Chapter 6 Brandt
Brandt
I hadn’t been able to control myself. Or my bear. Emma was my mate and she was back. I couldn’t resist fucking her no matter how hard I tried.
Her body trembled below mine as I finished. The curves of her ass pressed tightly against my pelvis. Such a tease. She always had been but she’d only ever teased me. No one else ever grabbed her attention, no matter how hard they tried.
Emma slid down to her stomach as I pulled free. Her skin glistened like mine in the moonlight, the mossy ground providing a cushy pad. I lay down on top of her, trailing kisses from the dimple in her back up to her neck. Shivering under my lips, I felt like I could never stop touching her.
“I am sorry, Brandt.”
Her words brought me back to the reality that she really wasn’t mine anymore. Rolling off her perfect body, I nestled down beside her and rested my hand across her back. “Why did you leave?” I needed to ask the question even if I didn’t want to hear the answer.
Emma flipped her long hair over her shoulder and turned her head to face me.
“I think there were a lot of reasons.” She closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again a tear slipped out.
I wanted to wipe it away, I didn’t want her to hurt.
But I also needed her to explain herself.
“And now that I’m here,” she continued softly, “I’m trying to remember what they were. ”
I sighed, my bear not satisfied with that answer although he wanted me to keep touching my mate. “Was it me?”
Emma shifted on her side so that she mimicked my position. “No, Brandt. You never did anything wrong.”
“But I couldn’t stop you from leaving.”
“I don’t know if you could have. I never gave you the chance to stop me.”
She was right, but that didn’t make this any easier. I rubbed my hand along her cheek, brushing the hair out of her face. She leaned into my touch, a small sound rumbling in her chest. Her sound of happiness. “I need to know why Emma. I need a reason.”
She swallowed and looked up at the sky. “I felt…uneasy. My bear felt…threatened almost.” Shaking her head, she tried to explain better. “There was this urge to run inside of me. Nothing happened that triggered it really, it just continued growing until I finally listened.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? It was my job to protect you.”
“I don’t know.”
“Emma,” I said in warning. “I need you to be honest. I deserve your honesty.”
“You’re right, you do.” She turned on her other side and pressed her back against my stomach.
“The human side of me was tired of the politics. We were to be married, have cubs, and lead the clan when your father stepped down. It was all too much. My whole life revolved around what the clan had planned for me. I never had a choice.”
“You didn’t want to marry me?”
She turned her head slightly so that she could look up at me. “We were already mated. Marriage was just a piece of paper for the human world.”
“So then I don’t understand.”
“I was uneasy. I know that’s not a great explanation but it’s the only way I can think to describe it. My bear didn’t feel safe.”
Hating her words, I tried to be understanding. But it was hard and my anger stirred just below the surface. “And what about now? How does she feel now?”
“Happy,” she whispered. “She’s very happy to be with her mate again. And so am I.”
I knew I should still be upset with Emma for leaving me at all. But dammit if I didn’t love her now more than ever. Our bears were one once more, and after tonight I would never let her feel unsafe again.
“Do you think we should go back?” she asked after several minutes of silence.
“Probably.”
“Do you want to go back?”
“No.”
She giggled against me. “Then how about we head down to the waterfall? I’m thirsty.”
I jumped to my feet and then lifted her off the ground.
In one quick move, I cradled her in my arms and bounded down to the water’s edge.
She laughed the whole way, just like she used to.
I’d missed that laugh and her smell and her skin against mine.
Nothing had felt right this past year without her here.
Nothing. Not even my bear acted normal, a weakness I had no doubt would come up when I was fighting for alpha.
I had mentioned to a few clan members that I didn’t want to be alpha without my mate.
While my dad had done that most of his life, I couldn’t function completely without Emma by my side.
So now, as I watched her dip her hands into the water and smile up at me, all of the possibilities of my future felt like they were within grasp again.
We were almost back to the house when I sensed something off. Emma’s hand tensed under my grip and she lowered the hood of her sweatshirt to smell the air.
“What is that?” she whispered.
My bear scented the odor again, wishing that it had been wrong. “Blood.”
“But whose?”
“I don’t know.” It was a partial lie. I thought I knew but I didn’t want to accept it.
Emma dropped her hand and jogged ahead of me, making me want to jump in front of her and protect her. She reached the bottom steps leading up to the front deck and slid to a stop. “Oh no,” she cried out.
