ChangingPaths (12 page)

Gareth drew in a deep breath. Rion hadn’t asked the Alpha’s
permission before coming onto Pack land? Shaking his head, he remembered how
impulsive his brother had always been and how tight their bond had been. As
with most identical twins they were almost always in sync. They had known each
other’s thoughts, concerns, fears and dreams.

Only a crazy fucker like Curtis could have split them so
permanently. He’d often referred to them as “bookends” and frequently set them
against each other in various ways. Rion’s temper got them into trouble while
Gareth’s calmness usually got them out. Until Curtis had set a shifter bitch
between them.

Coming on to both brothers at Curtis’ order without letting
either of them know, she’d led them both on a merry chase, holding firmly to
both of them by their cocks. Using their own testosterone against them, Brenda
had done a number on them both. They’d wound up in a Challenge that neither of
them had escaped unscathed. Though Gareth had taken the worst of that. Curtis’
own bitch, Maggie, had been the one to lace the water they used to clean their
wounds with silver nitrate. Maggie had caused his injuries to become permanent.

Shaking himself out of the past, Gareth looked at Micah. “Don’t
make me go.”

“Gareth, this is your mother, your brother, your family. You
need to make this right with your family. Do you really want to bring Harmony
and Rain into more strife? They deserve better. I release you from your duties
as my second until this is complete.” Micah clapped a hand on his shoulder then
squeezed. Kaj got to his feet to put his hand on Gareth’s other shoulder.

“They don’t mean for you to stay permanently unless that is
your wish. The members of your family simply want to reassure themselves that
you are healthy. Your mother has asked about you many times.”

Gareth shook his head. “She cared more for Rion than for me.
He was always her favorite.”

“And now you sound like a pup, not the second of my brother’s
Pack.” Kaj shook his head. “Do not disgrace your Alpha. Accept what must be.
Micah, with your permission, I’ll bring Rion Volpe here to formally ask for
forgiveness for entering your territory without permission.”

“Do that. Now.”

There was a trace of something Gareth couldn’t define in
Micah’s voice. Something akin to icy anger. He looked to his Alpha, who gave
him the universal follow-me head jerk. They left Kaj at the kitchen table.
Gareth followed Micah into his office.

“Micah, I—”

“Gareth, stop. I need to say this to you. I am sorry.” Micah’s
eyes rounded with concern. “I had to release you not just for Pack peace but
for your own. This thing with your birth Pack, with your brother, has damaged
you far more than the loss of your eye. That? You have overcome that. But the
inner damage goes deep. Do you want to be a whole wolf? Do you want to bring
that damage to your mating with Harmony?”

“Mating with…Jesus, Micah!” Gareth slashed one hand through
the air as if he could cut the words off. “I haven’t even asked. I’m not sure I’m
going to ask. Whole? Me? I’ll never be whole.”

The bitter words hung in the silent room as Micah just
looked at him. Gareth couldn’t take the silence, so he spoke again.

“Look at me, Micah. How can I take Harmony and Rain as mine?
How can I offer myself to that beautiful woman? She told me last night it didn’t
matter, but in the light of day? It matters. It will always matter.” He hung
his head as the knowledge weighed on him. He’d never be a whole wolf. She
should look elsewhere. He should…

Micah’s words echoed in the room. “Walk away then. Leave her
now. Do not see her. Do not talk to her. Do not be near her even in a crowd. I
could forbid…”

The words snarled out of him. “Don’t even think about it,
Alpha. I wouldn’t obey. I’d desert this Pack first.”

The fury startled him but made Micah smile. “That is what I
thought. It is a true bond, Gareth. And I believe you, which is why I would not
make that judgment. Besides, you stubborn cur, I love you.”

Physical affection was common in the Pack but having it
spoken like that wasn’t. He swallowed once, then twice, hard as his throat
tightened. Micah moved to him to wrap him in his arms. No words were needed as
he felt his Alpha’s warm strength.

They moved apart as they scented, then he heard Kaj coming
down the hallway. Standing in the door, he looked away from Gareth. “Rion Volpe
is at the door, Alpha.”

