Fated for Two

Brenton woke up with a warm body lying across his chest and a head on each shoulder. He grunted lightly as he opened his eyes to bright sunlight. After blinking a few times, he focused on the two snuggled against him with a frown.

Farrah was stretched across his body, her head on his left shoulder and her leg between his. Her arm was stretched out and thrown across Everard’s waist where he lay mashed up against Brenton’s side.

Everard’s head was smashed up in the crook between Brenton’s head and his shoulder. His light breaths puffed against Brenton’s ear, slightly tickling it.

Turning his head, Brenton growled softly not wanting to wake Farrah, but not liking Everard so close. Sure, they had resolved some of their issues the night before but it didn’t mean Brenton was ready to snuggle with him. He was still angry and hurt and it would take time to rebuild what had been lost between them. Eventually, that healing would come, but it wasn’t now, so he grunted out, “Everard.”

“Hm…” Everard grunted back, digging his face deeper into Brenton’s shoulder.

“We need to get up and go look at that roof. As bright as that sun coming through the window is, you might have someone knocking on your door soon if we don’t go,” Brenton growled low, still trying not to awaken Farrah.

“More comfortable than I’ve been in forever, don’t wanna get up,” Everard grumbled even as he moved his head.

“I’m glad you’re comfortable, but I’m not,” Brenton muttered with a snort. “I need to use the bathroom and I have dead weight laying on top of me.”

Everard’s eyes opened and as he realized his face was snuggled into Brenton’s shoulder, they widened fearfully, and he quickly sat up. Then, looking anywhere but at Brenton, his face bright red, he asked in a nervous voice, “Oh, um… how do we get her off without waking her?”

“No idea. I’ll just try rolling her off and see what it does I suppose,” Brenton murmured as he wrapped his arms around her back.

Everard got up off the bed, shaking slightly, and stood silently.

Brenton decided it best to ignore the fear in Everard’s voice for now, although it hit him hard how nervous Everard seemed to be around him. So, with a silent sigh, he rolled his body, causing Farrah to grunt as her body hit the bed, but she didn’t awaken. He stood up as he mentioned, “She must be really tired.”

Everard yawned and stretched, quickly heading for the door as he said, “So am I, but you’re right, it’s almost nine and Mason will be expecting me no later than ten.”

Brenton followed Everard quietly from the room making sure not to awaken their sleeping mate.

“The second bathroom upstairs still works, so, I’ll use it and you can use this one,” Everard said softly.

Brenton nodded, and they went their separate ways to get ready.

Two hours later the two men were back at Everard’s home. They’d gone together and looked at the roof. After deciding the rafter was only rotten, Brenton had given Beta Mason some money and sent him to the lumber yard to get what was needed to finish the roof.

Everard had said nothing until they’d began driving back to his house. Then the argument about money had begun. He told Brenton that he had the money for the roofing supplies, and he’d pay him back as soon as he was home.

Brenton told him there was no need to do that.

Everard said there was, he didn’t want to be indebted to Brenton.

Brenton growled back that the packs would have to be combined eventually since they now shared a mate. That meant that Everard’s debt was now his.

Everard had informed him that it hadn’t happened yet. That meant he was still responsible for everything.

It had become a full-blown fight and Brenton was seething with anger by the time they arrived. Everard had returned to his shell, caving into himself and saying nothing as they walked in the door of the house.

“Farrah, where are you?” Brenton growled as they walked inside. He was still angry, at Everard and at himself.

I don’t understand why Everard became so upset about me paying for the supplies. What is the big deal? I had the money on me, so why not use it? It won’t be long before the packs are combined anyway, so what difference does it really make as to whose money is used?

Now Brenton just wanted to punch something, perhaps he should go for a run before he did exactly that.

“I’m up here,” Farrah called back before she came bounding down the stairs. “I was looking around, seeing how much work the house is going to need.” She stopped at the foot of the stairs and looked at the two men. Brenton’s face was red in anger and Everard seemed to be almost shaking as he tried to make himself smaller. “What happened now?”

“Nothing, I’m going for a run,” Brenton growled before he stormed back out the door.

Everard walked into the kitchen, saying nothing.

Farrah followed Everard slowly with a heavy sigh. The two men had been getting on so well the night before after their talk, what had gone wrong? Needing to know, she asked, “Everard, will you tell me what happened this morning?”

Everard grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge. Closing it, he kept his back to Farrah and gave a sad sigh. He bowed his head, his shoulders slumping as he said, “We had a fight, what else. I really don’t see how this is going to work Farrah. Brenton and I are two complete opposites and when we were young it worked, but we’re men now and…”

“So, you’re just going to give up, is that it?”

Everard shrugged, saying nothing because there really was nothing to say. He knew how bad things were, Farrah didn’t. No matter what he said, Brenton blamed him for the death of his parents and Everard blamed himself too. It was his fault because he somehow had convinced himself that a woman was his mate when she wasn’t. He still didn’t understand how that had happened. Now his true mate was here, but he was messed up and no good to anyone. Perhaps Farrah should just go with Brenton and they should both forget about him.

“Okay, moving on for now,” Farrah murmured as she sat down at the table. “Tell me about the pack-house.”

“They have the roof almost finished,” Everard told her as he turned around. Then, leaning against the counter, he continued, “Some of the men were sent to get the rest of the lumber and the roof should be finished by today. Some of the women have been cleaning, while others have been moving in beds and things, getting it ready for them to move in.”

“Good, that will be one less thing to worry about,” Farrah told him. “Now, how about this house?”

“Most of it is in good shape. There has been a bit of leaking, but I’ve patched it quickly before too much damage was done. The worst thing is the need for new paint and some new carpets. After having been empty, mostly, the upstairs carpets are nasty just from not being kept cleaned regularly. The porch, however, needs a complete overhaul.”

