All the Possibilities

“What was that about?” Alex came up behind his Alpha, both of them staring after the waif of a girl as she drove away.

“How’d she do today?” Cole asked, turning his eyes away from the front door.

“Terrible, as always. Maybe one inch better than the rest of the week,” Alex laughed, dabbing his forehead with a towel.

“She always comes in the evening?”

“Mmm, not always, but I think her classes start soon, so it’ll be evenings from now on... she’s as strong as a toddler, but she’s persistent. I thought she would’ve quit by now. I may or may not have given her the hardest cardio circuit I know today. And all week I’ve been kicking her ass.”

Alex huffed a laugh, “Her body has to be killing her but every time I think she’s going to throw in the towel, she keeps going. Keeps showing up in double layers and bad posture no matter what. Nearly collapsed on the treadmill to prove the point. I had to force-stop the damn thing so everybody can stop giving me shit for hurting the new girl before she can do a meet and greet.” Alex made air quotes as he rolled his eyes toward the other pack members.

Cole grunted, a deeply annoyed sound, and Alex cocked his head.

“I’ll train her in the evenings from now on...” Cole said, answering his Beta’s curiosity.

“What?” Cole didn’t like female clients, claiming there was too much risk for personal and professional lines to be crossed. And he certainly wouldn’t take on a whelp of a girl barely out of high school. If cardio was killing her, she wouldn’t survive his version of fight mechanics.

“Don’t worry about it. Maybe I think her fear is funny... and Alex, don’t touch her again.” Cole said nonchalantly, even though a tang of Alpha command wafted in the air. That left Alex standing with his mouth wide, as if the faint glimmers of understanding were taking shape. Cole didn’t even realize he’d slipped into his wolf tones.

“Why do you care whose scent is on her?” Alex asked quietly, catching back up to Cole. His Alpha gave no response. And for him, that was response enough.

“That’s not possible...” Alex tried again, “Alphas don’t have human mates. It’s just... not a thing, Cole. There’s no way. Alphas mate with Alphas to continue the line. Everybody knows that. You especially. No way does the moon give you a human.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Cole answered icily, “I don’t need my Beta to tell me what Alphas do and don’t do, Alex.” He paused at the entrance to the office, glancing around the gym to see if any of the other pack members were listening before he ducked inside. “I’m not planning to claim her either way. Can you imagine Erica’s face? If she’s on my nerves now, imagine how she’ll get after that. My wolf just won’t let me think straight right now.”

“So, why would you want to train her?” Alex crossed his arms, closing the door behind him.

The office wasn’t small but with two desks, a security station, and all the chairs, it could be cramped. Thankfully, they’d just cleaned up after installing the handful of surveillance monitors on the back table. Andres had been harassing them for weeks about money to finish the setup. A year was too long to have put off security, especially with the number of human civilians coming and going these days. Lita’s extremely large contribution went directly to the six gleaming screens that cycled through the perimeter. Alex flicked his eyes back to Cole, raising a brow to prompt an answer to his earlier question.

“Because I can’t seem to stop myself. The wolf wants to be close to her,” Cole growled in frustration, pursing his lips in distaste. “I just want to give the wolf what he wants, at least a little, because it’s distracting. Only in the evenings, though, when we can go for a run afterwards. I’ll need it.”

“This is a bad idea, Cole. Maybe the worst idea I’ve ever heard...”

“Yeah, I know,” he nodded absently, drifting off into his own head.

Alex sat atop the nearest desk. “Then you’ll understand why I’m about to do this... veto.”

Cole sat straighter, claws curling from his fingernails in a flash of anger. “We agreed veto would be used in emergency situations whenever you thought my judgement was clouded, Alex.” Cole’s words were thick, heavily accented with growls and rumbles of frustration. “This is not an emergency.”

Alex sighed, rubbing his stubbled chin. His eyes flashed a more vibrant blue. “I think it is, though, Alpha. For one, you cursed like a fucking sailor throughout the bond when you saw her. Didn’t care if the others heard it or not, which was sloppy. But I overlooked it because I assumed her mention of James just got you twisted up. Second, we’ve all seen you watching her. You’re about as discreet as a mountain.” Alex gave him a pointed look. “The only one who hasn’t seen it is the girl herself, and that should say enough about her smarts. But whatever, I ain’t the sharpest knife in the block either.”

“None of that sounds like an emergency,” Cole hissed, losing his patience with his Beta’s appraisal of his mate. It was the principle of the matter.

“No, but the bruises she’s hiding under her clothes are a problem. You know it as much as I do. You said we don’t get involved in human shit unless it’s an emergency. Which is fine, but that goes for her too. You saw ‘em as plain as I did that first day. But instead of sending her off to be someone else’s problem, you made her ours. You let her in. I let it go, again, because I just figured you were doing her a solid. And I thought maybe she’d left the prick or whatever.”

Cole clenched his jaw, looking away as Alex leaned closer. “But she won’t take off her hoodies even when she’s pouring sweat. She’d rather pass out than take off those layers and we both know what the fuck that means. You were making messy decisions about her when you didn’t even know her, so there’s no way your wolf can be allowed more access. What if she tells you her boyfriend’s beating her up? You gonna look the other way, Cole? Pretend like you don’t care about your mate’s well-being? No, you’re gonna go beat the fuck out of him and rescue her. Like you’re the moon’s gift to lost girls.”

Alex flicked his eyes out the window to Jaz as if to say, like that human. “And if you do that, if you fuck up that very human boyfriend of hers, you’re going to expose us. So, no. I love you, you’re my brother. I respect you and I’ll follow you anywhere, but no, Cole. Veto.”

Cole snapped his mouth shut, eyes flashing through his wolf’s colors.

“You can’t have jack shit to do with her until you reject her. I’m serious.”

“You know you don’t get to veto me again until next year, right? This is worth your annual fuck-you?” Cole rubbed his hands over his face, smoothing back his hair as he blinked away his feelings.

“Yea,” Alex nodded, “We worked too hard building this place up to let a human mate bring it down, Cole. Especially if you’re not going to claim her. Don’t make shit harder than it already is.”

Cole clewed the inside of his mouth, thinking. “Alright, Beta. Veto accepted.”