Russian Alpha Queen

12

Zeno was the first to awake to the sounds of snickering and excited whispers. Realizing he'd fallen asleep mostly sitting up, he tried to stretch before opening his eyes but was stopped by a firm pressure around his waist. Finally opening his eyes, he looked down to find a slim, pale arm wrapped around him, and the pressure he'd ignored in his shoulder was caused by her head resting on him.

Looking around the room with blurry eyes and a confused brain, he slowly realized where they were. The theater room, that's right. They must have fallen asleep while watching the movie Mila had picked out the night before. She'd claimed most of the blanket for herself, her long limbs struggling to stay on the couch and fully covered simultaneously, and Zeno shivered a bit as he became aware of the cold air against his skin. Finally he turned his eyes to the pair of wolves that had gone quiet by the door, Karine's eyes alight with joy and mischief, Alexi's much darker and filled with disappointment and anger. Zeno found himself fully awake as he took in the look on his best friend's face.

"Mila," he whispered quickly. "Mila," he called again a little louder, her face squirming this time in response.

"MILA WAKE UP!" Karine yelled suddenly. Mila shot up from her sleep, knocking her head against Zeno's own lowered skull. The two made contact with a large clinking sound and both immediately pulled back, each rubbing their now reddening foreheads. "Well that looked like that hurt," she teased, that same look of mischief still on her face.

You know we need to talk about this Zeno," came Alexi's voice in Zeno's mind. He quietly sighed, standing up and offering a hand to Mila. She took it, rising and rubbing her head once more.

"What the heck was that for Karine?" she whined.

"Sorry to bother you from your very comfortable looking sleeping arrangement, but if you want to be on time to the exam you need to get ready like right now. It's 9:30."

Mila's eyes widened as she rushed past her friends, muttering something about the time and a shower. Karine's eyes didn't miss the slight blush on her friend's face under the now lit overhead light. Zeno was slower to make his way out, the door to the sound proof room shutting ominously as he was left alone with the vultures.

"So Zeno..." Karine trailed, her tone clearly matching her facial expression. "What's up with you and Mila?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows at him and laughing. Zeno groaned at the same time Alexi spoke.

"Yeah Zeno, what's up with you and Mila? She is our Alpha you know, and she's been through a lot from what I gather. You shouldn't be trying to w***e it up with her." His tone was the exact opposite of his mate's.

It cut through Zeno like ice as it echoed in his ears. Alexi never talked to him like that. They seldom disagreed or argued, and when they had Alexi had always shown his disapproval through carefully worded questions to make Zeno realize for himself what he was doing wrong. To hear Alexi outright call him out like that made him feel terrible, until he had a realization.

What the f**k was Alexi even mad for? Because they'd fallen asleep on a couch together? It's not like he was trying to make out with her or get her to go back to his room or anything. Even if he had let that one thought slip, he'd been perfectly proper all night. He hadn't done or intended to do anything nefarious with her, it had just been two friends hanging out, who fell asleep when they were tired. So why did they both have to make this such a big deal?

"Nothing," he growled, his blood starting to race a bit as his wolf stood in his mind. Alexi was out here acting like he was some man w***e because he'd slept with few girls in recent years. He knew it was because Ivan forced him to, threatening to banish him if he kept acting like he was "not a real man."

As often as Zeno had thought about running away and trying to find a pack that accepted rogues, he could never bring himself to do it. Every time he'd had a plan and was at the precipice of executing it, he'd get this strange feeling that ran through his gut and rattled in his bones. He couldn't leave. There's something here he has to do. Some part of him knew that he was needed here for something, even before he, Alexi and Dimitri had all teamed up for an eventual coup that they no longer needed to follow through with. He was starting to realize that it had been a bond between he and the girl in the vent; he and Mila had been connected all the way back then.

Zeno paused in his tracks, his eyes widening at the sudden realization. He couldn't have known that Mila was what keeping him here back then because he didn't remember, but still he felt their bond. He was glad the pair was behind him as he made his way down the hallway, quickly regaining composure and continuing to walk briskly towards his own room. Unfortunately for him, his pause didn't go unnoticed by his best friend.

