ERIK

I had gone to the town to spend some time by myself after the Lesly debacle. When I entered the Powell Manor, I felt a tension in the air. I walked past the living room and saw Esme and Soren with Lesly and the other sisters. Esme looked sad, his eyes red. He must have been crying, but why? What had happened? I didn’t want to intrude, so I walked to my room. To my surprise, there at the door was Lilah. She looked at me with a frown.

“About time you showed up.” She said to me.

“Hey. What happened?” I asked confused, standing next to her.

“Well, let’s start with why you kissed Lesly,” She asked, arching a brow at me. I processed her statement for a moment and looked at her with shock.

“What? I didn’t kiss her; she kissed me. I shoved her apart and rejected her for good.” I said with a frown.  

“How do I know you are not lying to me?” She asked, wary of me.

“I am not. Honestly, Lilah, you have no clue of what's happening in my mind right now.” I said, and let out a deep sigh. I decided to come clean. “I’m starting to think I’m not that straight anymore.”

“What? Are you serious?” She looked at me with shock. Lilah’s hand went to her mouth; she let out a gasp. “Are you falling in love with Raven?”

“I…maybe. I don’t know yet, okay?” I said unsure. I still hadn’t given a name to my feelings yet. I was still confused. Even more, it was unclear how Lilah had found out about the kiss with Lesly. Did she tell her other sisters? I needed to ask. “Now, how did you know about the Lesly thing?”

“Raven told me.” She said. What? So Raven had seen us. His faint scent on the door hadn’t been fake. He was there. 

“Fuck, I need to go talk to him.” I said, rubbing my face with my hands, stressed. I had to fix the misunderstanding. “Do you think he is in his room?”

“Not anymore.” She said with sad eyes.

“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.

“Raven left. He had a nasty fight with Lesly.” She explained, and I went pale. A fight? With Lesly? Ed roared in my mind with anger at the mention of our mate in danger.

“What? Is he okay?” I asked.

“I think so, his wounds were not that bad.” She said with a sigh. 

“Wounds? He was hurt?” I said with worry. Ed’s anger grew, and he started to curse at Lesly in my mind. He was cursing so badly, I had to tune him out. 

“Yeah, they shifted and fought in their animal forms. Papa stopped them, and Raven said he was leaving, that he couldn’t live here anymore.” She explained, and I had many questions. But decided to ask the most important one.

“Where did he go?” I wished Raven were in a safe place, maybe in one of his friends’ houses. No. Scratch that. In my mind, I chanted, ‘Please don’t be at Liam’s.’

“Roxanne’s.” She answered. Relief came over me knowing he was not with that alpha.

“I should go check on him.” I said, and she nodded.

“Please do.” Lilah said, I turned my back to her, but before I could walk away, she said. “And Erik, please listen to him. Let him talk.”

I nodded and walked back to the front door, out of the house, and on the way to Roxanne’s house. Once I arrived, I recognized Raven’s car outside in the driveway. I knocked on the front door, and soon Roxanne opened it. She gave me a sympathetic smile and let me come in, telling me where Raven was. I thanked her, walked to the backyard, and there he was. Raven was sitting on the steps that led to the yard, his eyes looking at nowhere in particular. I sat down next to him. He let out a gasp, turning to look at me. Our eyes met, and we looked at each other in silence. His eyes were red from crying, and a purple mark was starting to show on his cheek. After a moment, I decided to break the silence.

“I didn’t kiss Lesly. She kissed me without consent, and then I rejected her.” I said, explaining what had happened. 

“You didn’t? But you are straight…” He said, looking away from me. “Lesly is probably your type too.”

“No. I may be straight.” I said my truth, but also lied to him. I was unsure of my sexuality, and I didn’t want to disclose that to him yet. I continued to explain my point. “But that doesn’t mean I would disrespect you like that, Raven. I promise, I didn’t kiss her. I pushed her away and set things right. I made it clear to Lesly that I have no feelings for her.” 

‘I probably never will…’ I thought, but Raven didn’t need to know that yet.

“Are you sure?” He asked, looking into my eyes.

“Yes, I am sure, Raven. Sorry if that hurt you.” I said with an apologetic smile. I let out a sigh and continued to explain. “She honestly took me by surprise. I was just reading, and she came on to me.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Lesly.” Raven said, rolling his eyes with a frown.

“Can you tell me the reason why you fought with her?” I asked.

“It’s complicated.” He said with a sigh.

“It’s okay. You can tell me, Raven. I will listen.” I said, placing my hand on his shoulder. He looked at me for a moment and then let out a sigh.

“I don’t even know where to start…” Raven said, and after taking a deep breath, he spoke again. “You know I’m the only son of the family, and growing up, it wasn’t easy. Some of my sisters started to have this resentment towards me. There was a lot of competition, and they started to treat me differently. Like if I were their enemy.” 

Starting to feel some anger upon hearing it. I couldn't understand how it was possible that his sisters could treat him that way, and all this time I had stayed there, I hadn't noticed.

“And then our relationship became toxic; they treated me like shit. With disgust. Talking behind my back and other things. My parents never noticed anything, and I did my best to hide it.” He explained. “And then you came, they were excited to see if you were their mate, but turns out you were my fated mate. It made things worse. They are jealous that I found my mate before them.”

“So it was my fault?” I asked. 

“No. No. It was years and years of resentment. Lesly said she wished I wasn’t born, and I confronted her. I called her a bitch, and we fought. When Papa stopped us, I just knew I had enough of that shitshow, so I just left. I couldn’t live like that anymore, Erik.” Raven said looking at me, the pain in his eyes broke me. I hugged him tight.

