The Challenge Two Alphas, One Girl

Chapter 36: Benevolent Big Brothers

Fang’s POV

I had so many wrongs to make right and I had some hell to raise too. I would not be the Fang everyone had grown to know and dislike if I did not raise some hell but I would make amends first. I had to put a stop to something. I could not leave the pack house with Friday still in heat. She had yet to shift but the fact that her foot had heeled meant her she-wolf powers were flourishing. I doubled all of the patrols, adding guards to each group. If she shifted, she would run away for sure and go to the woods to seek out Thaddeus and Maze. I could not have that happen. Theo was with her now so I had some time to handle my business.

I went to the Beta floor. It was night-fall. I was not sure of the time exactly but we had gotten through Friday’s second day of heat which would have been the tenth day of the challenge. I could not believe we were only a third of the way into this thing. f**k! Twenty more days of this bullshit. And most of the

remaining time was to be spent in Berryndale with a bunch of hippie wolves.

Astrid was asleep. She tossed and turned, her slumber fitful. I stroked her hair. I was not good at apologies and I could not leave this place to buy her something so I wouldn’t have to say sorry. I sighed. I pinched one of her butt cheeks.

“Ow!” She squealed. She woke up and fixed me with a glare. I stifled my laughter and hid my smile. “What?!” She said, folding her arms. “Friday has a wolf,” I told her.

She raised her brows, her eyes wide with shock. “Really?” She whispered.

I nodded.

Astrid smiled slightly. “I’m happy for her. She’s not what you made her out to be you know. She’d make a good Luna even if …she didn’t learn to shift,” said Astrid begrudgingly, smiling in spite of herself.

Inodded. We stared at each other. “Ok, well, good night,” she said dismissively, turning away from me. “Oh, come on,” I said, giving her a pointed look and grabbing her forearm.

“I’m…”Itook a deep breath. Two apologies in one day, Friday and now Astrid. “I’m sorry, Astrid. I’ve been a jerk and it’s really nothing to do with you. It’s my own mess I have to clean up,” I admitted.

Astrid nodded, her lower lip trembling. She scooted towards me and I wrapped her in a bear hug. She sobbed quietly in my arms while I ran my fingers through my hair. I was tired of comforting crying girls. I had compassion fatigue (that’s a thing ok, I read about it in some chick magazine). Ugh! And I still had to confront my mother. I could leave it alone but I sure as f**k wouldn’t. I needed to know if there was anything between her and former alpha Malachi.

Astrid locked me into a kiss. I could taste her tears. I bit her lower lip and she opened her mouth, allowing my tongue to explore it. The other things I had to do today would have to wait a bit.

Theo’s POV ir nappiness over Friday’s recovery mage nim come to ner? wnat ir ne ana maze rougnt at the cottage because Maze craved a now possibly not wolf-less Friday? I grumbled to myself. I hated being conflicted. A good Beta was quick to act in his Alpha’s best interests. I just was not sure what those were right now. The Fenestra family and the Marigold atmosphere was quite complicated. I had never liked soap-operas and now I felt like I was in one.

Friday moaned, keeling over on the bed. She could thrash about more now due to her healed foot but it was making her more restless. She kept looking at the windows and the door. Not today, princess. She was not going anywhere. Thaddeus gave me a job to do and it would be completed in full.

She pouted at me. I knew she was silently pleading to leave. I fixed her with a black expression. “I want a muffin. I’m hungry. Please!” She said emphatically, widening her doe eyes.

I banged on the door. “Friday wants a muffin!” I called to the other side. I remained sitting on my chair by the door.

The door opened and a plate filled with muffins was handed to me along with a jug of water. I offered it to her. She wrinkled her nose but took it and put the water jug on her night table and the muffin plate on her bed. She lay down staring at the muffins she supposedly wanted.

“I have to use the bathroom!” She said. “Ok, let’s go,” I said, offering her my arm. She did not take my arm. She buried her face in a pillow groaning. “I don’t have to go again, don’t worry,” she whimpered. Ipatted her hair.

“I know,” I whispered. “The first heat is always the hardest but you’re the toughest pixie I know,” I said, chuckling.

She opened one eye,peaking at me. The corner of that eye wrinkled and I knew she was smiling at me calling her pixie. Friday was like a little sister to me too and she was not going near those horny alphas. I would escort her to the bathroom a hundred times, as many times as she wanted to pretend to use it while

looking for escape routes. I was not leaving until Fang and Astrid took over and even then, I had to stay close to keep an eye on them keeping an eye on her. Ugh. This would be a long couple of days.

Maze’s POV

“Um…yeah…” I said. I had dreamt that Thaddeus and I shared Friday but why such a specific question?

“Did you…did you dream that also?” I asked, scrutinising Thaddeus’ expression.

Thaddeus said nothing but nodded. There was an eternal awkward silence. I could hear crickets chirping in the woods at night and owls hooting.

“Well, good talk. What’s for dinner? You’re the only one who can cook,” I said sheepishly, my stomach grumbling.

Thaddeus burst into laughter. He made steak and mashed potatoes. It was restaurant-quality to be honest. Thaddeus was annoyingly perfect but I could not hate him because being a likeable great guy was part of his annoying perfection. I finished my steak and pushed my mashed potatoes around my plate, thinking.

