Thomas sat behind the desk in the office, absorbing the quiet, enjoying it. The bar was closed, everyone was gone, and he could just think for a moment. There was too much going on, and he was too stressed out to go home for a romp with the guys and Abigail. They would keep busy while he made the decisions he needed to make. It was probably the worst Monday he was ever going to have, and it was only four in the morning. He just had a bad feeling. When the sun came up, he needed to talk to Chris about the Virginia shit before he got any more calls on it.

After Chris, he needed to deal with what was going on between him and Abigail. She said the words and he didn’t know what to do with himself. James was already in. It was obvious as day that James was in love with her, that he would do absolutely anything for the doe. Antonio was the same, even if he didn’t say the words.

Thomas wanted to keep her. He wanted to see her every day, every moment. He wanted her in his space. He didn’t like that he felt it, though - that he wanted her around like that. He’d been through this before. In the end, something better always came along, and her job? She would be traveling. The emotions would fade, the lust would wear off.

And where would they all be after that?

James heartbroken or gone to be with her? Antonio back to being a complete womanizer? Thomas didn’t know. He didn’t know a damn thing, and he was frustrated by it. He had wanted Wild Junction to settle them, make life easy, and it seemed to get harder every day to keep their lives uncomplicated.

Abigail made it complicated and he loved her for it. He hated himself for falling so fast when it could all go so wrong, but he knew he loved her and it was going to kill him. His ex-wife hadn’t completely ruined him, but he had a feeling Abigail definitely could.

She hadn’t even told her family about them. She hadn’t even publicly acknowledged them, and yet there they all were, madly and hopelessly in love.

His phone rang, and he snarled, grabbing it off the charger and declining it. He didn’t even check the number. When it rang again, he groaned and looked to see who desperately needed him.

The Colorado Pack Alpha.

“Fuck,” he mumbled as he picked the phone back up and answered. This was probably the one thing he wanted the sun to come up for. This was probably about Chris and his friends. “Thomas Marek. What’s going on, Heath?”

“Thomas, I didn’t want to make this phone call,” the other Alpha sighed. Heath wasn’t a bad guy, but Thomas didn’t like the tone he had. If Heath didn’t want to make the call, then it was bad. Very bad. Heath didn’t like conflict. He was a chill Alpha over the state and didn’t give Thomas a hard time once things had settled between him, Thomas, and Brenton over who ruled what. Brenton just wanted his hometown peaceful, Thomas just wanted something small for himself, and Heath just wanted the shifters in Wild Junction to stay in Wild Junction.

“Out with it, man. It’s late. You know the bar just closed.” Thomas didn’t want to beat around the bush; he already knew his assumption was right. This was about the fucking shit about the Virginia Pack.

“Virginia wants your brother and his friends,” the Colorado Alpha groaned. “I’m inclined to give them.”

“But they are in Wild Junction,” Thomas reminded him.

“Exactly, and I won’t walk into that town and take them without you and Brenton knowing, especially not with it being your brother,” Heath explained. “But…”

“You want to make a deal,” he guessed.

“Yes.” Heath was to the point. “Give me the two friends. Their crimes against the Virginia Pack are worse. They betrayed their own Pack, while Chris is just a Packless Alpha looking for a place.”

“And Chris?” he asked softly.

“I want him out of my state,” Heath replied. “I won’t go after him to give him to Virginia, though.”

“Send your men in to take the other two,” Thomas whispered. “As soon as you can.”

“Brenton…” Heath seemed cautious, and Thomas chuckled.

“Brenton hates my brother and he won’t like hearing that three wolves stopped into his town and hid under his name to protect themselves,” Thomas growled. “He’s allowed my brother to visit me, but I haven’t told him about the other two. I’ll send him an email. He’ll be happy to hear I’m taking care of the wolf shit, so he never sees it.”

“Who really runs that town, Thomas?”

“Does it matter? Brenton supplies a name that people don’t want to mess with, but he hates external politics. I promised to not let shit come in and bother him and his family, especially with the shit that went down in December. Where are your guys?” Thomas waited after that. He could hear Heath breathing.

“Five minutes from those fucks’ hotel,” Heath answered softly. “I’ll text them to go in and grab them.”

“I’ll deal with Chris in the morning,” Thomas told him quietly. He was holding the phone tight enough to cramp his hand. He was amazed it didn’t break.

It was a silent ten minutes on the call. Thomas heard a ding on Heath’s end.

