Fated for Two

Farrah and Everard had just gotten out of the truck and loaded the suitcases when a few of the pack members showed up.

“Um… I didn’t think about a possible confrontation with the pack when we decided to load the truck ourselves,” Everard muttered low and close to her ear. “They won’t like me being here since Brenton has made it clear to them how much he hates me.

Farrah huffed as she turned to watch the four men, and one woman, heading their way. She then told him, “We have a right to be here and if it gets too bad, I’ll yell for Brenton.”

Everard didn’t say anything else; he just watched the group head toward them. As they drew closer, he realized they were some of the pack warriors, men he remembered seeing around when he was growing up. The woman, however, she had no clue who she was. From the look on her face, however, he figured she was more trouble than the four men put together. He just hoped she wasn’t someone who had her sight set on Brenton, or things could turn ugly quickly.

“Would someone like to tell me, why I smell the foul stench of the Steward Pack?” The biggest man asked with a growl. “That pack of runts should know better than to cross over the borderline.”

“My pack is not a pack of runts!” Everard burst out with a slight growl, feeling highly offended at the man’s words. Sure, his pack wasn’t that big anymore and mostly consisted of older people, but that didn’t make them runts.

The woman laughed in a high-pitched manner that had Everard’s wolf howling for him to make it stop. “Oh, this is too good, I think we have been graced with the mighty Alpha Steward himself. Too bad he’ll never make it back to his pack in one piece once our alpha finds out he’s trespassing here. You should make a run for it while you still can, Runt, and take your ugly female with you.”

And there is that hitch in her voice that says she wants to personally tell the alpha hoping to impress him. I’m sure Brenton never gave her the time of day because we were always about finding our mates, but a she-wolf can always hope I suppose. Her hopes are about to be dashed though if the look on Farrah’s face is anything to go by. Everard sighed.

“I’m not the ugly one here or the runt. So, I’d suggest you shut up before I remove your tongue. Also, I know for a fact that your alpha has no problems with us being here,” Farrah argued with the woman her eyes narrowed.

The woman smirked and asked, “And who might you be that you would know better than I do what my alpha wants?”

“Well, not to brag or anything,” Farrah began, only to stop when they heard the door to the pack-house open.

“What are all of you doing standing around out here for?” a man called out. Everyone turned as the owner of the voice stepped off the porch and continued, “The alpha is back and if he sees you acting as if you’re on vacation he’s going to tear a strip off each of your backsides. Then he’ll make you run through the pain.”

“We were just coming in for shift change, sir,” the leading man of the group said nervously. Obviously, the threat that Brenton would rip him a new one made him nervous. “That’s when we smelled a Steward runt. Come to find out, it’s Alpha Steward himself.”

The man drew closer and Everard recognized him. It was Richard, a man he had played football with when he was in high school. They had been good friends on and off the field.

“Hello, Richard,” Everard said calmly. “It’s good to see you again, wish it was under different circumstances.”

Richard stood silently, staring at Everard as if he wasn’t sure how he should react.

“You mean to tell me you know him?” The woman screeched. “He makes it sound as if you’re his friend or something, Richard.”

Farrah rolled her eyes and turned to tell the woman, “I’ll only warn you one more time, if you don’t shut your trap I’ma gonna shut it for ya! You’ve only said a few words and I’m already fed up with your screeching. Of course, he knows Alpha Steward, they probably went to school together or something. This town isn’t that big you know.”

“We did,” Richard agreed calmly, “and we played football together. Everard was the best quarterback Johnson High School ever had. He helped take us to state our senior year and we won thanks to him.”

Farrah grinned up at Everard as she teased, “Quarterback huh? Did you date the head cheerleader too?”

Everard flushed red at her question but answered, “No, but she’s the one I kissed. Brenton kissed her twin sister; she was the head cheerleader, and he was a running back. Richard was also a running back and a good friend to Brenton and me.”

Farrah turned to face Richard and held out her hand as she said, “Hi, I’m Farrah. Any friend of Brenton and Everard is good people in my book.”

Richard stared down at her hand for a moment before taking a deep breath. When he did, his face took on a startled look as he looked back up at her, his eyes wide. “Who exactly are you? You have Alpha Phillips scent on you, yet you also have Alpha Steward’s on you also.”

