Her Brother, Her Mate

Tommy POV

“Did you tell Parker? Did you tell him he doesn’t share any b***d with Carli?” Mary questioned me for the 3rd time today.

I don’t understand why, after 18 years, she thinks I will start blabbing now. Every time I see this woman I am more and more grateful that Jared came back to claim her all those years ago. Thankful I didn’t end up marking her, even though I wanted to at the time. I had even asked Jared’s permission months prior. He told me he was devoted to Parker’s mother and wanted Mary to be happy.

Little did I know she was still meeting with him, even while we were seriously dating. She confessed to me that after Rose died, Jared started showing up to her work, running into her out in public, and then they accidentally started meeting up for lunch around town.

I knew she was pregnant, and I knew it was my child, but Jared was her fated mate. I wasn’t going to take the gift the mood goddess gave her away by claiming her. She wanted him, and he finally wanted her too.

I knew Jared knew it was my child. You could tell by her scent, but she still told him Carli was his. Her first command as Luna was to swear me to secrecy, and she’s been trying to hide the fact Parker and Carli share no b***d for 18 years. Jared’s been trying to hide the fact he knows Carli isn’t his to make his mate happy. The fool will do anything to make her happy because of the guilt he still feels for rejecting her.

I wanted to be close to Carli, so I stayed in Crystal Moon even though my brother was trying to get me to come up to his new pack. He didn’t trust Jared. With mine and Mary’s history, and the fact we shared a secret baby together she insisted on claiming was the alpha’s, Nathan thought I needed to start anew at Blue Cliff.

I’m glad I didn’t take him up on that, because 2 years later, Elena came into my life. I couldn’t blame Jared and Mary after that. Not for going back on their words and getting together after he rejected her. My world became complete when I met Elena.

There are plenty of other things I’ve blamed Jared and Mary for over the years. The treatment of the daughter I was never allowed to reveal myself to being the biggest issue. When I heard Mary was forcing Carli to move to Blue Cliff after her graduation, I could not have been happier. Carli will finally be free from her mom’s toxic influence and Elena and I can renounce our pack and follow my daughter.

Elena was just as fed up as I was. She loves Carli like a mother should, and I always wished we could be more open with Carli about our love for her.

“I couldn’t tell anyone if I wanted to, Mary. You know that. I haven’t seen or spoken to the boy in years.”

“Then why is he…you know what? Nevermind. You’re as helpful as always,” she sneered.

I look heavenward, wishing she would just go away. Every time Jared catches Mary talking to me, he gets pissy and is impossible to work with. I don’t want to hide out in the warrior center for days until he gets over himself. I need to get ahead of all this work so we can leave soon after Carli. They still don’t have the next gamma lined up, and the most qualified warrior is now moving to Blue Cliff with my daughter. I don’t want to put Anthony out that much with my sudden departure. I know Jared’s lazy a*s is too above training and scheduling warriors and guard duty. He sure as s**t doesn’t want to deal with this vampire crisis we’re entering. I need to get the warriors started with training under Nathan starting tomorrow so they are better equipped to deal with rogue vampires in my absence.

“Tommy, are you not listening to me? Where is Carli right now? Do you know?” Mary continues to chirp away, even though I’m clearly trying to do actual work and have been as dismissive as possible. What kind of mother doesn’t even know her daughter’s schedule?

“She’s at a Senior event for school. I texted her earlier to get home by midnight so she can attend training tomorrow morning. She’s working the rest of the day tomorrow at the warrior center and training hall,” I huff, hoping she hears the annoyance in my voice and leaves.

“Tomorrow’s a school day,” she argues, making me bang my head on the desk in exasperation. These rogue reports are going to have to wait until later.

“The last of her finals were this morning. It was a half day for seniors and they’re now done with school until graduation. Tomorrow is a teacher’s work day. No students have school tomorrow. It’s funny. When Parker was in school, you knew all this even before he did. Why doesn’t Carli get the same treatment?” I scoff. “You have her number. You could always ask her what her schedule is.”

“She wouldn’t want to tell me,” Mary’s voice almost sounded remorseful. Almost.

Parker POV

That brat. I had to watch from afar as she continued to drink and get manhandled by her scruffy boyfriend. He was hanging all over her in the water. They were playing monkey in the middle with a frisbee, and the punk kept diving under the water and pulling her under, or dunking her and they would come back up for air laughing.

The more I watched, the more aggravated I became. The kid was clearly infatuated with her, but she was treating him more like a friend than a boyfriend, despite the fact he knew she didn’t have underwear on. The whole time I was touching her, inches away from her, there was only one small piece of fabric separating us.

When I saw her stumble into the jerk’s car, I wanted to yank her out and force her to ride with me. I couldn’t break away from all the she-wolves crowding me to get to her in time.

When I got to the docks, I caught her right before she got on that kid’s boat. I couldn’t hide my anger when he put his hands on her, trying to say she wouldn’t be safe with me. She’s my mate. There is no safer place to be than with me. The way his hand was so close to touching her almost bare butt cheek was about to send me over the edge when Carli surprised me by running off with her friend to get into the Meyer boys’ boat.

Mitch looked a little too pleased that my tipsy, tiny bikini-wearing sister climbed into his boat. The mutt was about to get a one-way trip to the top of my s**t list. My eyes tighten when he hands her a drink. I watched him mix a little too much vodka in it.

“Alpha Parker, can me and my friends get a ride on your boat? We don’t have one,” the screechy voice of one of the girls who had been following me around all evening broke my attention from the boat carrying my mate away. This girl is pulling on my arm and batting her fake eyelashes up at me. Ugh. Her face looks like it’s spackled on. Why do girls wear so much makeup? Carli never wears makeup, does she? She doesn’t need it. She’s perfect without trying to be.

