Fated for Two

Walking into the front room, she held back her tears as she stared down at Everard where he lay, still in his wolf form. Grabbing his phone that was still on the couch from earlier, she sat down on the floor next to him and dialed a familiar number.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mom,” Farrah whispered.

“Farrah, I wasn’t expecting to hear from you today,” Mom said from the other end of the phone.

Farrah sniffled as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. In a whisper, she said, “I almost lost him today, Mom. I almost lost Everard and I’ve never been more scared in my life.”

The end of the line was silent for so long that she thought her mom had hung up. She heard a soft huff of air before her mom finally answered, “Honey, I know how that feels. I almost lost your father more than once because as the beta he was always on the front line. All you can do is make sure you love him every day to the fullest. Let him know every day how much he means and never let a day go by that you don’t tell him you love him. Treat each moment as if it might be the last time you see him,” Mom said. She laughed and added, “Do the same with the other one too.”

Farrah gave a soft laugh of her own and agreed, “I will Mom. I love and miss you, and I promise as soon as things settle down here, I’m bringing them to meet you.”

“Mm… you do that. Now, I need to go since I’m at work. Take good care of him and I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, he will be. Thanks, Mom.” They both hung up and Farrah turned to give wolf Everard a kiss on his furry snout as she whispered, “I love you, Honey, and I promise to tell you and show you that every day.”

She didn’t know how long she’d been sitting there, staring into space and petting wolf Everard, when a sound from the door had her turning.

Emily was standing there with a sympathetic look. She asked, “Still not waking up?”

“No, not yet,” Farrah answered.

“Well, the kitchen is clean, and the bedroom is ready if the Alpha is ready to have Alpha Steward moved,” Emily informed her. “We were wondering if there was anything else that needed to be done.”

Farrah nodded, wiping the tears from her face as she stood up and said, “We need groceries and I know Alpha Phillips only wanted a few of the rooms to be cleaned, but I’ve been thinking. We need to be able to run the air conditioning, so if you will go ahead and clean the other rooms upstairs that would be lovely. I’ll have someone come clean the vents and close off the ones to the master bedroom.”

“We could clean….”

“No. I don’t think your Alpha is quite ready to have that room touched, not yet and we should respect that,” Farrah explained. “He’s struggling with just being here and I think that would be too much. I’ll clean it if it comes down to that, but he won’t want strangers in his parents’ room. Let me get him to move Alpha Steward, and then you can finish this room. Remove the drapes and take them out back to get rid of the dust. If they’re salvageable, you can put them back up after. If not? Well, we’ll cross that bridge when we reach it.”

Emily nodded and left the room, possibly to go tell the other girls what she’d said.

Farrah headed for the office and after hitting the little button next to the door that alerted those inside that someone was there, she opened it. Stepping inside, she glanced at Owen who sat in one of the chairs in front of the desk, Mason was in the chair next to him. She turned to look at Brenton and said, “The bedroom is ready. Do you want to move him or have someone else do it?”

Brenton stood, answering, “I’ll do it.”

Farrah nodded and moved over so he could go out the door. “Could someone look at the air conditioning unit? Make sure it can be used? I thought it might be nice to have a bit of cooling in the house. Everard’s wolf is probably sweltering in this heat by now.”

Brenton smiled and kissed her cheek as he answered, “Owen can do that for you, we’re finished here.”

Owen and Mason stood up and headed for the door as Mason said, “I’ll just be heading back to our pack-house. I’ll let everyone know what happened today and that Alpha Steward will be fine in a couple of days.”

“That’s a good idea, Beta Mason,” Brenton murmured as he watched the man leave. He then asked, “What did you say to him, Farrah? He acted like a scolded pup when he came in earlier.”

She shrugged and answered, “Only what he needed to hear. That’s he’s either on Everard’s side or he isn’t. To be honest, for Everard’s sake, I hope he’s on our side. However, if he isn’t, I believe it’s time to remove him from his position. We should give him a few days to prove his loyalty, then decide what is to be done about him.”

“How do you think Alpha Steward will take you dismissing his beta?” Owen asked.

Farrah hummed, then said, “He’ll feel guilty if he’s the one who has to ask him to step down because Everard is a naturally compassionate person. I believe it’s something that must be done though if we find out he is against us. We have enough enemies without sleeping with them.”

“I agree,” Brenton said.

“As do I,” Owen said. “I’ll go get that unit turned on now.”

“And I’ll go move Everard,” Brenton said as they all stepped out of the office. Brenton locked the door and whispered, “Tonight I plan to begin my search.”

“Okay,” Farrah agreed. “Now, I have a grocery list to make, but I’ll be up to sit with Everard as soon as I’m finished.” She gave him a kiss before they went their separate ways.

Everard awakened feeling pain, his eyes felt swollen, and his skin was itchy. He let out a groaning growl, feeling a restlessness he didn’t understand. His wolf was at the surface and seemed to be wanting out? No, that wasn’t it, the wolf had been out too long and was ready to recede back into Everard’s mind. Yes, that was it, he needed to shift back to his skin.

So, taking a deep breath, he pictured himself in his skin and felt his body begin to reshape. It had been so long that it was painful and there seemed to be an added pulling in his abdomen that had him crying out in pain as he shifted completely into his skin form.

