I arrive back at my apartment after lunch. Abby had promised to keep the conversation to herself but I couldn't shake the anxiety that telling her had planted in my chest.
"Ben, hey, Ben," I call out to my Beta with my mind. He opens the link and I hear his voice in my head a second later.
"Yes, Cade?" He asks, I know he can feel my worry already but he keeps his mind clear of apprehension.
"What are you doing right now?" I ask him. His thoughts answer me as he gazes around the room he's in. He's playing CoD. "Can we talk, it's personal."
"Ok, sure," he agrees immediately, before Ben was my beta he was my best friend, "do you want to do it in person, or..."
"This is fine," I decide, I don't want to have to wait for him to get here.
"Ok, so what's up?"
I wait a long moment before answering, Ben waits patiently, keeping his game on pause as he listens for a response. "You know the loner Eric and the girls found in the western part of the woods?" I ask and I know immediately that he does. "Well I met him, and..." I don't have to say it, he can already feel what I'm thinking.
"Oh," he says quietly, "oh shit," he says louder as he remembers my boyfriend. My human boyfriend who wouldn't understand the concept of mates, and that I didn't choose someone over him, the decision was made for me. "What are you gonna do?"
"I don't know!" I reply exasperated, "that's why I'm talking to you, I don't know what to do!"
"Well I'll tell you what you're not going to do," Ben says firmly, "feel guilty. It's not your fault what happened, and not your job to be so worried about James. He's a human, he'll heal and forget."
"It is my fault, I shouldn't have gotten so involved and attached to a human that's not my mate. I was just asking for it!" I'm starting to loose it, Ben's calm, steady presence is possibly the only thing keeping me together.
"Granted, you could have afforded to be less involved with humans, but this is a natural part of life. Humans fall in and out of love much easier than we do, so James will be alright without you, but most of all you can't neglect you mate, he's what really matters now, staying away would just hurt you both."
"You're right," I say taking a deep breath. "But how do I explain this to James?"
"Tell him you met someone else, you're really sorry and it was nothing he did wrong." Ben replies genuinely, "tell him the truth."
"Ok, sure--" The phone rings interrupting my thought. "Oh God," I mutter looking at the caller ID. "It's James," I tell Ben looking at the phone ringing in my palm. "I got to go."
"Ok, Just do me a favor," Ben says, "don't break up with him over the phone." And with that Ben leaves my mind and I am left with the ringing phone.
"Hello?" I say answering it.
"Hey, Cade," James' voice floats through the receiver.
"Hi, James," I say, trying to match his tone but I have difficulty getting it right.
"I was wondering what you were doing for dinner tonight," he asks.
"Oh, I didn't have any plans," I reply, knowing where this is going. Maybe breaking up over dinner would be ok.
"Good, cause it's our year anniversary and I wanted to take you out." Wait what? Anniversary? How does he remember that? Why didn't I remember that?
"Oh yeah!" Shit shit shit shit.
"You forgot didn't you?" Shit shit shit shit.
"What? No." Shit shit.
"No, it's fine!" He laughs, "I'll pick you up at 7, wear something nice."
"O--ok," I say and he hangs up. I can't break up with him on our first year anniversary! That's so cold hearted! Part of me knows that it's just an arbitrary date on a calendar that doesn't actually mean anything but the other part knows it would mean something.
I should talk to Ben again, he'll know what to do. But I don't want to bother him again, he's probably busy, he's always been a try hard at those games. I rest my head in my hands, trying to clear my head.
There's a knock at the door. I sit up, and look around disoriented. The clock reads, 6:48. Shit.
"Yeah, I'm right here!" I yell at the door, scrambling to my feet. I pull open the door but I'm surprised by who's standing there. "Tanner," I say, panting.
"Hey, are you busy?" He asks a little awkward.
"Um," I want to say no, I'm surprised by how badly I want to. "Yeah, I actually have a date with James."
"James?" Tanner asks, "Oh, the human." I nod. "Are you gonna break up with him?"
"Well I was..." I start, looking at his feet, "but it turns out today is our first year anniversary." He rolls his eyes at me. "I know, I know. But he's human, I don't want to hurt him more than necessary."
"And you think lying to him will make him feel better?" Tanner asks, I shove my hands into my pockets.
"I don't know..." I mutter. I shake my head clear and look at him squarely "Anyway, how did find my apartment?"
"Followed your scent," he shrugs casually. I nod, I'd expected as much. "Can I come in?" He asks.
I think about it a minute. "Well, I suppose... You don't have anywhere else to go..." he smiles and sweeps past me into the room. "But James can't see you when he comes to pick me up."
"He's picking you up?" Tanner asks turning from looking around the small front room.
"Yeah," I shrug, closing the door.
"Ooo, he's classy," he teases. I roll my eyes and go to the bedroom. He follows me in.
"Um, I'm changing," I say awkwardly turning from the closet, shirt in hand.
"I know," he says taking a seat on the bed to watch.
I roll my eyes at him, and turn my back to him, pulling my shirt off over my head. I pull my arms through the sleeves and I feel his hand on my shoulder. He spins me around.
"Tanner I--" I start but he's just buttoning my shirt for me. He leaves the top two undone.
"Change those pants," he points at the dirty pair I'm wearing. I do as I'm told--not that I'm changing just cause he told me to, I was going to change pants anyway!
There's a knock at the door and both our heads turn towards the sound.
"Good bye," Tanner whispers to me after I've fastened the button on my pants.
"Stay out of trouble," I tease.
He laughs, "no promises." He pulls my face down to his to kiss me. There's another knock at the door. Tanner grumbles something about a human cock block and I chuckle.
I leave the bedroom and open the front door. I've never seen James look so handsome in my life.
"Hi," he says, a little shy under my shocked gaze.
"Hi."
YOU ARE READING
The Alpha's Choice
Werewolf(Previously titled Well I Don't Give a Shit) Alpha's have a lot of responsibility. They have to make big decisions for their packs, but sometimes those choices are made for them. A decision was made for me, and I couldn't go against it, even if I wa...