Farrah opened her mouth to speak, only to stop at the sound of the pack-house door opening once more.

Brenton stepped outside along with Beta Owen. They moved down the steps quickly as Brenton said, “I’ll see you and the pack in the field at nine o’clock sharp in the morning Owen. Make sure no one is late because if they are, I’ll have them in the field running laps till they drop.”

“Yes, sir,” Owen said as he headed off across the field toward a small building.

Brenton walked over to Farrah, putting his arm around her before dropping a kiss on her head. Looking at his head warrior, he asked, “Richard, what’s going on here?”

“Alpha, I came out to see what these five were doing,” Richard waved his hand toward the woman and the men behind her, “and saw Alpha Steward along with… Farrah. That was as far as I’ve gotten as to why they are here.”

Brenton chuckled and threw his free arm around Everard’s shoulder, saying, “Farrah is my mate, and as far as Everard is concerned, we have been working on rebuilding our friendship.”

Richard smiled and said, “I’m glad to hear that Alpha, Everard was always a good friend. I’ve missed him being around to tone down your rougher side.”

Brenton laughed, causing the eyes of his warriors to widen in disbelief, as he said, “My rougher side? You mean to keep me from almost killing you in training, don’t you?”

Richard huffed and muttered, “Something like that.”

“Alpha, sir,” the woman whispered, “did you say, mate?”

Brenton turned to look at the woman as he answered, “Yes, Felisha, I did. Farrah is my mate. I know you’ve only been here for a short time, but I’m sure you’ve heard about the disagreement between Ev…err… Alpha Steward and myself. Well, I’ve called a pack meeting in the morning in which both packs will be there. I will explain everything to everyone at that time. Now, we must be going. Everard, is everything loaded?”

“Yes, sir,” Everard muttered feeling uncomfortable with all eyes on him.

Brenton raised his eyebrows at the “sir” but said nothing. He gave Everard a nod and headed for the driver’s side of the truck.

Everard turned and opened the passenger side, allowing Farrah to get in before sliding in himself. He let out a sigh of relief as Brenton turned the truck around and headed for his own pack’s land.

Brenton tapped the steering wheel to the beat of the song playing softly through the speakers. He then asked, “Everard, why did you call me “sir” back there?”

Everard stared out the windshield, his face blank, as he answered, “Everyone was staring at me as if they expected me to do something to you at any moment. I just… the “sir” just came out, my way of showing them that I still respect you, I guess. Just be glad I didn’t slip and call you alpha.”

Brenton gave a tired sigh as he scratched at his five o’clock shadow on his jaw, saying, “Everard, as far as anyone is concerned you are my equal, an alpha. I really don’t care what they think of our relationship otherwise because it is between us and has nothing to do with them.”

“But I do care!” Everard exclaimed, turning to look at Brenton. He then went on to explain, “I care because I have never had anything but respect for you Brenton. You are my closest friend, my brother wolf. Even when we weren’t speaking, I knew you were one of the good alpha’s, one to be respected, and that won’t ever change. I want them to understand that I respect you, that no matter what they think of me, they can’t say I don’t give you the respect you deserve.”

Brenton pulled into the driveway in front of Everard’s home and stared out the windshield. He softly said, “I know you do Everard and I want you to know… I want you to know how sorry I am that I forgot how much I respected you growing up. If I had shown you the respect you have always shown me, I would have listened to you. I would have understood what happened and our brotherhood would never have been lost. For that, I am truly sorry.”

Everard nodded and opened the truck door as he said, “I just want to forget it happened. It was one of the hardest times of my life and I know it helped shape me, but I just want to leave it in the past if we can, please.”

Brenton nodded and opened his own door saying, “Okay, Everard, we’ll leave it in the past from here out. Well, except for when we have to dredge it up in our efforts to figure out who wants our packs’ land.”

All three of them got out and the men grabbed the suitcases while Farrah opened the door. Once they were all inside, she headed for the kitchen only to stop. She turned her head slightly to ask, “Hey, Brenton? I was wondering something. Earlier when I asked about a safe, you started to say something then stopped. What were you going to say?”

“My dad did have a safe, but I remembered that someone had been placing listening devices in my office,” Brenton explained. He followed Farrah into the kitchen. “I did find one after you left, so it was a good thing I said nothing.”

“So, where is this safe?” Everard asked from behind them.