Romeo Alpha Blood Lines Romance Series - Books 1 to 5

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

Fenris was furious with his pack. The mere fact that those deviants had taken out four of his finest guards and exiled two more, was so grating that he’d confined everyone in his pack to solitary confinement in their cells with the assurance that he’d execute anyone who disobeyed. How the hell was he going to replace Dankar? The man had worked for him for years and they’d felled him with one swipe. And they’d managed to help that b***h deliver her pups and make an escape, all while he’d been making plans to undo the great Romeo and his b****y pack.

He stalked up and down his chambers, loathing his weak pack. If he had even one person with the potential to be an alpha, just maybe he’d be able to make things right again. Just maybe his plans wouldn’t go to hell in a hand basket. Rewinding the events of the breach of his caves by Romeo’s Delta pack, Fenris caught a piece of information that, until now had eluded him. Where the hell was Brandt? The little bastard had been turned into the spitting image of Brody Duscene and he was nowhere to be found.

It’d be the last time he gave that little prick a twenty-four hour reprieve. Twenty-four hours and two months was a little extreme to his way of thinking. Taking some deep breaths, Fenris thought about the different angles he could use to get to Romeo’s pack. Plenty of them were in the outskirts of the main town. He could try to win them over, but wasn’t sure they’d be all for giving up their nice homes to live in a cave. His one attempt to take a Traverse heir had failed miserably. He hadn’t even been able to keep one of the pups she’d borne.

Romeo Traverse was a literal pain in his a*s, Fenris thought as he continued to brood. Perhaps there was another way around this whole war business. With the full moon coming around again, Fenris knew that all the male wolves would change, no matter whose pack they belonged to. If his wolves waited outside town and intermixed with the Delta pack, they could easily dispatch quite a few of Romeo’s recruits by morning.

It wasn’t the war he’d wanted, but a solid battle to be sure. Still, it required more thinking and much, much more planning.

>>

Brandt sat with Carly as they ate breakfast. They’d mated during his twenty-four hour reprieve from the caves and Brandt, upon returning, had seen the caves destroyed. So, he returned to the small cabin in the woods to be with Carly full time. It’d taken some getting used to for her, once the spell Dankar had put on him wore off. He’d been sure she’d hate him, but if anything, she seemed even more attracted to him.

As for her, he’d learned that she was twenty-six, a year younger than him. She’d been abandoned as a pup because she was half the size of her sister and so had been passed around from male to male in the pack that adopted her, once she reached her first breeding season. She’d miscarried several times and was exiled from the pack because she couldn’t carry a baby full term.

It had nearly broken Brandt’s heart to know that the men of her pack had used her so carelessly. Still, he couldn’t say he was without blame. He’d done virtually the same thing to Sarina Traverse. To this day he still didn’t know if either of her children had been fathered by him. He’d come clean to Carly about his role, especially after the spell had vanished. She’d understood that he’d been acting under Fenris’ orders and even forgiven him when he explained that it had been his idea, to try and move up the ranks of the pack.

“Everyone does what they must to survive,” Carly had said, her sparkling brown eyes full of understanding.

“I’m sorry you had to do so much,” Brandt had replied. Since then, he and Carly had made the cabin a home, cleaning out anything they didn’t like and adding the things they did. Brandt had gathered more lumber and was working on adding some serious square footage to the now, one room, one bath dwelling. He knew if he showed his face in the Delta, he’d probably be executed on the spot, although he was pretty sure no one knew what he really looked like. He also knew that if he tried to return to his pack, he’d be beaten within an inch of his life, so that option was out as well. The only option left was to try and make the best life he could for him and Carly in the woods that stood between the pack he’d infiltrated and the pack he’d left. It wasn’t the choicest real estate, but it’d have to do as there were literally no other alternatives.

He often wondered how Sarina was doing with the twins. He figured by now, even if one of the twins looked exactly like him, she wouldn’t give him up. Not that he really wanted to parent a baby, but at times he wondered if one of them had turned out to be his. Carly hadn’t liked what he’d done in trying to get a woman he wasn’t mated to, pregnant, but she knew well how people used what was at their disposal to get what they wanted.

“You feel like going for a walk?”

