Chapter 7 #2
“I don’t know.” Keith shook his head. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. Now that I’ve experienced being with my real mate, I can’t explain how I ever mistook Timothy for him.”
“Well, you need to figure that out because it’s not something you’d have been confused about unless someone wanted you to be,” Peters said.
“He’s right,” Brian said, and not only because he had just promised himself to turn a new leaf with Peters. “What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know but those Alphas in Green Field have always been up to no good, and they’re still at it.
They had one of their cronies call me. That’s how I knew Keith was here.
” Peters shifted his gaze to Keith. “They assumed we were enemies and that I’d want revenge because I almost died at your hands in that last challenge.
They gave me your location assuming I’d use the information to come here and kill you. ”
Brian’s breath caught in his throat. Sickened at even the mention of harm coming to Keith, he tightened his hold on him.
“Cowards,” Keith said in disgust. “Can’t even do their own dirty work.”
“Yes, they are,” Peters agreed. “But cowards or not, you need to deal with them. Once they realize you’re still alive, they’ll try something else. They’re weak but determined.”
“Determined to do what?” Brian asked. To protect his mate, he had to understand the Green Field Alphas’ motivations. “What’s their problem with Keith?”
“Their problem is that he’s the rightful Alpha of the Green Field pack and the Ruperts want to hold onto power.”
“Rightful Alpha?” He had been told that Rupert Jackson was the Green Field Alpha and had been for years.
“The pack was expecting me to take over as Alpha as soon as I came of age,” Keith explained. “That was always the plan. Rupert Jackson was only supposed to be temporary; he was holding the role for me.” Keith scrunched his eyebrows. “I met Timothy Tillers right before I turned eighteen.”
The pieces clicked together. “Right before he was supposed to lose his position, you suddenly met someone who you thought was your mate and he rejected you and then he…” Brian stopped himself from saying the other thing the Omega had done, which was kill Peters’s entire family.
“…sent you into a tailspin,” he said instead.
“That can’t be a coincidence,” Peters pointed out.
Brian nodded in agreement.
“It’s not,” Keith said. “I’ll go to Green Field and take Rupert Jackson out. It’s time.”
“You will do no such thing,” Brian said, heart racing. He cupped Keith’s cheeks and met his gaze. “You’ll stay here where you’re safe and I’ll handle Rupert and his son.”
Instead of taking offense as most Alphas would if someone told them what to do or implied they couldn’t handle a fight, Keith smiled and kissed him.
“Thank you.” He turned his head toward Morgan. “He’s worried about me,” he all but bragged. “He doesn’t want me to get hurt.”
Grateful that his mate took his concern as a compliment instead of an insult, he took his hand, raised it to his mouth, and brushed his lips over it.
“His bigger concern should be whether you want you to get hurt because that’s the only way it could happen.” Peters rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Besides, who would hurt you in Green Field? That’s your pack. They love you.”
“The pack might, but the Alpha doesn’t,” Brian reminded them. “Neither does his son. I don’t want Keith to challenge them.”
“You’re worried about the Jacksons?” Peters said disbelievingly. “Nearly any Alpha is more powerful than they are. Neither father nor son are worthy of the title, and you think they can beat Keith in a challenge?”
Peters hadn’t seen Keith in that basement, weak, barely conscious, close to death.
That image haunted Brian. He would not, could not, let that happen again.
“Rupert Jackson is the pack Alpha and his son is also an Alpha and next in line. You’ve already pointed out that they have every incentive to kill Keith and they’re trying to do just that. ”
“Sure, I get that, but they tried to do it through me for a reason.” He looked at Keith and then at Brian again. “You do understand neither of them stand a chance against Keith directly, right?”
The question was irrelevant because Brian would protect his mate. “I rescued him from there barely a week ago. There are two of them and he’s still recovering.”
“You rescued him from Green Field?” Peters repeated.
“Yes. I found him in the basement.” Brian’s voice broke as he relived that horrifying moment.