Gareth’s belly clenched as if from a fist hitting him dead
center. His chest tightened. The scars on his face burned with memory. Micah
nodded to Kaj. “Bring him to me.”

“Stand beside me, Gareth. He will know your worth to me.”
Micah seemed to grow taller even though Gareth knew it to be a trick. As a tall
man Micah didn’t always pull himself to his full height because he knew it
could be intimidating. Now Micah stretched subtly up. He nudged Gareth with one
shoulder. The physical contact felt good. Taking a deep breath, Gareth faced
the man entering the room. Anger fluttered hot in his stomach.

Rion kept his gaze down, his attention seemingly on the
floor, but Gareth knew he was very aware of everything in the room. Stopping a
foot or so away from them, Rion went to his knees, hands loose by his sides,
showing that he held nothing.

“Speak.” Micah’s voice was deceptively soft. Gareth heard
the control and wondered if anyone else did.

“Alpha, you know who I am and Kajika, He Who Roams, has told
you the reason I’m here. I am here to ask forgiveness for coming onto Pack land
without announcing my presence to you and for not asking your permission to
speak to a Pack member. The last time I had word of my brother he was in Canada
and was a lone wolf. I was not aware that he had become part of your Pack. I
wasn’t aware that he had found his place. I am sorry for trespassing and I will
accept any punishment you deem necessary.”

Rion swallowed hard and tilted his head to the side,
exposing his neck to the Alpha. Gareth had never seen his brother so calm, so
controlled. And he’d never expected Rion to show that much respect for
any
Alpha.

Micah stepped forward, indicating with a hand that Gareth
should maintain his position. He watched as Micah reached out and gripped Rion’s
neck, tilting his head up with his thumb so that he could see Rion’s face.

“I will accept your apology, Rion Volpe, because of the love
I bear for your brother. But know this. You will never come back to my land
without my permission and you will not disrespect me or my second in any way
again. Are we clear?”

“Yes, Micah Keeps Vigil, Alpha of the Wild Haven Lodge Pack.”

“Your punishment will have to wait. I am not sure at this
time what penance I will require of you. For now, however, you have my
permission to be on my land. For that matter, because of your relationship to
my second, you may check out of the motel you have been staying in and have the
use of one of the rooms here at the lodge. Gareth, you will take your brother
to room six. Rion, you will join my family tonight for dinner. There are some
others who need to be aware of your presence here and an obligation to this
Pack that your brother has that requires him to be here until the next
Gathering at the least. After that you may leave.”

Rion shifted on his feet. “My mother is ill, Alpha, but
knowing that my brother has a Pack will help. I’ll call her to let her know
when we’ll return. Thank you. And I accept any penance deemed necessary.”

Gareth wanted to argue with Micah about having Rion at the lodge
but there was no way he would disrespect his own Alpha in front of their respective
brothers.

Kaj moved forward as Rion got to his feet. Micah’s brother
looked from Rion to Gareth and back then shrugged at Micah. “If it weren’t for
the patch and different lengths of their hair I wouldn’t be able to tell them
apart just by looking. You?”

Gareth stiffened even as Micah clapped him on the back. “No.
Even their scents are similar. I have never been around twin shifters before,
are they common in your birth Pack?”

“Yes. Our father was a twin, and the current Alpha, Jan, is
a twin as well. Our grandmother had six children, two sets of twins and two
single births,” Gareth responded.

Rion nodded. “There have always been twins in our birth
Pack, but now that you mention it I don’t remember hearing of other twins in
other Packs.”

“Huh. An interesting anomaly. One I might need to discuss
with other Packs as I travel.” Kaj rubbed his hands together. “Look at us.
Brother to brother. I think this calls for a drink! Micah?”

Micah nodded then he and Kaj headed for the door. Gareth
started to follow even though he had no intention of toasting brotherhood with
Rion.

“Gareth, wait, please.”

Turning to face his brother again, he couldn’t help the
rough growl that escaped, but knowing Micah wouldn’t be happy with him for
starting a fight in his home, especially since he’d given Rion permission to be
here, he reined in the anger.

“Why are you wearing that patch?”

“Are you fucking kidding me? You know exactly why.” He moved
to shove past his brother. The slight tremble in the hand Rion laid on his
shoulder stopped him.

