Alpha. Brother. Mate

NINE

~DYLAN~

“She’s terrified of me,” I felt pain wrack through me. “I could smell it. She couldn’t even look properly at me. “ There’s so much self loathing in his tone it made me shiver. Remi spared me a curious glance from beside me and I pretended not to see it. There was an intense internal conflict going on within me and I couldn’t even broach the subject with her.

“It’s the tone you used with her. It terrified her,” I told him. “She’s not scared of you. It was just a moment of terror. It has passed now. “ As I muttered those words to him, I did not feel so sure.

The fear that had come over Remi when she beheld Logan wasn’t little. It was huge and it had consumed her. I could hear it in her heartbeat, feel it in the air and even taste it. I had felt Logan’s helplessness when she looked at him like he was going to snap her neck. The helplessness had been mine too.

“I wasn’t going to do anything to her,” He groaned pitifully.

“I know,” I replied solemnly because I did know. After the almost lifelessness my existence had been reduced to after Remi left, it was impossible for me to know. Even remembering how my life, up until today, had gone on while Remi had been away still left a bitter taste in my mouth.

“If my instinct to retain my dominance with my pack is great, then the instinct to protect my mate is a hundred times greater. " I knew that too. I had threatened my own mother, a member of my pack, at the slightest hint of danger to my mate. “I wasn’t even being serious!” He exclaimed.

There wasn’t much I could say. He would get tired of me simply replying ‘I know’ to all his statements, but I knew. His feelings were mine.

“She could stare me down, challenge me for my status as Alpha of Silver Moon Pack, and I would let her win. I wouldn’t even lift a finger. Ultimately, she is all that matters to me,” He ranted. “I love my pack, I will do anything to make sure every member of Silver Moon is well. I would bulldoze through a million rogues to keep mine safe, but I can live without them. I can turn my back against them and it will take away everything that I am, but I would live. I’d die before the idea of turning my back against Remi surfaces. She is, quite literally, my life. Doesn’t she know that?” Somehow, I felt it couldn’t have been worse if he cried. It was so immensely gut wrenching that it made me shiver.

“Are you alright?” Remi asked with concern shinning in her eyes. If I had been a better person, she might have placed a comforting hand on my shoulder, but I wasn’t, so she watched me cautiously. The plain reminder that I had messed up big time glared at me from that single look and it hurt more than anything else.

“Fine. ” I replied, watching helplessly as her gaze closed off.

I was still ruining things. I didn’t mean to sound dismissive yet I had been. I didn’t know how to act with Remi. The only way I knew to speak to her was wrong and not a way I ever wanted to speak to anyone again in my life, most especially my mate.

There was a communication barrier and after twelve years of me acting like a troll, it wasn’t exactly unexpected. I wanted to fix it. I didn’t know how, but I was going to try and I wasn’t going to stop till I successful fixed things between us.

“She just doesn’t know what she means to me. I can’t even say anything because my actions for twelve years didn’t show it. My actions spoke for themselves and if I have to change her views about me then I have to change the language my actions speak. It barely has anything to do with you, Logan. ” I expressed.

“I’m sorry,” I said. To Logan. To Remi. I felt the atmosphere breathe out some tension that had been choking us.

~REMI~

Dylan was acting funny but I had no time to dwell on it as we exited his car and I followed him to the pack dungeons. It wasn’t a place I frequented but I had been tasked with cleaning it once as a part of my punishment for skipping Wolf School. I blocked out the memory as soon as it hit in order to avoid depressing thoughts.

The sight of Ashton locked away in one of the dungeons with a warrior posted outside the cell door made my blood boil. “Dear goddess, Ashton!” I exclaimed, reaching through the bars as though I could touch him.

He looked like a giant mess. He was suspended about an inch from the ground with silver chains that had cut into his flesh. Silver wouldn’t harm him as it would a werewolf, but I watched in horror as a droplet of blood splattered from his wrist to the ground. There was already a small puddle of blood.

