Two Alphas, One Mate
Brother

Damian

“You think he’s telling us the truth?” Eric took a large sip from his glass, emptying the entire dark contents down his throat.

I was already done my drink and was in the midst of pouring another.

“It doesn’t matter anymore…” I poured halfway, stopped, then began pouring to the top of the glass.

“What about Loki?” He asked.

“Keep him in the holding cells until I decide what to do.” I inhaled the bitter aromas of the whiskey and took a small sip, allowing the burning liquid to fill the void of my constant anxiety.

“Do you think he really took that bullet for Diana?”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

“It’s fucked up if you ask me.”

The thought of Loki trying to redeem himself was pathetic, but after everything he’s done, he came back. He knew it was a death wish, but he came back anyways. I was torn up inside, but I wouldn’t let on that I was having second thoughts.

“Hippolyta wouldn’t lie...” I took another sip of whiskey and placed the glass back down on my desk.

Eric stared aimlessly out the nearby window, like he was in deep thought. This entire situation tore him up. He loved Hippolyta, and now that Loki was back in the picture, his mind was crumbling apart. I wish it could be different for him, and he could replace someone that would love him back, but it was out of my control.

“So…” I pushed the bottle in his direction. “How’s she holding up with everything?”

Eric took the bottle and started pouring a drink in his glass, mimicking the same pour as mine.

Usually, the day before we went out on any mission, we would be reminiscing on the good times, building our confidence, and pushing up each others morale's, but today, we were both drowning our sorrows. Tomorrow we were going into the city to get her back, and for once in my life, I was unsure of what the outcome would be.

Eric took a quick glance and slightly lifted the glass to me. “She’s devastated.”

“Understandable.” I lifted my glass and we both simultaneously downed our entire drinks.

“We are outnumbered Alpha, but we are always outnumbered.”

“We’ve never had stakes like this... I have to get her back Eric… Sooner then later… I don’t know the details of her condition…”

“Loki said he saw Holden’s blood when he was escaping, and that he was no where in sight, but the amount of blood was enough to come to the conclusion that he was severely hurt, or dead.”

“If it were only that easy…” I sighed.

“Alpha?” There was light knocking at the door.

“Barak, come in.” I replied.

The door opened, Barak was standing there, his eyes were to the floor. He was covered in blood, and his usual groomed black hair was tangled, but he was still standing tall, ready for anything I commanded to him. This was why he was one of my best warriors. He was loyal, trustworthy, and would die for me, but I was treating him like shit today. I was losing who I was, and it was fucking depressing. I had to be a better leader for all of them and try my best to keep my emotions in check.

He was holding a black garbage bag, and I wasn’t sure if it was the bag or him that reeked of death, but the scent was strong.

“What’s wrong?” Eric stood up and looked to the mysterious bag that Barak held in his hand.

“A group of dead scouts were found outside of our territory…” Barak kept his head down, like there was more that he wasn’t telling us.

I immediately got to my feet. “Who’s scouts?!”

Barak threw the bag on top of my desk, unleashing the strong scent of death to devour the entire room. I had to hold my breath for a moment to avoid inhaling the fowl stench.

“Its Cyrus.” He replied.

Eric leaned over the desk, trying his best to analyze the bag without getting too close. “Cyrus’s pack? What do you mean?”

“Look in the bag.”

I lightly held the opening of the stinky bag. I knew the smell, it was blood, but it was old blood. Whatever was inside was rotting.

In one solid motion, I held the top of the bag and allowed whatever was in it to fall on top of my desk.

“What the fuck Barak!?” Eric held his nose and backed up, but I remained still.

I was looking into the eyes of Alpha Cyrus’s corpse less head.

…

“Where did you replace the bodies?” We walked through the clearing, it was dark out, but the moon gave enough light to see through the dense forest.

“Call more men to come here, something doesn’t smell right. Why would someone kill Alpha Cyrus and leave some of his men and his head here? It doesn’t make sense.” Eric hunched over and analyzed some of the dead bodies.

I leaned over and looked at the bloody mess at my feet. “This was work by a werewolf, and several others.”

“Cyrus was our enemy, and Holden’s closest ally, whoever did this basically saved us a lot of hassle,” Eric replied.

“Doesn’t mean anything now, someone is fucking with us, and I wanna know who.”

“If it’s not Holden, then who? We don’t really work close with other packs…” Barak scratched his head as he looked up into the night sky. It was a full moon.

I was trying my best not to look up. The moon was beautiful, it was something I shared with Di. The sunsets and sunrises were always pretty to look at, but she absolutely loved the full moon. It hurt to look at it without her here.

“When did you replace this Barak?” I kept looking at the scouts. They were ravaged, beaten, bloodied, and most of their faces were unrecognizable. They were comprised of men and a couple of women, and their scents were unfamiliar to me.