“They have them.” Heath sighed. “I’m sorry about this, Thomas. I really am.”

“Don’t be,” he bit out, trying to not lash out at the other Alpha. Heath wasn’t the Alpha who needed to get put in his place.

“If he’s not out of Colorado by the end of tomorrow, I might have to send my guys after him. I don’t count Virginia as an ally, but that Pack isn’t an enemy of mine either. He’s a damn Rogue Alpha.”

“Can I offer a change in the deal?” Thomas decided to make another play. Rogue was the important part that needed to be fixed here. He needed to get Chris to settle. “Let me see if he’ll submit to me. Join my Pack now that his friends are gone. I can keep him out of trouble.”

“Okay,” Heath said quickly. “I can do that. If he joins Wild Junction permanently, then Virginia will forget about him. He’ll no longer be an Alpha wandering around, looking for a chance to take over.”

“Can you ignore him? Being here?”

“I ignore you for the most part.” Heath laughed darkly. “Thomas, I’ve never looked at that town or the surrounding area as mine. You didn’t take anything from me. Keep Chris in your space and as your responsibility, and I won’t give a damn.”

“Thank you.” He didn’t have words past that. Heath didn’t need to let his tiny Pack handle Chris. He didn’t need to call Thomas and tell him what he was doing, didn’t need to give him a chance to get Chris on the right side.

He didn’t know much about what happened in Virginia. Possible coup. Someone had tried to take their Alpha out, and the old bat of a female didn’t want to go down. She was a tough old coot and she was out for blood. One of Chris’ buddies was her grandson. Thomas figured now that Heath had him, he wasn’t going to see the end of the week.

“Have a good morning, Thomas.”

“You get some sleep, Heath,” he replied. He hung up before Heath could. He held on to the phone for a moment and looked at his contacts. He hit his brother’s name and waited.

“What?” Chris snarled. “It’s fucking like four in the morning, jackass.”

“Come to Rocker’s. Immediately,” Thomas ordered, trying to leave no room for argument.

“Fuck you,” Chris bit back.

“I’m not fucking playing right now. Rocker’s. Now. Your fucking friends have been captured by Heath and will be shipped back to Virginia for their Pack to deal with. You will come here to Rocker’s and fucking let me keep you alive.”

There was no response. Chris hung up on him. Thomas snarled and threw his phone across the office, watching it shatter on the wall. His fucking brother.

He didn’t leave his office though. He waited. He wasn’t going to go out and find Chris. His brother would come to him or just leave town.

It took thirty minutes, but Thomas heard him. The bar was silent, so Chris’ growling rant to himself could be heard through the entire bar. Thomas listened to the thumping stomp of the wolf coming up the stairs.

“Tell Heath to release them,” Chris snarled as he barged into the office.

“No,” he told his brother, walking around his desk and leaning on it at the front.

“Why?” Chris snapped. “Why not?”

“Because I made a deal with him,” Thomas sighed. “Those two to him, you to me. I’m keeping you alive. He was about to grab all three of you but didn’t want to yank you out of my territory.”

“How the fuck-”

“Virginia has been calling around, Chris,” he snarled. “What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I-“

“I really don’t need an answer,” Thomas cut him off. “I know the answer. You want to be an Alpha to a Pack again.”

“I am an Alpha. I should have a Pack,” Chris growled, glaring across the office at Thomas.

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “I was your second for a decade. I didn’t need to be the Alpha. I had a place and I did what I could from it,” Thomas replied, full of annoyance at Chris’ power-hungry shit. “Chris, I made Heath a deal. Now, you have a choice.”

“Oh really?” Chris sneered. “What choice is that?”

“Join my Pack or leave Colorado.” He sighed. “But you can’t hide here without pledging your loyalty to me. It’s not safe for you, me, Antonio, James - fuck, even Heath. Virginia will come after you if you’re still a threat. If you join my Pack, then there’s a chance they forget about you, since you’ve decided to settle. It’s likely, really.”

“Or leave Colorado. Be hunted but still have a chance to not be your bitch,” Chris snarled.

“God damn,” Thomas groaned. “Seriously? I’m offering you a chance to have a decent life. Out of trouble. With people who fucking care about you - and all you’re thinking about is going out and…You haven’t even asked about the graves, you know?” Thomas chuckled weakly. “Our dead inner circle and you haven’t gone to see them. They fucking died for our sins. Your sins.”

