What We Left Unsaid

“Fuck you.”

Pausing mid page-flip, the larger man’s lips tugged into a slow smile, dimples appearing almost instantly as he spun around in his chair and glanced toward the doorway to his office, where his beta was standing with a very irritated expression on his face. He couldn’t help but let that smile pull into a little smirk as he leaned back in his chair and cocked his head to the side, extending an arm and dropping the binder carelessly onto the desk in front of him, grateful for the distraction. “Well, good morning to you, too!” he greeted happily. “What’s the matter? Didn’t you sleep well?”

The growl that immediately answered his question had his grin flashing even wider, a loud laugh bubbling out of him. But that laugh died away the second the green-eyed man’s eyes flashed amber and he crossed into the room, kicking the door shut behind him and stalking over to the desk. Then, in a sudden action, the man’s hands were flying forward and slamming down onto the desk violently, his weight pressing down into it so that he was leaning over the desk and trying to look all large and intimidating since the alpha was actually sitting down and therefore temporarily at a height disadvantage.

It didn’t work, and Matt’s only response to the little tantrum was a sympathetic face that clearly showed how unthreatened he was by his beta’s posture. “That bad, huh?” he asked, the little smirk on his face starting to reappear despite his best efforts to keep his expression controlled. “But you looked like you were sleeping so peacefully this morning!”

“You had no right!” the guitarist snapped, rising to the bait just as his friend knew he would. “What the fuck were you even doing in my room, huh? Why the hell didn’t you knock?! I’d never sneak into your room without knocking!”

“Well... it wouldn’t really be sneaking in if you if you knocked, would it?”

“What, so you’re going to play my mom and a wise ass today? Sure you’re up for the challenge?”

“Ouch?”

“Fuck you!” the black-haired man repeated with a dark glare. “It’s the fucking principle of the matter, damn it! I always knock on your door before I walk in!”

“That’s because I actually lock my door, and you need me to answer it,” Matt added, more for the benefit of watching his friend’s eyes flash amber again than anything else. “But okay, okay; relax! You’re right; I should have knocked. My bad! Hell, I would have, had I known your mate’s been sleeping with you now.”

“It’s not like that!”

The little smirk was back, and the alpha crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the other side this time, an eyebrow immediately arching. “Sure looked like it from where I was standing.”

A low growl answered him as the guitarist leaned forward even more, his arms supporting the majority of his weight now. “But it’s not like she stays in my room every night or anything, for fuck’s sake! It’s--”

“Of course not!” Matt interrupted with an incredulous look, before the dimples reappeared and his lips pulled into a sideways smile. “Just the nights you’re not staying in her room, right?”

There was a loud slam as the man before him pushed back from the desk and spun around, lashing out one of his arms and shoving one of the nearby chairs to the ground. He gave a frustrated growl, both of his hands raising to pull at his hair, before he turned back around and fixed a pointed stare on his friend. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Matt.”

“Dude!” the vocalist complained, heaving out a disappointed sigh. “If you’re going to lie at least cover your tracks a little bit! Your scent is all over her pillows! And just a day old, if I’m not mistaken.”

“So you were snooping about in her room, too? What the fuck happened to basic privacy?!”

“I was getting something for Johnny, Zee. That’s why I ended up in your room -- I was worried because I didn’t know where she was, and thought she might’ve gone and done something stupid like go off on her own. I wouldn’t have worried, had I known you two only need one room, now.”

Of course, that comment of his earned another large growl in response. “It’s not fucking like that, damn it! It’s just so I can actually sleep, alright?!”

This time, when the larger man let out another sigh, he actually leaned forward, his expression sobering pretty quickly. “I do have a nose, you know, and I have been known on occasion to use it. I know you two aren’t sleeping together sleeping together. But... really, Zee, you do know that she’s your mate, right?”

“And what exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“It’s supposed to mean calm the fuck down and relax for a goddamn minute. There’s no reason to get your panties in a twist and be all defensive and shit about this. You’re mates. You sleep better together -- that’s just how it is! You don’t need to explain that to me.” One look at the still-suspicion man before him and he knew that it apparently wasn’t that simple. So, with one more deep breath, he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the desk, nodding to the remaining chair. “Alright, man, come on; tell me what’s going on. Where’s your head at right now?”

This time, it was the guitarist that let out a sigh, but he nonetheless took a moment to calm himself down and drop into the waiting chair, one of his hands immediately lifting to rub at his temples. “I know, I know. I’m acting like a bitch right now, right? I’m sorry, Man. I just... I don’t like the shit I’m feeling right now, okay? Jesus fucking Christ, I sound like I’m PMSing!”

“You sound like you have a mate,” Matt corrected gently. “Let me guess: you’re restless when she’s not around, and for whatever reason, when you’re falling asleep beside her, it’s as if nothing in the world matters. And because you hate her, that’s all confusing as hell for you, right?”

A deep nod confirmed his suspicions. “I just... damn it, Matt, why? I don’t like being around her, Man; why do I fucking need to be?”

This time, the sympathetic little smile that appeared on the alpha’s face was purely genuine. “Because you decided it would be a good idea to take her as your mate. And I’m not trying to rehash that conversation, I’m just being straight with you, Man. She’s your mate. You’re supposed to need some kind of physical contact beyond just one or two good punches a day. It’s not a fucking marriage license that you can just put on a wall and ignore. I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t work that way.”

There was a long silence where the two just sat there, hazel eyes watching the other man and green eyes fixed purposefully on the ground. “Do you feel it, too, then?”

