A/N: sorry it’s so late, hope you enjoy <3

Chapter 4

Simon’s POV

The incredibly bright screen of my messages remained unchanged. It wasn’t uncommon for Vince to not respond to any of my messages, but this had been the one time I wanted him to. Even a simple ‘okay’ or ‘hi’ would have sufficed. 

I stared at the last message I sent him. Rowan loved your gift. Above it was a photo of Rowan clutching the brown bear tightly to his face.

It had been a few hours since we got back to Sam’s place, and in hindsight, that was a fairly short amount of time to respond; after all, Vince has his own life and is doing his own thing. Yet I knew when it came to Rowan, Jonah, or Lilah, Vince enjoyed their company. He wouldn’t dare admit that, according to Xavier, but even Aspen had noticed. Hence why we thought the adorable photo would’ve rendered a reaction. 

For that reason, I had hesitated on sending the message typed up. I could have said Rowan missed him, or I; but in reality, I think we all did that night. Sarah and Aspen had planned for him to attend, and the rest of us thought it’d be a great idea, especially with how much Rowan adored him. Out of everyone, I felt the most excited for him to be there, wanting him to enjoy a real birthday party for once even if it wasn’t for his birthday. But it wasn’t just me that missed him that day, so I sent the next message.

We missed you at the party.

I waited, hoping to see those three little dots. But still—

“Nothing?” Sam had returned with a bowl of popcorn, resuming the television show we were watching. He tilted the bowl toward me. “Popcorn?”

Tilting my phone in his direction, I grabbed a handful of popcorn. After seeing Vince didn’t respond to the messages, he pursed his lips. “That’s a bummer. I thought the picture would get him to cave in.”

“Yeah, well, we should’ve figured he wouldn’t.” I thrummed through the past text history I had with Vince, out of all the photos and texts, and even a couple of videos of his nephew and niece with Rowan, he had maybe sent a reply two or three times at best. All of which were one to two words.

He shovelled some popcorn down before mumbling, “for someone who writes beautifully in letters, you would think he’d be well-versed with texts.”

Biting back my laugh, I threw a piece of popcorn at him. “Whatever. Besides, I remember a certain someone struggling to text a certain alpha about a meet up.”

“Whatever do you mean?” He said mockingly. “You know how Xavier gets; can’t boost his ego too much or he’ll be a blubbering mess during one of those meetings, beet red and all. One little compliment, and he’ll think I’m flirting.”

Reaching over to pause the show we had completely ignored, I looked at him curiously. “So is that why you called him adorable? Wanted to boost his ego in front of me? A little flirt?”

He scoffed. “I was just messing with you, trying to get you out of your overthinking pretty little head. Did it bother you?”

“No,” I reassured teasingly. “I’m messing with you. Everyone thinks he’s adorable; you think I’d be jealous over that?”

He shook his head before taking another scoop of popcorn. “No, you aren’t like that. But if you were jealous, you could tell me and I’d stop. But, in all seriousness, it is difficult to text Xavier. He ain’t the brightest tool in the shed when it comes to simple things. Gets flustered when you’re too blunt, and too oblivious to anything subtle.”

“That is true.”

He grinned before bopping me on the nose gently. “Besides, I couldn’t do that to you. Meeting up with another guy behind your back? Now that would be presumptuous on my part.”

Scrunching my nose at him, I rolled my eyes. “We’ve talked about this; about us, or whatever we plan on calling this anymore. You’re free to see anybody if you want, Sam. Don’t feel obligated to hold back.”

“I know, but people make assumptions, Simon. I don’t want people to think bad things about you when they think we’re a couple.”

I sighed. “I know you don’t, but it’s none of their business, anyways. Love and relationships are complicated as all shit. Let them say what they want, you’re free to see or love anyone you’d like.” 

He smiled before snaking his hand through mine. “You know, you’re too kind sometimes. Sweet and adorable too.”

“You love to inflate my ego too, don’t you?”

He chuckled. “Of course.”

“I love that about you.”

“But—” He stopped short, his eyes flicking to the screen before mumbling under his breath, “you love him more.”

“Sam.”

“It’s the truth.” Searching his face, there wasn’t an ounce of hurt in those eyes, something I found hard to believe. He was even smiling. 

An uncomfortable silence filled the air as his words set in as I looked past him. How could I possibly deny that his words were false? Breathily, I replied, “why can’t I love both?”

“We both know it’s different.”

“Sam—”

He let out a breath as I looked up at him. Noticing the worry and concern on my face his smile dropped slightly. “We talked about this, remember? You said it yourself that it’s different; we realized it that night. What you feel with him versus me; the bond makes it totally different.” 

A half-hearted, almost timid smile graced his face; for once, his strong, unassuming nature had cracked just a bit. I wanted to tell him it was false at that very moment; tell him that with him, it was different. That I did feel more for Sam, but it would just be a lie. I liked Sam, liked him a lot; but with Vince, Sam was right. It was different, and bond or no bond, it was evident where my heart leaned more toward. Even if I wanted to give it all to Sam to see him happy in the moment. 

Squeezing his hand tighter, I sent him a firm look. “You know that I care about you. That I love you, even if it’s not like that. I do, Sam.”

“I know,” he said with those calm reassuring eyes like he always did. “I know, Simon. But like I told you that day, and many times after; you know where you belong and what you need. Chase after what you want.”

If only it was that easy, I almost told him; Vince couldn’t even answer a text or phone call. Instead, I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder, taking another handful of popcorn. Like clockwork, he resumed the show, knowing exactly what I wanted; a distraction from this conversation about Vince and bonds and everything in between. 

