Vince's POV

Waking up in strange places was not my thing. In fact, I hated it so much, I'd often have nightmares about it. I think it also had to deal with the fact that the portrait of the previous alpha and luna on the wall was staring back at me. In the daylight, it was worse, their eyes seemingly judging me.

The bed had been more comfortable than I had thought, the sunlight and sound of people outside greeting me as I sat up. As I changed into the clothes someone had left on the dresser, I took in the view of the mountains through the window. The snow-topped cliffs and peaks of the mountain range seemed straight out of a picture. The mountain view from my pack was a joke compared to this view; I could almost touch the cliffs from here, while my pack was nestled acres and acres of forested area away from it. 

There was a knock at the door before it cautiously opened. Rina poked her head through, jeering her thumb behind her. "Hungry?"

I followed her through the halls, watching as little kids chased each other, couples walking past her with a smile. Some stopped to greet us before going about their day, almost unfazed that a practical stranger roamed the halls. Then again, people wandered the packhouse when I had been here the last time, almost too friendly.

We passed the ballroom-sized foyer in front of the grand staircase, the vast majority of members talking and playing with the children. As I trailed slowly behind her, I noticed just how diverse this group of people were; people of all ages, couples of all genders, even children and adults in wolf form. All of them were smiling, chatting, some kissing heavily against the stairs or columns. 

I couldn't put the word for it, how carefree and happy they looked. 

"Kitchen is this way," Rina said, a couple of yards in front of me with an amused grin on her face. "Arthur and Clay are in there already, unless you'd like to join the lovebirds over in the corner."

She smirked, pointing to the two males practically eating each other's throats in the corner. Shaking my head rapidly, she let out a laugh. "They don't bite. Much, anyway."

"Sure," I joked before gesturing to the crowd of people. "Is everybody like this? So carefree and..."

"And what?"

Pursing my lips, I thought about the word for it. "So...accepting, I guess. Open and public."

"Not everyone enjoys putting their love on display like those lovebirds, but if you mean honest with who they are, then yes. We don't discriminate here, in any form, really."

I nodded, taking it all in. Rina rolled her eyes at my reaction before heading toward the kitchen, leaving me to wonder how my father would have thought anything wrong with this pack. He had told us how awful they were and that it would wreak havoc on everything our pack stood for if we ever created any form of relationship with our packs. To think he had such a backward way of thinking, pushing them and his mate away because he couldn't accept who his mate was, couldn't accept that people had same-sex mates all the time like this.

"You coming?" Rina asked.

"Yeah," I told her, feeling the frustrations of seeing all my father pushed away build within me. Had my father accepted his mate, all of this, would I've been raised with this sense of love and acceptance too? Away from all the fears that led me to all my regrets with Simon and the pack?

"How nice of you to join us," Clayton greeted with a smirk, pointing to the plate, breaking me out of that train of thought. Beside him, Arthur smiled softly at us. "It's nearly lunchtime. The pack's already eaten breakfast, so we whipped up some sandwiches. Hope you don't mind."

"Thanks," I muttered out before sitting at the table, taking a bite of the sandwich as the three of them talked amongst themselves. 

"What time is the meeting done?" Arthur inquired. "I was going to show him around unless you'd like to join us later."

Clayton hummed. "Shouldn't be long; I'll meet up with you two if you'd like. Why are you going to miss me that much?"

Arthur rolled his eyes before elbowing his arm. "Yeah, right. Keep dreaming, babe."

I tilted my head at the nickname, not expecting Arthur, of all people, to say that. His eyes widened at my curious glance as if unaware the word had slipped his mouth. He cleared his throat before sipping on his water. 

Next to him, Clayton only smirked, no doubt mocking him through the mind-link.

The question had been on my mind last night too, but it felt inappropriate to ask. But I was more confused than ever. It wasn't unusual for an alpha and beta to be mates, but I hadn't expected it to be true in their case. "So, you two are mates, then?"

"Yes."

"No," Arthur said at the same time as Clayton responded. The two of them shared a glare before Rina cleared her throat. 

"What they mean is no, but they've raised me and have been married for a long time." Sure enough, as I glanced at their left hands, a pair of identical rings remained on their ring fingers, a detail I had missed earlier.

"Ah, I see."

Arthur sighed before pushing his seat back, gesturing to the door. "Yes, my dear husband has alpha duties today. Care to join me; I promised to show you around."Clayton rolled his eyes at that. "One minute he's trying to pretend we aren't a couple; the next, he's parading me around."

"Shut it."

"Have fun without me, babe," Clayton mocked him as I followed Arthur out of the kitchen.We made it back to the foyer, a few of the kiddos running up to greet him, the adults simply waving to him as we made it up the grand staircase, passing all those people living their lives as they were meant to, giggling, smiling, even kissing because they could. Free to love and be loved. 

To think my father had passed this up. Shunned the idea of even associating with this pack because he couldn't bear the thought of loving his mate. Rejected all this for what? Because he thought it was wrong like I had? How could he not see how beautiful this was?

"How could my father say this was wrong? To reject this place and its people?"

Arthur pursed his lips. "You know the answer to that. He rejected his mate, believing this would make him weak and lesser to others. Our pack offered treaties, offerings to establish some kind of relation, even a simple arrangement, but he turned them all down. He couldn't accept that his mate was male or the fact that our pack revered everything he hated."

"And look what happened, two of his sons had male mates as well." I frowned, thinking back on all the things he's said about same-sex mates. "Things would've been drastically different if he just accepted things for what they were."

"Fate's a funny thing," Arthur replied. "Can change what you think you know about yourself, or simply make you see things more clearly. A shame he couldn't accept both of your truths as well."

I hummed. "Well, he died before knowing about my mate, thankfully."

As much as I hurt Simon, I was grateful that he hadn't faced what Michael and David had. With how angry my father had been with Michael, I could only imagine the wrath he'd have if he knew both of us had male mates. 

Arthur didn't say anything as we went down another corridor, passing a few more pack members.

"Tell me about him," Arthur finally said. "Your mate."

Letting out a breath, I looked past him, gulping before finally ushering out, "W-what should I say?"

There was a pause before Arthur's face animated, the first faint laugh I've heard from him this entire time. "You could start with his name."

"Right." I let out a nervous breath before saying his name for the first time; it almost felt foreign on my lips. "Simon. His name's Simon."