“Every moment of every day,” the vocalist answered without hesitation, his head dipping low in a large nod. “And no, it doesn’t get easier; it gets harder to ignore every day. She’s your mate, Zee. Whether you like it or not, you need her now. Look, I get that my situation with Kat is different than yours with Ava, and I get that you and she have more issues than I can even dream of, but you’ve got to figure out how to work through it all. I know, I know; I don’t know what I’m talking about because I honestly don’t even get what the hell your problem is with her in the first place, but whatever it is... She is going to go into heat, Zacky, and I’d guess pretty soon. You need to get some shit straightened out with her before that happens.”

Another moment of silence later, and the guitarist opened his mouth, green eyes filled with some emotion that Matt couldn’t identify. But rather than say whatever was obviously on his mind, the shorter man shook his head and focused his gaze into an irritated glare down at the desk. “Yeah, I know. With all of the shit we’ve already got going on, of course there has to be her goddamn heat to think about on top of it all. But, hey, at least you didn’t seem to have too much trouble.”

“Zee,” he prodded gently, hazel eyes fixing a long, steady look on his friend, “that’s because I was sleeping with my mate. And by that I obviously mean sleeping with her sleeping with her; not just what you and Ava are doing. It’s not a problem if mating actually plays a role, but, Dude... it’s not supposed to be a good experience if anything gets in the way of that. I don’t know what you should be expecting, honestly, but you sure as hell shouldn’t be expecting what I had with Kat.”

A groan answered his comment, but the man before him only nodded, taking that information in but otherwise refusing to acknowledge it. It was obviously going to turn into one of those things that Matt mentioned, but Zacky refused to deal with until it was too late. But whatever -- that was how the dark-haired man operated, and the alpha was more than used to it.

“Alright,” he started again after the silence dragged out just a little bit too long. “Well, is there anything else going on that you want to talk about, Man? You know I can actually sit here and listen without giving you a hard time, right? If there’s something you want to get off your chest...?” Like whatever it was he had been about to say a minute ago, for instance.

Once more, his friend hesitated, his mouth opening part way as if he was just going to go ahead and say something, but, once more, he ended up only closing it and giving his head a shake in response. “Nah, I’m good, Man, but I’ll keep that offer in mind.”

He wasn’t, and he sure as hell wouldn’t; Matt was sure of it, but there was nothing he could do. So, just fixing a smile on his face that he knew even the guitarist would know wasn’t completely genuine, the alpha nodded his head. “Okay, then. We good now? Are you done throwing a hissy fit about me not knocking on your door?”

And just like that, the scowl reappeared on the Italian’s face, but at least this time it wasn’t nearly as intense. “We’re good, so long as you drop that topic completely. Just stay out of it, Shads; it’s between Ava and me, and I really don’t need you fucking it up.”

“Woah, woah, woah!” the larger man said relatively incredulously, lifting both of his hands in front of him in a gesture of defense. “I made a single joking comment. You can’t seriously still be upset about it?”

Zacky sighed. “It’s not the comment, it’s... I can finally sleep, okay? And after how hard I had to work to get her to give in and let me sleep next to her, I’d really appreciate it if you could please not provoke her about this, alright? Anything else! You can mock us about anything else, but please just leave this alone. I need my sleep; I need this!”

Matt’s brow furrowed, his incredulity fading quickly to be replaced by sheer confusion. “Wait, you actually think what I... What do you mean you had to work hard to get her to give in?”

His question earned him an overdramatic roll of those two green eyes. “What do you think it means? Damn it, Matt, do you think I like having to beg her to let me stay in the same room as her? Do you think I’m even remotely okay with the fact that I now owe her? Jesus! You know I had to tell your mate that she shouldn’t hold my feelings about Ava against her? I had to tell Kat that she should give Ava a chance! How fucking ridiculous is that?”

Matt temporarily ignored the mention of his mate, zeroing in instead on the first thing that caught his attention. “You had to actually beg?”

“Have you ever known her to do something for me just for the hell of it?” came the unimpressed retort.

“But she’s your mate, Zacky!”

And, just as unimpressed as before, the beta gave a low growl. “I fucking know, Matt! You don’t have to keep telling me that.”

“No!” the alpha objected, lifting a hand to run through his hair as he tried to come up with the words to explain what he was trying to convey. “I mean, you shouldn’t have had to convince her at all. She’s mated to you, too. It’s not a one way street; the mating bond affects her, just like it affects you.”

“What?” For a moment, it looked as if this information was news to the still-newly-mated male, but he quickly got over the shock and settled on calm fury as he slowly leaned forward and fixed a direct stare into his alpha’s eyes. “What do you mean, exactly? How much of the shit I’m dealing with is she dealing with, too?”

And that was when the vocalist realized exactly what he had just stepped into. His lips briefly forming an ‘o’ of understanding, he slowly leaned back in his seat, trying to figure out exactly how to best handle to obviously borderline furious male in front of him. “I’m not a bitch, Dude,” he started carefully, “so I can’t answer that exactly.”

“But you can tell me what you do know, Sanders, and you can tell me now.”

The growl that echoed in the room this time came from Matt, his eyes flashing amber in warning as he stared down at his friend. He didn’t care what they were talking about, but his beta did not use that tone of voice on him. And especially not when he was trying to ask for his help. But, when the man flinched and pointedly dipped his head a bit, the alpha decided to let it slide. “All I know is that Kat doesn’t sleep too well when I’m not around, either. Okay? It’s not exactly the same, and she’s definitely not nearly as anxious when we’re not together as I am, but she can feel it, too.”

“So, what you’re telling me right now...”

“I mean, I know apparently some things are different from werewolf to werewolf... but, still...”

“Shads! Are you telling me what I think you’re telling me?”

“I’m telling you that you both need to have contact with each other... Zack, Ava’s definitely benefiting just as much as you are by sleeping with you.”