But of course, my mind was too fixated on what he had said instead of the show. Even with subtitles, I was totally not paying attention, repeating Vince’s look in his eyes before fleeing from Rowan’s birthday party. Then to the concern that laced everyone’s words when realizing he had chickened out from joining us.

Internally, I was right up there with Rowan, throwing a mental tantrum. Was it too much to ask for us to be in the same room for an hour? To be okay with seeing each other?

All those letters and things Xavier had told me about his progress, yet Vince still felt like he didn’t belong there, that he couldn’t face me or any of us there? It seemed Xavier and Sam had more progress and there had been nothing but friendly banter.

Absentmindedly, I said to him, “you know, I could picture you and Xavier.”

He scoffed. “I dunno, that’s quite the age gap. Plus, he’s a father now.”

“It’s not that big of an age gap; me and Vince are the same amount of years apart. You make it sound like you’re old. Plus, you’re great with kids. I think Jonah and Lilah listen to you more than Xavier when you’re around anyways.”

He rolled his eyes in disbelief. “You can picture me with kids? Raising them with Xavier?”

“Well, you two would need to hire a chef because neither of you can cook.”

“Ouch.” He clutched his chest dramatically. “I can cook...basic stuff. Enough to survive, anyways.”

I hummed. “You are better than Xavier, I’ll give you that. At least you know what you can and can’t microwave.”

“He’s lucky nothing’s exploded yet.”

I let out a breathy laugh. “Well, he’d be lucky to have you.”

“So would Vince,” he said, patting our intertwined hands with his other hand. “With you.”

“Maybe one day. If—that is.”

“One day,” he reassured. “You’re mates after all.”

---

We had stayed up too late watching that show Sam was raving about, especially since we rewinded to make sure we caught everything from the episode we half paid attention to. We should’ve stopped after the two episodes, but it was getting so good that we watched three more, even though they were an hour long each. 

Clara had rolled her eyes that morning as we had been running late. As an apology, she demanded we pick up Cindy’s for lunch, to which Sam didn’t argue, he could eat Cindy’s three times a day if he had it his way. 

Usually I manned the front desk with Ava, but there were times I’d help with Clara and Sam in the back. Of course, I wasn’t trained or educated in any of the procedures of medicines, but Sam had said that many of his patients felt at ease whenever I was back here with them. Whether they were rogues or house pets, apparently I had a knack at calming them down. We joked it was because I was ‘half-wolf’, but mind-linking did come in handy when easing the injured rogues.

I did enjoy working the front desk, though. Ava would often tell me embarrassing stories about Sam and Clara, to which I kept to myself in case I ever needed to whip out some leverage. We’d often prank each other at the office on slow days, little harmless ones to keep us entertained. Now that the Rogue Center was revamped and reopened for all rogues, Sam’s clinic focused more on your everyday house pets.

It meant less patients for Sam, but it meant we could focus our efforts on providing quality care with the resources Sam had struggled in the past to maintain. Although we remained non-profit, with the help of Ava’s expertise on animal nutrition, we created a healthy, home-made food option for patients to purchase. Although Xavier offered to help support us financially, the food had been quite a hit, and donations were streaming in more frequently than ever before. 

“Thanks again Jennie,” Sam said as he opened the door to the patient rooms. Jennie and her rough collie, Homer emerged, waving at Ava and I as she headed to the desk. “I’ll see you back in a week to remove the stitches.”

“No, thank you Dr. Cavette,” she droned before pulling out her schedule. “Same time?”

He bent down to scratch behind Homer’s ears. “Whenever you're free that day would be great. Ava here can schedule it for you if you like. And for the yearly visit too.”

Sam’s phone rang, as Ava opened up the schedule on the computer. He came back around behind the desk, muttering to me, “I should take this call.”

I nodded before reaching for the treat stash we kept near the pencil holders. Sneaking one to Homer, it was like he didn’t just have a few fresh stitches a few hours ago.

“Thanks, again Jennie,” Ava said. “We’ll see you next week.”

Just as she left, I tuned into Sam’s conversation. 

“No, I haven’t seen him.” With furrowed brows, Sam hummed as the caller spoke out of earshot on the other end. “Since when?”

“Who’s that?” 

Sam turned, almost taken aback by me asking. He mouthed, Xavier, before returning to the call. “Yeah, I haven’t. I’ll keep an eye out.”

He gave me a quick smile before heading to the back door. “I won’t. Yeah, that wouldn’t be good. I’ll let you know if I do.”

Sam paced around as he listened to Xavier say something else, answering him with something out of earshot before hanging up. He returned with an uncharacteristic frown as he sat in the chair next to me.

“Everything alright?” I looked up at him.

“Yeah.” He sighed. “Xavier was saying someone—a rogue, went missing last night. Wondered if I’d seen him at the clinic.”

“A rogue?”

He blinked before fiddling with his phone. “Uh, yeah. Something about escaping the Rogue Center.”

“Hm, well, if he’s injured, I’m sure he’ll find his way back, or should be easy to track down.” Sam nodded, before flipping through the files Ava had handed him. One of our regular patients, who was doing a routine checkup on his pet husky. 

“Want to help me with this one?”

Glancing over the desk, I could spot the fluffy tail of said husky with her owner, already whining and making little chuffs. “Sure, this will be fun.” 

Sam’s grin found its way back to his face, one I found more comfortable than that frown earlier. “Then we can pick up Cindy’s after. I’m thinking those strawberry waffles are calling my name again.”

“It’s lunch time, Sam. Not breakfast.”

“Shh, it’s totally brunch food, alright.”