Our Hearts Collided (MxM)

Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for your patience. Enjoy, and love you <3 Happy Pride Month!

Chapter 2

Vince's POV

Clumsy? Okay, maybe emotionally. Physically, Xavier was the clumsier one, but I didn't say that to him; after all, the wolf was still a stranger to me.

"Do I know you?" The shaky feeling hadn't subsided as I looked at him curiously. Whether from the near-death experience or the fact that this wolf knew me and I didn't, I couldn't tell.

"We've met before," the wolf replied slowly and deliberately. "In human form. A few times before then as well."

His tone was chilling, cryptic, in a weird weight in those words that only left me more confused. It was as if he was refraining from saying too much. "In human form?"

"The peace treaty you refused." I blinked. "The one your brother sent you to sign."

Peace treaty? Then it hit me. I had refused to sign it after I saw what Michael had done to Simon at the diner. But if he was there then that meant he was—

"The Northern pack. You're their alpha?" A chill ran down my spine. Despite my father's alpha blood running through me, I did not have the same title. I couldn't even call myself beta as I didn't take on any roles since I rescinded my title and passed it on to Xavier. And here I was staring at an alpha directly face to face. If he wanted, he had every right to attack.

"Beta," he corrected, almost with uncertainty. "And yes, I'm from the Northern Lights Pack."

That peace treaty signing—or lack of—had been a while ago. I hadn't even remembered their names from the whirlwind of things that were happening.

"You're—"

"Arthur." His voice was stern, dark, yet hollow-sounding at the same time. Why did that name seem familiar?

"Vince, but you already knew that, I guess. What on Earth would their beta be doing here? The trek from there is grueling." That was an understatement. In wolf form, it was doable if you were fit enough to trek the whole day through mountainous and hilly terrain on top of the wide river that flowed into the lake. It was why I took a car there, and even then, it was a long and windy dirt road.

He huffed, looking past the cliff. "I've always admired the view from here. With a clear night sky, you can see the glow of both our packs. It reminds me that we're not totally isolated up there."

I tried to spot the Northern Lights pack, but the rolling clouds and impending rainstorm made it challenging to see. "It's not a clear night."

"I'm aware."

"Yet, you're still here."

Arthur chuffed at that. "The feeling is still the same."

He didn't elaborate. "You said we've met before, even before the peace treaty?"

He hummed, not even sparing a glance toward my direction, almost transfixed on the lake below us. Unlike our pack, their pack only had one beta, and to think he'd be out here just for some sightseeing sounded absurd.

"I knew your father," he said pensively before looking toward the lake. From here, it looked calm, oblivious to the storm rolling over the mountain tops. "You were a child then when he introduced me to you and Michael. You wouldn't have remembered."

"You knew him? My father?" I almost laughed, my father hated that pack. To think he had gone there with us, to even communicate with them was insane.

He tilted his head slightly toward me before humming. "I did. Or a side of him, at one point."

"He's never mentioned you before. In fact, I don't think he's ever mentioned anyone from the Northern pack. Only that he didn't trust your pack."