“Sure,” Carly answered. Brandt took her hand and together they walked through the woods, picking up broken bits of branches and such for their stove back home. Brandt had come across some old abandoned cabins and one had a nice wood burning stove inside. He’d taken it for the cabin as paying for electricity for that location was out of the question. He’d brought Carly the second time he went and she’d found some items she used to decorate the cabin. He hoped to have the room and roof finished before winter set in. It would be nice to expand and feel as if they weren’t sitting on top of each other all the time.

As they walked, Brandt kept an ear out for any sign of another pack’s members. He couldn’t just start his own pack, but neither did he want to run into a member of Fenris’ pack or those from the Delta pack either. He was walking a fine line of existence and he knew it.

>>

“You look amazing,” Amanda said to her eldest daughter as she rocked Brody Jr. to sleep. “And these two little ones are what a woman dreams of when it comes to having grandchildren. I couldn’t ask for more than this.”

“Brody said that it didn’t matter who their biological father was. He understood how it all happened and said he doesn’t care, as long as we’re all together.”

“You found yourself a great mate, Sarina,” Amanda smiled. “I was worried in the beginning, I’ll admit that. But Brody has shown his love for you time and time again. The man seems to know that love is a verb and he works it out for you often enough. I’m beyond happy for you.”

Sarina put Jedidiah down with Brody Jr. on a makeshift bed Amanda had made up on the floor of the living room so she’d be close by. Then she went in search of her husband. She figured he was with the rest of the others.

“I thought I might find you out here,” she said, reaching out to touch Brody’s shoulder. When he turned toward her though she looked into dark, soulless eyes that scared her down to her core. She blinked and when she opened her eyes again, Brody was staring back at her.

“You alright, hon?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “Just a little light headed I guess. How are you two doing out here?”

“We’re great,” Jason said, a grin splitting his face.

“Your brother’s just happy because he keeps whooping my a*s at volleyball,” said Brody.

“We are damn good,” Sarina laughed. “Where’d dad go? Maybe we can do pairs and show these two how it’s done.”

“We’ve never played together, babe.”

“Yeah, but it’ll be fun learning. Besides, I could use a little down time and beating my brother always feels good.”

“She’s ruthless,” Romeo said, catching the ball Jason tossed to him. “Watch out.”

“I’m not ruthless,” Sarina smiled. “I’m just that good.”

“Conceited is more like it,” Jason teased, earning him a playful punch from his twin.

“Bring it on then,” she challenged. “If we win, y’all have to fix us dinner. If you two win, Brody and I will repaint the house.”

“Repaint the house?” Brody objected. “You know I’m going to get stuck with that, you have the twins to take care of.”

“That’s exactly how she works man,” Jason snickered. “She makes it seem as if she’ll help and then, Bam! You’re stuck doing her part too.”

“Oh please,” Sarina complained. “How many times did I clean up after you so you could go chase tail?”

“I had to work at it obviously. I’m the same age as you and still haven’t found my mate. You walk out of a store and find yours. I’d say we’re square.”

“They’ll never stop bickering if we don’t start playing,” Romeo smiled. “All grown up and they still fight like week old pups.”

Sarina and Brody did well, holding their own against an obviously better paired, Romeo and Jason. They lost graciously and agreed to help Romeo with some chores around the house. Repainting was off the list as Sarina couldn’t help with the job, but nonetheless they all had a great time.

>>

Two weeks later, Sarina was just getting out of the shower when she heard Brody Jr. and Jedidiah crying. “Brody!” she called, pulling on her bathrobe and going to the bedroom to pick up the babies. She calmed them down and went to see where Brody was.

“Brody?” she said, noticing him standing in the kitchen. “Didn’t you hear the babies crying?” Moving around Brody, Sarina saw a blank stare on his face and his eyes were that same dark color again. It sent chills down her spine. “Brody?”

Sarina touched his shoulder again and saw his eyes flash back and forth between that dark, scary abyss and the blue she loved. “Hey baby,” he smiled. “You finally get done with your shower?” Sarina watched him turn and act as if nothing had happened, pulling cereal from the cupboard and making himself breakfast.

“Brody, what happened to you?”

“What do you mean, doll?”

“When I got out of the shower, the babies were crying and when I came down here, you were just standing here, staring off into space. And for the second time now, I’ve seen your eyes turn to black pools of scary nothingness.”

“Don’t worry, babe,” he assured her. “I’m great, but I haven’t been sleeping well lately. Maybe I should sleep in the guest room after you head to bed with the twins.”

