Chapter Ten
Brandon watched Avery walk away with Brie, a frown on his face. He didn’t like the way she’d fled the situation, but he couldn’t blame her. He didn’t like how his wolf reacted to this Tatiana either. However, he’d had over a century to learn to control his wolf, while Avery hadn’t even had a full week. This…jealousy of his was a new and unwanted emotion that he wanted no part of, though. He’d felt it before, of course, but due to other people’s emotions rather than his own.
He’d never wanted someone enough in his long years to truly feel anything other than a mild annoyance when others touched what he thought of as his. Of course, this was the first time he’d found his, so he wasn’t sure what to do about anything anymore.
Parker glared at Avery’s retreating back before looking toward Brandon. He tilted his head in question, but Brandon didn’t say anything. Anyone with the nose of a wolf would be able to scent both Brandon and Avery all over Parker’s skin. They might not be mated, but their night together was fresh enough that the scent layer was still there. One day soon, he hoped, the imprint would never leave—would be so deeply embedded within each of their skins that no one would doubt who belonged to whom. But for now, Brandon would have to trust Parker with this new development.
But, as always for a Brentwood, trust didn’t come easily.
“Parker, you can take your friend over to the clearing near the sentry gate. Brandon and I will be with the others when you’re through.”
Gideon gave both Brandon and Parker pointed looks before walking away, leaving Brandon standing there with his hands in his pockets, feeling slightly off. Once again, he was the brother put in the awkward position and not knowing what to do, so he nodded at Parker before turning away to follow his brother and Alpha.
“Brandon,” Parker called out.
Brandon froze before looking over his shoulder at the man he craved. “Yeah?”
“I won’t be long,” Parker said smoothly. Brandon didn’t miss the way Tatiana’s shoulders stiffened at those words. Nor did he miss the heat in Parker’s gaze.
He nodded before silently following Gideon, his mind on so many things and yet not focusing on one thing long enough for it to really matter.
They were near the tree line when Gideon finally spoke. “She says she’s just a friend. One who helped heal Parker when he was ill.”
There was a question there, though Gideon hadn’t voiced it. “I know he was ill,” Brandon said after a moment. “But I think it’s his story to tell.” Though he hadn’t known about this Tatiana and what she might have meant to Parker. The Voice of the Wolves had come home for many reasons, one of them being that he was in dire need of a mate. If Tatiana had been another potential, he wouldn’t have come back.
And as long as Brandon kept thinking that, he would be fine.
“He came to stay with us because he said it would be safer for his family if he were here. He also said he wouldn’t be a danger to the Talons, and I still believe him.” A pause. “Whatever happened in the European Pack must have been enough that he felt the need to run from the family that has always been there for him.”
Brandon blew out a breath before stopping to lean against the trunk of a large tree. Gideon leaned against the one across from him, folding his arms over his large chest.
“I don’t know what we’re doing,” Brandon said softly.
“Of course, you don’t,” Gideon said with a dry laugh. “You’re in the middle of the mating urge, and you didn’t even have your wolf around to tell you that you should be going that way to begin with. You’re not only going through a crazy time in your life during one of the craziest of times in our history, but you’re forging a new trail as you do it. It’s not going to be easy, but you’re a fucking Brentwood. You’re going to figure it out.”
Brandon stared at his brother, his Alpha. Everything the man said sounded so easy coming from Gideon’s lips, and yet Brandon knew it was anything but.
“How am I supposed to trust the journey, trust the moon goddess, when I feel as though the connection we should have is gone?”
Gideon shook his head. “It’s changed, maybe not completely gone. My mating bond with Brie hasn’t altered, and I have a feeling the other mating bonds haven’t changed either, or we’d have heard about it. But what has changed is how we find our mates. Maybe there are no such things as true potentials anymore, and we make our own fate? Or maybe we’ll have harder times in the future, but we’ll persevere.” Gideon’s gaze was bleak. “If we don’t, then I’m not sure what else we can do.”
“We fight,” Max said as he made his way to the clearing where Gideon and Brandon stood.
Max grinned after he said it and moved out of the way so the other males in their family who stood behind him could join the group. Of all the brothers and cousins in Brandon’s family, Max was the one that smiled the most. He wasn’t the youngest of them, but he had that carefree air. He was Mitchell’s brother, Brandon’s cousin. And because there was that distinction, Brandon had a feeling Mitchell had shielded his younger brother from the worst of their childhood. Though Max had been through his own hell, he’d come out of it with a brighter attitude than the others, as if that had been his coping mechanism instead of the brooding distance so many of them favored.
“We’ve been fighting,” Mitchell grumbled. He was their Beta, and as such, knew the ins and outs of the daily needs of the Pack.
While the Heir and Alpha positions always went to the firstborn son of the eldest of the family, the other positions could go to any of the Pack members. Statistically, the Enforcer, Omega, Healer, and Beta went to other family members, but not always. And while for most Packs, men held those positions, there were more women in each upcoming generation. In fact, the newest generation of Redwood hierarchy had more females than ever before. And for some reason, Brandon had a feeling the Talons would be following in their footsteps soon with Gideon and Brie’s child. The couple had chosen to keep the gender secret from everyone but Walker, their Healer, and the man wasn’t saying a damn thing—no matter how high the pool got. Most assumed it would be a boy, as the Alpha always had a boy first so that child would one day wear the mantle of Heir once he was ready—or in some cases when the Alpha died unexpectedly. Yet times were changing rapidly, so Brandon wasn’t sure of anything anymore. One day, Gideon and Brie’s child would be Heir, taking the burden from Ryder’s shoulders, and eventually, maybe even in a century or two if the goddess were willing, that child would be Alpha.
