† Maddock †

My breath came out as puffs of smoke in the pre-dawn twilight hours. The soft wood curled and dropped to the ground as I planed the last piece of the bedframe. The comfort in the repetitive motion contrasted with the raging war inside my mind.

I ran my finger pads over the smooth wood, checking for any rough edges. Satisfied, I scooped up the carvings and tossed them onto the ashes of the smoldering embers in the fire pit. Then I carried the board into the house to complete my mate’s sister’s bed.

The newly found purpose had fueled me all night. I was grateful for it because my wolf wouldn’t have let me sleep. Or maybe he would’ve and

somehow forced the shift so he could rush back to his mate.

That’s a good idea.

I shook my head as I attached the final slat to the simple box frame.

The headboard wasn’t fancy but I would make a new one later if they wanted.

Because that’s what I wanted. My mate to be comfortable and happy in our den. A memory hit me then. One of my father who always carried my mother over the threshold in the Alpha’s mansion, declaring her his eternal bride.

I pushed away the pain of loss that always came from remembering my father, my brothers, and my mother as they once were to focus on the present.

The pull back to town was growing stronger and my wolf kept urging me there. He knew Kera would protect them, but hated that it wasn’t us performing our duty.

We wanted to see her face again.

“Sage,” I whispered her name, aching for a woman I just met. The one the fates had decided was mine.

Women in my life had come and gone. There was never much attachment. Now here I was, acting like some love sick pup and pining for a pretty face.

A human witch’s face nonetheless.

I don’t care. My wolf snarled at my insolence. It didn’t matter to him what she was, only that she was his. He never got caught up in the political issues during the battles down south of the purist city. He saw an enemy and attacked.

The basic nature of the beast.

Our mother is a witch. He shocked me with an intelligent reasoning of his own. I didn’t think he was paying attention to my human racing thoughts.

I tolerate your human side.

These conversations were making me insane. Usually, we operated on a shared solitude that sat fine with me.

Let me claim my mate and I’ll shut up.

Growling, I marched outside.

This was more complicated than he realized. Our mate wasn’t a shifter. She’d come from the place of our enemies. There was a chance she’d reject his claim. She didn’t seem to know what she even wanted, let alone who she was.

She’s mine.

Will you give me a minute alone to think?

Maybe. If you get her away from Lennox.

I clenched my jaw as I headed back to the wood pile, knowing even a shifter like Lennox wouldn’t try to challenge a sacred fated mating call.

Still, I grabbed the ax with all my fury, splintering the round and letting the tension roll from my shoulders as it cracked in half.

Sage was not an enemy. Her blood was as pure as mine was. She didn’t belong in that cage the humans built and died behind.

But my mate was human and her body was soft. She wouldn’t be able to regulate her temperature like me. Surprisingly, it didn’t matter. If she needed warmth, I’d provide her comfort.

My wolf barked in agreement.

I moved the half of the splintered round back to the stump and readied my ax.

He settled down, tired of this conversation that we’d been engaged in all night–even though it was mostly his fault–and retreated to the back of my mind where he waited, fur bristling, for me to make my next move.

I wasn’t stupid enough to think the fight was over. He was stubborn and waiting to take control again to do what he felt was best.

That scared me.

And I wasn’t afraid of much.

*

I walked through the cabin a final time, assuring myself that everything was clean, and made the last stop in my bedroom as I smoothed out the wrinkles on the worn quilt.

For far too long, my den had only smelled of me. Kera would visit but even her scent would fade after a day or two. My chest tightened when I pictured Sage wrapped up in these blankets with her smell mixing with mine. This was her den too and all this time we didn’t know we’d been waiting for her to complete our home.

She belongs in our bed. My wolf howled in delight.

Tapering down the thoughts his response evoked, I filled a jar with water and set it on the kitchen table. There was much to do this morning before I carried her over the threshold and not all of it was going to be pleasant.

I carefully broke off the last of the thorns from the wild rose I’d picked in the yard and dropped it in the makeshift vase before heading out into the early gray dawn.

Wrong way. My wolf growled as I passed the turnoff into town and walked deeper into the forest.

This has to be done.

