Fated for Two

It took them almost an hour to find everything Everard needed to fix Farrah’s car. They’d had to go to multiple parts stores to find everything, and then Farrah had been hungry. She convinced them to stop and get snacks she could eat while Everard worked on her car.

Now they were finally back, and Farrah was sitting on the truck’s tailgate thinking while Everard worked. Brenton stood staring off into the distance, growling impatiently every once and a while.

“Hey, I have a question,” Farrah piped up, stopping the growls that were coming from under the hood.

The two men looked at her.

“Whose house are we staying at tonight?” She asked. “I’ve had a long trip and wouldn’t mind relaxing for the next couple of days. We could stay at one house and then the other since I’m quite sure neither of you can be away from your Pack long. It’s been a long time since I was in a pack, so I’m flying blind here.”

Brenton, of course, growled and said, “I’m not going to his house.”

Everard just looked down and went back to working on her car.

Farrah sighed. She could see she had her work cut out for her and railed at the moon goddess in her head. Why, why did you give me such a stubborn man. Everard is so sweet, well, Brenton could be too, but he’s so busy being at war with Everard it’s hard to see.

Brenton had gone in the store to get her snacks; he’d asked her what she liked and had even gotten a couple of things she hadn’t asked for. He’d given her a shy smile as he opened her water for her upon returning to the car.

Shaking her head, Farrah sighed. She had her work cut out for her. Finally, she demanded, “Come here, please, both of you.”

Brenton frowned but headed her way.

Everard moved away from the car but stopped and mumbled, “I’m all greasy.”

“Doesn’t matter, Honey, grease will wash,” she told him and crooked her finger at him in a “now come here” manner.

Everard wiped off the grease the best he could and walked her way.

Once they were in front of her, she spread her legs, then made them each straddle one. She then wrapped her arms around them both, pulling them closer to her. However, she couldn’t help but notice how hard Brenton tried to keep from touching Everard.

“You are both my mates,” she murmured as she began running her hands over their backs, moving up under their shirts. Gazing into their eyes, she continued, “I know the two of you know what that means, but I’ll explain it anyway. It means that neither my wolf nor I will be happy unless both of you are at my side. There will be no Everard has me every other Tuesday and Brenton every other Monday. I’m not going to be tossed around like a child from one parent to the other.”

“We know,” Everard said softly.

She smiled at him and kissed his cheek. He was so sweet she just wanted to kiss him all over and take the sadness that radiated from him in waves away.

“I know you do, Honey, but I’m not so sure Mr. Growly over here does,” she murmured. “Brenton, this is our life now, we have to learn to live it, and we can’t do that if you continue to hate on Everard.”

“I don’t hate on him. I just don’t like him anymore,” Brenton snarled.

She heard Everard whimper, and she held him a bit tighter as she pinched Brenton’s back.

“Ow!” Brenton hollered, then asked, “What was that for?”

“For being mean,” she answered. “Now, I know there is a story behind that, and we’ll get to it. For now, our living arrangements.”

“You can stay with him if you like,” Brenton said, “but I won’t.”

“Brenton, that isn’t the way it works, and you know it,” she said. “Now, decide, his house or yours. Those are your only two choices.”

Brenton growled, “I’m not staying in the same house with him! It was bad enough having to…”

She slapped her hand over his mouth as she felt Everard tremble at Brenton’s harshness. “Stop it, stop it now! Fine, if that is what you wish, go home. I can guarantee you, though, you will regret it because your wolf will make you miserable. Maybe that’s what you need to make you realize that you’re hurting everyone, yourself included, with this attitude.”

Brenton turned with a growl, and after shifting into his large gray and white wolf, he took off for his Pack. As he ran, he thought, I don’t care what anyone says, I don’t need them, him or her. By the time Brenton had returned to his Pack, his wolf was in full whine mode. He quickly shifted and headed for his room in the pack house, ignoring his wolf, who wanted to return to his mate.

“Alpha, is everything okay?” Owen asked.

“Just great!” Brenton growled, almost shoving the man down the stairs as he pushed past him. “I’ll be in my room for the rest of the evening, don’t bother me!”

“Yes, Alpha,” Owen replied, flinching before he quickly took off.

Brenton threw himself down on his bed and lay growling. His body hurt, from top to bottom, and it seemed as if the pain was radiating out from his heart. He fought it. I don’t need them; I don’t. I’m fine just as I am, so why had the moon goddess decided now to send me a mate?

