Fated for Two

Less than thirty minutes later all three of them were in the office. Everard and Farrah were seated on the couch and Brenton was on the floor by the desk.

“So, your dad put the safe under the floor, then put his desk on top of it?” Farrah asked.

“He did,” Brenton agreed, his head now under the desk. He pulled back the small piece of rug to uncover the trap door for the safe. As he worked, he explained, “He never was one for doing things the usual way. This wasn’t put in when the house was originally built, he put it in later because there was an issue with pack security.”

“Hm… wonder if it had anything to do with whatever happened with my uncle?” Everard asked.

Brenton poked his head up for a moment, thoughtful, as he said, “I don’t know. Dad never really came out and said what the problem was, just that there was one. Of course, I had just turned eighteen and he had so much he wanted to tell me before I was to take the pack over at twenty. Then, the pack wars started, and everything was put on the back burner, even my taking over.”

They were all quiet for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts until Brenton’s suddenly stood up. In his hands were file folders.

“Is that it?” Farrah asked.

Brenton nodded, then said, “This is all that was in there. Each of them has a date written on them.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Let’s see what they say,” Farrah suggested.

Brenton took a seat behind his desk and took a deep breath. As he opened the first folder, he stated, “The first one is dated 1961. The first page is a letter, signed by Beta J. Harvey. It reads, today there are eight of us gathered for this meeting. The eight are Alpha and Lady Phillips, his beta Jerry, and his mate; Alpha and Lady Steward, his beta Grant and his mate who is also Alpha Phillips sister, Kaitlin.

“The Phillips Pack has been allied with the Steward pack since day one all those years ago when they bought the land next to us. So, the reason for this meeting is to decide how our packs need to proceed since the Phillips pack now has a new alpha. Up until now, the second-born has always been beta, however, in this case, the second born is Kaitlin, who is now mated with the Steward beta. This means that things must change slightly.

“The former Alpha Phillips has turned his pack over to his son Ronald, who just turned twenty. Alpha Ronald brought Alpha Steward and his beta here to draw up a contract. This contract reads in the event something was to happen to him before an heir is born, the two packs would become one since there is no other to become alpha in his place. However, if an heir is born the contract becomes null and void.”

“Who exactly is Alpha Ronald?” Farrah asked.

“That would be my grandad,” Brenton answered as he continued to read.

“It’s all pretty straight forward though,” Everard murmured.

“Mm-hm… it is, oh, wait. There is a second page, an amendment of sorts,” Brenton told them. “An heir has been born to both the Phillips pack and the Steward pack. Both boys are healthy and doing well, born six months apart. However, the contract stays in place until their twentieth birthday when they are able to take over the packs.” Brenton laid the paper aside and glanced through the other pages before saying, “This is the Phillips copy of the contract… I wonder whatever happened to the copy the Steward’s had?”

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen it,” Everard said. “Maybe they already found it, or dad destroyed it because it was no longer of value.”

“Possibly,” Brenton agreed. “Okay, so the next folder is dated 1981.”

“So, twenty years later,” Farrah murmured.

“The new alpha takes over and a new contract needs to be made between the allies,” Everard says.

“That makes perfect sense to me,” Farrah says.

“This one is written by my dad’s beta James,” Brenton tells them. “It reads, today there are nine of us gathered for this meeting. The nine are: Alpha and Lady Phillips, his beta James and his mate; Alpha and Lady Steward, his beta Carter and his mate; Alpha Steward’s brother is also present.

“The circumstances bringing us here today is the renewal of the contract of heirs. Just as before, the combining of the two packs is on the table. However, Alpha Steward has brought up that perhaps his brother would take one of the packs if it were to become necessary. It was agreed that this would be a good thing since he was born of alpha and trained as one also. So, in the event something was to happen to either Alpha Phillips, or to Alpha Steward before an heir is born, let it be known that Joseph Steward will take over the alpha less pack and make it his own.”

Brenton paused, then put that page aside. He then continued, “Just as before, an amendment was made later. It reads: This is stating there has been an amendment made to the contract between packs. Alpha Steward now has an heir, his son Warren. The original contract is only active until his twentieth birthday when he is capable of taking over the pack from his father.”

“Is that it? No mention of Everard?” Farrah questioned.

“That was thirteen, almost fourteen, years before my time Farrah,” Everard reminded her.

“Oh, yeah. I forgot there was a huge age-gap between the two of you,” Farrah murmured.