*

Apollo’s den was the home of our Alpha’s from generations past. The marble columns rose high on the front porch, holding up the chipped clay

tile roof on the three-story mansion. Dust lined the arched windows making them seem thick with smoke and chipped paint peeled in ribbons from the sagging shutters. Grecian statues sat in overgrown grass around the unmaintained grounds.

This was the house we grew up in.

When my mother was Luna and our father was Alpha, the house didn’t show this sort of decay. She would have died before she saw it like this. Maybe that’s the reason she didn’t come around anymore.

Lisa preferred her small cabin in the woods that was more remote than mine. I didn’t judge her for the life of solitude. Most shifters can’t

survive the death of their fated mates once the bond was completed, but my mother had. She was an alpha wolf, but she was also a witch, and said that balanced out her heart. Lisa didn’t need the pack to survive.

That’s how I knew my mate was strong. Most witches had to be in order to call on the magic that exists in the world without it ruining them.

Mine. He growled, still angry for coming here first instead of going to Sage.

We need to do this. I growled back at my own wolf. Maybe I should have tried to get some sleep.

Rolling the tight muscles out of my shoulders, I climbed the worn porch steps. There was no sense of preservation here. No security force to greet me outside. Apollo was strong, but once again I was reminded just how far this pack had fallen from tradition.

The only security it had was me.

I swallowed the bitter taste of disgust as Bruce stumbled down the hall, wiping sleep from his bloodshot eyes. He was a heavy man standing at almost six feet with a shaggy red beard and broad shoulders, but he was forced to look up at me as he blinked. The chosen Beta should have sensed my presence sooner, before I’d even set foot in the house, and been ready to protect the Alpha.

My nostrils flared at the smell coming from him. The shifter stunk like day old carcass.

His eyes widened as he came fully awake. “Maddock… Is this about Ava?”

My fist curled around his flannel shirt as I lifted him up to his toes, holding him at arm’s distance so the smell didn’t come any closer. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing. I swear,” he stuttered as sweat broke out on his skin. “She wants to cause drama.”

Growling in frustration, I shoved him back. If it didn’t violate the rules of pack policy, I’d have torn his throat out years ago. Without a

challenge or formal complaint, I’d be overstepping my role as enforcer.

Then the pack would’ve been left with three guiding shifters that had lost their moral compass.

“I gave her permission to leave Cerberus pack. She no longer has to tolerate your bullshit,” I bit out the words, hating that I was wasting breath on this sorry excuse for a wolf.

“That’s for the best.” Bruce nodded as he adjusted the collar on his shirt. “She complained too much.”

My eyes burned as I showed my wolf and Bruce cowered under my gaze. If I didn’t have better things to do today, maybe I’d try to get a confession out of him, even without Ava to back it up.

Later. After we go to Sage.

“Where is my brother?” My voice was icy to my own ears.

“In his bedroom.” Bruce backed down the hall with his neck bared.

You’re wasting time with these wolves. I’m going to eat Lennox for breakfast.

My lips twitched as I turned from the coward Beta and headed up the stairs. I was finally starting to understand the anxious frustration of my beast.

He was happy.

I took the stairs two at a time, hurrying to get this over with.

*

Our childhood bedrooms were still closed off and I didn’t even bother to look at my old door. Anything of value I already took when I moved out. It pained me to be on the second floor of this house where the ghosts of a vibrant pack and loving family lingered. There was still a crack in the drywall where Gabriel shoved Apollo after the future Alpha dumped a bucket of frogs in the Beta’s shower.

Gabriel’s door was the only one I paused at, reaching out to touch the dusty knob. Time had stitched the wound of missing him, but the scar could never be erased. Memories flashed of his goofy smile even as we’d battled the purist tanks. He was the best of us all and didn’t deserve his cruel fate.

Coming home from war to find your fated mate had married your brother in a misunderstanding was a hell I didn’t wish on anyone.

My wolf let out his own whine of solace for his lost littermate. There was a time when we questioned his actions, but after setting eyes on Sage, we understood.

Things will be better now, I reminded my wolf as we continued down the hall without entering Gabriel’s room. It was time to put the past behind us now that we had a future.

Kera’s door was one of the old four guest bedrooms. It was the only one with a fresh coat of paint. Bright blue stood out like a beacon among

the drab paleness of the hall lined with dust coated photos of the Alphas and their families of the past.

I didn’t bother to look at them either. Their faces judged and condemned us.

