Fated for Two

Brenton and Everard looked at each other as Farrah’s words rang in their ears, a mole, a traitor in their mists. A traitor, in not just one of the packs, but in both. For them to have someone that would do this to them was unthinkable.

Yes, Brenton had been suspicious all along, but suspicions were one thing, to have them proven true was another. Looking at Everard’s face though, he knew he’d never had any of those same suspicions about his pack.

“Brenton, I know you already figured you had one, but I’m thinking you’ve had it longer than you realize. I think one was already planted before Fiona ever came to light,” Farrah informed them. “They have kept the rogues up to date on everything that is going on. So, here is my two theories. Fiona might be the daughter of Everard’s uncle Joseph, hopefully not though because that would have made her Everard’s cousin.

Everard and Brenton both made disgusted faces as Everard muttered, “Gives meaning to the expression “kissing cousins” I suppose.”

“Yeah, I agree, and would hope he wouldn’t be so desperate as to use his daughter that way,” Farrah agreed, giving her own look of disgust. “I’m leaning toward my second theory though, which is that the rogue alpha is Joseph’s son.”

Both men nodded and Brenton said, “I think we should go with that one.”

Farrah nodded her agreement and continued, “I’m thinking that Joseph wanted the Steward Pack any way he could get it. However, he finds out that if something were to happen to Alpha Phillips the two packs would be combined. So, he waits because that’s even better, he’ll end up with two packs instead of one. Then, along comes Brenton and Everard who mess up his original plan, but he is determined. The pack wars are started, he might even have had a hand in it because I know they started down this way. Conveniently, Steward and his heir are killed, and everyone knows that Everard is only a beta. They know he isn’t ready to run a pack, but his good friend steps in to help him and the pack still thrives. This isn’t the plan and Joseph doesn’t like it. It’s time to throw a monkey wrench in to swing things back his way. So, Joseph sends in a woman, Everard’s soulmate, and then he waits.”

“What purpose did she serve exactly?” Brenton asked.

“Everard had your help Brenton, your eyes were on him and you kept him from failing as they wanted him to,” Farrah suggested. “They needed someone to distract him, keep him from paying as close attention to what was going on under his nose and realizing their plans. They wanted the Steward pack and if they could get an alpha female in, she could kill Everard off, bring in her true mate and have the pack for themselves. This was probably the original plan, but you were in the way Brenton because you are the alpha and could run both packs in your sleep.”

“Okay, so they needed me out of the way, so they decided to kill my family,” Brenton suggested.

“Yes, you and your family. Your dad could still run the Phillips pack if he needed to, that left you free to help Everard with the Steward Pack,” Farrah said, pausing to let that sink in. She then said, “Let’s go back a bit in time now. You see, I think before you were born, your dad feared he wouldn’t have an heir. So, he might have told Everard’s dad he’d leave the pack to his heir, Warren, combining them at some point. Or, he could have left the pack to someone else, either way, someone stood to inherit your dad’s pack Brenton,” she hummed thoughtfully. “The mole might have been there when they got together and drew up a contract of some kind, and signed by them both, that’s what alphas usually do.”

“That would make sense,” Everard agreed.

“Brenton, when your dad finally had you, his heir, it had been long enough the papers were possibly long forgotten and never changed. I think someone was counting on that possibility.”

“And a mole would keep them informed of any changes were made as to who would inherit,” Brenton muttered.

Farrah nodded, then continued, “The pack war came along though and took care of the Steward Pack heir, but the original paperwork was still around somewhere. They needed the paperwork stating that the packs were to be combined and the name of who was to take over if Warren had no heir for them. This is the only way by pack law for them to be able to take over the land. Otherwise, one of the pack's allied alphas could come in and claim it as an unclaimed pack. So, the paperwork must be somewhere, right?”

Brenton shrugged, “Maybe, but I sure don’t know where it is.”

“Someone does, or thought they did anyway,” Farrah warned him. “Fiona said for the plan to work, you had to die, Brenton, not Everard. They still needed him to mate with her so that his pack would become theirs. It would need to be legitimate in the eyes of the other packs. Also, your pack would become theirs by default if you and your parents were dead.”

Brenton looked down at his now empty plate as he whispered, “So, my family all had to die so that the Phillips Pack would be combined with the Steward Pack.”

“Yes. That didn’t work out though because Fiona left long enough for Everard to come out of his addicted haze and semi-realize what was going on. In his coherent moment, he killed her. However, there is still a mole in each of your packs and I believe that someone found Everard’s note telling you he was leaving everything to you.”

“I drove my truck down to the lake, the note was in an envelope addressed to Brenton in the front seat. It’s right on the border of our lands and I thought he might see my truck and check it out, finding the note,” Everard whispered, answering the unspoken question. “When I awakened, I was in my bed, but I’m not sure who found me or who brought me home. That whole couple of days is pretty foggy.”

Brenton’s head came up and he stared at Farrah, her words going around and around in his head.

“So, someone out there still wants one of you dead,” Farrah continued. “It matters not which one anymore because papers have been drawn so that the packs will be combined no matter which one of you die.”

“And now we have the same mate we plan to combine them together anyway,” Everard whispered.

“Falling right into what they want, both of your pack’s land,” Farrah agreed. “The question is, how do we find the mole before the rogues attack us again?”

“That’s a good question,” Brenton murmured. “Everard, do you still have that note you left me?”

“I do, somewhere… but Brenton, there is something else the two of you need to know,” Everard said.

Brenton and Farrah looked at him as he twitched nervously and waited.

