Caleb’s jaw clenched so tightly he felt his teeth begin to grind. He inhaled deeply through his nose, his hands reflexively curling into fists

‘Go away,’ he growled internally, wondering how much patience he had left for the rat blocking his path.

“I don’t have any business with you,” he managed to say, exhaling the calming breath he had taken in.

“Well,” Granger snapped back, “I do have business with you.” An angry smirk on his face.

Caleb let out a low growl.

Granger did the same.

He would be well within his rights as an Alpha to put this insolent moron in the ground. It might cause another argument with Winter. However, the show of disrespect Granger demonstrated in his attitude towards Caleb would not have been taken by Wyatt.

He considered it. It wouldn’t take much effort on his part.

But Ashleigh would be angry with him.

‘Jealousy breeds foolishness,’ Caleb thought to himself with a deep sigh.

“What do you want?” Caleb asked through gritted teeth.

“Stay away from Ashleigh,” Granger stated flatly.

“No,” Caleb answered without explanation or excuse.

Granger snarled.

“Watch yourself!” Caleb snarled back. “I am tolerating your disrespectful attitude because of her, but there is a limit!”_.

Granger continued to let out a low growl, but he did back down.

“You may have forced Alpha Wyatt’s hand,” Granger growled, “but I won’t be so easy.”

Caleb scoffed with disgust.

“There is a difference between bravery and foolishness. Making false statements against me is the latter.”

“You are the one making false claims!” shouted Granger.

“What the hell are you talking about?” asked Caleb.

“I know that you are the one that demanded Ashleigh come to Summer!” Granger hissed, “You backed Alpha Wyatt into a corner, refusing to participate in the exchange unless he sent her!”

Granger noticed that Caleb could hardly hold himself back, settling for letting out a low warning growl. Though Granger would never openly admit it, he took a step back.

“Your information is insulting, and not just to me,” Caleb replied in a low voice. “I have no reason to respond to your accusations. You have no right to the conversations between Alphas. I will say only this: until she stepped out of that car, I had no idea she was coming to Summer.”

“Right,” Granger scoffed.

Caleb raised his eyes, a darkness crept across them, the side of his mouth lifted into a smirk.

“Why would I expect her to be the one to arrive in Summer?” Caleb asked innocently, “After all, wasn’t she getting married that day?”

Granger saw red. He let out a snarl and took two steps forward before he found himself stopped by a wave of hesitation. Before him, Caleb stood tall. The smirk was wiped from his face, replaced by a stern and focused expression. His grey eyes blazed in the moonlight, giving his black pupils a haunting halo.

‘Fuck your Alpha presence!’ Granger shouted in his mind. He swallowed hard as he desperately tried not to let the hesitation show on his face.

His instinct fought against his decision making. Every part of his body demanded that he submit, that he bows before the Alpha, every piece except his mind. His mind, his thoughts clearly demanded that Caleb be the one to yield.

“You are no match for me. I am Alpha. You are Beta and a pathetic one at that. So submit,” Caleb stated, his neutral tone only serving to enrage Granger further.

“I would rather die!” Granger spat, groaning as he fought to keep himself standing. His entire body was heavy, weighing itself down, trying to submit to the alpha presence.

‘If it wouldn’t make her sad….’ Caleb thought to himself.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Caleb relaxed, releasing his alpha presence. Granger fell to his hands and knees as the resistance was suddenly gone.

“As I said before, I have no business with you,” Caleb stated as he began walking back to his cabin.

“You stay away from her. She is mine!” Granger growled as Caleb passed him. “You have no right to even look at her! Stay out of our lives!”

Caleb turned suddenly, scooping down, grabbing the front of Granger’s shirt in one hand, and bunching it together to lift him off the ground and into the air.

“I have every right!” Caleb shouted angrily, grey eyes burning into pale blue. Lightning seemed to rush between the two men.

Granger could only clench his jaw and listen helplessly as Caleb held in the air.

“I have left you both alone. I have never once purposefully interfered in your relationship! I have allowed her to make her own choices without making demands,” Caleb growled through gritted teeth, a fiery rage dripping from every word. “I have every right to step in, to make my demands, to claim my mate!”

Caleb snarled and growled before he dropped Granger to the ground forcefully.

“Bullshit!” Granger shouted, scrambling back to his feet. “You brought her to Summer to try and influence her to accept you! You took her away from her family and me, away from Alpha Wyatt, so he wouldn’t be able to stop you from taking her by force!”

‘Ashleigh, I don’t know how much longer I can promise to let him live,’ Caleb gave a silent prayer for more patience.

“Then why is she still yours?” Caleb asked with weariness slipping into his voice. He was tired of this argument, of this fool wasting his time, of thinking of her.

“She will always choose me.” Granger smiled.

