The Alpha and the Outcast (BoyxBoy/LGBT)

Chapter 13

Hello! So I know that this is beyond late (sorry!), but you know, holidays and stuff. Christmas is a pretty big deal in my house. Happy New Year, by the way!

This is a bit of a filler chapter, but I can't just jump straight to the action. This chapter is relevant to the story overall, though. Don't worry, the next update will be a lot quicker.

Anyway, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to eminord87, for being the first person to comment on the last chapter. Comments and votes are what keeps me inspired for this story, so please keep them coming ;)

Enjoy the chapter, and please vote/comment :)

[Malcolm's POV]

Nicholas had been acting very oddly for the past few days, so when Christopher burst into my room late one night to tell me that my little mate had vanished, and that this was something that had been happening a lot. My gut clenched, and I got a very bad feeling, but I waved Christpher off with instructions to inform me if my mate did not return by morning. 

Nicholas had been ignoring me lately, even more than usual, and Kieran had told me that he'd been distant with him as well. Nick skipped the occasional class at school as well, and I could never find him at lunchtime. More than once I'd walked into a boys' bathroom during classtime to find him on his phone, whispering and arguing urgently. The instant he'd spotted me, the call had been disconnected and the phone returned to his pocket before I could see who he'd been speaking with.

He'd been eating less as well. Eimear had informed me before that she susected that Nick had some kind of eating disorder, but before now he'd always at least made an effort to pretend that he was eating. Now he wouldn't buy anything in the school cafeteria, and I couldn't give him some of my lunch either because he never sat with us. 

Whatever my mate was doing at night, I was going to find out. I had a very bad feeling about all of this.

§ § § § 

"Christopher, I want twenty-four-hour surveillance on Nicholas from today on," I ordered the next morning in the car on the way to school. 

"It's not fair to spy on your mate," Ellie-Anne, my cousin, interjected from the backseat.

"Yeah, relationships are about trust, Malcolm," her twin Maria snapped.

"Mind your own business, girls," I snapped back, "Go back to staring at Lucas, Maria."

Ellie-Anne reached forward and slapped me across the back fo the head, glaring poisonously. Beside her, Maria turned bright red and looked like she wanted to curl into herself and die. In the seat next to Maria's, Lucas was flushing slightly himself, scratching at the back of his neck awkwardly and staring determinedly at his lap. 

Slowly the shame trickled in. That had been a low blow, especially coming from an Alpha. I was the one who was supposed to look after my pack, not cause them all to turn on me and each other. 

I'd known for years that Maria had a cruch on Lucas, but until now, Lucas hadn't. He didn't have a mate yet seeing as how he wouldn't turn eighteen for another month or so, despite being my Third, but he was the sort of guy who was waiting for his mate and refused to date anyone else, which was why Marai had never wanted him to know about her crush. Damn, but I could be an asshole sometimes.