Something wasn’t sitting right. It was a gut instinct. I felt as though we were being watched.

There was no reply from Barak, only silence, and as I turned around, I realized he was gone. Vanished through thin air and we didn’t hear a damn thing.

“Barak?!” Eric turned his head back and forth, and his movements got more sporadic as he paced the area, sniffing for his scent.

“Where the fuck did he go?!” I roared.

“Alpha!” Suddenly, out of the darkness, Barak emerged. His arms were in the air, and there was a hand on his shoulder, pushing him towards us.

“Barak! Who the fuck is this?!” The hand remained on his shoulder as he slowly paced forward.

There were several large shadows behind him. The scent was unfamiliar, and the shadows quickly came forward, using Barak as a shield.

“I see you got our message.” A man’s voice emerged. He was the largest one out of the group.

“Let me know when to shift. We can take these guys.” Eric mind linked and looked over to me. His eyes were blackened, his body was tense, and his stance was widened. He was getting ready to shift, but I didn’t want to make any rash movements until I got to the bottom of who these mysterious strangers were.

“What the fuck are you doing so close to my territory? What do you want?” I stepped in closer, the scent, it was foreign, but at the same time, it was oddly familiar.

“I’m here to help you.” The man replied.

“Who says we need help?”

“I know more then you think.”

“My ass. I’m only going to ask you again before I kill you and your entire posse. Now, WHAT DO YOU WANT?” As I let the words slip from my mouth, my jaw clenched tightly and my arms began to shake.

I was growing frustrated at the man’s assumptions and confidence, thinking he could just waltz in on my territory and speak to me like some basket case Alpha.

“I seek revenge.”

“Revenge on who? I have no quarrel with you.”

“Alpha Holden.”

I looked back to Eric briefly, “well, if its revenge you seek, he’s not here.”

“Aren’t you his brother?”

I turned my head slowly to his shadow and arched my eyebrows. This asshole had some balls if he was going to question me. “Do you have a death wish you fucking mutt?”

There was a sudden change in tension, and the men started creeping in towards Eric and I, but we remained where we stood. We would never back away from a fight, even if we were vastly outnumbered.

That’s when they pushed Barak forward, almost causing him to stumble to the ground. He quickly retreated to Eric’s side as the stranger and I continued our conversation.

“Where is Loki?” The man asked.

“Loki?” I scoffed, “oh I see what this is. That traitor thinks he can set me up on my own territory. I’ll make sure I finish him off where I left him.”

“You’re not hearing me Damian!” Suddenly, he came forward into the moon light.

He wasn’t anyone familiar, but there was something in his eyes that caught my attention. They were hazel orbs, and they held a similarity to something deep in my heart. His facial structure, although masculine, reminded me of her. There were large bags under his eyes like he came from a long journey, his short, dark brown hair was stained with dried blood, and he wore tattered civilian clothes, possibly because he shifted back from his wolf and had nothing else to wear.

I was still in denial. I was trying to make sense of the situation.

“How do you know all of this!” I stepped forward, and the man stepped in closer. All while this is happening, his men surrounded us. I was clearly the biggest one here, but the mysterious man almost matched my size.

His voice went hoarse, like his throat was tightening up. “My sister was taken from me,” he replied.

My heart was racing. This was an impossibility. Was I going mad? Was I dreaming?

“Diana?” My eyes widened as I kept focus on the man. His eyes were blazing in emotion, it was like his very longing of my Di, matched the very emotion I was trying to run away from.

He put his hands up to keep his men back. “Yes.”

“Adam?” I muttered under my breath.

“Yes.”

“Why like this? Why not come earlier?! She thought you were dead this entire time!” My mind was running in circles, trying to get a handle on the new situation. I wanted to welcome him with open arms, but I still had so many questions.

Why did he take this long to come?

Diana was devastated when she lost her family, and he only decides to come now? I'm sure he figured out that she was with Holden initially, so why would it take him so long to reach out?

Just knowing that he was out there this entire time while she grieved upset me. It killed me every time she cried. All the nightmares, all the longing to see her family again, and I was powerless to heal her grief. I was having flashbacks, memories of her talking about her brother, just to know that he was alive this entire time...

“Loki mentioned you were a hot head!” He balled his hands into fists as his body shook with rage, but surprisingly, he still held back. He could have twice as many men with him and it would never make a difference, he knew where he was on this totem pole.

The others around him were still in the shadows, but were lurking forward.

“Look, we won't solve anything by fighting…” I sighed heavily, “Adam, what are you now? You don’t look like a Rogue.”

After a moment, his once tense body relaxed, then he waved for his men to back off. “I am their Alpha, but as for our pack, we are only survivors. We don’t have a name. We only seek vengeance.”