“If you believe that, why are you here?” Caleb asked. He stepped closer to Granger. “You are right, she chose you, and that is why I won’t pursue. Our situation is unheard of, but in the end, it is Ashleigh’s decision.”

“And she made that choice, so you should have no problem staying away from her,” Granger stated.

“I will not be told what to do by you or anyone else. Ashleigh and I have a duty to uphold. I will not stay away from her,” Caleb answered.

He turned to return to his cabin but suddenly stopped, looking back at Granger once more.

“Ashleigh made her choice, and I will respect it,” he began, “but there is a real threat to your relationship that you should be aware of.”

“What are you talking about?” Granger asked.

“You,” Caleb answered, turning away without another word.

“Asshole,” Granger hissed quietly once Caleb had disappeared from view.

“Nice! Taking a shot when no one’s looking!” came a voice from behind Granger.

Granger quickly turned, only to be met by a face he recognized, though he didn’t know the man’s name.

“You… I recognize you from Ashleigh’s birthday….” Granger said, trying to remember.

“Yes, I am Galen.”

Granger looked him up and down. He remembered this was Caleb’s second, his Beta. Which meant he was an enemy in Granger’s eyes.

“What are you doing here?” Granger asked, none too friendly.

“Well, I went on a walk, then I felt my Alpha’s presence. Which usually means someone is being a complete moron. So, I came to find out if I needed to save an idiot’s life from Caleb.” Galen smiled, “Guess he spared you.”

“You—” Granger started but was quickly interrupted.

“So, I have a question,” Galen said, blatantly ignoring that Granger had tried to speak. “I heard you mention Alpha Wyatt a couple of times and how Caleb is ‘tricking’ him. Blah blah blah. Anyway, a thought suddenly occurred to me.”

Galen looked at Granger with shining eyes and tipped his head to the side, innocently smiling as he spoke.

“Why doesn’t he know that his daughter has two mates?”

Granger unconsciously took a step back. He swallowed the saliva that had suddenly built up in his mouth and worked to steady his breathing.

“I was thinking about it because I remember that Winter is known for something fairly unique amongst the packs. That strict adherence to tradition. And mating traditions, oof, those are doozies. So, it just seemed strange that Alpha Wyatt wouldn’t know about his daughter’s unique situation.”

Galen brought his hand up to rub his chin as though he were giving serious thought to the subject.

“It’s almost like, and I’m just throwing wild guesses here, someone purposefully hid that information from him.”

Galen smiled; Granger was frozen in place.

“Who would do that, I wonder?” Galen said sarcastically. “I’ve gotten to know Ashleigh pretty well, and I feel confident in saying that she would have kept it from her father in the beginning just because she didn’t know what was going on. But, and this is the important part, someone else is more likely to have convinced her that they should keep it quiet for good. I would guess, maybe using the feud as an excuse.”

Granger straightened himself and looked directly into Galen’s eyes. He wouldn’t let this man ruin anything for him. “You don’t hav—”

“It would have to be someone with a motive, of course,” Galen started, once more ignoring what Granger had to say, “what could it be? What could it be?

Galen paced back and forth as though he were genuinely trying to piece together a puzzle.

“I mean, I suppose it is possible that whoever it was realized that if Alpha Wyatt knew about the possibility of two mates… He would cancel the wedding between you two,” Galen said.

He looked up at Granger with a mocking gasp and widened eyes of feigned shock.

“After all, once Alpha Wyatt learned the truth, it would need to be made clear which of you was her true mate. Since that is the Goddess’ will after all,” Galen smiled brightly as he finished.

“Alpha Wyatt would have known it was me,” Granger growled through clenched teeth. “I am her true mate. Her only mate.”

“You think that Alpha Wyatt would ever presume to know better than the Goddess?” Galen asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Even if it wasn’t me, he would never allow them to be mated,” Granger stated, “He hates Caleb. He only allowed Ashleigh to go to Summer because Caleb refused to participate otherwise!”

Galen stared at Granger silently before bursting into laughter.

“I don’t know where you get your information, but it’s very wrong,” Galen said with false pity.

Granger prepared for an attack as Galen stepped closer. But, instead, he leaned towards Granger’s ear before speaking.

“Alpha Wyatt was the one who proposed the arrangement between Summer and Winter,” Galen whispered. “He is also the one that demanded it be Caleb who worked with the berserker he was sending.”

Granger pulled back, staring at Galen, looking for any sign of joke or lie.

“You don’t have to believe me. Ask your alpha tomorrow,” Galen laughed, “until then….”

Galen’s hand suddenly shot forward, catching Granger by the throat and yanking him close so he could whisper in his ear as he squeezed tightly.

“Stay the fuck away from my Alpha.”

Granger fell to the ground once more, gasping and choking for air, his throat burning both from the force of his cough and the pressure Galen had applied.

“Have a great night!” Galen called over his shoulder as he walked away towards the cabin, whistling a happy tune as he went.