“I don’t need to see their graves. The only one on this earth I care about, I can’t even visit anymore,” Chris whispered, looking away from Thomas.

“Jillian would never be okay with how you’re acting,” Thomas snarled. “Don’t try to say you loved her so much that you think everyone else is worthless.”

“You don’t get to talk about her,” Chris snarled back, pointing at him.

Thomas stayed where he was, trying to stay unfazed by the anger. It rattled him, though. He was tired. He was tired of this fight. He was tired of his brother. Thomas had served Chris for a decade to the absolute best of his abilities and yet Chris still…

“You hate me,” Thomas whispered, looking at the hand pointing at him, smelling the rage coming from Chris. It was so obvious. He wondered how he missed it. He wondered how he had ignored this for a decade. At the realization, Thomas felt cut in two.

“She’s dead because of you.”

“She’s dead because she wanted to go to a party,” Thomas reminded him. “It’s not like she couldn’t. She was twenty-two, Chris.”

“You let her sneak out,” his brother retorted.

“I was seventeen,” Thomas whispered. “Chris, we need to work past it. I’m just trying to keep you alive right now. We’re the last piece of family either of us have. Just accept my invitation into my Pack and we’ll work through this, once and for all.”

“Family?” Chris growled. “You…Thomas, you are so fucking naïve sometimes. I haven’t thought of you as family since she died.”

Thomas let that sink in. “You’ve been using me,” he said plainly, looking away from his brother. It sank in, and Thomas was so tired.

“Damn right,” Chris chuckled darkly. “Why shouldn’t I? You have offered your help willing for years.”

“You opportunistic son of a bitch,” Thomas mumbled, running a hand over his face. “Go. I won’t protect you. Just get out.”

“Stop acting like you fucking care,” Chris scoffed. “You never treated me like the brother you always claimed I was.”

“I treated you like I would treat any brother. With respect. I treated you no different than I treated any of the inner circle, men I considered brothers.”

“That’s the point,” Chris snarled. “Just like them. I was your actual brother. You never listened to Dad. Mareks first.”

“Real brother?” Thomas huffed. “You just admitted that you haven’t considered me family for years! Antonio and James have been more my brothers in the last decade than you have. Antonio for even longer.”

“James, the riffraff from Texas I only let in the inner circle because he could handle shit I didn’t want to? Antonio, the poor boy of a couple enforcers that followed you around for years like a fucking puppy? Great brothers you have there. Have fun with your whore,” Chris snapped. “I’m fucking-”

Thomas didn’t hear any more. His temper exploded, like a bomb that had been ticking in his chest. He launched himself across the room and tackled Chris to the floor. He swung the moment he got the chance and connected to Chris’ jaw, hearing a solid crack. Something hit him in the gut and he grunted, but he stayed on his brother and kept swinging.

Chris was able to shove him off after four solid hits and struggled to stand. Thomas recovered faster and shoved his brother into the wall, sending his knee into Chris’ gut. Then he threw his brother to the floor and watched Chris cough, weakly trying to get up.

“Abigail. Her fucking name is Abigail,” Thomas snarled. “Say something like that one more time and I’ll meet you in wolf form.”

“You got a girl, a couple of friends, a dog, and a bar.” Chris chuckled. Thomas watched him wipe blood off his face. He figured he broke Chris’ nose, and he didn’t feel bad for it. “Cute little house.”

“I offered,” Thomas reminded him. “I offered you a piece of the house, and the bar. A chance to fucking have a good life.”

“I’m not taking anything from you,” Chris grumbled. “I don’t need your fucking charity.”

“You’ll take it from me when it’s not offered,” Thomas growled. “You like using me.”

“I’m an asshole. I know it. It gets me what I want, though.” Chris shrugged. “I deserve more than this fucking mediocre existence you love so much. Thanks for keeping me out of Heath’s hands. I knew coming here to you would keep me from dying while the shit was too hot.”

“Get out.” Thomas pointed to his door. “Don’t come back. If you walk into my territory, I’ll hunt you. If Heath stumbles on you in Colorado, I won’t save you. I’m fucking done cleaning up your messes, Chris. I did it when we were kids, and all it got me was you helping me join the Marines behind Dad’s back. It was probably to get me out of your fucking way of doing whatever you want, get me out of your sight, since you blame Jillian on me. I did it in South Dakota, where I kept our Pack’s head above water and got nothing except for your disdain and disrespect. We fucking lost everything because you wanted to do something stupid and rash, and we got fucking burned for it. Five good men who followed you are dead because of it.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “You don’t get to ruin my life now. Not after I’ve worked so hard to make something good for the people you fucked over.”

