Chris was waiting outside for Dima when he came out of the bathroom donning a single piece of cloth. Watching his hunk of a mate when he was towel-clad only was torturous. The sinuous line of his abs was leading to a thin layer of his hair forming the perfect V on his lower abdomen. Below that laid the prize he remember oh so clearly holding the last time they were intimate. Chris just wanted to lick...

"Chris! You pervert!" The towel thrown in his face and Dima's scolding voice after that brought him back to the present. He let out a groan immediately after uncovering his face. There stood Dima with his back to Chris, looking inside his closet. Naked.

Before Chris could warn Dima to cover his fuckable ass, he felt a sudden pressure on the inner walls of his mind. He clutched his head before coercing himself to relax. It was the nudge to open his mind link. Dima was observing him from his position when Chris' eyes glazed over and waited patiently for him to talk to whoever he was talking to.

"It was my beta, Mitchell. He said Christopher had gone out and is yet to come back. It will not take a lot of time though, an hour at tops. Do you want to wait here or go to my office and wait there?"

Dima did not waste a moment thinking over his choices. After putting on the strip show earlier for Chris, staying in his room was dangerous. "Your office."

"Come."

The hallways were full of paintings, the walls were a combination of royal blue and steel blue. Identifying that all the paintings were done by different artists was nothing reward worthy; Every artist has a unique style to them and it seeps into their art.

Mitchell was already waiting inside the office for them. "Hey, Chris. How are you doing? I hope good after the date." Dimitri rolled his eyes. He was teasing and nudging Chris like the said date wasn't standing right there.

Dimitri went ahead and sat in Chris' chair like he was the Alpha. Chris just glanced at him, blew him a kiss which Dima made a gagging gesture to and turned back to Mitchell.

The spinning fan above their head was getting boring for Dima to look at. The red color of the walls, chairs, curtains and basically everything in there still brought the room alive. The conversation going on between the two others in the room was so normal, however he couldn't help but listen in. One particular topic piqued his interest.

"Hmm...maybe he can tell us about that glowing golden scenario," he heard Mitchell say.

"What glowing golden scenario?" Chris and Dima asked at the same time.

"As I told you before, Alpha froze for a second during the fight. I saw him emitting a golden light. He was glowing. It was for a mere second but I know what I saw."

"Leave your Alpha to have a golden glow moment during a fight with the enemies," Dima mumbled making Chris chuckle and Mitchell shake his head in amusement.

"It could be a trick of light; it was early morning and the sun was out."

The beta shrugged unsurely. Before they could ponder more on the issue, the door to the office opened and Christopher graced them with his presence.

"Christopher."

"Chris."

"I am sorry for not getting back to you earlier but my research wasn't over; I didn't want to come to you empty-handed."

"You worry too much, Christopher."

"Did you find something?" Dima cannot help himself but want to know all about his mate.

"Sadly, no. I checked every book on mates, there was nothing even remotely similar to your case. Maybe if I have an idea about the exact events which happened that day in the woods, I would be able to narrow things down. Alpha, tell me what exactly happened that day. Who knows it might help."

"Dima came to me that day in the wee hours of the morning." Chris ignored the smirk Mitchell sent his way even though he was hiding a smile himself. "Mitchell sensed a breach and called me while running to aid the border patrol. I alerted everyone in the pack house and was done passing the orders for guards to secure the area especially the pack house when Dima reached here. Assuming it was him who triggered the alert I told everyone to relax and get back to their posts. I think the rogues were loitering around the pack when they noticed Dima and saw him as an opportunity to breach the border alongside with him." Dima's eyebrows shot up after hearing that. "They could be thinking either of these two things – one, they will be sneaking inside using Dimitri as their advantage or two, we might think Dimitri was with them. Either way, it was a win-win for them."

"What happened after that? When did the fight start?"

"The fight started in the early morning, about an hour after Dima left. There were rogues everywhere. It was the usual except for when I froze for a second and rogues pounced on me and took me down."

"Why did you freeze?"

Chris eyed Dima when Christopher grilled him for answers. He didn't want Dima to know the reason. Yet. Worry encircled his mind and he chewed on his bottom lip in hesitation. Dima's intense stare wasn't helping either.

"Answer Christopher, Chris." Dima's booming and demanding voice echoed in the room. And after a long time, Chris saw the strong vampire Dimitri instead of his panic machine mate Dima.

Seeing no other choice, he stated the truth. "I smelt Dima."

"But he wasn't there," Mitchell voiced his thought confusedly.

"Exactly. I smelt Dima." Mitchell's eyes widened like he heard something unusual. Dima couldn't help but sense a hidden meaning in Chris' words. "I knew he was coming my way. For a second, I went out of my wits thinking that he was heading straight towards me, towards danger."

Under different circumstances, Dima would have hugged the fear out of Chris' body but at that time, he himself was scared out of his mind. His brows scrunched and his mouth curved into a frown. He was scared for Chris' life which fell in danger because of him.

"Was it then you realized he is your mate?"

"No, I only knew after I woke up."

Christopher nodded. "Anything else that you think might be important?"

"Nothing I could think of."

"What about that golden glow?" Mitchell butt in. He knew what he saw and keeping it in was impossible.

"I told you that must be a trick of light," Chris scolded Mitchell lightly.

Christopher, although, was very much interested in what the young beta said. He insisted to be told about it all. Mitchell told the story from what he saw incident by incident.

"I know exactly what to look for." The elder's eyes lit up.

But Chris' heart sank when he took a look at Dima who appeared heartbroken and numb.

👑♥️♥️👑