Fated for Two

Brenton practically threw himself into Everard’s arms as he cried out, “I’m sorry Everard. I am so sorry for what I did to you, kicking you out of my life when we needed each other the most. My wolf cried for yours for weeks, wanting to know where his brother was and why he wasn’t there to help with the grief that followed us like a black cloud. I should have listened to him when he told me it wasn’t your fault that you were grieving as much as we were, that we needed you. Please, forgive me, please.”

“I do forgive you,” Everard whispered in Brenton’s ear since he had his face buried in Everard’s neck. “Now we’re together and we will face this house together. I want you to remember something though.” Brenton lifted his head. “I want you to remember that this house has nothing but good memories in it. All that is here are the good times you shared with your parents and me.”

“Everard…”

Everard shook his head as he said, “I know, mine is full of grief, but somehow I managed to stay there. Somedays I’m not sure how I do it, but I had to because I had nowhere else to go. I couldn’t move into the pack-house because it would only remind me that I didn’t belong there as the alpha.”

“Everard, what kind of memories?” Farrah asked softly as she lay a hand on his back.

Everard turned slightly to look at her. He explained, “Warren made my life miserable. I never did understand why, but I sometimes felt he hated me. Because of that, I spent a lot of time here, I have only good memories of being in Brenton’s home. Sometimes Brenton would go home with me though, and he saw how Warren treated me. So, when we were about seven, I guess, Brenton told me I was going to be his beta and wouldn’t have to deal with my bully of a brother ever again. He said that we are wolf brothers, brothers of the heart, and as such, he didn’t want me being anywhere but by his side. I agreed, told him I would be proud to stand by his side as his beta, and that was that.”

“When we were about ten, I told my dad about our plans,” Brenton said as he wiped at his face and backed up to close his truck door. “I remember my dad smiling at us as he told us he knew he was leaving his pack in good hands the day he turned it over to us.”

“When my dad told Warren about me becoming Brenton’s beta, he laughed at me,” Everard said. “Oh, he didn’t do it in front of Mom and Dad, he waited until he had me alone. He told me I was nothing but a wimpy little screwup. He went on to say that if Brenton was stupid enough to make me his beta then he’d be running both packs eventually because I would only drag Brenton down in the mud along with me.”

Brenton growled and said, “You never told me he said that.”

“I was ashamed that my own brother felt that way, Brenton,” Everard said. “Sadly, he was right in one way. No, I didn’t drag your pack down, but I’ve all but destroyed the Steward pack.”

“Everard, don’t. You did what you could with what you were given,” Brenton reassured him, putting a hand on Everard’s shoulder and giving it a squeeze. “If your dad had shown you the ropes of being alpha as he should have, then you wouldn’t have been so clueless. Warren could have shown you a few things too. As an Alpha, he should have known that sometimes things don’t always go the way we plan them, and a good alpha always has a backup plan.”

“Yeah, and I’m beginning to wonder if Mason thought he was—” Everard stopped, his eyes wide. Then he whispered, “That’s it. Mason must have thought he was Warren’s backup plan because I was to be your beta, then I ended up taking the pack instead when both my parents and my brother were killed. Brenton, I think maybe Mason is the mole, although he may not know that’s what he is.”

Brenton frowned and crossed his arms over his chest as he asked, “How do you get that?”

“Think about it,” Everard murmured as he glanced around. “Maybe we shouldn’t be talking about this out here in the open. We should go inside, into your dad’s office since it’s soundproofed.”

Brenton nodded, only to tense up when the house was once more in his line of sight. Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, he squared his shoulders, saying, “Okay, I can do this, for the good of my pack.”

“Not just for the good of your pack, Sweetheart, but for the good of your mental health too,” Farrah said softly. “You need this, you’ll see.”

Brenton didn’t really agree, but he nodded anyway.

The three of them then marched toward the house and mounted the steps in a row.

Brenton reached the door first and after unlocking it, he opened it and hesitantly stepped inside. As soon as he moved over the threshold, he almost hit his knees at the rush of memories. Everything in the front hall was just the way it was the day he’d walked out the door locking it and leaving the memories behind him. The only difference was the thick layer of dust and the musty smell of disuse that filled the air.

The musty scent reminded him of how the house had always smelled so good because his mom loved to bake. Most of the time the house had smelled of cinnamon and vanilla because his mom was always baking cookies for him and Everard. She’d teased them quite often as she hugged them to her that store-bought cookies just weren’t good enough for her little “cookie monsters”.