“Hold on, you two, don’t get ahead of me. There is a third page to read here still,” Brenton informed them as he flipped the second page over.

“Sorry,” Farrah said.

Brenton took a deep breath and began to read the third page, “Today a third amendment was made in the contract. Alpha Phillips now has an heir also, a boy, Brenton. Alpha Steward also now has a second-born son, Everard. The birth of these two children makes the agreement, made at an earlier time, of Joseph Steward becoming alpha of either pack null or void.

“Joseph Steward was not pleased with the outcome of this meeting and threats were made. As tempers rose, Joseph suddenly attacked his brother, Alpha Steward, and injured him badly before Joseph could be removed from the room. Those left in the room fear Joseph is a loose cannon and plan to keep a close watch on him.”

“Well, that kind of explains what happened,” Farrah said.

“Yeah, but it leaves me with more questions,” Everard huffed. “He attacked Dad, but did they kick him out of the pack because of that? Or did he do something worse later?”

Brenton, who had been thumbing through the remaining pages, froze when he came to the last page. Clearing his throat to get their attention, he whispered, “I think I have the answer to that question. It appears as if he and a few others, his friends apparently, started an uprising to overthrow your dad when Warren was three. He almost killed your father and severely injured your mom. When your mom was being treated in the Pack clinic, she had a miscarriage. She didn’t even know she was pregnant. Afterward, the doctor told her damage had been done and she would most likely never have another child.”

Everard’s face paled and he whispered, “Why did I not know this?”

“I don’t know, maybe the pain of what had happened was just too much and they wanted to put it behind them,” Brenton suggested.

“Obviously the doctors were wrong about her having another,” Everard commented, “after all, she had me.”

“Maybe that’s where Warren’s resentment comes from,” Farrah suggested. “He was old enough to have been told at some point he would never have a sibling. Then, suddenly, there you were taking his spotlight. Do you know if you were a sickly child?”

Everard shook his head and said, “No, not that I know of. I do remember Lady Phillips telling me how excited mom was when she found herself pregnant with me. She told me mom almost glowed with happiness.”

“I would imagine if I thought I could never have a baby and suddenly I’m pregnant I’d be overly excited also,” Farrah told him.

“Well, that is one mystery solved,” Brenton told them as he tapped the last file laying on his desk. “Now, there is one more file and although it has no date on it, it’s labeled “kaolin”.

Farrah frowned and asked, “What is kaolin?”

“It’s a type of clay that can be used for a lot of different things,” Everard answered. “Georgia is full of… wait, did someone find kaolin on one of our pack lands?”

Brenton, who had opened the folder, nodded and said, “Apparently so. The Steward pack is sitting on a virtual kaolin gold mine. It’s close to the eastern border and although it was found by your father, they never did anything with it.”

“Rarely does anyone go that far, not even patrol because we never needed to make use of the land there,” Everard mentioned. “I wonder if the rogues only know about it, or if they’ve been mining in secret?”

Brenton huffed and leaned back in his seat as he thought. “No, I don’t think they’re mining because the sounds would have alerted the pack that something was going on.”

“You’re probably right,” Everard agreed. “Does it say when it was found?”

Brenton nodded and answered, “Not long before your uncle was kicked out of the pack. He’s the one that found it.”

Silence fell as the three of them stared at one another. This was it; this was the answers they had been looking for. This was the reason the packs had been terrorized. Joseph Steward wanted the Steward pack because he had found a gold mine in kaolin. He thought he was so close to having it only for it to be taken away when Brenton had been born. He wasn’t willing to give up the money that could be made from mining the kaolin though and set out to destroy two packs.”

“Everard, do you remember exactly where your uncle went?” Brenton asked.

Everard shook his head as he said, “No”.

“Why?” Farrah asked.

“I’m just thinking, he has to be close to be keeping such a close eye on us,” Brenton answered. “Although, I don’t think it is him, but his son. He’d be what now, forty-two, forty-three? At that age, an alpha has usually already stepped down. I know the rogue alpha wasn’t anywhere close to his forties, four years ago.”

“He could still be pulling the strings,” Everard said.

“True,” Brenton agreed. “Everard, you and I need to go put these in the bank safe box, then we need to talk to the pack. Farrah, I don’t want to leave you here alone, so we’ll drop you off at the pack-house. You can gather up the girls to help you today and come back with them when they’re ready.”

“Sounds good,” Farrah agreed as she stood up.

Brenton and Everard also stood, and they were soon headed out the door.