“Michael.” He stepped outside rather than inviting his brother in.

“Rafe.”

He raised an eyebrow when his brother refused to step back and give him room. Tension swelled in the small space between them. Two born Alphas going head to head and refusing to be the one to give first. As the younger, it should have been Michael that blinked but Rafe had given the pack to his brother. This was his land. Besides, Rafe knew Zoey wouldn’t like it much if they came to blows so he did something he’d never thought he would do.

He lowered his eyes first.

Michael stepped back and he glanced up quickly enough to catch the look of shock that flashed on his brother’s face before he masked it. Michael studied him momentarily and then he too looked away. Two Alphas that couldn’t look each other in the eyes. Two brothers that couldn’t find the words to mend all that had been broken.

Rafe cleared his throat, “Why don’t we have a seat and talk?”

He motioned to the patio set on the other end of the porch. The one he figured Michael had bought and put out here. For him and Zoey. Rafe stepped past his brother, giving him his back to show he wasn’t scared of an attack. For all that Michael had given Zoey, this was what Rafe could start with.

Michael didn’t say a word, simply stomped over and dropped himself into one of the chairs.

Rafe glared at the man standing a hundred yards from the house between two cars. On the left was a silver Jeep. On the right, a jacked-up truck. The man glared right back at Rafe and crossed his arms over his chest.

He dropped into the chair nearest the door, “Was the Enforcer really necessary?”

Michael shot a look over his shoulder and shrugged, “He drove my truck out for me so I’d have a ride back. I drove Zo’s Jeep. I thought she’d want it so she could get back to town.”

“She’s not going anywhere.” Rafe growled a warning.

Michael only leaned back in his chair and scrubbed a hand over his face, “I didn’t mean today. Just… whenever.” He shifted again, clearly uncomfortable, “I’m not stupid. Far from it. I know it’s too late to stop you. I just have one question for you now.”

“Okay.”

“Are you staying?”

Rafe flinched at the question, “What?”

“Are you staying? Here. In Noir. Are you coming home to the pack? Because she’s pack. She’s family. She’s my family. And whatever life you’ve been living out there on your own, you can’t drag her away from the only home and family that she has.”

Rafe stared at his brother for a long moment, trying to figure out where they’d gone so wrong. It was his fault. He knew. He had left without any explanation. He’d stayed gone because he’d thought it was for the best. Not just for him but for Michael too. Now that he was back, now that he had Zoey to think of, he knew just how badly he’d screwed up.

He’d left his brother behind. He’d been so messed up about losing his family that he hadn’t given much thought to the family he had left. Michael. He’d left behind a scared teenage boy to run a pack all by himself after burying his parents and older brother.

What the hell had he been thinking? The truth was. He hadn’t. His wolf had been crazed and feral. He’d been in shock and grief. And he’d run. He’d run away thinking it would solve his problems but it had only created more.

It had created this rift between him and his brother that he wasn’t sure anything could bridge, but he had to try. Not just for Zoey’s sake. For his and for Michael’s too.

Rafe dropped his head into his hands and his wolf whined, “I’m so sorry, Michael.”

Nothing but silence greeted his apology. He’d expected that. In the face of everything, all the years and time he’d stayed away, it wasn’t much. Not nearly enough.

“I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry I left you behind. I was… so messed up. I wasn’t thinking straight. Hell, I still don’t think straight most days. My wolf is feral. Practically uncontrollable. But I always thought when I got my shit back together I’d come home. I just… I never got it together.”

He glanced up and saw that Michael’s jaw was twitching. He was grinding his teeth together. He was also staring off into space instead of looking at Rafe and he felt the refusal to even acknowledge him like a punch in the gut. Even if he deserved it.

“So,” Michael finally gritted out, “You came back for a reason. You said on the phone there was an issue I needed to know about. What was it?”

“Michael…”

“No.” His brother snapped his eyes back to him and they glowed gold again, “No. We’re not talking about her. Not yet. Right now, you tell me why you came back to my pack, to my land, to talk to me. You didn’t come back for her so you don’t get to talk to me about her. Not yet.”

Rafe’s wolf bristled at every word. He wanted to bare his teeth. He wanted to remind Michael that he was the elder, that he was the rightful Pack Alpha. But he didn’t. Because he didn’t want to be Pack Alpha. Had never wanted it. Michael was better at it than he ever could have been and the proof was right there in his statement.

Michael loved Zoey, in one way or another he always had. He’d called her his family. But before dealing with her, Michael had to know what the threat to the pack as a whole was, the one Rafe had come home to talk to him about.

Pack first, that was Michael. Rafe was the selfish one. He’d thought only of himself when he left. Now he had Zoey and he was thinking only of the two of them. Of keeping her for himself. But he had to talk to Michael first, put things right, or as right as they could ever be between them at this point.

“It’s Leo. He’s in trouble. He asked me to get the Moirae pack involved but that’s not my place. I told him the best I could do is talk to you.”

Michael’s lips set into a thin line, “Leo DeLuca?”

Rafe nodded.

“He’s Crescent pack, right?”

“Yeah. He said he’d have come to you himself but he’s afraid it’ll only cause more trouble for his family if he’s seen meeting with you. Their new Pack Alpha is bad news and Leo thinks once he’s done tearing their pack apart, he’ll come for the Moirae pack. Something about you providing refuge for the wolves that have left the Crescent.”

