off Markus’ hands and ducked under his arm.

Markus grabbed the back of his shirt, “Wait-”

“I’ll get in trouble-”

“Before you go,” He spun Sam on the spot to face him, “I need to give you something.” he reached into his bedside drawer and pulled out a small envelope, he handed it to Sam gingerly. His name was scrawled on the front in Markus’ messy handwriting.

Sam opened the envelope slowly, inside was a glittery birthday card decorated with balloons. He pulled the card open and read the inside.

Dear Sam,

Happy birthday, sorry it’s late.

Love,

Markus

“Thanks.” Sam mumbled, tucking the card under his arm and striding to the door, leaving the bed half-made.

Markus didn’t try to stop him this time.

~

Cassie and Karliah watched the hustle and bustle of their pack arranging decorations, flowers, food and drink in preparation for the next day hand in hand. They said nothing, but both could feel the other’s excitement radiating from their wolf. One more sleep and they would be bonded. One more sleep and they would be united forever. One more sleep until they could join their families in the greatest party of their lives… until their own children’s bonding of course…

The pair peeked at each other with matching ecstatic grins. Karliah nodded back to the door exiting the main hall and towards the stairs… up to their bedroom. Cassie nodded and Karliah scooped her up into her arms and strode away to spend their last night unbonded cuddling in bed together.

As they passed Charles he gave them a friendly wink and a wave before busying himself with helping with centre piece arrangement. He seemed to be fitting in well with The Lunar Warriors.