“A little late to the party then…”

“Look here asshole..." He gritted between his teeth.

Eric stepped in, but I put my arm up to keep him back. “No, let him speak.”

“The only way I managed to replace her, and YOU, was through Loki. Now, where is he?”

“Loki's a traitor,” I replied.

“If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t know where to go, I wouldn’t have been able to take down Alpha Cyrus, and I wouldn’t have survived the fire…”

His comment caught me off guard. I looked back to Eric again and he looked just as surprised as I was.

“Excuse me?” I raised my eyebrows and looked back to Adam.

“Yes, you heard me, Loki saved me from the rubble of our collapsing house. He ran away after he pulled a few of us out, but he saved us that day. He’s been helping me ever since. I owe him my life. I need to see him.”

“He betrayed Diana…He led Holden here, did you know that?”

“I’m sure there is an explanation, did you hear what he had to say?”

I chuckled and nodded my head at his arrogant remark. Adam was young, he had much to learn about trusting people.

“Look...” Adam sighed and looked back to his men that still lurked in the shadows. “Loki or not, I’m here to help you get her back. I know she is in the city, in the hospital…. I know that she is pregnant.”

My heart dropped.

Out of all that was going on around me, I failed to realize that this was the missing piece to the puzzle. This was Diana’s other half. Her only surviving family left on earth, and here I was having trust issues. I couldn’t help it, and no matter who he was, I was still worried. I had to protect my pack and family, but at the same time, he was technically my brother in-law.

“So you think killing Cyrus and ambushing me was a good way to introduce yourself?”

His eyes darkened, then he looked back to someone standing directly behind him. “Come.”

A second man emerged. He had a lanky build compared to Adam and was slightly shorter in height. His hair was shaved down near his scalp, and there were obvious burn marks that littered the one side of his face. There was something about him that I didn’t like, and I wasn’t sure if it was his appearance, or just the way he looked to me, but my guard was up.

“This is Aaron, my Beta.”

His eyes were gleaming at me, then he looked back to Adam and smirked, “This is the famous Alpha Damian. Hm, looks like Holden did quite a number on your pack.”

“Who the fuck do you think you are?!” I already felt my claws tracking out as I reached for his neck. He didn’t move, or even flinch.

This boy had a death wish.

Just as I latched onto his neck, he smiled and looked directly in my eyes. He then put his partially shifted hand onto mine, squeezing tightly while digging his claws directly into my skin. We both kept our eyes locked onto each other. I was the stronger one, but he held no fear and was not holding back.

“AARON! Stand down and shut the fuck up!” Adam pulled onto his shoulder.

I was still latched onto Aaron, but I could see his expression change as he looked back to Adam.

“Sorry, just bitter is all,” he released his hand from mine and looked back to me.

“We're all a little on... EDGE.” I aggressively unlatched myself from his neck.

He said sorry, but it was one fake ass apology. I heard about Aaron, Diana told me they were childhood friends, but that was all. She didn’t mention he was an asshole.

I refocused my attention back to Adam.

“So you are an Alpha, you have a Beta, but you don’t have a pack. Quite remarkable.”

“There aren’t enough of us to call us a pack, besides, there aren’t enough…” Aaron looked back to the silhouettes of the others. I could tell they were all men, which made me weary. Any pack of men, big or small, without females would seek out more, whether they take more forcefully begged the question.

Adam cleared his throat and refocused back on us. “We weren’t going to come onto your territory without a gift. Call it a peace offering, or a gift of trust.”

Up until this point, I was skeptical, I wasn’t sure what to make of all of this. One moment I think Adam is dead, and now he is on my territory, gifting me the head of one of Holden’s allies. I wanted to be happy that he was alive, but the whole situation was insane.

“He’s right Alpha, we need the help. If they are capable of taking down Alpha Cyrus with limited warriors, imagine what we could do with them as allies.” I turned my head to see Eric looking to me and the other Fenrir warriors that emerged from the tree line. I didn’t realize they were there until now. They all looked tired, overworked, and with morale at the lowest point I’ve ever been witnessed to, and it was all because their Luna was gone.

We were all weaker without her.

I looked back to Adam. I heard sincerity in his voice whenever he spoke. Yes, I didn’t like his Beta, but at the end of the day, it was only his Beta, and he will obey his Alpha. I couldn’t let small rivalry get in the way of what could be a prosperous relationship. Especially given the fact it was Diana’s brother.

How could I not welcome him here?

He reminded me so much of Di. The way he spoke, the way he carried himself around, the way he looked at his pack… All the memories were rushing in the more I looked to him. I was happy he was alive, but I wish it were under different circumstances.

I breathed in heavily as I put my hand out to him. “Welcome to Fenrir territory…BROTHER.”