“Oh, Rems, You’re alright. Oh thank God! I’ve been going crazy thinking about what they may have done to you. " His voice had lost it’s life. It was thin and small, barely audible. My eyes filled up. Here he was, suspended from the ground because of me, yet he was beating himself up about my welfare.

"How could you?” I glared fiercely at Dylan. Discomfort flitted through him but he stared me dead in the eyes.

“He had his hands on you. ” He sounded like it made all the sense in the world to him. Like he believed Ashton deserved to be tortured for putting his hands on me.

“Let him go," I said quietly. The same look of discomfort passed by but he was unrelenting.

"No," he said calmly and I clenched my fist.

“Let him go," I screamed, ratting the iron bars.

Something possessed me and I turned to Dylan, trashing at him with all my might. “Let him go! Let him go! Let him go!” I screamed repeatedly.

He caught my hands between his. “I'll do anything. Anything, “ He stressed. “But please not this. For days I searched for you and he was the one keeping you. I searched for you and when I found you, you were passed out in his arms. You smelt like him and he smelt like you and when I take a deep breath, I can still smell him on you. " He took a deep breath.

“It took all my will power not to rip him apart when I found you and I still have to hold myself back from breaking his arms that held you and I would do anything, anything, but please don’t ask me to let him go. Not yet. " He let go of my hands. I stilled my arms from attacking him again.

It was a wolf thing. It was stupidly territorial and incredibly pointless but I understood it. I had felt it towards Bella and if I didn’t know I didn’t stand a chance against Bella, even as an alpha, I would have gone for her. It passed in some quicker than others but ultimately, the feeling didn’t last forever. I still had half a mind to ask again but I held myself.

“Can you at least unchain him? And f -feed him?” Ashton stared at me with sad eyes and my heart fell.

He nodded at the guards who instantly got to work. Ashton sagged to the ground when the chains came off. I couldn’t stay to see what they fed him because Dylan gently pulled me out of the dungeons.

The ride back to his place was silent as I stared out the window. He killed the engine when we arrived at our destination and he opened the car door before I could get to it. He opened the house door too and slowly led me back into his room.

I collapsed on the bed as soon as I got in and I felt, rather than saw, him lay next to me.

“I would have let him go if you had asked again. It would have hunted me and I would have had half the mind to seek him out and rip his arms out of his shoulders, but I would have let him go. For what my words are worth to you, Remi, I want you to know that for you, I would do anything. " I didn’t reply him.

We lay in silence for a while, together, side by side until we didn’t anymore.

Hot puffs of breath fanned across my face right before tantalizingly soft lips caressed mine. It was slow, tentative and absolutely delicious and when he drew back, my lips chased his in hunger. We continued like that for a while, kissing lazily and exploring shyly, until our animalistic sides came to join the play.

Suddenly there was an intense hunger that the soft slow kisses could not satisfy. I didn’t feel any trace of embarrassment when I clawed at his blue shirt, ripping the material in half and eagerly peeling it off his skin. I sighed when I beheld the magnificence of his chest and I kissed his proud smirk away.

He was a little more in control of his emotions than I was, pulling my top over my head in one piece. His control slipped as he tried to work out the logic of my bra. Growling, he grabbed two sides and pulled, huffing in satisfaction as the material gave way to his strength. His hands explored my body making me gasp.

Swiping at his chest as he tried to pin my hands above my head, I paused as I noticed the blood I had drawn. Instinctively, I reached up to lap at the it, making him shudder and groan loudly. In that instance, I made a move to switch our positions and failed. He grinned wickedly at me.

"Dylan?" a voice re -echoed through the whole house. At first we ignored it, going about our business, but then it echoed again and I growled in frustration.

With one last electrifying kiss, Dylan hauled himself off the bed and walked out.

Sighing, I got out of bed and donned one of Dylan’s discarded shirts before following after him.

"You did that on purpose," Dylan growled.

"What, me?" Mason asked innocently and my eyes widened. Mason?

"Hi, Remi," Mason said, eyeing me like I was a juicy steak. What had possessed me to come out!

Dylan let out a threatening growl, and Mason growled right back.