Chapter 8
“So, where are you planning for us to live?” Everard asked, sounding unsure as to whether he wanted to know or not.
“I’m thinking here because Brenton lives in the pack-house,” she told him as he sat down. Wrinkling her nose in thought, she said, “I’m sorry, but I don’t want my life on display to a bunch of single people and teenagers.”
Everard laughed and said, “I agree. However, won’t that put Brenton a long way from his pack?”
“That’s what we were trying to figure out,” she told him. “I mean, I have no idea how he runs his pack. If he has an outside job or anything like that. I was just trying to find the most central location for the two of you to run both packs from.”
“Well, I don’t do much pack-related work because I don’t have much of a pack left. What little there is, Mason usually takes care of unless it’s something I must sign off on,” he told her. “I do work a full-time job though, and so does everyone else who is capable. We have a lot of older wolves who can’t work though, and only a few young families. I hold a meeting once a week where we talk about any issues they may have, and they all have my number if there is an emergency. Thankfully, we don’t seem to be on the rogues’ radar because we’ve not had any sightings of them in almost a year.”
“Okay, so if we live here, Brenton will have to commute when he deals with his pack at least for now…” she mumbled. “That seems like the best way I see.”
Everard sighed, drawing her gaze, as he said, “Farrah, it would probably be better if we just combined the two packs. I’m no alpha, but he is, and he’s a good one, his pack has flourished. He could probably dig us out of the hole I’m slowly burying us in.”
“I don’t want to take your pack from you, Everard,” Brenton said from the doorway. “It was your fathers, and your grandfathers before him.”
“You wouldn’t be, you’d be doing us all a favor and I’m sure most of the pack would agree,” Everard told him. “Brenton, you know me, you know I don’t have what it takes. I was going to be your beta; I could have done that easily…”
Brenton growled, effectively shutting Everard up.
Everard flinched and looked down at his feet.
“Don’t say that,” Brenton loudly exclaimed. He then took a deep breath before saying, “You don’t know me anymore, or what kind of alpha I have become Everard. I’m not the man I once was, and most of my pack fear me if I’m honest. Oh, I try to pretend they aren’t scared of me, but I see them cringe away when I walk by. So, my pack follows me out of fear and yours follows you out of respect. So, which option do you think is the better one?”
Everard continued to look down, not seeming to know what to say to that.
“Come over here Brenton,” Farrah said, patting the seat next to her.
Brenton walked over and sat down with a heavy sigh.
She stood and turned, getting on her knees between the two men so she could face them. Wrapping a hand around each of their necks she said, “Okay, here is what I think. You can’t run a pack, or a good pack, on fear because fear can eventually turn to anger and that anger can get you killed, Brenton. I also know that respected or not, you can’t let yourself be run over, Everard,” she said.
Leaning in, she gave them each a chaste kiss on the lips before moving back once more. They sat, both solemnly watching her.
“So, here is what I think needs to happen,” she continued. “I think both of you should be alpha, but to one pack instead of two. Everard, I believe with your calmer head you can keep Brenton from being so scary to the pack if you learn to work together at it. Both of you are smart men and you can learn to use each other’s strengths for the good of the pack while balancing out each other weaknesses. Brenton obviously has the business savvy and can help with the finance side. I also figure he likes the fighting side of it, so he could do most of the training. Everard, on the other hand, can deal with the everyday needs of the pack that Brenton is too impatient, or angry to deal with,” she said. “Sound good?”
The boys gave each other a quick glance before giving her a nod.
“It won’t happen overnight Farrah, we still have a lot of issues between us to work out because our friendship was completely broken,” Everard said quietly.
“It’s true, the trust will have to be rebuilt and I have a lot of anger issues,” Brenton informed her.
“Of course, he had anger issues before that all went down,” Everard grumbled.
“It’s okay, Mr. Growly, I like a sweet-tart every now and again,” Farrah said with a laugh, caressing Brenton’s cheek with her thumb. Giving Everard a wink she added, “We’ll just have to give him enough love and affection at home to counteract some of that aggression he has built up.”
Farrah leaned in and kissed Brenton, molding their lips together. She then allowed one of her hands to move over Everard’s chest, not wanting him to feel left out. She soon felt Everard scoot closer, then a pair of lips were moving over her neck, a hand pulling aside her tank top strap as those lips moved downward, over her shoulder. Everard bit and nipped at her shoulder until she pulled away from Brenton’s lips to let out a whine.
“Take off your shirt, baby,” Brenton demanded in a growl.
Farrah did as he asked, and Brenton’s lips began moving over her bared shoulder as Everard pulled her head toward him. Her lips were then attached to his, his tongue tangling with hers in dance. A hand moving up the leg of her shorts and between her thighs, had her pulling back to cry out once more. She whimpered as a finger moved through her folds, slowly moving to sink into her. Throwing her head back she whined, her hips bucking as she quickly gripped a thigh of each male with her hands.
“Spread those thighs a bit more, baby, let Everard in,” Brenton said before brushing his lips against hers once more.
Carefully, so she wouldn’t fall backward, she did as she was asked, propping her left leg to the top of Everard’s right thigh. Whimpering as she felt Everard’s hand move up the loose leg of her shorts and between her thighs. Then there were two fingers moving in sync and driving her wild with desire. They each had their faces buried in her neck now, biting and sucking as they moved their fingers, driving her over the edge.
Farrah came with a loud cry and collapsed against them, her face on Everard’s shoulder. Panting, she managed to say, “I think the two of you work together beautifully.” She heard their chuckles as they removed their fingers from her.
Brenton pulled her over onto his lap before standing with her in his arms. He murmured, “Let’s get you to bed, baby. Tomorrow is going to be a long day for us all.”
“Mm… why?” She asked sleepily as she looked over his shoulder at Everard who was following them.
“You need to be introduced to both packs. Both packs need to be informed about being combined and then given the option of leaving if they don’t like the idea,” Brenton informed her softly. “Also, Everard and I have a roof to look at.”
She yawned, and murmured, “Oh, okay. I don’t know anything about roofs, so can’t help you there.”
“That’s okay, baby,” Brenton murmured softly as he lay her down on the bed. He climbed into the bed in front of her as he said, “I know a little bit and Everard knows a lot, so we’ll handle that.”
She giggled as she snuggled into a pillow in the middle of the bed, saying, “Everard is turning out to be a jack of all trades.”
“I am,” Everard agreed as he climbed into the bed behind her and spooned her back. “Dad believed I should know enough about mechanics to fix my own car. Why pay someone when you can do it yourself. As far as the roof, when Brenton and I were about twelve, a storm came through and did a lot of damage to the house. Dad had him and me on the roof helping repair it. I remember him telling Brenton it was a good experience for a prissy alpha heir.”
Brenton was lying facing her and staring into her eyes as he brushed her hair away from her face. He told her, “My dad didn’t much like to get his hands dirty, so he didn’t teach me those kinds of things. Although, he did enjoy being behind a camera when he wasn’t working.”
She snuggled her face into his chest, breathing in his fresh soapy scent, and sighed with pleasure. “That’s okay, mine didn’t teach me much either since I was a girl. He taught my brothers, Devan and Glen, a lot though. The only thing I can say is we won’t starve because Mom taught me to be a good cook and homebody.”
“Perfect,” Brenton murmured as she drifted off.
“Mm… yes, perfect,” Everard agreed, and she heard nothing else as sleep took her.