"So there IS something!" Alexi sped up to match pace with his best friend. He'd calmed down a bit from his initial reaction, but his stomach was still knotted as he tried to figure out how to approach the situation. Zeno simply couldn't try to go out with Mila. That was just a plain solid fact. Alexi had heard all of the rumors about the things that were happening behind the door on the third floor. There was a door there which was covered in locks and deadbolts, and Ivan had used an Alpha command to prevent anyone in the pack from over entering the room or attempting to go within a foot of the door. Some members of Ivan's original pack claimed he'd kidnapped a girl and was keeping her there, but until a few days ago everybody thought it was just something they'd made up to make Ivan look more ruthless, not that he needed the help. After going through all that, he knew Zeno knew better than to try and make a move on her. Unless...

"Is she your mate?!" his own mate squealed, mirroring his thoughts while clapping her hands excitedly as she ran up on the pair of boys. Zeno quickly whirled around, glaring at her and putting a finger on his lips to signal her to be quiet.

"No, and don't say stuff like that, I don't want people looking at her weird or making assumptions." His tone was dark and unusually threatening. His wolf was close to the surface at this point, both of them annoyed that one little thing was being blown so far out of proportion, and worried people would hear what Karine said and start gossiping about he and Mila's relationship. He'd seen how concerned she was with people's perception of her leaving his room late at night the last time they'd been up late together, and while he wasn't sure what her reaction would be to finding out his friends had unintentionally started that rumor right after she took over, he knew it definitely would not be good for any of them.

Zeno sighed, roughly running a hand through his copper hair, trying to force himself to cool off. If he'd been in a more reasonable state of mind, he'd have been able to see their point, but he wasn't a morning person and this was far too much to deal with from just waking up after a great night. The movie Mila had picked was kind of a dud - the first half was really slow and the two had found themselves talking and getting to know each other better.

They'd pointedly kept the conversation focused on ideals and future plans, and the two felt much closer by the time the movie had actually started getting to the action parts. It was a foreign film where some people were in the French catacombs and all kinds of stuff started appearing in front of them. It was actually getting pretty crazy around two in the morning, but the exhaustion of the long day had them both asleep by the time the film finished. They hadn't meant to fall asleep on the couch, but it was understandable that his friends would perceive that differently knowing how Alexi thought of him as a player.

Zeno scowled at the thought. Alexi had been lucky enough to be born two months before Karine, and their parents were best friends so they'd been hanging out since birth. They'd both shifted around the same time and been even more inseparable since them. It didn't surprise anyone when they mated at a young 14. Not everyone had been so lucky, and it was a bit of a sore spot for Zeno that he was 20 and still mateless, and Alexi knew it.

"Hey chill out man," Alexi said warningly, having taken a few moments to get over the shock of Zeno talking to his mate that way. They'd all grown up together, and while they'd argued off and on as teens, they'd never really gotten that sort of tone with each other.

"Sorry Karine," Zeno replied sincerely. While he was currently struggling with his wolf more than should be necessary, he still felt bad about snapping at her like that. He knew she meant well, he was just annoyed people were adding more pressure as he and Mila were trying to figure out how their relationship would go now that they're older. "No, she's not my mate. She's... special to me though. We were really close friends back in the day, and I guess it's made it easier for us to be comfortable together now."

"Wait, how is that possible?" Alexi asked, his face furrowing in confusion. "I know for a fact that the only friends you've had are me, Karine, and -" he stopped as his brain began filling in the memories of conversations about the third person he just now remembered existed. His mouth dropped open as he realized just how much time Zeno had spent talking about the girl when she'd first gotten kidnapped, then neither of them thought to speak about her again. He didn't even remember having the conversations at all, even though Zeno had poured his heart out to him in a way only brothers could. How had they possibly just forgotten that?

"Oh," was all he could think to say.

"Yeah." That was all Zeno was willing to provide on the subject matter. What went on between them was he and Mila's business, and he wasn't about to just go spilling it out without her consent, especially in an open hallway with people roaming around.

"Well, I'm going to go see if Mila's dressed so I can try and get some hints for this test since someone over here won't give his loving mate any," Karine teased, skipping off with a smirk as she left her scowling mate behind.