“In my note, I was cryptic because Dad always said to never make it easy on the enemy,” Everard began. “When I realized the note was still in my truck, that someone had brought back, I looked over it carefully. Someone did a good job sealing it the way we always did, but I knew it had been opened because whoever had it wrote your name wrong on the front of it.”

“What do you mean?” Brenton asked.

“I’m thinking they must have ripped the envelope to get it open, then had to make a new one. I had put your name on it, but it wasn’t my writing on the envelope I put up,” Everard admitted. “I was puzzled why someone would open it, why not just mail it to you or something?”

“Because they needed to know what was in it,” Farrah muttered, “just in case it was important.”

“I suppose, although at the time I didn’t think of that,” Everard said then. “Also, the next day I noticed that my office at the pack-house had been searched. Oh, they were careful, but little things stood out to me. Now, about every other month someone goes through it again. Has your office been gone through Brenton?”

Brenton growled at the thought of his privacy being invaded that way. However, he shook his head and said, “I wouldn’t know really. I have two maids who take turns cleaning and I have never paid attention because they’re always moving things around.”

“Someone is looking for something,” Farrah said. “Your office and personal spaces have more than likely been gone through also. I think you need to find where that contract was put and remove it, Brenton.”

“Such a contract may not even exist, Farrah, since this is all speculation,” Brenton informed her, a look of skepticism on his face. “However, if it did exist, it could have been lost years ago.”

“What you say is true, Brenton, but we can’t take a chance that it does exist out there. On the chance that it does exist, we need it in our hands, not the hands of someone else,” Farrah argued. “The fact that they’ve been searching here tells me that it does exist though and that they haven’t found it or that there is more than one copy.” She then turned to look at Everard as she asked, “Everard, what did you mean by being cryptic?”

“I didn’t come right out and tell Brenton what I had left him, or where I left it. I put the paperwork leaving the pack and everything I own to him in a place that I knew only he knew,” Everard explained. “Whoever reads the note wouldn’t know what was left to him because I just said that I was giving him something I felt he would take and keep safe as long as he breathed. I also said, that it was placed in a place just under the beautiful sky in a place his wolf longed for but where mine refused to go.”

Farrah huffed, trying to figure out the riddle of words and Everard laughed. He then told her, “You would never guess it because it is something only Brenton and I would know.”

“So… explain!” Farrah demanded.

“We had a secret spot growing up, well, not exactly secret because everyone used the lake,” Everard began.

“But there was a place we found and began hiding things that were special to us there,” Brenton continued, looking thoughtful. “I hadn’t thought of our hiding place in years, probably since we turned sixteen and our lives became so busy getting us ready to be alpha and beta.”

“Brenton’s wolf loved the water and sometimes we would run to the lake in our wolf forms,” Everard told her. “Brenton would run into the water and swim, mine would not. Mine would get a drink, then I would shift to skin and swim.”

“Ah, so “a place his wolf longed for but where mine refused to go” is in reference to the water,” Farrah mused.

“It is, and that is all we will tell you,” Brenton said softly. “I have found it prudent to be careful what is said at all times because ears are everywhere.”

Everard frowned as he said, “No one ever comes here, at least not when I’m here.”

“You don’t know that Everard,” Brenton disagreed. “They have to get their information somewhere.”

“They may not have in the past, because it was just you here,” Farrah said softly as she took Everard’s hand. “However, now that Brenton and I are here, they know we’ll talk. They also have to know that Brenton has been actively looking for the rogue alpha.”

“Living in the pack-house I have learned to take precautions,” Brenton said as he tapped on the table lightly. “I have even gone as far as weekly scans for bugs.”

“Bugs?” Farrah asked, confused.

Brenton chuckled and explained, “Listening devices in my room and in my office.”

“Oh… so, have you ever found any?” Farrah asked.

Brenton nodded, “Three to date. Each one has been a bit harder to find, but I found them all the same. It might be wise to begin searching here for them after we’ve all been gone, just in case. We don’t want to tell them something they can use against us.”

“Smart,” Everard muttered, then added, “I never thought I would have to worry about someone in my pack betraying me.”

“Betrayal is what started the pack wars in the beginning,” Brenton stated with a sigh. “Someone, somewhere, wanted to be something they weren’t but were determined. So, they gathered others who felt the same and began spreading lies in the ears of the alphas until they had their uprising, turning alpha against alpha until they started slaughtering each other. They may have never meant for it to go as far as it did, but we all must live in the fallout. Part of that fallout, for me anyway, is the distrust I now have. Always before I blindly trusted anything one of my pack members told me, but now? Now I trust little of what any of them say and that is probably why they fear me because I’m always questioning them.”

“Harshly I assume?” Farrah asked and Brenton nodded.

“I know, but my pack is so small anyway,” Everard whispered in a sad voice. “The thought of not being able to treat them all as family…”

Farrah gave his hand a squeeze, saying, “We’ll find the bad seed, Honey, and we’ll deal with it. We’ll make this right somehow and then both packs will be as they should be.” She stood up then and said, “How about we do something to take our minds off of this for a while?”

“Like what?” Brenton asked with an amused look her way.

She headed for the kitchen door. Looking over her shoulder, she crooked her pointer finger at them in a “follow me” motion before heading toward the living room.

The two men looked at each other and Brenton whispered, “You think she’s gonna give us some love now?”

Everard chuckled at his horny brother wolf, answering, “Maybe, if you’re lucky.”

Brenton stood and made for the door as he said, “Then let us go and see.”