“Playing with your food, Maze, is that befitting of a Marigold Alpha?” Asked Thaddeus, adopting the accent of a haughty Marigold elite like my father.

I laughed. It was a pretty good expression. I recalled judging Friday for playing with her food once. I had really been an ass. I sighed.

“I think you’re young and full of potential,” Thaddeus said. “You only officially took up your post as Alpha the night before the Peace Treaty Celebration right?”

“Yeah, the night I met Friday,” I said.

“A lot of alphas would kill to meet their Luna the night of their coronation so to speak and never have to rule a single day without her,” Thaddeus admitted, eliciting my good old friend regret to pop in for a visit.

“Yeah, I know I’m stupid, thanks,” I muttered.

Thaddeus laughed his booming raucous laugh, banging his hand on the floor where we were sitting making it shake. I pressed the back of my head against the wall, shutting my eyes tightly and groaning.

Thaddeus patted my head. “Relax, Maze,” he said, reminding me of my Dad even though they were nothing alike.

I wanted to hug him but that would be super weird. Thaddeus was kind of like the big brother I could have used growing up but was glad I did not have cause only the eldest gets to be Alpha.

“What are your younger brothers like?” I asked, changing the topic.

Thaddeus chuckled. “Timothy is a lot like me. Titus is a bit like you, aloof and high-strung, mixed with Fang’s temper so he’s a nightmare but he’s my brother and I love him.”

I smiled. I was not high-strung, I grumbled to myself. Thaddeus’ POV “Do you like being an only child?” I asked Maze. “I think I do,” Maze said, smiling. “I’m lucky my parents even had me. They’re not mates.”

“I know. Friday told me,” I murmured. “Her mother and your father are fated. I remembered that day you found them…er…making up for lost times.”

“Actually,” said Maze, raising his eyebrows, “they never stopped…having…meetings like that despite the rejection. And my Dad financially supported Friday’s mother her whole life.”

It was my turn to raise my eyebrows. “Wow, your Daddy is Friday’s Mommy’s Daddy, in a manner of speaking,” I said.

“What?!” Said Maze, wrinkling his nose the way Titus did when I scolded him. “Like a sugar Daddy,” I explained. “Ohhhh,” said Maze. “That must be hard,” I said, smiling sadly at Maze.

Maze nodded wordlessly. “I don’t want my kids to have parents who aren’t mates, who aren’t in love, who are in love with other people and want other lives,” he whispered.

The connotation of his words meant he would have to be with Friday to have such kids. I thought that would make me and my wolf furious and envious at the mere thought but I was calm and so was my wolf.

“Your brothers are twins,” said Maze. “Yeah, Bro,” I said.

“Identical?” Maze asked, his grey eyes wide. They usually looked cold because they were such a light grey but they seemed warmer and stormy right now.

“Yep,” I said, rummaging through the stuff Theo had packed. I found it. “Identical twins have one mate only,” Maze announced. were at inception or conception rather rated to just one person, I explained.

“Yeah,” Maze said, “and they don’t get jealous? I heard Fallon and Fargo talk about having to share a mate one day?”

Maze was referencing Friday’s identical twin brothers.

“Yeah Fuck-er and Fuck-up have to share a mate,” I said absentmindedly. The it I had been referring to was a bottle of red wine to go with the steak. I had not been able to find it earlier and Maze had already finished his steak but whatever, it was alcohol. These were rough times.

I popped the bottle and pours us each a glass. “I like white wine,” Maze said. I snorted. “Steak pairs with red wine, Maze, don’t be daft,” I said in my Marigold snob accent. Maze laughed, his grey eyes lighting up. “You sound like my Dad,” Maze said. “Whose your Daddy?” I said chuckling. Maze rolled his eyes. “Definitely not you, Bro,” he said. “Let’s drink, Bro,” I said. Maze took his glass and raised it to me. “To Friday,” he said. “Naturally,” I agreed, clinking glasses.

Fang’s POV

Thad extricated myself from a limp, sleeping Astrid. She sighed happily in her sleep as I dressed and stole down the stairs. I went to the basement of the packhorse which basically just had extra space for pantry stock and freezers of food. I called Katrina on the cell phone she had slipped in my pocket just as I had left the Vamp Manor one day. I supposed it was a burner phone.

“Fang,” she breathed on the other line, as if shocked to hear from me. “Katrina, I need out,” I said, trying to keep the panic in my voice to a minimum.

“What’s wrong? Is your cover blown. I’ll come get you. Where are you? Try to get out of Marigold and I’ll meet you at the border…”

“No! No! My cover’s not blown. I…I can’t give my sister to Victor,” I whispered as softly as I could.

“Why?” She asked just as softly. She was probably hiding somewhere in the manor too, trying to get out of earshot of other vamps.

Tpictured baby Friday giggling at nothing, toddler Friday waddling about, little girl Friday crying because our parents would not let her have a puppy or kitten, teenaged Friday devastated because she could not shift, young adult Friday looking at me hopefully, hoping for my acceptance. She could have much more than that.

“Because I love her.”