“Hey, it’s okay.” I said, caressing his hair. “You did what you had to. Your mental health is more important. I can’t imagine how much you suffered. I’m sorry you went through that. I hope that one day, your sisters realize what a great brother you are. They are missing out.” 

Raven giggled at my words, and then the tears came. I held him in my arms as he cried. Taking everything out. All that pain and hurt he suffered for years. Seeing him cry that way made my chest hurt, and I wanted to scold his sisters for the way he was treated. He didn’t deserve that. No one does. 

“Thank you.” Raven said, breaking away from my hug, and after rubbing his tears away. He smiled at me. “For listening to me.”

“You don’t have to thank me, Raven. That’s what friends do.” I said with a smile. Something changed in his eyes at my words. I'd rather not ask about it. He already had enough stress for today. I don't want to add more.

“Yeah, you are right.” He said, and then pulled away from me entirely. 

“Hey, guys. Sorry to interrupt. Dinner is ready.” Loui’s voice came from the back door behind us. I turned to see him, and we locked eyes. “Would you like to eat with us, Erik?”

“Sure. Thank you for the invite.” I said with a gentle smile. Loui went back inside the house, and after standing up, Raven and I followed.

~oOoOo~

As the days passed, the tension at the Powell Manor grew. The aura in the house was uncomfortable. Family meals were quiet, and the Powell sisters wouldn't come near me. Esme was sad all the time, and Soren was annoyed to see his mate like that. Even for me, it was strange. Since I arrived, I have never seen Esme so dull, so empty. The tension became so suffocating, I started to spend more time outside of the house. I started to consider getting a hotel room in the city, but I knew the Powells wouldn’t allow me to do that. They were kind and welcoming like that. 

Today I went out of the house after lunch. I decided to go for a run in the woods. Let my animal form out for a while, and enjoy the nature around the pride. Once I shifted, I walked with no destination in mind, and then I started running. At one point, I stopped to catch my breath, and then, the air blew a familiar scent my way. Cinnamon. Raven. I followed the way it came from until I was at the lake from the other day. I looked around for Raven until I saw him in his animal form. He was sleeping on a tree, its branches big and strong enough to hold the panther. 

A sense of Deja vu came to me, but then I remembered I had seen Raven like this before. Back when I first knew of his existence, when I found my fated mate. I felt a bit of nostalgia and carefully walked to the tree, not to wake him up. Just like back then, I stepped on a branch. The panther’s head moved up, blue eyes looked my way.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you, Raven.” I said with an apologetic smile. He jumped down from the tree and shifted, standing in front of me.

“It’s okay. I had a great nap before you woke me up.” He said while stretching. “I was even dreaming, but you woke me in the spiciest part.”

“Sorry.” I said, and he laughed.

“I’m joking. I didn’t dream anything.” Raven said, smiling at me. “Anyways, what brings you here?”

“Your scent took me here.” I said.

“Huh. That’s cool.” He said, a soft blush appeared on his cheeks.

“You know. It’s not the first time it has done that.” I mentioned.

“What do you mean?” He asked confused, but curious. I pointed to a spot near the tree, and after sitting down, I decided to tell him.

“Well, we met six years ago.” I explained. His eyes went wide with shock.

“What? When?” Raven asked more confused now.

“Back at a summit, I saw you in your panther form sleeping on a tree like today. That’s when I knew you were my fated mate. I followed your scent there, but then I stepped on a branch and you ran away.” I explained, and his lips formed an ‘o’ after processing what I said.

“Wait…That was you?” He asked shocked.

“Yeah.” I chuckled.

“No way. I thought I was going to get scolded for being in my animal form, and that’s why I left.” He explained, and it made sense. “I can’t believe that was you.”

“Yeah, it was me. Mystery solved.” I told him, and we both started to laugh at how ridiculous the situation had been. 

“So you felt my scent then?” Raven asked, when our laughing stopped.

“Yes, and I’ve been looking for you since then.” I mentioned. 

“That makes sense. I was still not 19, so I didn’t scent you back then.” He said and I nodded.

“Huh. Makes sense.” I said, and then looked at him with a curious grin. “What do I smell like?”

“Why do you want to know?” He asked.

“Just curious.” I said. He looked unsure to tell me.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me how I smell.” Raven said with a cheeky grin. 

“Fine.” I said and then slightly leaned toward him, taking a whiff of his scent. I didn’t need to do that, but I wanted to see his blush intensify. I succeeded, the pink turned into a redder tone at my gesture. “Your scent is cinnamon.”

“Cinnamon. Really? And you like that?” Raven said, trying to smell himself, but it was not possible. 

“Maybe.” I said. “Your turn.”

“You smell like an unripe green mango.” He mentioned.

“What? That’s peculiar.” I said with honesty. 

“It surprised me too, but it’s a scent I like.” He said with a smile. I looked at him with a grin. Raven blushed and corrected himself. “Well, I like eating mangoes like that.”

“Really? Never tried them.” I confessed.

“Yeah, they are sour, and if you pour salt on them, the taste is so good.” He said with excitement, almost like he was savoring it. “I’ll make you try some one day.”

“It’s a promise.” I said with a smile.

We continued to talk for a while about other things until night came. I walked him to Roxanne's house and then back to the Powells'. On the way, I started to think about how coincidental it was to have experienced that again with Raven. It was strange, and perhaps a sign.

Maybe I should start accepting my feelings.