Brenton rolled onto his side, placing his hand on his heart as he grunted at the pain there. “Why, why do I have to share my mate with another? It is unheard of, mostly, and why him of all people?” Having no answers to his questions, he soon drifted off into a pained and restless sleep.

The next morning when he got up, he felt as if he’d barely slept at all. He hurt all over, and the pain coming from his chest was killing him. He fought through it, though, by going to the training field. He snapped and growled at his warriors, injuring most of them as he tried to resist his wolf. His wolf wanted their mate, and he also wanted his wolf brother. After seeing him for the first time in so long, he longed for him, missed him, and how things had been between them.

Brenton growled, no, he is the reason our parents are dead. We don’t need him, and we’ll learn to live without her somehow too.

His wolf disagreed with Brenton’s plan. By the time he fell into bed that night, Brenton was almost crying from the body pain. Once more, he fell into a pain-filled sleep as exhaustion rolled over him.

“Ah, Brenton, my sweet pup, you are in so much pain,” a soft feminine voice murmured. “Why do you fight it? I have given you a sweet mate who will love you. One who will be a strong alpha female for you, yet here you are, alone and in pain. Why are you not enjoying the joys a mate brings?”

I’m not in my bed anymore but standing in the middle of a field, golden grass swaying around me. I began to turn around and around, growling, until I spot her, the one who had spoken. She was lovely, though not as beautiful as Farrah.

The woman smiled, saying, “I’m glad you find your mate lovely. So, why are you not with her?”

“Who are you,” I asked with a growl in my voice.

“Don’t growl at me, pup,” she scolded lightly. “I am the Moon Goddess.”

“That explains why you glow, I suppose,” I muttered, feeling a bit stupid now.

The moon goddess sighed and moved closer, mentioning, “I still await your answer.”

“I don’t want to share a mate, especially with him,” I snarled, anger filling my body once more and causing my nails to sharpen into claws.

She nodded, murmuring, “I see. So, the friendship the two of you shared for so many years means nothing anymore? You would let a rogue she-wolf, who almost destroyed everything you hold dear come between you? Was she worth it?”

I looked away, unable to meet her eyes. “Fiona was…”

“Was what? Was she a manipulator that took your innocent friend for a ride? Was she a rogue who manipulated your wolf brother? Perhaps she was the one who helped the rogue alpha kill so many of your Pack and his. Yes, she was all of those things. She was also the reason your family is dead. Brenton, she is the reason, not Everard. He loved her, believed she was his mate and was true to her because of that, and she destroyed his whole world by killing your family. Why? Because it cost him your friendship which meant everything to Everard. You were his rock when his world bottomed out, and suddenly he didn’t have you either,” she said. “If she had had her way, she would have killed you too. He heard her plan for you, and he stopped her. Did you know that?”

I shook my head. No, I hadn’t known that. I softly murmured, “I thought Dad killed her before he died of fatal wounds.”

“Everard was ashamed of what happened and didn’t want to admit how taken in he’d been by her lies,” she said. “He told you it was your father because you were already angry with him when you realized it was Fiona who had killed your mother. Brenton, Everard was just as hurt and broken as you were. Your parents loved him, and when he lost his parents, they filled that space in his heart, and they loved him.

“That day, he realized just how manipulated he’d been, but when he tried to explain to you, you turned your back on him. In his grief and despair over the loss of his family, he made many wrong decisions, which’s true. But until he arrived on the scene, he didn’t know how involved in it she was, and Everard wouldn’t have even known then if he hadn’t seen her kill the beta after your parents were dead. He felt as if your parent’s death was his fault, but he didn’t want you to blame him even if he blamed himself. He thought maybe you would go easy on him, but you didn’t, and he’s had to live with his failures without his friend beside him.”

“I didn’t know all this,” I muttered, ashamed.

“Because you never let him explain,” she scolded. “Now, go to him and your mate. Rekindle your friendship, your brotherhood, and put the hard feeling behind you so that your packs can also be mended. Brenton, Everard was never meant to be an alpha, but you are more than capable of binding the two packs into one for the good of both.”

“She’s mad at me,” I told her as if she didn’t already know.

The moon goddess chuckled. “No, she’s not mad at you, pup. You’ll find it takes a lot to get her mad. No, she’s upset with your actions, but she wants you to be happy with her and with Everard. All she wants is for the three of you to be happy, so go to them and make that happen.”

Brenton sat up in the bed with a gasp. He looked around and only saw his bedroom, not a field with a strange glowing woman in white in it.

“Go to them pup, NOW!”