I saw the body a second later. Skinned, bloodied, and head removed. Only this time, the carcass was the human form. The human form of Dixon Donegal.
“What the fuck!” Bo jumped down from the second-floor deck and landed in a crouch next to us. Wearing nothing but sweatpants, he looked ready to shift. “Where are they?” He snapped his head in several directions trying to find those responsible.
“How’d they get in and out so quickly,” Derrick asked, appearing by our sides. “We were here the whole time.”
“Maybe during the moksha?” Emma suggested.
I shook my head. “Dixon was there. At least until we left.”
Brennan joined us and gave me a look that suggested I didn’t know everything that happened tonight. “He came back early. After he fed he told me he needed to be alone. I figured it was his way to grieve.”
“Hey, there’s a note,” Emma pointed to a piece of paper resting under the head.
I didn’t want to reach down and grab it, but I was the leader right now. “It’s just a paw print.” I rotated it in the light. “A wolf print, I think.”
Brennan ripped the paper from my hands and sniffed it. “Definitely wolf.”
“Jesus Christ,” Bo muttered. “Are they the ones killing our people?”
“The Tik’a pack would never harm us,” I argued. “We’ve worked together for centuries.” Our relationship with the local wolves extended far beyond just territorial agreements. I’d read some of that in the paperwork my dad left behind.
“They would if they wanted something,” Derrick added.
“And they’ve been fighting for voting rights for the last several years,” Bo said.
I shook my head. “No, I don’t believe it.” Staring at Dixon’s mutilated body, my stomach churned in disgust. “Disputed voting rights don’t lead to the murder of our clan’s alpha and second.”
“Brandt,” Emma rested her hand on my shoulder.
“No, it doesn’t add up.”
“We need to elect an alpha. Tonight.” Brennan’s usually mellow voice shook with anger.
“I can put out the call. Most of them should still be nearby,” Derrick offered.
“Okay,” I said reluctantly. I didn’t want to go through that process tonight. Filled with highs and lows today, I didn’t know how much more of this I could handle right now.
Derrick jogged back to the house, phone already glued to his ear. “Can you take care of this?” I asked Bo and Brennan, looking at Dixon. They nodded and I took back the paper. “Thank you.”
“I’ll make everyone some coffee,” Emma said, tears in her eyes once again. “Come on, Brandt, you’re going to have to be ready for this.”
I let her drag me away, trusting that my brothers would handle the body properly. We would have to come up with yet another story for the human world as to why we’d lost a second clan member in a week.
“You know, he was the one who found me,” Emma said as we entered the house.
“What?”
“Dixon. He found me in Colorado and told me about your dad.”
I froze, not sure how I felt about that. “But I told him to stop looking.”
Emma smiled up at me. “When did Dixon ever listen to anyone but your dad? Besides, I’m glad he disobeyed you.”
My chest relaxed a little bit, recognizing that Emma was here to stay. She might not have said it, but I could tell. I knew her well enough.
Within thirty minutes, our house was full of bear shifters.
As was customary, everyone came, including the cubs.
We gathered around the food table, still sitting there after the wake.
Emma set up the coffee with the help of Elizabeth and Tammy, the only two unmated females left in our clan.
That would be another task of the alpha…
making sure they were mated sooner rather than later.
I sighed for the thousandth time today, parts of me wishing I could run away as Emma had. Maybe the two of us could go together. I would refuse the alpha position, leave Alaska, and make a home for both of us. That dream kept my spirit up while I watched the room divide itself into two sides.
Derrick walked up behind me, chewing on an apple. “This isn’t going to be as straightforward as I’d hoped.”
“What do you mean?”
“You can see the division. They’re going to challenge you. I almost guarantee it.”
He chomped away as I surveyed our clan. I’d suspected as much but hoped for a better outcome. Especially after the events of today. “Then let them challenge,” I said softly. “It’s why we select the way we do.”
One of our dominant males, Zane, caught my attention and yelled out in front of everyone, “Where’s Dixon?”
Everyone stopped talking as all eyes focused on me and Derrick. I had no doubt they could sense my sadness and anger just by the way some of them reacted before I even spoke a word. “He’s dead.”
“I thought I smelled blood.”
“Oh my god.”
“Why aren’t we safe anymore?”