"You found your mate in a tree?" Gia's mouth dropped open, and she gaped back at the wide trunk. A small cave had formed at the base of it under its ancient, gnarling roots. "I want to meet her. Why isn't she with you?"
"Are you just fucking around with us?" David chuckled, wiping the layer of glistening perspiration from the back of his neck with the shirt he had taken off long ago when they were sweating in their desperate search for him.
Theo had a distant look in his eyes like he was no longer there with them. His smile remained, but a thread of restrained torment feathered his expression.
"I'm not fucking with you," his voice was distant as well, only partially there with them.
"Then where is she?" His cousin chuckled again, swinging at a bug with his t-shirt now.
All of the stress surrounding the missing Theo was gone, and David seemed just as relaxed as if they were standing back inside the perimeter of the pack's land rather than on the outskirts of Suicide Forest. Suicide Forest was ominous enough on its own without Theo disappearing and reappearing out of thin air.
And the research facility was close. They needed to get back to safety.
"Theo, she is the future Luna," Gia said, almost scolding in her tone. "Where is she?"
"I, uh…" he snapped out of whatever reverie he was in, "I didn't speak to her."
His cousins both stared at him now, not understanding. The great Thelonious was not shy, especially not with females.
With his large, authoritative stature, his ruggedly handsome features that resembled his father's, and his fiercely independent streak that tended to position him at odds with that same father, he enjoyed being the object of most unmated females' attention.
As the next Hallowell Alpha, he was the ideal lycan male in nearly every way. Those unmated females in their pack would see him coming, and suddenly tits were popping out, asses were in the air, and the scent of arousal was wafting his way.
It was gross. Gia groaned and rolled her eyes every time. Good thing their Luna never saw it, because as modest as Aunt August was when it came to her fae abilities, she probably wouldn't hesitate to send stray lightning bolts raining from the heavens just to scare the shit out of those shameless females who were trying to tempt her son.
As far as his parents knew, Theo was saving himself for his mate. They had drilled it into him from a very young age.
Saving that sacred sexual act for his mate was not only the right thing to do for the one whom the Goddess had chosen for him, but it was also imperative for the pack as a whole. Because should he create a jealous female by offering himself to her or, Goddess forbid, getting her pregnant with his heir, it would create a snowball effect of instability for the future.
He could not do that to his mate, and he could not do that to his pack. It was a matter of honor, of duty, and of faith in the destiny he was chosen for.
That exact scenario of a jealous female occurred in the past with his own parents, and the culmination of it was still talked about as one of the greatest threats their pack had ever faced—greater even than the ancient vampire who had kidnapped all of their alyko, including Luna August.
Jealousy was a cancer, and the Alpha and Luna's son was not to repeat the past. They had survived that threat to their pack once. Lessons must be learned from it for the security of their pack family.
But Theo was twenty-one. Did his parents really expect him to remain celibate until the mysterious female showed herself?
"You didn't speak to her?" Gia repeated. "You didn't speak to her… at all? How many girls have you fucked with in the human world and you couldn't speak to our Luna, Theo?!"
"Gia!" David snapped.
But it was too late. Theo had heard her loud and clear.
His glare and the dark, threatening aura of his Alpha nature rolled out like storm clouds with David as the target. No one else was supposed to know about what the Alpha's son did when he disappeared for brief spells into the human world past Suicide Forest. David was the only one who had any clue. Or so he thought.
"Nice," Theo growled, sending shivers down his cousin's spine with the flash of rage that was sent his way.
He stalked past them, no longer thinking about the thrill of finding the one female who he had been searching for for far too long. Or about the impossible circumstances surrounding where she lived. Or about the ancient, undead creatures who had stolen her away. Instead all of his energy was focused on not ripping out his cousin's throat for talking shit about him and jeopardizing his image and his future in the pack.
David swallowed and licked his lips uneasily, his stomach twisting as he watched the furious rigid tension in Theo's gait as he stalked away. He almost collapsed from how light-headed he felt after the danger of Theo's fury had passed. He glared at his sister.
"Seriously?" His voice was hoarse. "What the fuck, Gia!"
"It's on him, and he knows that! It's not on you," she growled furiously. "If he would just keep his dick in his pants, then there wouldn't be an issue would there? And now he can't even bring our future Luna back with him?"
"You don't know anything," David said, the nausea of nerves finally getting the best of him, and he doubled over.
Theo was never going to speak to him again. Frankly, he was lucky he hadn't been mauled by him just now.
"I know enough," Gia bit back. "And one thing I know for absolute sure is that that male who everyone in our pack worships better get his act together. Our pack deserves more than this."