The double doors at the end of the hall were still closed and I pressed my ear against the wood, listening for Apollo’s movements, but only heard his snores. Once upon a time he would have sensed me coming and played some sort of trick, but like everything else about this manor, that time had long since passed.

Without ceremony or the courtesy of a knock, I threw open the doors to the bedroom of the Alpha of Cerberus’s pack.

The stench hit me first. Old beer and sweat mixed with my brother’s undeniable scent. There was an empty and dust covered bottle of wine on the dresser that smelled fresher than him.

Apollo was still lying face down on the giant four post mahogany bed with the blankets bunched beneath him. His body was as large as mine was so he dwarfed the mattress, drooling on his beard with his too long brown hair spread across the pillow.

He almost seemed at peace in this state.

If I didn’t know he’d passed out drunk and had punished Kera for another unnecessary reason yesterday, then I might have regretted what I was about to do.

That wasn’t true.

I’d have to be a better man than I was to not find joy in that moment despite the circumstances.

“We’re under attack!” I let out a war cry as I flipped the mattress over, dropping it and my Alpha brother onto the solid wood floors.

He groaned and threw the mattress against the wall as he jumped to his feet, stumbling around in the near dark and muttering curses to himself.

As his bones began to crack, fingers extending into claws, I ripped the heavy drapes back from the window to let light spill into the room. He was blinded mid-transition and blinked as the world came into focus.

“Maddock.” He growled my name.

“When was the last time you got some air in here?” I pushed open the window and took a seat on the corner arm chair covered in cross-stitch flowers. A relic from my grandmother that never left this spot. She’d be rolling in her grave if she had witnessed the things this chair had seen.

“Is there an attack?” Apollo scanned the bedroom, flexing his claws.

I laced my hands behind my head and shrugged. “Would you have noticed if there was?”

“Not this again.” Apollo stared at me with bloodshot eyes as his claws retracted.

“Why not? Someone has to remind you of your duty to your pack.

But since we are on the topic of things you need to remember, do you want to tell me why Kera had a slash on her flank?”

“How I parent my daughter is none of your concern,” Apollo spit out

dryly.

“That’s where you’re wrong, brother.” I narrowed my gaze. “Do I

need to teach you whatever lesson you were trying to teach her, again?” “It’s too early for this.” Apollo sighed and ran his hands over his face.

“Why are you here? And why are you smiling?”

I touched my lips, not realizing that I was. “You might want to sit down.”

“On what?” Apollo snapped, looking to the overturned mattress. All at once, he seemed to remember who he was and simultaneously forget who he was talking to. “Fix my bed.”

I chuckled as the Alpha command rolled over me. Even if he wasn’t my blood, the command wouldn’t work on a Sigma. “Fix your own damn mess, little brother.”

His eyes flashed with his wolf still too close to the surface. The man and wolf never agreed on anything, but my wolf and I agreed we liked his wolf better. Even if it was going feral.

The challenge of my words rippled over him and I stared unblinking, waiting for him to make the first move. If he was ready to fight me then today would go much differently. I wouldn’t take it easy now that I had something to live for.

It was the man who broke first. He grabbed his mattress with one hand and slammed it onto the mahogany bedframe so hard I was surprised the wood didn’t crack.

“You’re older by two minutes,” Apollo grumbled as he reached for the half-full wine bottle on the nightstand and poured the rest into his mouth, sucking the liquid over his teeth.

But still he stood. “And you’re my enforcer so you need to remember your place. Now explain what the fuck has you waking me up this early in the morning.”

I took a moment to study him, trying to find the Apollo of our youth buried beneath the creases of hatred and angst that lined his face.

It was a fool’s mission.

How did we fall so far from our fated destinies?

“I’m waiting for an answer, Enforcer.”

As much as me and my wolf wanted to drag him outside for one of our infamous brawls where I bloody my brother enough that he sobers up for a few days and gets some work done, I had better places to be.

I didn’t bother to hide my smile this time. “I found my fated mate.” “What?” Apollo faltered, barely getting the wine bottle back to the

nightstand before he dropped it on the floor. “How is this possible?”

“Because the fates decided.” I sighed, knowing his reaction was

right.

