Betrayed Luna's Second Chance Alphas
Betrayed Luna’s Second Chance Alphas – Chapter 52

-Roman-

I looked at Adrian with a sigh. Everything in me was a jumbled mess and my head and heart hurt.

Karl whimpered softly. He didn’t like this.

I just wanted to run and run, and never stop again, but my legs refused to move. They felt like they were made of frozen ice. I couldn’t imagine walking away from Riley, from this. I loved her so much to give her up, just like that.

“What should I do, Karl?” I whispered as my wolf shook his head, looking agitated. Desperation rolled off him in waves.

“I want to stay. I want her with everything I have.”

“But how can we stay when she isn’t-“

“Do not start. She is ours. Mate bond doesn’t matter. She promised that she would choose us if there is a choice. But there is no choice now. She didn’t have to choose. She can have both of us. I want to be with her, Roman, everything else be damned.”

Adrian stood up with a wince and I saw that his wounds had closed had healed.

“Let’s go back to Riley, come on.”

“I- I have to go to the Red Watchers’ Guild to talk about the creatures and-“

“You don’t have to go anywhere. Dustin will take care of all of that. Come with me. You said Riley needed both of us there. So let’s be there for her.”

“But Adrian, I can’t be there-” I pulled my hair as frustration and desperation filled me.

“I know how you feel right now. But you don’t know how I feel, Rome, do you?” His voice was broken as he looked at me. His gray eyes, the ones that were always shining with laughter, now reflected only his brokenness. “She chose you. You are her first. And now I have this bond, and everything in me begs to claim her, to make her mine, but you know why I walked away? Because I knew this was something she could have lived without – that I was someone she could have lived without.” Adrian sounded sad. Broken. “But that is not the case with you.”

“No, I don’t think so. She might have said it before, but I don’t think she meant it.”

“Let’s go, Roman. I have the bond, but you have her heart. I would have loved to be the one who has her heart.” Adrian started to jog as if he had said enough. He didn’t shift. I grabbed the backpack, hesitated for a second, before I started to jog with him.

“We both have her heart. And you have a bond, in addition to her heart.”

“You are only saying that to comfort me and I appreciate it, Rome, but we both know you are lying.”

We didn’t talk after that until we reached Nightshade. “She is in my room,” I said as we ran to the elevator. Adrian pressed the button. It was weird, seeing Adrian like that. Silent. Quiet. He had always been a chatterbox.

When we reached my room, he paused. He looked nervous.

“Do you want to talk with her alone?” I asked him, knowing very well they must have a lot to talk about.

His eyes were conflicted as he looked at me and back at the door.

“I don’t think I want-“

“Come on. I won’t be butt hurt over this. I understand that you have your own sh.it to deal with. You don’t always have to look after me, Ad. I am a big boy and I can take care of myself. For once, why don’t you just take care of yourself? Go talk with her,” I said with a frown. I knew he always chose me and my needs over his, and I knew this was my time to choose him over myself. If anyone desereved absolute happiness, it was him. He was always looking after the others. “Stop being a wuss and just talk with her.”

“I don’t want you to go. I am scared. I can’t- I-“

I sighed and shook my head.

“Scared? What? Riley wouldn’t swallow you.”

“What the hell should I do? You are my rival, and my best friend, too. I have no one to talk to.”

I laughed as I pushed the door open. My mom was standing next to the door. She looked at me and Adrian, and her eyes turned gentle as she caressed my face before ruffling Adrian’s hair. We both sighed.

I didn’t know how she knew or how she understood, but she knew what was going on. Just looking at my mom calmed me and my wolf.

“Mom…” I whispered and she grabbed my hand in one hand and Adrian’s in another. She was as much a mom to him as she was to me.

“She is your mate and your love, isn’t she, Adrian?” she said to him and he nodded.

“And she is the love of your life,” she said to me, her voice as soft as lullaby.

We both nodded and she let out a sharp breath. “Just don’t let anything come between you. I know you will find a way, I know you can. You two are amazing,” my mom said with a smile. “I will bake your favorite mixed herb focaccia bread, okay?” she said as she let our hands go. She knew we both loved her bread. Karl and Clay, too.

I was always amazed by my mom.

“That is my favorite scent in the whole world, next to Riley’s, the scent of butter and bread… It calms me down,” Karl said with a deep sigh.

“I know. Mom knows, too.”

“That is why she is the best!”

Adrian and I sat down on the couch after mom walked away. I told him about Hiran and his trial and we talked about the creatures.

“Should we tell her?”

“When Hiran’s trial is over, maybe?” Adrian said. “She has a lot to deal with already.”

“You are right. So… did you visit Bella? How was she?”

“Briefly before the – you know, the rejection ritual. She kept driving around, and she wants to go back to the club. Is she- do you know about Dean and her?”

“Dean and her?”

“I think she- she likes him, I think they are more than friends,” Adrian said with a sigh.

“I have never noticed anything like that,” I said with a shrug, and Adrian shook his head with a frown.

“Yeah, you have always been oblivious. I mean, you don’t get s.hit like that. You are love blind.”

“What do you mean?” I narrowed my eyes and he squirmed in his chair. He looked like a worm caught in a bird’s beak.

He looked away from me as he mumbled, “Ash-“

“Ash? Ashelene?”

“She likes me. Oh, not anymore, but she liked me. She confessed to me when she was seventeen, and I said no, and then she saw me kissing Riley… It was a mess.”

My eyes widened and I stood up with a growl. What the hell was he saying? Ashelene? Him?