“He was near death.” He curled his arm around Keith and held him close, needing the physical reminder that he was safe.
“I didn’t know if he’d make it. I had to carry him out of there.
” Never again. He would never let harm come to Keith again.
“Really, Keith?” Peters said. “Near death?”
“Well, not as near as I’d have liked but you’re missing the important part.” Keith paused. “He carried me.” He wrapped his hand around Brian’s bicep and squeezed. “In his strong arms.”
Peters’s jaw dropped and he blinked a few times before shaking his head and taking a deep breath.
“I don’t know what to say to that so I’m going to ignore it,” he said to Keith and then he focused on Brian.
“A challenge is only against the Alpha, not him and his presumptive Alpha together, but even if they try to go after a challenger at the same time…” Peters tilted his chin toward Keith. “He’s the best person to beat them.”
“Don’t worry, mate. I’ve got this,” Keith said as he squeezed Brian’s arm again. “But I do appreciate your muscles.”
“That’s not going to happen.” Brian nuzzled Keith’s neck. “I’ll handle it. I’ll protect you.”
Peters stared at Brian, blinked a few times, and then flicked his gaze to Keith and arched his eyebrows in question. “Seriously?”
“He’s very protective of me, but I don’t mind it.” Keith wove his fingers with Brian’s and smiled at him.
“Don’t mind?” Peters repeated.
“Fine. I like it,” Keith admitted. “It’s nice being coddled.”
Peters shook his head. “You’re still unhinged, Keith.”
“Yeah, well, that’s at the core of my personality. It’s part of my charm.”
“Uh huh. Charm.” Peters sighed and turned his attention back to Brian. “You do realize that he doesn’t need you to protect him, right? Keith is much, much more powerful than he looks.”
“I keep telling him that, but I don’t think he believes me.” Keith leaned into him again and kissed the underside of his chin. “It’s cute.”
Heart warming in reaction to Keith’s smile, he caressed his cheek.
“I don’t understand this relationship,” Peters said, looking back and forth between them.
“And I don’t understand having baby number two on the way when the first one can’t talk yet, but you’re overjoyed by it,” Keith replied.
“Fair enough.” Peters nodded.
“Brian?” Keith looked into his eyes and rubbed his fingertips over the back of his hand.
“I know you’re worried about me, and I appreciate that, but I need to be the one who handles Rupert Jackson.
If you show up in Green Field without me and issue a challenge, my pack won’t trust you and won’t support you. You could be in real danger.”
That did nothing to mollify Brian. “You admit I’d be in danger in Green Field, and yet you want to go there and take on two Alphas by yourself?” He shook his head. “Not happening.”
“I said you’d be in danger. My pack wants me to be their Alpha. They always have. They’ll support me in any challenge.”
He remembered the women who worked in the Green Field Alpha house and how caring they had been toward Keith, how protective. “I understand that, but you’ll be at risk from Rupert, his son, and their supporters.”
“So would you,” Keith pointed out gently. “I’ll be okay, mate.”
Worried he had been insulting his mate’s capabilities, he chose his next words carefully. “You’re healing. I’ll handle this for you while you rest.”
Peters laughed loudly. “Oh, come on.”
“What?” Brian said.
“He’s the strongest Alpha here!”
That was an unexpected assertion coming from a man who had earlier said he had beaten Keith in many challenges.
Brian’s disbelief must have been clear from his expression, and Peters was insightful enough to understand the reason for it because he answered Brian’s unspoken thought.
“The reason he didn’t win the challenges against me is that victory wasn’t his goal,” Peters explained.
“If it had been, Keith Iredell would be the Golden Valley Alpha right now, not me. Do you know how many Alphas have challenged me over the years, especially when I was new because I was only sixteen at the time? Dozens. None of them came close to beating me.” He tilted his chin in Keith’s direction.
“But he could have, and he was nowhere near as healthy back then as he is now.”