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“He’s right,” Oliver said softly. “This is all my fault. I hurt them both.”
Fallon’s face fell. “What happened?”
Delton rose from his chair. “Excuse me. This isn’t a conversation I need to be a part of.”
He ignored everyone staring at him and stepped out of the barn, blindly walking past cabins until he reached the edge of the forest and kept walking. Finally, the tears got so bad he couldn’t see where he was planting his feet anymore, so he sunk to his knees and sobbed.
How had everything gone so wrong? Why was it that everyone else found happiness with each other, but he was destined to be alone forever, pining after a man who wasn’t his and would never be? How could fate be this cruel? Didn’t he deserve a happily ever after?
He cried until he had no more tears to spill, but he kept sitting, burying his head between his knees. How could he face everyone else after this? After they had seen his utter humiliation? No, he’d have to request a transfer to the Hayes pack. Of course they would also know what had happened, but at least they hadn’t been there to witness it.
The only other option was to leave the pack. Some other packs had popped up, none quite as famous as the original two, but they seemed to be doing all right. Maybe he should try his luck there. Make a fresh start. Lord knew he would never get that here.
A twig snapped nearby, and he looked up. Oh, for fuck’s sake. “I don’t need your pity,” he said.
“That’s not why I’m here.”
“Well, you’re not the type to gloat or revel in someone else’s misery, so why are you here?”
Adar approached slowly and lowered himself to the ground next to Delton. “Because you could use a friend.”
“You don’t have to do this. You’re not responsible for any of this.”
“I know. But I meant what I said. I want us to be friends, and this is what friends do, isn’t it?”
Delton stole a glance sideways. “Even now that you know how I feel about you?”
Adar took his time answering. “How do you feel about me? Because it seems to me there’s a big difference between thinking we’re mates and having a crush on me and being in love with me. The reason I know is that right now, I’m wondering how I feel about Oliver.”
“He didn’t do it on purpose. He never meant to hurt me.” Despite everything, Delton couldn’t help but defend Oliver.
“I know.” Adar sighed. “That doesn’t make it okay, though. Him keeping this from me doesn’t bode well for our communication as a couple. He should’ve been honest with me.”
“I have to disagree with you on that one. He should never have mentioned this at all when he found out about it, which, for the record, he did on his own. I never told him, but he figured it out. And believe me, I wanted him to forget about it, to pretend he didn’t know.”
“Fair enough.”
“But to answer your question, since it seems to be a day of truths anyway, I guess it’s somewhere between a crush and thinking we’re mates. I can’t say I’m in love with you because we haven’t spent that much time together, and I don’t know you that well. But I could be. I guess the reason why it’s hurting so much is that I have to say goodbye to this feeling of potential.”
“I can relate to that now as well. My relationship with Oliver feels a hell of a lot less natural now than it did before.”
The alpha sounded sad, if not heartbroken, and Delton’s heart went out to him. “You never saw this coming, so it must’ve hit hard.”
“It did. But then again, I guess some of this is my fault.”
“How so?”
Adar picked a leaf from the ground and twirled it between his fingers. “I should’ve seen it. If Oliver figured it out, why didn’t I?”
Delton smiled. “Is that your wounded pride talking?”
Adar looked sideways, and when their eyes connected, he shot him a shy smile. “Probably. It makes me wonder what else I missed.”
“Don’t blame yourself. I didn’t want you to know.” Delton’s smile faded. “Though I have to admit I wasn’t as stealthy as I thought. Sivney picked up on it too, and he said some others in the pack were speculating about us as well. Until Oliver showed up, that is.”
“Does anyone else think we could be a triad?”
He wouldn’t lie to Adar, no matter how humiliating or painful the truth was. “Sivney raised that possibility, but I shut him down.”
