Chapter 43

                                    

                                          
Mila didn't need Ethan to tell her that Isaac had talked to her cousin. She could tell the moment they walked into the garden center. She glanced at Ethan, who was smiling, and he looked back at her and nodded.
"She knows," he murmured.
Riley looked up at her mate. "Can I talk to my cousin? Alone?"
Isaac frowned at her and looked at Ethan. "We'll go outside."
The minute they were outside, Riley almost exploded. "Holy cannoli am I overwhelmed by all of this."
"You didn't know any of it?" Mila asked her. She really wasn't sure what Riley knew and what she didn't.
"Well, I knew most of the basic things with a normal pack. Or at least I think I do, but I didn't know that there was a Royal Pack or a King," Riley said, her eyes wide. "How long have you known?"
"Not that long. He told me the same day you found Isaac. The day before yesterday. He decided to just get it over with since everything was all screwy between us anyway." Mila frowned. That day had really sucked.
"Mila, I'm so sorry," Riley said.
"I am too. I can't believe I really thought you would steal my mate, or that Ethan would cheat on me." As devoted as he'd been to her, it was hard to wrap her head around now that she was thinking about it rationally.
"It's hard to deny what your eyes see," Riley said.
"You're not wrong." Mila agreed.
"I suspected he was your mate when you two first saw each other," Riley said quietly.
"What? You knew he was a werewolf?" Mila frowned at her.
"Well the third guy that came with him and Nick is named Ezra and I know for a fact that he's one. I've met him before. Given that Ethan and Nick have similar builds and were with him, it wasn't hard to come to that conclusion," Riley said.
"Why did you suspect he was my mate?" Mila asked.
"Because the moment he laid eyes on you, he couldn't take them off of you. I could have been standing out there naked and he wouldn't have noticed. I knew if he was, he'd be back, and as sure as shootin, he showed up the next day and asked you out," Riley smirked.
"And then you asked him if he was? He said you confronted him." He'd told her that the day he'd told her what he was.
"Yeah, he wasn't happy with me about that, but he wanted to know where you were so I traded information. He told me that he'd taken over at Alamo and was the new Alpha, which surprised me. The only thing I couldn't figure out was why he didn't want to stay in the position. It's the top rank in a pack. Everyone kept telling me, It's complicated Riley, which was rather annoying. But now I understand why and yes it is complicated," Riley said.
"Their pack is so different from the other," Mila said.
"Yes it is," Riley agreed.
"What happened when Isaac showed up?" Mila asked. She'd been wondering about that too. She was fairly certain Riley didn't even know Ethan had a twin.
"Oh that was awkward," Riley laughed. "Of course I thought he was Ethan, especially because he said he'd be back after lunch. He comes walking in here and I was just like, Hey, Ethan. He didn't respond to that. I'm just looking through a catalog, mostly ignoring him, and he stops on the other side of the counter and just stands there. So I finally looked up and I freaked out."
"You freaked?" Mila's eyes widened. "Good freak or bad freak?"
"Bad. Rebekah told me how it was when she laid eyes on Max, how her world changed in that moment, like it flipped upside down and then back upright and he was the only one there for a few moments. I felt that and I freaked out because I thought it was Ethan." Riley looked down and took a deep breath. "I immediately asked him to reject me."