The Mating Games

chapter 23- Leaving is always the hardest part

"YOU ALMOST DIED!" Shane repeated, his hands angrily clasped beside his hips and his shoulders harshly rose and fell with every deep inhale. Clair popped her head inside the house, taking in her mates stiff body and carefully took one of his balled hands into hers.

"Calm down," she mumbled to him, softly lowering her lips to his cheek. A tumble of bodies fell into the room, a mass of flesh laying limply on the floor.

"WHAT?" Nathan yelled, pushing himself roughly from the ground and staggered over to me. I tried to hold in the tears, emotion swirling in my heart.

"Wait, hold on guys," I pushed past Theo, watching as he stood his ground and took position for an attack.

"NO, DON'T TELL US TO WAIT! We deserve to know what the fuck is going on!" Shane burst out, his anger leaking from every pore in his body. I felt an arm come around my stomach, resting gently over the skin and pulled me back into a hard chest.

"You better watch your tone with my mate," Theo said calmly, a deadly feel to the air. Shane paused briefly, taking in our pose before ripping himself away from Clair and stalking his way over. The younger boys watched with curious eyes, waiting as the scene unfolded before them like some kind of movie.

"Don't tell me what to do with my OWN family!" The two alphas stared off, challenging each other with bad intentions. I tried to loosen the hand around my body, tugging uselessly at his sturdy fingers and huffed in annoyance.

"Theo, stop," I told him, pressing my body back into his more.

"Summer?" A small voice called from behind the chaos; Josh was clinging to Brad, both shaking from the rage permeating the air. They huddled together like little penguins, bracing themselves for the cold winter but I knew better; they were terrified.

"STOP!" The room shook with anger, rumbling with the deep baritone of my father's voice. The men paused, roughly puffing out streams of smoke from their heated mouths. "This is my house and you will be respectful so long as you are under it," he was deadly calm, gaging their reactions. Theo tensed up, his body shaking with a deep seated need for dominance; Shane took a step back, spitting air between his front teeth and tried to control his trembling form. They both look about ready to burst from their skin and lose all control.

"Dad, now is not a good time," Shane ground out, his narrowed stare still firmly on Theo, "he's a monster and you're just going to let him take her! She almost died for fucks sake!" It was that moment that my mother decided to make her entrance.

"SHANE ROBERT MERCER! Don't you dare use that language in MY house!" She moved to stand in front of the younger boys, readying herself if the need arose. The smaller boys cowered behind her, clinging desperately to the back of her shirt and dug their faces into her back. Nathan had stepped up, shielding them from the onslaught of testosterone that circled the room.

"Kath, why don't you take the boys upstairs?" My dad said evenly, eyeing up the other men and watching them with hawk eyes as the figures descended up the stairs. The moment was tense, stricken with heavy emotion and a sense of foreboding that gnawed at my heart.

"You boys need to calm down or leave this house," his words were final, no room for negotiations. Their bodies twitched, mind reeling with calculated moves for this situation. Shane was the first to move, stiffly walking over to the couch and sat with a defeated look; Theo shuffled behind me, moving me along with him until we had taken the chair on the opposing side. My father let out a sigh of relief, joining us and ringing his hands together like he always did when he was stressed. "Shane, what the fuck is going on with you?" The question was open ended, I don't think he expected an answer but he got one anyway.