He glanced at the pictures that lined the front hall. Pictures of him, his parents, Everard and his parents, and pictures of him and Everard together. His dad loved to take pictures, and if he wasn’t busy doing his alpha duties, he had a camera around his neck snapping photos. He had one huge bookcase in his office just for the photo albums which held the hundreds of pictures he’d take. Each of the pictures had the year it was taken and who was in the picture because it wasn’t just family, he took pictures of, but the pack members too. Brenton knew his whole life was in a photo album in that bookcase somewhere.

Almost staggering, he moved forward enough to glance inside the front room or living room as some would call it. The furnishings were covered in dust, but that mattered not as memories once more hit him. The room was huge because his dad, at six foot seven inches and built like a lumberjack, had been a big man. He’d told his mate he wasn’t going to be stuck feeling like he was living in a dollhouse for the rest of his life.

The huge bay window took up most of the front wall and was covered by heavy hunter-green drapes. He remembered how every morning his mother would open those drapes to let the pack know they were welcome in the alpha’s home. The tan leather living room suite, which consisted of a couch, a loveseat, two armchairs, and a huge recliner, showed wear that could be seen even through the dust.

Brenton smiled at the large clear area in the middle which held a thick hunter-green rug. “Hey, Everard, remember the hours we used to spend playing on that rug?”

“Yeah, your mom finally got tired of us either moving her coffee table or jumping off it, so she had your dad remove it,” Everard answered as he came to stand next to Brenton. “I really thought she would put it back once we were grown.”

Brenton shook his head as he said, “No, she told me she’d gotten so used to it not being there by that time she feared she’d be forever tripping over it. Do you remember our wolf war battles?”

Everard laughed and said, “I do. I think I still have my wolves somewhere in the attic, possibly some of the vampires too.”

“What are the two of you talking about?” Farrah asked.

Brenton turned and wrapped his arm around her in a hug as he answered, “When we were little, probably three or four, Everard’s dad began whittling us a wolf army out of wood scraps. Of course, we told him we needed someone to fight, so he also created a few vampires for us. I think we each received three or four of each kind every birthday and Christmas for years. Our wolf army fought many a battle against the vampires on that very rug.”

“Awe! I bet the two of you were so cute,” Farrah murmured giving Brenton a kiss.

“Aren’t we still cute?” Everard asked, poking out his lip and fluttering his lashes.

Farrah laughed and pulled him in for a kiss too before saying, “No, sweetie, now the two of you are gorgeous.”

Brenton turned and stared at the steps leading to the second floor and the bedrooms. He murmured, “Farrah, would you like to see my boyhood room?”

Farrah gave him a squeeze as she answered, “If you feel like showing it to me I would. If not it can wait.”

Shaking his head, Brenton led the way up the stairs to the end of the hall. As he walked, he said, “Mom wanted a big family and Dad built this house with that in mind. There are four bedrooms up here, each with its own bathroom, and the master bedroom is downstairs. He also made a huge attic that could be converted into at least two bedrooms if needed.”

“Wow, he really did think big,” Farrah murmured as she followed him into the last bedroom at the end of the hallway.

“Yeah, unfortunately, I was the only one Mom was able to carry to term,” Brenton said. “However, I had Everard and he was the best brother a guy could ask for.”

Farrah turned to find Brenton with his arm around Everard’s neck and a smile on each of their faces. She knew they were finally beginning to feel their brotherly bond strengthening after the beating it had taken. Taking her eyes off them, she looked around the room, taking it all in. With a quick glance around, she saw the desk with a few books on it, the bookcases loaded down with books and trophies, and the neatly made bed.

Curious, she walked toward the bookcase and began looking at the trophies. A football caught her eye on the top shelf, so she asked, “What is the football for?”

Brenton walked over and took it down to show her as he answered, “Senior year we made it all the way to the state championship. Everard was our school quarterback and both of our dads were so proud of us. When we won, dad bought enough footballs for the whole team to have one. He had each of our teammates sign them, so we’d all have something to commemorate that day with.”

“Richard mentioned the two of you playing, but I still can’t see Everard as a quarterback,” Farrah said as she turned to look at the man in question. “You just seem so shy and I always pictured the quarterback as being… I don’t know, bold and loud?”

Brenton laughed as he put the football back up, saying, “Oh, trust me, he was. Everard was popular, very popular.”

“Really? More popular than the alpha heir?” Farrah asked.

Brenton shrugged as he moved over and sat on the edge of his bed, waving the dust away that he’d stirred up. “I guess we were both popular in our own rights. We tried not to let it go to our heads though like some of the alpha or beta heirs I’ve heard of have done. We had a plan you see, well, a plan after that first kiss anyway.” He turned a bit red with his admission.

Farrah waved it away, then admitted, “I can’t criticize you for it because I too had a first kiss. It wasn’t in high school, however.”

Everard went and sat down next to Brenton as he commanded, “Do tell.”