“I did notice that when we came in last night,” she told him. “So, do you not use those rooms? I thought you said some of the pack needed a place to stay, so why not have some of them here now?”

“No, they aren’t used. The kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom are the extent of the use this house has had in a lot of years. I haven’t moved anyone in with me because most feel like as the alpha I should have my own space. I’ve tried to at least get Mason, my beta, and his mate to move in along with their two sons, but his mate doesn’t want to leave their home.”

“Mm… okay,” she said giving a sigh. “Well, I’m getting hungry, and I know we’ll have to go get some food if we want more than just a sandwich. I was thinking we might go into the city, get some lunch, then buy groceries.”

“What about Brenton?”

Farrah huffed, “He should be left here to starve by himself. Although, I have a feeling he’d probably just go home.”

“True,” Everard said softly as he threw away his now empty water bottle. “It isn’t really his fault Farrah, it’s mine. I should have known better than to argue with him because it never ends well. Even when we were kids, when it was personal it was better to just give into him.”

“What do you mean by personal?”

Sitting down at the table, Everard sighed, then began, “I was to be Brenton’s beta. My older brother, Warren, was going to be alpha of this pack and he had a friend, Doug, who he wanted as his beta. Of course, that didn’t happen because Doug met his mate and moved off. That’s when Warren’s other good friend, Mason, stepped in and became beta. Anyway, there were almost ten years between me and my brother. Because of that, he felt I was too young to be beta for him, among other the other issues he seemed to have with me. That was fine with me because I didn’t want to be under my brother’s thumb for the rest of my life no matter how much I loved him. So, when Brenton asked me to be his beta, I was thrilled.”

“Mm… nice,” she murmured, propping her chin in her hand as she gazed at him.

“Anyway, we began our training and I found it easy to question his ideas when it came to things that concerned the running of a pack. I also found I wasn’t shy about giving him my own ideas and he usually would think about them and agree. Sometimes he didn’t agree at all with my ideas, and sometimes he got irritated with me when I pushed, but he always listened.”

“So, like alpha and beta, you two got along wonderfully?”

Everard nodded and agreed, “We did. In our personal lives, however, he tended to become overbearing and obnoxious if I dared to disagree with him.”

She laughed and asked, “How in the world did you ever become friends then?”

He gave a chuckle of his own as he shook his head, saying, “I don’t know really. Maybe because he was so smart and put together whereas I was so scattered. I don’t know, somehow, we just worked through it, and most of the time I would see his point and give in making him happy. Making Brenton happy made me happy, I guess. Now, nothing I do makes him happy.”

Farrah sighed and standing, she moved around behind him. Wrapping her arms over his shoulders, she placed her cheek against his and murmured, “Sweetie, we’re going to fix this, somehow, and when we do you will have your friend back.”

Everard didn’t say anything, just nodded slightly as he closed his eyes. He then jerked, almost coming out of his chair when he heard the front door slam. He whispered, “He’s back.”

Farrah hummed, but didn’t move as she said, “Yes, he is.”

Brenton walked through the kitchen door with a scowl still on his face.

“I would have thought you would have run that anger out by now,” Farrah commented as she straightened up.

“Well, I haven’t,” Brenton growled as he moved toward the refrigerator. Grabbing a bottle of water out of it, he asked, “What is the plan for lunch? I didn’t have breakfast and I’m starving. I suppose we could head for my pack-house; they’ll have lunch cooked by now.”

“We could, but I think the better idea would be to head into the city,” Farrah told him. “We need food here too.”

Brenton turned to look at her, his face softening slightly as he gazed at her. It then hardened once more as it fell on Everard, who flinched back, and he growled, “That might be true, but it seems as if spending my money offends the little alpha there, so perhaps you need to see if he has any money for food before you make plans to buy any. I’ll just go and shower.” He turned and left the room.

They heard the bathroom door slam and Everard flinched once more before giving a heavy sigh.

“Would you like to tell me what that was about?” Farrah questioned.

“I didn’t want him to buy the supplies for the roof,” Everard admitted. “I had the money saved back for it already, and I tried to explain that to him, but I guess I gave him the idea that spending his money offended me somehow.” He scrubbed his hand over his face before dropping his head onto the table. “I don’t know how to talk to him anymore, it used to be so easy, and now? Now it’s so hard, I don’t even know how to start. I tried to explain, but I stuttered so bad I became mad at myself. So, I started yelling about not wanting to be indebted to him, then I just shut down. He was so angry, I didn’t mean to make him angry,” he whimpered.

“I think Brenton has a lot of anger inside, Everard. Unfortunately, you are the one he took it out on today. He did say his pack fears him, so more than likely he usually takes it out on them in some way,” Farrah said softly as she massages his shoulders. “We just have to figure out how to get him to let some of that anger go before it explodes on everyone.”

“I don’t know how,” Everard admitted. “As I said, when we were younger, I just mostly let him have his way, he was usually right anyway.”

“Mm… well, he isn’t right now and so we aren’t going to give in to his childish tantrums,” Farrah informed him. “For now, we need to get some food. Maybe if we feed him, he’ll be in a better mood. So, let me go find my shoes and we’ll take my car. I’ll even let him drive, that will keep him busy.”

Everard nodded and stood up to follow her from the room just as Brenton stepped from the bathroom.

“Have the two of you decided what we’re doing yet?” Brenton asked, looking calmer.

“Yes, we’re going to lunch in the city, we’re taking my car, and you’re driving,” Farrah answered as she handed him a key. “If you ask nicely, I might even let you pay for my meal.”

Brenton stared at her as if she were an alien.

Farrah snickered and said, “Come on, Mr. Growly, let’s go, since you said you were starving.” She then headed for the door leaving the two men to follow her.