The Game Of Quadruplet Mates
(Bk 2) Chapter 25

What?

I was so confused.

So very confused

The nerve wrecking intensity of his gaze only made me realize that I didn't hear him wrong.

My throat dried as I stared at this beautiful man, the most beautiful man I've ever seen and I cannot believe what just came out of his lips.

Because surely he didn't just say that?

I am just mistaken.

"I'm sorry?" I don't get to voice this out quite as well as hoped.

His lips pulled into a genuine smile, the sadness in those beautiful eyes of his were completely gone. "Do I have to say it again?"

"No," I blurted out a little too quickly. I do not think I can survive if he says it a second time. "I just, I just.." He leaned closer and the words just left me. "I'm not expecting anything from you, Miss X. You were just very insistent for me to accept the other girl's gift when I only wanted yours."

Oh my Goddess.

My insides swooped and I could tell I was bright red, flushed beyond belief.

I didn't expect this at all.

For a man who has spent the majority of the Games wallowing alone with drinks, the last thing I could have imagined is for him to say this.

We made such a good team as well and... he crowned me.

He continued to choose me.

Something that O hasn't done.

"I thought I was obvious enough." He jokes, his lips trying hard not to smile for my benefit. "But I suppose I need to be more direct when it comes to you."

Behind me I feel my guard move, a change of position, a simple crunch of his boots against the dried leaves that brings me back to the present.

I twisted around to face my guard and I swear it was the angriest I've ever seen him. The angriest I ve ever seen anyone. He was impossibly still, his hand on either side of him was fisted and his nostrils were flared like he was breathing hard.

He didn't say anything but he didn't need to. He never needed to. His eyes said it all.

Just as I think he might explode or tear through Mister W, another guard approaches him.

He didn't immediately notice his coworker's arrival at first.

He was too busy locking his jaw and probably plotting how to either kill Mister Wor disqualify him: Whatever was faster.

But something the other guard says makes him snap his attention towards his coworker with his eyes narrowed and his eyebrows furrowed

I tried hard to listen but all I could get was little words here and there.

"Bedroom..."

"Someone..."

"Come immediately...

My guard looked torn, his gaze altering between his coworker and I, but whatever was said must be really serious because he pursed his lips. It felt like minutes, but in truth it was only a few seconds until he seemed to have made a decision as he nodded in defeat. The other guard leaves first, quickly heading for the mansion. With one last look, my guard's eyes bore into mine with such ferocity, reminding me quietly- loudly of his warning, and then he was gone.

"Your guard doesn't seem to like me." Mister W says, his eyes also following where my guard went.

I almost forgot he was there and what he had said before we were interrupted. "Don't be offended by it. He doesn't like anyone."

"He's doing his job." W agrees, leaning back into the tree." They want to make sure we keep our identities hidden."

Our shoulders were touching again, making it hard to breathe, but I tried to put all my attention into the conversation. "And are you okay with that? Not knowing?

Going in blind?"

"I do not mind it." His words were spoken with such certainty, with such a solemn air that I could feel the power and truth of them. "I care very little about titles and blood ranking when it comes to my future..." He couldn't even say the word 'mate

I wonder what has made him so closed off, so hesitant for a mere word

The entire Games feels like a torture for him.

At least until now.

And now he can barely even say the word.

I want to ask him about it but I am almost sure this would scare him away.

The last thing I wanted was for him to run away again.

"What about you, Miss X? Are titles important?" The way he asked me was almost like he already knew what my answer was going to be. "Do you want a big, bad, scary Alpha like all the others?"

"No," I said without hesitation. "I think that titles should have nothing to do with who we leave with at the end of the week."

As if the mere mention of titles summoned him, O walked into the open gardens, his eyes sweeping through the picnic goers. It was hard not to notice how his normally handsome features were now replaced by the obvious distress in his expression. His throat was slimmer where it met his jaw and there was a hollowness to his cheeks that I had never seen before

Apparently, I wasn't the only one lacking sleep these past few days. The area around his eyes had darkened considerably, making them look as though his eyes had sunk into his skull. His hair was disheveled to the point that it was unsettling, for he loved his hair and his hair had its own fan group at home.

I know I shouldn't and that last night's conversation was fresh in my heart, but I worried about him.

It didn't help that in his hand, he was clutching a book that I knew he didn't care to read... because it was for me.

He came to the garden for me.

And when he did see me, sharing a blanket with Mister W and pressing close, his pain was evident.

He didn't linger, dropping the book to the ground and turning away. He was shaking as he walked away and it took everything in me not to run to him.

"But?" Mister W asks, bringing me back to the present, to the conversation we were having about titles and if I cared about them.

It took me a second to remember what we were talking about.

And when I did, it was because of my guard's warning about Mister W.

Hearing the warning in my guard's words inside my head over and over, I decided to take a leap of faith and push it back. I couldn't let myself be distracted any longer. "I know the Games are supposed to be about going in blind and following our feelings, but I do hope to know a few things, personal things, about someone before I leave with them."

Those beautiful eyes of h is turned hooded with intrigue."

Personal things like what?"

My eyes nervously looked behind us, to see if any guards were listening, but there was no one.

We were alone with only a few people left in the open gardens and they were too far away to hear anything.

"It's just us," Mister W assures, coming a bit closer to whisper, his cool breath fanned my face ever so slightly." You can tell me."

I lower my voice regardless.

"You'll think it's silly."

"I'll never think that about you." And when he says this, I know it is the truth.

