I blinked rapidly a few times before glancing at Angelica. The shocked look on her face confirmed what I thought: Basileus wanted Tandan to be his Beta.
"Um, what?" I said.
That wolfish smile spread across Basileus' face. "I'm choosing your mate to be my Beta," he said.
"You don't even know him, Basileus." Angelica almost sounded stern, like a mother. "You've known Peter for thousands of years."
"Peter is not fit for Beta and it is perhaps because he is familiar with me." His glowing eyes flickered to my mate, who was studying us both with confusion. "Your mate is powerful. He has Alpha blood in him. At one point, he could have been Alpha but turned it down. And..." Basileus turned back to me as I gaped. "He is in love with you. If I tried to take you wherever I go, he would resist. But if he's my Beta, he will be able to come too."
My eyes blinked several times in utter astonishment. Every sentence that just came out of his mouth sent a shockwave through me. Tandan could have been an Alpha? Basileus wanted me to follow him everywhere? I couldn't speak. I was literally speechless.
Chuckling, Basileus nodded at Angelica. "Would you mind translating for him?"
Our friend and oracle seemed just as floored as me, but she managed to break out of it. She turned to Tandan. Everyone in the whole damn room then turned to him. He glanced around almost nervously.
"Tandan," she started in English, "you have...Basileus has chosen you to be his Beta."
My mate's eyes turned to my face. Not Basileus'. Mine. I couldn't imagine what I looked like at this moment.
"You should talk to him," Basileus told me.
"He's your Beta," I said sourly, before even realizing what came out of my mouth.
This made him chuckle. "But he's your mate. He despises me. For now. You will have to make him see how this will work."
"Um...I don't even know that I understand how this is going to work."
"You both will accompany me along with Angelica," he said. "We will need to rally packs to come together and rally wolves to join packs. We are going to do a lot of traveling."
My independence and dignity warred against this plan of his. I was never asked if I wanted to abandon everything to join his cause. In fact, he didn't even need me for anything. I wasn't powerful. The only connection we had was that I was a damn wolf. So was everyone else in this room—aside from Angelica, but she was powerful enough on her own.
"Little pup," he spoke before correcting himself: "Lee. I do not request people to be part of this. I order them. We will all be a part of this soon enough and your best option will be to be with me. You will be safest with me."
"I can't do anything for you, Basileus. I'm dead weight."
His glowing sapphire eyes, the ones that belonged to my best friend, peered down at me. There was so much intensity that I was afraid I would explode looking into them.
"No one is dead weight," he told me. "Certainly not you. My vessel needs you. He still has slight control over this body and he will not go anywhere unless you come."
So this was all for Matt? God, how I missed him. I would do almost anything to see him or hear his voice again.
Basileus continued. "And personally, I have grown fond of you. No one has demonstrated as much devotion to me or your friend like you have. Lee, you have a pure heart."
I wanted to melt right there. The King of Lycans said he was fond of me and that I had a pure heart. Holy shit! How often does that happen?
"Are you more certain now?" he asked.
With a gulp, I nodded. It wasn't like there was a lot for me here anyway. If I didn't go with him, what would I do with myself? Stay here with my family who had, for some reason, treated me like garbage lately? Nope.
I sighed and stood up from the chair. My gaze wandered across the room until it met with Tandan's. "I will explain things," I said. At his blank look, I realized this was in French. Dammit. I cleared my throat and tried again, this time successful.
To my surprise, he followed me outside without question. The sky was getting dark with the promise of rain. My senses warned that it would only be minutes before the wet droplets descended.
"Lee," Tandan said quietly.
I turned to face him as my vision swam. We stared at one another for a long moment.
"Why didn't you ever tell me you were in a pack?" I asked.
Biting his lip, he shifted between his feet. "It was before you came. Before Lorrie, even. I didn't think it mattered."
"Basileus thinks it matters, obviously, if he thinks you're qualified to be his Beta."
"I'm not qualified. We both know why he wants me to be in his team."
"Explain it to me, because I'm still dumbfounded."
"So he can be close to you without defiance from me." There wasn't any anger or jealousy in his words and I was surprised.
I closed the distance between us and took his hands into mine. "Matt is still inside of him. He won't let Basileus carry out his plans unless I'm there. And, of course, he knows you would become an issue if excluded. He knows I rejected you and yet you came here for me."
Tandan roughly pulled my body against his and placed our foreheads together. "Because I love you. I know I'm shitty at showing it. I'm still figuring out how to love someone. Genuinely."
We stood like that for a minute, necks bowed and heads together. Then I whispered, "Tell me about your past."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I want to know. I need to know. We're going to be spending a lot of time together."
He withdrew a few inches so we could see each other before he led me to the porch steps. "I grew up in a pack. My father was Alpha. I was the only child so everyone assumed I would take his place once he was done. I even thought I would. It seemed like the only option for a long time. But...when I graduated high school and saw the options humans had to be successful and have a career...well, I wanted it. I didn't want to be in a pack anymore. I didn't want to give orders or have wolves look up to me. That was a responsibility I didn't want."
Wetting his lips, he reached over to take my hand. I leaned into his shoulder and closed my eyes.
"So I left," he continued. "Two days before the Alpha transition ceremony, I packed up my bags and ran. I started working for some sleazebag at a paper company. I took night classes until I got my bachelor's. And then I got my real estate license. That was about four years ago. Angelica worked at the office that hired me. We broke off to start our own company shortly after that. Then I met Lorrie. And then...then I met you."
A few tears spilled out of my eyes. "Did you ever go back? To your pack?"
He shook his head. "No. They would never let me leave if I returned. My dad was controlling and my mom did what she could, but it wasn't much. I mean, he wasn't exactly abusive. Just wasn't a great dad."
"I'm sorry," I whispered.
"Don't be," he softly replied. "If I hadn't left, I never would've met you. That was just how it had to be. Nature knew. And it also knew that you would meet Matt, who would be the vessel for the fucking king of lycans, who would need a Beta. It all lined up. I get it."
He was right. It had all lined up. So intricately yet perfectly.
"What do you think about being Beta?" I asked.
"I guess I'll have to sell my business."
My eyes turned to him and we both started laughing, though the sound was a little sad.
I nodded and said, "Yeah, I guess you will. Not that it will matter much when Basileus is done."
"Done. Will he ever actually be done? I don’t even know what we’re getting ourselves into.”
“I don’t think it matters.” I sighed. “We’re just here for the ride.”
Tandan kissed the top of my head. “As long as I get to sit next to you, I don’t care.”
I basked in the simplicity of this moment because I knew, before long, there would be nothing simple left in our world.