Chapter 59

Kadeem

The pink dawn shone through the windows of the donut shop. Mateo ripped the plastic lid off of his coffee cup, releasing a cloud of steam.

“I want the scoop on your beta.”

Kadeem sighed and slumped in his seat. “Give it a rest,” he said, taking a sip from his own styrofoam cup.

Mateo began opening small packets of sweetened creamer, stirring in one after another like a man possessed.

Kadeem watched in amusement. “Maybe we should just get you some sugar in IV form already,” he smirked, glancing at his pile of empty packets next to Mateo’s giant stack of donuts.

Mateo waved his hand dismissively. “I don’t need your judgment,” he said. “Just eat your egg things.”

“Egg bites,” Kadeem corrected. “And they’re not half bad,” he said, winking.

Mateo clicked his tongue. “Whoever heard of ordering healthy crap like that in a donut store, for God’s sake?” He narrowed his eyes in mock abomination. “You disgust me.”

Kadeem laughed, and took another fork-full. “To each his own, I guess. Bon appetite.” He lifted an egg bite in a “toast.”

“Now, you’re getting it,” Mateo grinned, chugging his coffee and grabbing a donut. “Just let me savor dopamine high in peace.”

“Fine,” Kadeem said, grinning. “This is a safe space.”

“That’s all I ask,” Mateo said. “Now, let’s get back to Riley.”

Kadeem shook his head. “No,” he said. “I don’t get into her personal life, and even if I did, I would never - not in a million years - facilitate a relationship between the two of you. I have too much respect for her.”

Mateo winced. “That hurts,” he said.

Kadeem rolled his eyes. “I’m serious.”

“I know,” said Mateo. “So am I.” He squirmed in his seat. “Do you really think so little of me?”

Kadeem drew in a breath. “When it comes to women? Yes. Especially the women I care about. It’s a hard ‘no.’”

Mateo looked down at his donut pile. “I’m honestly disappointed in you.”

Kadeem watched him take a massive self-medicating bite of his donut. “Sorry,” he said, shaking his head, aware that he didn’t sound sorry at all.

Mateo brushed the crumbs out of his lap. “I’m not a monster, you know.”

Kadeem raised an eyebrow. “Just wildly inappropriate and sexist,” he said flatly.

Mateo leaned back in his seat. “I prefer, ‘passionate’ and ‘sex-positive.’”

Kadeem studied Mateo for a moment, slowly shaking his head. “Mmm… Whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess.”

Mateo scowled and sat down his coffee cup with an angry “clunk” on the laminate table. “You don’t have a lot of room to talk,” he said. “Get off your high horse.”

Any other time, this would have prompted an eruption of anger from Kadeem, but he barely hard the barb.

He held his coffee cup suspended midair, in a frozen extension to his mouth as he watched the sight of a familiar blond man passing by outside.

”What is it?” Mateo whipped his head over to see what Kadeem was staring at. “Oh! That’s Ardal’s boyfriend isn’t it?”

Kadeem shrugged his shoulders, his brow furrowed in concentration as he watched Rayburn continue to make his way down the street until he was just a black speck against the morning sun.

“I don’t think they’re that serious,” Kadeem said. “At least, I hope not.”

While Mateo stuffed himself with sprinkle donuts, Kadeem sat in sullen silence beside him, his anger simmering beneath the surface all the while.

Foot traffic was beginning to pick up downtown.

Mateo glanced at his watch. “I need to head off soon,” he said.

Kadeem nodded and they stood to leave.

“Don’t let the mere sight of that guy throw off your whole day,” Mateo said.

Kadeem grabbed the door and they stepped out into the bright morning sun.

“It’s more than just jealousy,” he said. “I don’t trust him.”

”That’s a cognitive bias, my friend,” Mateo grumbled, slamming the last of his coffee before chunking the cup into an overflowing bin near the curb. “You’re jealous of him because of who he is - your ex-wife's new man - so you're making up other reasons why you can't stand him. It’s called 'emotional reasoning.’"

Kadeem chewed on that for a moment. Finally, he shook his head. “No. It goes deeper than that.”

“Yeah,” said Mateo, with an all-knowing smile. “He’s threatening your relationship with your mate. That’s about as deep as it comes.”

Kadeem sighed heavily. “Will you cut out the psychobabble? I’ve been at the Alpha thing for a few years now. I’ve seen enough crap at this point to know when someone is up to no good.

Mateo held up his hands in surrender, a cocky grin plastered on his face. “I stand corrected, oh mighty Alpha.”

A low growl escaped Kadeem’s lips. “You’re lucky I don’t put you in your place right now, Mateo.”

Fear flickered in Mateo’s eyes as Kadeem stared him down, but then, with an almost absurd display of courage, Mateo broke into a dissonant laugh.

“You can be one scary bastard, Kadeem, I’ll give you that, but I know you too well for that pack hierarchy shit.”

Kadeem clenched his fists. “I tolerate you,” he said, shaking his head at Mateo’s audacity, “And don’t you forget it.”

Mateo was a master manipulator, knowing just how much he could push Kadeem’s buttons until he snapped, but one day, Kadeem thought with a pang, he was going to push too hard.

The two Weres parted ways, leaving Kadeem to brood, alone, as he trudged towards the fitness center.

He felt weighed down by his troubles - his suspicious feelings about Rayburn, the onslaught and potential rising threat of the vampires, and every single thing to do with Ardal.

He braved the storm of her ever-changing moods, but he felt like he was being pulled along a roller coaster with her, careening through the gut-wrenching dips of her moods and trying to keep up with the flips and turns of her confounding behaviors. And he labored to untangle the heaping mess of their past, coupled with his own ponderings on how to proceed.

But nothing prepared him for the whirlwind of unease that descended upon him when she told him the news about Erbao. Anxiety and fear churned inside him like a raging sea.

A six year-old suffering from renal failure. Life could be so damn cruel sometimes, it made him question whether there was any point to trying at all. But there was no time for self-pity. Not when the fate of so much was at stake. He shook off the anguish, and made it through his day.

That night, he gathered with his crew. Riley and his team still had no new intel on the vamp attack. They were stuck waiting for the next moment of violence to bubble up. He felt a sense of dread, a looming dark on the horizon.

Just before they disbanded, he barked out an unplanned command. “I want you to look into Dr. Jack Rayburn,” he said, astounded with his own decision.

‘I may come to regret the hell out of that,’ he mumbled to himself as he made his way home in the moonlight.

“Daddy!”

Kadeem sprang up from his pillow, a chill of terror pulsing through him. Sweat dripped down his forehead and the echoes of children’s cries still hung in the air.

He’d never had such a vivid nightmare. Searching for Ardal’s quintuplets in a patch of barren trees, he had shifted into wolf form to fight off a swarm of vampires. Kadeem could see Erbao, just beyond his reach as the vamp lunged forward.

Now, in the darkness of his bedroom, Kadeem was breathing heavily - Erbao’s terrified face still lingering in his mind. Desperately, he tried to quell his racing heart. It was just a dream - but at that moment, Kadeem made up his mind. No matter what it took, he would keep them safe.