It is the way his beautiful eyes were bright, the way his lips held that hint of a smile, encouraging and patiently waiting but never pressing. "I want to know who I'm leaving with is all. The little things. Those are what matters, I think. Their favorite food. Their favorite color. Their favorite season. If they like strawberries or if they prefer oranges. Will I fight them over chocolates..."

I was blabbering but he didn't seem to mind.

Instead, he smiled, the kind of smile that stops the world around us.

He surprises me by patiently, ever so patiently, answering every single one of my questions. "I like roast. My favorite color is blue. Summer is the superior season in my opinion.

I prefer strawberries over oranges any day and yes, I will fight you over chocolates. Especially white chocolate.

Those are my favorites."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Goes my heart.

"My legs must have really done you good, huh?" I replace myself whispering, the tension pressing against my lungs and making it hard to breathe.

He pulls back as though he couldn't believe what I just said right at that moment before a laugh leaves his lips.

Laughing. Actually laughing.

"You are truly incredible, Miss

X."

There was still a hint of sadness in those eyes, a sadness | couldn't understand buried under the brightness of them, a mystery I wanted to uncover and solve all at once.

His eyes scanned mine and he cursed quietly, gently, a mere breath of words. "Fuck,

Slowly, he inched closer, his eyes on my lips and suddenly all I could see was his lips as well. Full and plump and... kissable.

And then I was looking at his hair, the strands so fine and soft, I just knew that when I ran my hands through them it would feel terribly good. A few strands were on his forehead, over his eyes, and I had to fight to keep my hands to myself.

He was still looking at my lips. His eyes, those beautiful orbs, memorizing them.

He was so close.

So da mn close that I can't breathe.

He's gorgeous.

It truly hurt to look at him.

I can almost feel his lips on mine now...

Almost

The anticipation of it was causing little tremors up and down my arms and legs.

I wonder if he tastes like his favorite chocolate. Sweet and addicting.

Through all this, my foolish mind conjures O. I think of his kiss and his arms. I think of how softly he pressed his lips on mine and how gently he held me. I think of his smile and how he always made me feel safe, even though at times he was the one I was scared of. Just before our lips touched, I felt Mister W stiffen, his entire body turning cold like a ghost had walked through him. The hand that I didn't know he had on my face shook as he stared at something behind me.

I turn to look at what he saw but he holds me in place and tugs on my hand, urging me to stand.

"Let's go," His throat was tight, that sadness that was hidden was now back and prominent. "Please, hurry.""

I stand and each time I attempt to look back, he only tugs me to face him. "What is it?"

He looked like someone had punched him in the gut.

Repeatedly. "Nothing. Just trust me."

With his hand tightly on mine, he tugs me towards the woods, away from the mansion - our picnic abandoned, my book forgotten. We didn't stop, his hand pulling me behind him as he went deeper and deeper into the woods.

The air seemed thicker as I took the deepest of breaths to calm myself down, to wrap my head around what was happening.

My heart was beating out of my chest, a mixture of confusion and worry pulsing through my body. We were walking so deep into the woods that the mansion was out of sight and the sounds of life, of the never ending party that I think could not ever be quiet, were silent.

The absence of footsteps behind me- my guard further panics me.

A clap of thunder was the last straw, the dark clouds looming over our heads causing me to yank my hand out of his grasp. "Mister W, you have to start being honest with me. I can't just be pulled or left whenever you want. I need an explanation. Why did you bring me here? What are you running away from?"

I thought I had seen the worst of him, the worst of his sadness, but as he turned to face me, I saw that it was much more than what I could have ever imagined.

He looked haunted.

Scared

"W?" I gasped, coming towards him in complete shock."

What's wrong?"

His face scrunches up in torment and I can tell he's looking for the right words as the sounds of thunder above us get louder and closer, the dark clouds thick and angry. "There's someone I've been avoiding in the Games, okay? Someone I do not want to see." A drop of rain falls on my face and another and another but we do not move. "Is this the escape you told me about?

It's a person? You're trying to escape a person?"

He didn't want to admit that. Male pride or whatever it was, but he nods like it hurt him to do so.

"Yes. It is. And I can't

go back there. Not yet." The woman he loves.

That's got to be it.

The rain was coming down hard, drenching us once more, much like the lake did.

I remember the man who jumped into the water to help me fish my things out of the lake- no questions asked. The same man who chose me... who has been choosing me over and over.

He had so much weight on his shoulders and all because of her.

Whoever her was.

I stared at him and saw myself. The sadness, the escape.

That was me, but with O.

Understanding washed through me as I blinked away the rain from my face. Mister Wand I... we were the same. I do not know his whole story, but I know what it felt like, the feeling that made him want to run away.

The sky shook from another thunder clap. A storm had come and I took his hand, pulling us towards a large tree to take cover. He lets me pull him, his breathing irregular. We pressed close, trying our best to get out of the rain, but it was getting worse. Overhead, the sky that was bright blue was now inky purple, the billowing clouds almost black. The crisscross of lightning streaked down the heavens with a sharp c ra c k, making me shudder.

My hand over the top of my eyes, I look around for any place we can stay until the weather gets better and, like an answered prayer, I see a small shack- a gardening shack not too far away.

"Over there!" I shouted over the thunder and the lightning that struck.

He looked up, his wet hair over his eyes. He sweeps it to the side to see where I'm pointing at and, with a nod, he takes my hand in his, holding it tightly, and we make a run for it.