“I’d love to take you girls out, but it wouldn’t be appropriate,” I told her, pulling my arm out of her hold. “You would each have to get your parent’s permission and I need to head out there now. Sorry. I hope you find a ride,” I called back, jogging for our smaller boat before another one of them could stop me.

I sped out to the cove everyone was heading to. The sun is starting to go down, which means there will be all kinds of supernatural creatures gathered there soon. As I pulled in, I could already see the shadows of mermaids dancing around under the water’s surface. Mermen…Goddess, I hope one doesn’t surface. When she was a kid, she had a thing for mermen. She would fantasize about one surfacing, serenading her, then carrying her off into its cave and a bunch of other cheesy, cringy crap.

Fae and other magic users have set up floating platforms around the rocks, and barges are tied together, anchored near the shore. Music is blaring, and I can spot Carli and Simone on top of one of the barges, dancing their butts off. Mitch keeps trying to grind up on Carli, but she pushes him back playfully, so he ends up dancing with her, but there’s distance between them now. Why is he trying to get with her if she’s dating that scruffy dude? I know Casey could kick his a*s. I sure as hell want to right now.

The way her black bikini bottom is riding up her rounded, toned butt, cinched in the crack, has my wolf inside me howling to get close to her. To cover her up and let everyone know her body is for me and me alone. I just want to bite into her a*s, leaving a scarring imprint of my teeth on her cheeks to mark it as mine.

I pulled my boat right up to the barges, typing it off quickly and dropping the anchor, hoping I hit at least one merman in its descent. I watch as Carli grinds her tight body between Simone and some fairy girl, arching her back and running her hands down her body as she sways to the Latin music. She is the epitome of desire. Mitch and Mark are just sitting back and watching them dancing with hungry eyes. The kid’s about to lose his balls if he doesn’t back off.

Casey’s boat pulls into the cove. He parks it and ties it off to the other end of the barges, the one closest to where Carli and his sister are dancing. He catches sight of them, and soon his whole entourage is climbing up to join them.

To my surprise, he fist bumps each of the Meyers triplets, including Mitch, who he even laughs with and pats on the back as they laugh and watch the girls. Does he not care that the dude is after his girlfriend?

He grabs 2 beers from the ice bucket, then strides over to my mate and puts one of the drinks in her hand before pulling her towards him. She puts her hands on his body, and starts sliding down it seductively, coming back up and tossing her arms around his neck and they start moving, bodies flush against one another grinding to the beat.

I can’t take any more. She’s my f*****g mate and all these men are filling her up and lusting after her. She’s not helping with her drunken behavior either.

I climb the ladder to the top platform of the barge I’m on, then start making my way around. Floating stepping stones are levitated by magic, so one can walk between the top platforms without having to climb up and down over and over again. I’m 2 barges away when Matt Meyers calls out to me, his mate sitting in his lap.

“Alpha Parker, what are you doing out here? When did you get back from Ol’ Miss?”

I try to paste on a polite smile, even though the way Casey is whispering in my mate’s ear right now makes me want to do the opposite.

“Just got back yesterday,” I told him, “I’m here to get my sister.”

“Your sister?” Matt looked around the barges, “Who’s your sister?”

Is he serious right now? “Carli?” I answer skeptically, like I’m questioning him for making me state the obvious.

“Carli’s your sister? I thought…My parents told me…Hmm, nevermind. I’m sure they were mistaken,” he stammers, looking between me and Carli. His mate is looking at me like I’m crazy but then goes back to talking with her friend next to them.

“Your parents told you what?” I asked. I want to get to Carli and shove Casey off the boat, but his dubious statement makes me wonder what he was going to say.

“Well,” he looked at me nervously. I try to replace the skepticism on my face with friendly curiosity, hoping that encourages him to tell me.

“My parents own the resort the pack sometimes uses for big events. Luna Mary used to work for them. They told me she was seriously dating another guy before the alpha found her, and Carli was…well, they said Alpha wasn’t her real dad. Your parents don’t really treat her like their daughter either,” he shrugs apologetically.

“I didn’t even know she was Luna Mary’s daughter. I thought she hated Carli. Elena Childes is the one who comes to all the parents’ events at school,” Matt’s mate tells me. “She doesn’t even look like you or your parents. I thought she was Gamma’s daughter.”

Over the years, most people assumed Carli wasn’t actually related to me because of my parents’ treatment of her, but I didn’t know they didn’t even attend her school events.

“My mom worked at your resort? Who was the guy she was dating back then?” I asked Matt, needing to know. It might just be a rumor. Dad caught a lot of slack from other pack members for the reasons he mated my real mom, and rumors started spreading about him up until he brought Mary home. I would hear old rumors at times, none of which were flattering. This is the first time I’ve heard anything about mom being…loose in her youth. I didn’t even know she dated seriously before dad. As werewolves, we don’t date seriously because we will one day find our fated mate. A fated mate is sacred; a gift from the moon goddess. The reason such ugly rumors about my dad were floating around was because he didn’t wait for his fated mate and had me. That’s looked down upon for alphas because it is believed the alpha heir must come from the alpha’s true luna.

Matt just shrugs, “I never asked.”

I’m about to ask him if he can find out when a sharp pain stabs at my chest, making me buckle over momentarily and gasp for air.

“Are you okay, alpha?” Lilly and Matt, along with a couple others watching, reach out to offer their support, but I just shook off their concern and turned to find my mate. I expected to see Carli getting intimate with her boyfriend. I’ve felt this pain often in the past. Never this intense. It was always more like heartburn, but it would still hurt knowing my mate was being intimate with someone else. It’s not Casey she is with though.

Casey is growling, stalking towards Carli, who is passionately making out with a vampire.