Rion’s scent turned the deeper, richer odor of pine that he
carried when he was upset. It was one of the few ways their birth Pack had been
able to tell them apart. He left his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “No, I don’t.
What happened to your eye?”

“You happened, you fucker. You took my sight and my eye.” He
shook the hand off, not wanting any physical contact with his brother.

“What?” Rion’s shock wasn’t faked; neither was the way he
paled as he backed up with the scent darkening into an almost-burned smell. He
slashed a hand through the air. “No, no, no. That’s not true. You only had
scratches after our fight. You weren’t badly hurt. That isn’t right.”

“Who the fuck told you that? Isn’t fucking right?” He let
the growl roll out. “I lost my sight that night, Rion. And that bitch Maggie
made sure I kept the scars to remind me of just what my
brother
had done
to me. She put silver nitrate in the solution I used to clean the wounds. You
tell me what’s right about that.”

“No. They told me…” Rion sat down hard on the floor, letting
his head drop into his hands. Gareth heard him sob once. When Rion lifted his
head tears tracked down his face. Rion simply stared at his brother.

“All this time I’ve hated you for what
you
did to
me
and it was nothing. Nothing compared to what
I
did to
you
. They
told me you’d left the New Orleans Pack because Brenda chose me even though you’d
won the fight. They told me that you’d left and that you were never going to
come back, that they’d keep you away if necessary, because you’d nearly killed
me.”

“Bullshit.” He spat the word out but his heart had started
to race uncomfortably. He’d known that Brenda had chosen Rion but he’d been told
only that he had to leave the New Orleans Pack because he’d
lost
the
Challenge. Even his own mother had gotten in on it by contacting Curtis. He’d
never stopped to wonder how she knew he might come home. His heart pain spread
into his stomach.

“I swear, Gareth. I swear to you. They told me…” Rion’s
breath hitched and he got to his feet, hands open and at his sides again. Shaking
his head, he moved a little closer and reached toward Gareth. Gareth took a
step back.

“They told me that you hated me and wanted me dead so they
were going to protect me. Then I saw Brenda fucking one of Curtis’ seconds and
I left. I knew they’d set up the fight and that she didn’t care about either
one of us. I didn’t know where you’d gone and I didn’t want to face you anyway,
so I went home. I went home to try to heal.”

“Heal from what? You won the damn fight, Rion.”

“And I thought you’d won.” He barked out a short, sharp
sound then yanked his shirt off. Gareth felt the air leaving his body in a rush
and it was his turn to sit down, hard.

“This is why I needed to heal. This is why I thought
you
had won. This is why I hated you. And it was all for nothing. They set us up.
They drove us apart for no other reason than that Curtis wanted to break up the
‘bookends’.”

He stared hard at the scars on Rion’s chest and abdomen. Any
of those cuts, if deep enough, could have been fatal. Wolves fighting over a
female weren’t playing, they meant to maim, to kill if necessary. The ugly,
raised scars covered Rion’s chest and abdomen. He knew they were from his paws.
He still had nightmares about being on his back at one point and raking his
claws across his brother. He remembered biting, tearing at flesh. Still
remembered the pain and horror he’d felt when Rion ripped his face open.
Scrambling back to his feet, he shook his head.

And he remembered the searing pain as he’d held the
silver-laced cloth up to his face to wipe away the blood. He remembered the
panic when he’d tried to shift to stop the pain, to start his healing process
and he still couldn’t see out of his right eye. He remembered, now, the screams
he’d heard after the fight. Those must have been from Rion. Maggie and Curtis
had fucked them both up. Shaking his head, Gareth backed away from his brother.

Rion put his shirt back on but not before he wiped his face
with it. Reaching out again, he stopped when Gareth shook his head.

“I can’t…I need.” He took a deep breath. “I need time to
think…”

He spun around to leave but heard Rion following him into
the hallway. Micah and Kaj came out of the living room, surprise evident on
both of their faces when he turned toward the front door. “Micah, I have to go.
I need to get out of here.”

Without waiting for permission, Gareth yanked open the door
and moved quickly across the wide porch. He knew they’d followed, but Rion’s
was the only voice that reached him.