They stared at each other for a long time. He was finished. He didn’t care if his brother wanted to go out and get himself killed. He would miss Chris. He loved his damn brother, but the hateful glint in Chris’ eyes told him it wasn’t returned. He was tired of throwing away his emotional energy to take care of his damn brother. He wasn’t going to keep giving and getting nothing in return. Thomas was cutting the baggage.

“Get. Out.” He repeated it stronger.

Chris left without another word.

Thomas went back to his desk and collapsed into his chair. He picked up the office phone, since his cell phone was destroyed, and called home. He decided on James’ cell phone, hoping the more mature of his brothers would answer.

“Thomas?” James groaned. “Fucking hell, what’s up man? Actually, let me get out of the bedroom so I don’t wake them up.” Them being Antonio and Abigail. Thomas smiled at the thought of them all piled into her bed together. He wished he’d been able to go home earlier. He’d been happy to let them leave without him, and now he was jealous he’d missed it. “All right. I’m in the living room. This should be far enough away from Abigail if I keep my voice down. What happened?”

“Chris is leaving.” Again. This time he was fucking glad. “His friends have been picked up by Heath. They were all a part of the attempted coup in Virginia.”

“Jesus. You need me to come back to the bar?”

“No, I’m coming back soon. Just…”

“Need a moment to think?” Thomas loved how well James and Antonio knew him. Chris would have just called him lazy for not getting moving faster. “When did he leave?”

“Maybe two minutes ago,” Thomas sighed. “James…he fucking hates me.”

“I know,” James whispered softly.

“Of course you did,” Thomas mumbled.

“It was obvious to everyone except you,” he admitted softly. “Thomas…I’m sorry about your brother. I am. I wish you had a chance to work it out, but I don’t think he will ever be the brother you want him to be.”

“I have brothers. I don’t need him,” Thomas told him, rubbing his face as he leaned back in the chair. He heaved a heavy sigh, feeling the pressure of Chris leave him immediately. It was sinking in: his brother wasn’t coming back. Thomas knew it because Chris wouldn’t test his patience. He didn’t threaten people lightly. He promised to hunt Chris if he came back, and he would.

“You do,” James chuckled. “You’ll always have us.”

“Will I?” Thomas asked softly. Mom. Wife. Chris. He was tired of losing people. He was tired of people who chose to leave him.

“Yeah. We’ll get this worked out. Abigail finds out if she gets the job on Friday and we’ll figure it out.”

“That’s my line,” Thomas groaned weakly. “All right, I’m coming home.”

“I think it’s our line. I think I’ve said it to Abigail a few times. I’ll be here when you get home.”

They hung up and he got up slowly. He was hoping Chris was already on his way out of town. Thomas nearly felt bad for it, but he was a little paranoid his brother was going to be waiting outside the bar to jump him.

Chris wasn’t outside, and his Explorer wasn’t around. Thomas checked his truck for anything unusual before getting in. Paranoid.

He drove home, constantly checking his rearview mirror. No one followed him.

When he stepped through the front door of his home, he finally felt secure. Fenrir trotted over to him and bumped his head to Thomas’ hand. Thomas chuckled softly and rubbed the wolf-dog’s head. He whispered a greeting to the large pet of theirs. Fenrir would never leave him, never run off. Food, a bone, some belly rubs, and the wolf-dog was head over heels and loyal to the core. Unlike Thomas’ family.

“Do you want to talk?” James asked him.

Thomas stopped in the living room and looked at the wolf just lying out on the couch. His longer brown hair was sweeping over his face, tousled from sleep. Fenrir went to his bed, tucked between the recliner and the couch, and curled back up. Thomas watched the dog wistfully. Sleep seemed like a great fucking idea.

“I want to sleep,” he replied. “Her room?”

“Yeah,” James answered, nodding. “Let’s get to bed.”

He and James walked into Abigail’s room quietly. Thomas stripped efficiently and slid under the blankets next to her. He felt as James got in bed on the other side of Antonio. He buried his face in her hair.

So many people left him. By their own choice or just through dying.

He breathed in her hair.

He didn’t want to lose anyone else, but he didn’t know how to stop it. She was going to get this job and slip away, like sand between his fingers. He already knew it.