“What the hell are you saying? I mean, why did you never tell me?”

“I just- I just couldn’t.”

“You are that guy who told me you were worried that you might have broken your di.ck having s*x, remember?” I growled as I glared down at him. How the hell did I not know that? What kind of brother was I? Was I too lost in my own life that I didn’t think about my sister’s life?

“Did she know you and Riley share a bond?”

“She knows I like Riley, of course. Nobody knows I am mated to Riley, except you and Riley.”

I stared at him, at Riley and sighed. This was too much. What the hell was going on around me? I wanted to pull my hair out one by one, and then break some bones. Ramsay’s or Hiran’s would be preferable.

“That was why she was sad and angry,” A soft voice said. Adrian jerked up as if he was electrocuted. His eyes widened and a look –something I had never seen in his eyes, ever — filled his eyes as he stood up. His body was turned towards the door as if he was ready to flee from this, from her.

“Do not run,” Riley said, as if she could hear his thought or something. Maybe she could.

Adrian turned to look at her, and I felt like I was… an extra limb nobody needed to walk, but I stayed. I couldn’t move.

“You know, don’t you, Roman? About the mate bond? I wanted to tell you,” she said as she looked straight into my eyes, and motioned us to move closer. She sat up and winced.

“Are you alright?” Adrian whispered, looking pained, as if her pain was somehow affecting him, not only emotionally, but physically, too. “You don’t have to sit. Just lie back down, Red.”

“I am fine, Adrian,” she said as he sat next to her. She looked at me. “Won’t you come? I hope you won’t leave like you did in my nightmare,” Riley whispered. “I know I am asking a lot. I know I am being unfair to both of you, but I can’t-” She closed her eyes and sighed.

“We don’t have to talk about it now,” Adrian said.

“We have to. You know, we have to,” she whispered. “If I was the bigger person, I would say Ash could have you if you wanted her, too, but I am not. I am not as good as I though I was. It seems like I am quite selfish. I know I said that Roman always comes first…but- it isn’t true anymore, Adrian.”

“But why?” Adrian blinked and I could almost see his heart in his eyes. He looked vulnerable, open. And I wanted to protect him this time.

“You stood there and you pushed Roman to help me, because you didn’t want to hurt him. You ran away and didn’t say anything to him because you wanted him to stay, and not leave me, because you didn’t want to hurt me. How can I not choose you when you have done so much for me? When you have given up your own happiness for me and Roman, too? You are always in the background, always trying to save me, protect me, help me, make me happy, and I might not have looked at first, but I am looking at you now, Adrian, and I am seeing everything you have done for me. For us, for the three of us and I won’t choose.” She looked at me. “I hope there won’t be a day where I have to choose, Roman, because I can’t choose. Not anymore.”

And I understood her. I understood the desperation, the need.

“I won’t ask you. He won’t, too.”

Adrian stood there and kept blinking. She had broken my best friend.

“Riley?” he breathed out.

“You heard me, right? You are mine, Adrian Mercer. Mine and do not ever run away from that or from me.”

“And you, Roman… I don’t care if we don’t have a bond, and because we have already established that I am selfish, you have to stay. You are mine, too, and I want you in my life, with or without the bond. I want you both in my life, with or without the bond.”

“Kitten, I think you have broken my friend.”

“Ha, he will be alright.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“Now that you both are here, I am. I am feeling great.”

***

(TWO DAYS LATER)

-Riley-

It was the day of Hiran’s trial. The two days had passed quite quickly. I had spent the last two days in my bed, being pampered by Roman and Adrian, whenever they were not searching for Dean with Finn. My pups also visited me, and it was not a bad two days, all in all.

“You ready to go, little Red,” Adrian said as he ran his fingers through my hair. He sniffed. “You smell so beautiful.” I sighed as he turned me towards him. “What is wrong? If you don’t want to come, you don’t have to come to the trial.”

“It is not that. I am just worried for no reason. I should stop, shouldn’t I? I should stop being a worrywart.”

Adrian pressed a k**s on my lips. “It is okay, little Red, I promise it is going to get better from here.”

I trusted every word he said. We had talked a lot, the three of us, over the past two days. It was sometimes awkward, sometimes overwhelming, but I knew this was my new normal. I knew Roman was still over thinking this, and I couldn’t blame him, because it was like a slap in my cheek, too, but…

“You coming?” Roman poked his head in and I nodded as I walked out. I grabbed his hand in mine and he froze for a second before he walked with me towards the court.

This time, the council court was filled with powerful Alphas. I could feel all their powerful aura. A familiar face caught my eyes. I blinked. He stood up.

“Riley…”

“Alpha James.”

He was the Alpha of my old pack. The one before Crystal Park.

“How are you? Where did you disappear? I had looked for you.”

“Looked for me? Why? You didn’t care when I was in the pack,” I mumbled under my breath.

“Because I don’t want anyone to look closer. If I had shown you special attention, the others would have started to sniff around you, and I couldn’t- I promised your dad I would keep you safe.”

“M-my dad?” I blinked as I looked at him. “What do you mean? Do you know my dad? Who- who is my dad?”

!!!

Q: Can we talk about your aim in life, Karl? Are u for real? Also, what is your favorite food (next to Riley’s dash dash).

Karl: Well. A wolf wants what a wolf wants. Favourite food: I could eat pizza for every breakfast, lunch and dinner next to Riley’s c*m. ( Oww, Hazel, that hurts. Do not pull my tail!)