“We’ll continue to fight,” Kameron said with a growl. Brandon’s fellow triplet and the Pack Enforcer growled with each word he bit out these days. Brandon didn’t know what was going on with his brother, but knew he’d have to find out soon. All the Brentwoods had long ago learned to shield their heavier emotions from Brandon, and he’d given them privacy for as long as he could stomach it. Soon, though, he’d have to find a way to help them—before it was too late.
He was the Omega. It was his calling to help those in need—even if they didn’t want it.
Walker sighed as he sank down to the ground at Brandon’s feet, weariness in his features. While most of the Pack had healed from the last battle with Montag, not everyone was out of the woods yet. There was only so much their brother could do as Healer, and some things just took time.
Ryder sat next to Walker, a frown on his face. “I have a feeling the fighting won’t last much longer, not with how close we are to the breaking point.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I just had a lovely meeting with the Coven, and they’re ready to mount an assault if any more of their witches are taken into custody for questioning.”
“Fuck,” Mitchell growled. “I thought you were making sure they listened to us and worked with us rather than doing their own thing.”
Ryder flipped him off. “I’m mated to a damn witch, but I’m not a damn witch—their words. They’ll only take what I have to say so far. And, hell, because we have so many young and we’re not just one Pack, but representing many, our hands seemed tied to the outside world who think they know us.”
“They don’t know us at all,” Mitchell whispered. There was something in his cousin’s tone that made Brandon look over and focus. For the second time in just a few short days he saw behind the mask and almost fell to his knees.
And fuck, the pain the other man held inside…
It was as if a raging inferno engulfed the other man daily before ramping up again to burn the flesh from his bones and the ache from his heart. Brandon honestly had no idea what had happened in Mitchell’s past to cause him this much pain, but if he could help in any way, he would.
So he did the only thing he could do as an Omega and tried to take at least a fraction of the pain within him.
It burned. The agony arching up his spine so quickly that tears sprang to his eyes. His wolf howled and twisted the emotion around itself before letting it dissipate through the bonds Brandon held.
Mitchell’s gaze shot to his, pure rage spiraling through the other man’s eyes. “Stop.”
And with that one word, Mitchell stood up, tightly locking down his emotions before storming away, leaving the others in mid-conversation.
Brandon let out a shaky breath, his already weakening body that much weaker. He knew without a bond he might not be able to help anyone soon, but he wasn’t about to rush Avery and Parker when he still had a little bit of time.
But he wasn’t sure Mitchell had as much.
“He never asks for help,” Max said softly, breaking the tense silence. “No matter how much I try to annoy him into yelling at me and spilling his guts, he doesn’t ask for help. I don’t know what happened, but thank you for taking some of his pain. He won’t thank you, but I will.”
And that was why Brandon loved Max so much. The man put everyone else ahead of himself, even to his detriment.
Gideon cursed under his breath. “Our family’s breaking again, yet, as always, I need to push that aside and worry about the health and safety of the Pack as a whole. What kind of Alpha does that make me that I have to worry about the humans attacking our people rather than what secrets our family holds so close to the vest that it’s destroying them slowly day by day?”
“An Alpha with a group of people around him that he trusts with more than his life,” Ryder said simply, though his statement was anything but simple. “You trust us to make sure we’re doing our part. That’s the sign of a healthy Pack, even if it doesn’t look like it. I know you want to go claws out at the humans for hurting us again and again, and each time they attack our den, we defeat them. But it’s taking its toll.”
“But we’re going to win,” Brandon added softly.
“Because there isn’t another option.” Kameron’s voice once again held the hint of a growl. “We have the wolves we need in Washington. This battle isn’t fought with tooth and claw, at least not right now. We aren’t politicians, and they know it. But others are, and they’re the ones fighting with words and on paper. I’d rather smash my fist into someone’s face than have to do a speech about how wolves are people too, but that’s where we’re at. And when this McMaster makes another move and attacks our den like Montag did, then we’ll fight. We’ll fight because they’ve looked at our Pack and decided we’re the ones to take down first. If we fall, then other Packs will have to take our place.”
“It’s not just us,” Gideon corrected. “We have the Redwoods, as well.” He glared. “I thought we’d have the Aspens, but now that we killed one of their missing wolves, they’ve decided to hold back on help.”
Brandon’s gaze shot up. “What? They aren’t actually blaming us?”
Gideon cursed. “They’re blaming both the Redwoods and the Talons. It doesn’t matter that their rogue attacked us first. It seems this wolf had been missing for over a year.”
The hairs on the back of Brandon’s neck stood on end. “Who had him all that time?”
Gideon’s eyes glowed gold, his wolf at the surface. “That’s what I intend to find out. Because all of this screams that there’s a ploy at work.”
“Montag’s cages were all empty when we got to the compound,” Ryder bit out. Montag had been torturing wolves for who knew how long to find out the shifters’ secrets. But even with the man’s death, it didn’t mean everyone was safe.
“We all knew the general had to have an accomplice,” Gideon said. “And I have a feeling we’re watching him at work every time he smiles to the cameras.”
“McMaster.” Brandon let out a growl of his own. “What is the senator playing at?”
Gideon shook his head. “I don’t know yet, but I intend to find out. Because our Pack won’t be safe until the humans stop looking at us as predators on the loose, but rather as shifters with rights of our own.”
Brandon fisted his hands at his side, aware that the time would come when they’d either be seen as safer in the eyes of humans, or all would truly be lost. Shifters might be able to change into animals, but that didn’t make them animals. If the humans didn’t realize that…well, then it would be the end of the Packs themselves.
Their wards were failing. Their people were too confined within the dens after years of living in secret. Hate crimes were skyrocketing against those the humans thought were different—even if they weren’t a witch or a wolf.
They were on the edge of a mass shift in what it meant to be a part of humanity.
And Brandon wasn’t sure if any of them would survive to see the outcome.