“If you think it’ll help you with whatever’s going on with you, then I don’t mind. I just don’t want to see your health fall apart from something as silly as bad sleep. I don’t care if we have to take different shifts with the babies, as long as you’re really okay.”

“I’m fine,” Brody assured her, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

>>

Brody ate breakfast and then kissed Sarina and the boys before he headed outside to work. He worked in the yard and surrounding area until his muscles ached and he’d soaked his shirt through with sweat. Winter would be here before they knew it and he wanted Sarina to be free from worry about the house or yard.

Looking toward the big picture window he saw her dancing with the boys to some rhythmic song he couldn’t hear. He sighed knowing that he’d lied to her that morning. He wasn’t fine and he was at a loss as to what to do about it. He was having blackouts, time lapses, and nightmares.

The nightmares always started the same. He would be overlooking the Delta, his vision taking in the expanse of every pack member from the river to town and up to the Traverse mansion. He could hear them all, laughing and loving in their homes. Then the hate would boil up in him. Try as he might, he couldn’t fight the extreme revulsion that would swamp him. It didn’t matter if he was thinking of just Romeo and his family or the entire Delta pack, or some other singular family; he hated them all with a level of feeling untouched by any other.

Then he’d hear his name. Brody. It’d slither through his brain and turn him on, even as she appeared before him. He didn’t know who she was, or what she wanted, but he knew that she was the epitome of evil. Still, in the nightmare he couldn’t fight her off. Whatever power she held was much too strong. Whatever she wanted, he gave her. Whatever she asked, he did. And there was a sick feeling in his stomach that his nightmares were becoming real.

Taking a sip of water, Brody coughed, feeling something stuck in his throat. He coughed again and again, finally dislodging whatever had been stuck and spitting it on the ground. Bending down to examine it, he saw a smear of blood on his hand, tasted the heavy metallic flavor of iron. He rinsed his mouth out and headed inside to talk with Sarina.

“You hungry? I was just about to make supper.”

“I’m okay, I’ll eat later. I was hoping you had a minute to talk,” Brody said, preparing himself.

“Sure, babe. What’s up?”

“I need to apologize to you, because I lied to you earlier. You asked me if I was okay and I said I was, when really I’m not. Something is happening to me and I have no idea how to stop it, but I’m damned sure if I don’t find a way, it’s going to destroy me and anyone who’s close to me.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

Brody told her about the blackouts, the waking daydreams, and the hellish nightmares. He told her about the woman who always appeared to him and how she made him feel.

“It’s like being a prisoner, except she can rule my body. She’s a highly s****l being and whatever it is she wants, she somehow thinks I can get it for her, or give it to her. She scares the s**t out of me, Sarina and still, there’s a part of me that’s extremely attracted to her in the nightmare. She makes me want her.”

“We need to see my mother and father,” Sarina said. Without another word, she went to grab Brody Jr. and Jedidiah, packing them in their car seats and helping Brody put them in their SUV. They made the short trip easily and then, with everyone else minding their own, sat down to talk with Romeo and Amanda.

“It sounds to me like a sort of possession,” Amanda started, having heard Brody’s side of things. “She...whoever she is, wants to use you to get something from our world, or to get here. Have you noticed anything different, anything that could have caused this transfer of energy?”

Brody instantly thought of the moment when he killed Fenris’ black magician. The way his black blood had filled his mouth and overtaken his senses. Brody, came the sultry voice from his nightmares, infiltrating even his waking hours. Tell them nothing, Brody.

“Not that I know of,” he lied, again. “I feel fine, except for when I black out or sleep.”

“Have you had contact with anyone, besides the wolves at the caves, and our pack, since we got back?”

“No,” he replied. “I just want to figure out what’s happening to me. I don’t want to risk Sarina or the twins, if this thing gets out of hand.”

“We’re not going to let it get that far,” Amanda assured him. She mixed dry herbs in a bowl to make a poultice. “Make this tea and drink it before you go to bed tonight and when you wake up in the morning. I can’t guarantee it’ll expel her, but maybe it will quiet her enough that you can sleep. When your symptoms return, come see me for more. Maybe we can irritate her enough that she leaves you.”

“Thank you,” Brody said, unsure of how to feel about the whole thing.