Page 9 of Dragon's Revenge

Sivney’s eyes widened. “Dude, I thought you had, like, a quick question for me. Not a problem we could discuss all day long and still not solve.”

Adar’s shoulders hunched. “I fucked up.”

“You sure did, but can you be more specific? ‘Cause I think you may have missed a few things on my list that I could point out to you.”

Naran, Sivney’s alpha mate, snorted behind his hand. “You can laugh,” Adar said. “It can’t make me feel any worse than I already do.”

“Good,” Sivney said. “And I mean that without any malice. It’s about time you and Oliver realized the truth.”

“In my defense, I truly didn’t know he was our mate,” Adar said weakly.

“How the fuck did you not know that? How could you miss something so crucially important?”

“Because it felt nothing like what I have with Oliver. If I had a third mate, is it so unreasonable to think I’d feel the same way about him as I do about Oliver?”

Sivney was quiet for a long time, then sighed. “No, it’s not. I’ll give you that. But it’s been hard to stand by and watch you two hurt him. He’s got such a good heart, and he’s been in love with you for so long.”

“I didn’t know. Yes, I realize how stupid that makes me, but I truly never noticed.”

Sivney waved his hand. “He never told you, and like most alphas, you’re rather oblivious. It wouldn’t be fair to hold that against you.”

Adar scratched his chin. “Thank you, I think?”

“So what happened that you’re here, asking for my advice?”

A sharp pain pierced Adar’s heart. “He’s out. He may even leave the pack.”

“Fuck,” Sivney said, and that one word summed it up perfectly.

“Initially, he agreed to a trial period to give the three of us a chance to get to know each other and find out if we’re mates. But then he changed his mind and said he couldn’t do it, that he’d only be setting himself up for more pain.”

“Can you blame him? You made him watch as you took Oliver through his heat. That must’ve been the worst torture ever.”

Adar shrunk. “I know that now, but all I wanted was to make sure Oliver would be okay.”

“So you never gave a second thought to Delton.”

How much smaller did Sivney want him to feel? “It never occurred to me he’d be hurt by it. I mean, I asked him, and he had the option to say no…”

“Which he would’ve never done because you’re his mate, but you didn’t know that. Dammit, how am I supposed to be angry with you when you play it like that?”

“He’s not playing, firecracker,” Naran said mildly. “He never was. Oblivious, yes, but not cruel. And last time I checked, we didn’t hold stupidity against people, or I wouldn’t be sitting here.”

Sivney rolled his eyes. “Touché.”

Naran leaned forward, took Sivney’s hand, and pressed a kiss on it. “And what’s more, you didn’t believe you were our third either, remember? You thought Lev and I were a couple without you. Took you a while to see the truth.”

“Fuck, I hate it when you get all logical and reasonable with me,” Sivney said with a sigh. Then he held up his hands. “But you’re not wrong. So I’ll get off my high horse now and try to help you, Adar.”

“Thank you. I’ll take all the help I can get. I don’t want to lose Delton.”

“So let me start by asking this: how certain are you that he’s your third? Because if you have even a shred of doubt, I’m out. I can’t be a part of any plan that could end up with Delton being rejected again.”

“Absolutely one hundred percent certain. What I felt when he said he was out… I now know what they mean by a broken heart. It’s like he ripped mine in two and a part of me is missing.”

“Damn.” Lev sighed. “That was beautiful.”

“Our hopeless romantic,” Sivney said with a sweet smile for his mate. “You always see the good in people.”

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