He groaned, pain moving through his body in waves. Even as the pain resided slightly, nausea almost overwhelmed him, and he gagged slightly. The pain he was still feeling in his abdomen brought back the events of the day. The fight with the rogues, the injury, being stitched up by the doctor. He groaned again as he heard footsteps pounding up what sounded like stairs as he tried to pry his eyes open.

“Everard!” Brenton shouted as he rushed through the door looking for the cause of his wolf brother’s shout. Finding nothing out of order, he headed for the bed. “You finally shifted. Is that why you hollered? Are you in a lot of pain? Do I need to get the doctor?”

Everard groaned and once more tried to pry his eyes open as he choked out, “Water.”

“I’ll go get him some,” Farrah said softly from behind Brenton.

Brenton heard her footsteps fade as she left to get the water. He sat carefully on the edge of the bed and looked down at the neat stitches across Everard’s abdomen. He cringed at how red and painful they looked, but there was no blood. So, at least none of the stitches had busted during the shift.

“How bad is it?” Everard asked in a whisper, still unable to open his eyes.

“Not as bad as it would have been if the warriors hadn’t shown up when they did,” Brenton answered. “Everard, they almost killed you.”

“I know, I could feel my energy leaving me along with the blood,” Everard admitted, finally getting his eyes open.

Farrah walked back into the bedroom and gave him a smile as she walked over to the bed.

Brenton stood up and carefully sat Everard up, sliding in behind him on the bed. He lay Everard against his chest, holding him in a way that the stitches wouldn’t pull yet supported Everard’s body.

Farrah sat down on the bed and held the water out. When Everard tried to take it, he shook so bad he almost dropped the bottle. So, Brenton quickly grabbed it and helped him hold it.

When Everard had drunk down the whole bottle of water, he gave a sigh, leaning his head back against Brenton’s chest. He gave Farrah a smile and took her hand as he continued, “I had heard the howl of the warriors and was just trying to hold out until they got there. I’d killed the first rogue and when the howl went up, the second one paused just long enough for me to kill him.”

Farrah reached out with her free hand and gently brushed it through his hair as she said, “Thank goodness for that howl then.”

Everard nodded in agreement.

“We should try and put some clothes on you, at least some shorts,” Farrah murmured her cheeks turning pink as her eyes moved over his body.

Brenton chuckled in amusement at her slightly pink cheeks.

Everard winked as he said, “You mean you aren’t enjoying the view?”

“Oh, Honey, I always enjoy the view, but with all the people in and out…”

“Everyone is gone now,” Brenton reminded her.

Everard cleared his throat, bringing her eyes back to his, and said, “You know what would make me feel one hundred percent better?”

Farrah tilted her head questioningly.

Everard motioned her and whispered, “Come closer baby, and I’ll tell you.”

Farrah scooted up on the bed until she was sitting level with Everard’s hip and leaning slightly into Brenton’s thigh. She was surprised at how forward Everard was being since Brenton was in the room. Perhaps their little escapade in the office had rid him of his insane shyness. So, she whispered, “Tell me, tell me what would make you feel better.”

Everard reached out his hand and cupped it around her neck, pulling her face close to his. “A kiss.”

“You’re hurt,” Farrah whispered even as she longed to feel his lips on hers.

With him almost dying, the thought of never feeling those lips on hers again had her almost whining pitifully. Her wolf did whine, remembering the sight of their mate. His fur had been dry and matted from lack of nutrition. His skin had been stretched tight over bone, with no excess meat on it at all. She remembered how he had laid so still, and if it hadn’t been for his side moving with his breath, he would have looked dead.

“Then kiss all the hurt away for me, baby,” Everard demanded as he pulled her face even closer.

Farrah moaned, unable to resist him, and leaned in to caress his lips with hers. It was a gentle kiss until he parted his lips. Her hands come up then to cup his head between them, one hand moving up to scrape through his hair. She slipped her tongue into his mouth to tangle with his as they both moaned. She felt her temperature rise along with her need for him and forced herself to break the kiss.

As she moved to sit back, she was panting and slightly aroused, yet felt guilty because he was injured. She shouldn’t be feeling that way right now.

“You know it was arousing for me to watch the two of you,” Brenton whispered, his own voice sounding husky with lust.

“Yeah. It was pretty arousing to be involved in too,” Everard whispered back, his eyes never leaving hers, “and now I’m becoming painfully aroused.”

Farrah couldn’t help herself and found her eyes moving downward. She whimpered out loud as she looked at his now completely hardened manhood. She licked her lips as his shaft twitched under her gaze, thinking of how she had tasted of Brenton and wondering if Everard would taste different.

Shaking her head, she scolded herself. Bad girl. Now is not the time to be thinking about such things. He needs to rest and heal but, oh, how tempting he looks.

Brenton’s chuckle brought her eyes back up and she found both men watching her.

“S-sorry,” she stuttered, embarrassed, as she started to stand.

Everard’s hand reaching for hers stopped her as he murmured, “Don’t be sorry, baby, just do something about it, please.”

She stared at him, shocked at his request, as she whispered, “But… but…”

“But nothing, baby, you don’t want me to have to take care of it myself, do you?” Everard said as he poked his lip out in a pout. “It’s becoming painful.”

Her eyes flickered back down and saw his shaft was indeed growing harder with arousal. She moaned and licked her lips before whispering, “Do you want me to use my hand or…?”

“No, I want to feel those lips,” Everard said, his voice deepening in his arousal. “Brenton had a taste this morning of what those lips feel like wrapped around his shaft, now it’s my turn.”