Our pack had been so isolated for the past seventeen years since

Gabriel and Delilah’s death that even if I wasn’t a Sigma, the chances of any of us finding our fated mates here were slim. It used to be easier for all packs to find their mates with Cerberus hosting our lunar celebrations. Now the young pups leave when they start the hunt and most of them never return.

“Who is she? Ava? Julia?” Apollo tripped over the names as he tried to recall the single women of his own pack. My gaze darted to the empty

wine bottle and I inhaled deeply to calm my wolf.

“Ava has left to find her mate with my permission.” The smile dropped from my face as I silently dared him to challenge me on this. “And my mate is from the purist city. She arrived last night.”

Apollo’s bloodshot eyes widened. “Are we really under attack? Did more of them come?”

I rotated my head from side to side, easing the tension building into a headache. “No. I made sure of that. My mate was banished from the city. She’s not a shifter, but a witch. Her latent pup sister is with her and I need you to understand that both of them are under my protection.”

I let my wolf shine through so that Apollo understood the severity of what I was about to say next. “You need to sit down.”

Apollo blew out a heavy breath and staggered back until his legs hit the bed, but still he chose to stand. It was his Alpha wolf keeping him upright and refusing to obey. His face cracked with the ghost of a smile. “I’m truly happy for you, brother. I’ll need to meet…”

“I said to sit.” I growled, keeping my eyes on his. Alpha or not, he would obey this command. And if it came down to a fight between the more dominant wolf? Then I didn’t intend to play this game in his favor any more.

His shoulders flexed as his wolf rose to the challenge. “What are you not telling me?”

“Stay standing then,” I said dryly, wishing there was an easier way to break the news. “Both my mate and her younger sister are under my protection. Do you understand me?”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less.” He arched an eyebrow. “The latent pup is Melinda’s daughter.”

Apollo cracked.

He sat down on the mattress with his head in his hands. The painful howl that ripped from his chest set my wolf on edge and pacing, wanting to comfort his litter mate.

The wolf I felt for; the man I was still trying to understand even after all these years.

After a moment in his misery, Apollo looked up at me through his fingers with eyes devoid of light. “Is Melinda dead?”

“You already knew that.” I kept my tone soft.

I still remembered the night when he snapped. He’d been trying to learn his role as Alpha after Melinda rejected him and left. True, his ways were harsh even then, but we were all young and trying. We’d been on patrol of the Luna festival when he’d broken down howling in the middle of the street, clutching his chest while his legs twitched.

Gabriel and I were forced to carry him to the manor. Our mother had come rushing back home that night carrying tinctures for a broken heart.

That was the night he truly lost himself. And we never got him back.

“She had a child.” Apollo licked his dry lips. “A girl? A latent wolf?

And a sister?”

“Now of all times you remember details?” I tried to laugh, but it came out as a cough. “My mate is the older sister from a different mother and the human father. Melinda died during childbirth with the pup.”

“Of course she did.” Apollo growled as he yanked on his hair. Spit gathered in the corners of his mouth. “She should have been here with her pack. I would have protected her. Where is the man who killed her?”

He glared at me with so much hate that I lowered my hands to my

knees and forced comfort through our pack link that was stronger because we were brothers.

“The man that mated her is also dead.”

“Good.” Apollo grit his teeth as tears streamed down his cheeks, glistening off his beard. “Otherwise I would have killed him myself.”

It’d been years since I agreed with something my brother said, but the new feelings blossoming in my chest gave me a deeper understanding.

I stood from the chair. “Now I need to get my mate away from Lennox and his inn before I decide that he also needs to die.”

Apollo grunted a hollow and broken laugh as he looked up at me through tear rimmed eyes. “I’m happy for you, brother.”

I clapped him on the shoulder, needing to make sure my point was clear. “Both my mate and Melinda’s daughter are under my protection. No harm will come to either of them. They’ll need time to understand our world before they become one with the pack.”

Apollo nodded, composing himself as he reached for the wine bottle. “If the wolf is latent, she’ll need her Alpha.”

“When she’s ready to meet you, I’ll bring her myself.” I snagged the keys off his dresser on my way out the door. “Also, I’m taking the truck and a mattress from the guest room. Don’t start any shit for a few days because I’m not coming around this weekend.”

Finally. My wolf howled as we marched down the hall.

A smile turned my lips as I imagined the beautiful woman with doe eyes who smelled like sinful spices that was waiting for me.