“I knew there was something going on in the Crescent pack. We’ve been getting a lot of transfers from there in the past couple of months. I’ve asked why but they all say the same thing, disagreements with new leadership.” Michael scrubbed his jaw again, “It’s a new guy. Maddox something. I’ve been meaning to check it out but the diplomacy of it all is… tricky. I can’t just walk onto their land and accuse their Pack Alpha of something no matter what I think he’s doing.”

“What do you think he’s doing?”

“Abusing his power.”

Rafe nodded when he realized he and his brother were on the same page, “Leo fled or he swears he’d be dead right now. The guy challenged Leo’s dad when he was ill knowing he couldn’t take him at full strength. Killed the Alpha, killed his wife and took Leo’s siblings as hostages.”

Michael gaped at him, “Hostages? For what? What’s he asking for?”

“He wants Leo dead too. He’s the last male in his line. The DeLuca lineage would die with Leo and the Alpha can set up his own as a new dynasty. He says he’ll let the younger sisters go if Leo gives himself up…”

“But?”

“But...” Rafe nodded when his brother caught onto where he was going, “He won’t let the oldest sister go. He wants her for himself. Leo says he always has. He thinks she was part of his grab for power all along. That claiming her would unite the pack behind him even after the terrible things he’s done.”

Michael’s scowl darkened, “And she’s not his mate?”

“According to Leo, no.”

He watched his brother scrub his jaw again and the familiarity of the act warmed some hollow piece of his heart. Their father had done that a lot when he was thinking. Michael reminded him of their father right now. Thinking. Plotting. Refusing to act until he’d put all the pieces together. It drove Rafe crazy. If he’d been in charge, he’d have swept into the Crescent pack the moment Leo came to him, seized control and then sorted out wrong from right.

Michael shook his head, “So, what’s he want from us? To challenge this new Alpha on his behalf? To sneak in and steal back his family members?”

“No. He only asked that when he returns to challenge the Alpha that we have his back.”

“He doesn’t think the bastard will fight fair.” Michael nodded, “I don’t blame him considering he challenged the previous Pack Alpha during an illness. He’s holding hostages and he intends to claim a wolf that isn’t his mate. Those are some pretty serious allegations.”

“I know. That’s why I came to you. I’m standing with Leo. I came home to ask if you’ll stand with me.”

Michael eyed him for a long moment, openly assessing and then snorted, “That’s why you came home after all this time?”

“Leo’s a loyal friend, a good man and a good wolf. He’s earned my help but I’m no good to him in a fight. I can’t unleash my wolf like that. I don’t trust him not to attack at random.”

“But you trust him with Zoey?” Michael scoffed.

Rafe winced at the blow he should have seen coming. He’d known it was coming and he still hadn’t been prepared. Because Michael had refused to talk about her until now. Now, when he could throw it in Rafe’s face that he wasn’t good enough for her.

“She’s my mate, Michael.” He said evenly. “My mate.”

“Yeah, well she’s my best friend and I’m the one that’s been there for her so…”

His wolf growled, “Don’t. Don’t try to excuse what you did. You tried to keep her from me. Mate trumps best friend. Mate trumps everything. She’s mine and you had no right to come between us.”

“I had every right!” Michael raised his voice, “You said yourself you don’t trust your wolf and I don’t trust you with her!”

“That’s because you love her.” Rafe shook his head sadly.

Michael flinched, “Yes.” He scrubbed his jaw again when Rafe growled. “But not like that. Not like a… mate should. She’s my best friend. I want the best for her.”

“It’s more than that, Michael. Don’t try to deny it. We’re still family. I can sense how you feel about the girl.”

Michael was the one that dropped his eyes this time, “I wanted her to be mine so badly. All those years together, we were so sure it was the two of us and then it was like, everything changed. I was Pack Alpha and you were gone and when she turned eighteen… she wasn’t mine. I didn’t handle it well. I know that. But I never expected for it to be you and I handled that even worse.”

“Yeah, you did.” Rafe nodded.

“You just, you walked back into town yesterday and turned everything upside down. I was scared. Scared of losing her. Scared of losing the pack. Scared of losing you again too.” Michael met his eyes and this time there was no wolf, no anger, just the sadness and the distance that seemed to be a gulf between them, “I don’t want you to leave again, even if it means giving up the pack.”

Rafe blinked in confusion and then shook his head, “Jesus, Michael, no. I don’t want the pack. I never did. I didn’t come back for it and I’m not staying for it. I’m staying for her. She’s all I want. She’s all I’ve ever wanted. A chance at a home and a life, at regaining a piece of myself I thought I lost forever… my family.”

“You never should’ve left.”

“I know.” He winced at the accusation in his little brother’s voice.

Not the voice of the Pack Alpha. Not the voice of the man that he’d become in the years since Rafe left Noir. Just the voice and the accusation of the scared kid he’d been when his older brother abandoned him to all of this responsibility.

“If you’d stayed, maybe it wouldn’t all be so fucked up. I would’ve given up on the idea of her being mine a long time ago. I would’ve had to accept it instead of keeping her around like some kind of consolation prize and hurting both of us in the process.”

“Zoey is no man’s consolation prize, Michael. You should know that better than anyone. She’s the best. She’s everything I could ever want or need in a mate. She balances me and she soothes my wolf and I swear to you, just like I swore to her, I’m going to be the best I can be for her because she makes me stronger.”

“You better.” Michael flickered a sad smile, “Or I’ll snap your neck.”