Crossed Fates by Lexi C. Foss

Alaric

Makayla’s presencecalmed my wolf, her gentle energy something I didn’t realize I needed until I stepped into my former home.

I’d grown up here with Tyler.

Our father had been the Silver Lake Alpha.

Then he’d passed the property to Tyler once he’d taken over the mantle as leader. It had been a gradual transition with my brother being bitten and turned into a wolf on his eighteenth birthday. He hadn’t fully taken over the pack until his twenty-second year. By that point, I’d already left.

I, too, had been turned on my eighteenth birthday. Just two years after Tyler.

Our animals had immediately warred, our desires to dominate passionate and strong. It had been expected since our father had been an alpha as well.

My wolf’s innate power, however, hadn’t been expected. Tyler being the oldest had meant he should have naturally inherited the mantle, but my inner beast had disagreed wholeheartedly with the birthright. And had we fought one another, I would have won.

So I’d left instead.

Had gone to New York City, found a job with E.V.I.E., and had lived there ever since.

Oh, I visited on occasion. But never for long. It just wasn’t my home anymore. It was Tyler’s pack now, a point that became clear as everyone moved out of my way with each step I took.

The enforcers—all old acquaintances of mine from my younger years—nodded their respects.

“He’s in the master.” The statement came from Paul, an old friend of my mine from high school. He’d become a pack enforcer soon after graduating, the position suiting him. But right now, I wasn’t interested in reminiscing.

Hell, I never wanted to reminisce.

This wasn’t my life anymore.

I glanced at him in brief acknowledgment of his presence, only for him to gesture through the open living area to the corridor beyond it.

Like I didn’t know where the main bedroom suite existed in my former residence. Dick.

I swallowed a responding growl of annoyance and walked by the lanky, shaggy-haired enforcer without a word.

Hardt, the pack beta, met me outside the doorway of the master bedroom. He dipped his chin in subtle greeting. I ignored him as well, focused on the scene inside.

My parents barely paid me a glance as I walked through the threshold.

Makayla lingered in the hall behind me, her scent an abiding caress to my senses that helped me focus on the scene before me.

Tyler.

Pale.

Weak.

Dying.

His eyes were closed, his skin damp with sweat. The pack physician stood beside him with a grim expression. I didn’t need to ask to know the verdict. I could see it in the shallow rise and fall of my brother’s chest.

The strong alpha I knew resembled a broken skeleton on the bed, his chest exposed and covered in ash-colored lines. Silver, I thought, swallowing. That’s how they know he was poisoned. It was evident in the discoloring of his veins. It went all the way to his arms and down to his wrists.

A machine beeped beside him.

An IV bag hung next to it.

But one look at the bed confirmed there was no coming back from this.

I checked him for signs of injury or a puncture wound and found nothing. “How did he become infected?” I asked, my voice gruff.

Maybe it wasn’t the right thing to say.

Maybe I should be focusing on saying goodbye and telling my older brother how much I used to look up to him as a kid.

But I hadn’t slept in over forty-eight hours, thanks to the hybrid asshole situation. And all I wanted to do was find out what the hell had happened to Tyler.

“We don’t know, but Alpha Warren and Alpha Hendrix have both fallen ill with the same condition.” My father’s blue eyes lifted to mine, his emotions guarded. I expected nothing less from the man who’d led this pack for thirty years before transitioning the reins to his firstborn. He’d always told us growing up that an alpha’s job was to maintain order and unity among the wolves. Emotions played a large part in that leadership, but it had to be regulated. And sometimes, being in charge came at the cost of our own hearts.

We couldn’t be seen as weak or crumbling in the face of a broken pack.

“Were they all together today?” I frowned. No, not today, but… “Yesterday.” My brother had phoned me to say he’d be in the city. He’d wanted me to stop by for breakfast at a hotel up in Manhattan. I’d intended to meet up with him.

Alas, the whole hybrid situation had happened, and I’d ended up chained to a chair in the basement of Blood Thirteen. After escaping, I’d spent the morning and afternoon tracking the prick who’d bested me, completely forgetting about meeting up with Tyler.

A decision I very much regretted now. Would I have been able to save him? Or would I have ended up just like him?

“They met for lunch to discuss the disappearance of Gloria Mansfield.” My father’s tone told me it was a sore subject.

Not surprising. Gloria Mansfield was Alpha Warren’s daughter. “I didn’t realize she was missing.” Just like Valaria Crimson, I thought, wincing. I hadn’t found her in time, the hybrid and his lackeys having finished her off before I’d had a chance to locate her. He’d made it personal with that gruesome scene, the invitation clear.

Come out and play, slayer.

The bastard had even carved my initials into her foot, just to ensure I received the message.

I’d followed him on the twisted offer, and he’d rewarded me at Blood Thirteen by having his minions lock me up with Violet. “I want to make him watch this time.”

Demented jackass,I thought. Part of me had wanted to prolong his death when I’d found him, but I hadn’t wanted to risk him going all fire monster on my ass again. So I’d shot him before I could rethink the situation.

“It’s not been broadcast,” my father replied, referring to Gloria. “But no one has seen her in five days, and it’s not like her to just disappear.”

No, it wasn’t.

But she hadn’t been in the hybrid’s lair earlier, only Makayla. Had she seen her at some point? It was on the tip of my tongue to ask, but my mother’s whimper drew my focus to her.

“Can we do this elsewhere?” she asked softly. “I… I don’t want to have this conversation… here.”

“Right, of course,” I agreed, coming forward to kneel beside her at the bed. “Sorry, Mom.”

“It’s okay,” she whispered, leaning into me as I wrapped my arm around her shoulders.

I glanced at my father, noting the concern in his gaze. He could handle a lot, but my mother’s grief was not one of those things. Which meant I had to help in his absence.

He couldn’t console his mate and the pack all by himself.

That was why he wanted me here.

To live up to my responsibility as an alpha, and not just any alpha, but an alpha destined for this pack.

I’d turned my back on everyone when I’d left Tyler in charge. Because my wolf had been the strongest of the two of us. I should have challenged him. But I couldn’t. He was my brother. My flesh and blood. The oldest of the Calder boys. He was supposed to be the stronger one, the one meant to lead, while I moved on with my life and one day found my own pack.

Except I’d never found a pack because my wolf only wanted Silver Lake.

I swallowed, the rightness of being here soured by the wrongness of this situation.

Silver poisoning.

How the hell did you let someone poison you?I wanted to demand. You’re better than that. You’re an observant motherfucker, too. So what the hell? How could you allow this to happen?

All unfair questions.

What I should really be asking was how I had let this happen.

Had I been there, maybe I would have sensed something—anything—that could have prevented this. Because clearly it happened during their meeting. Maybe they ingested the poison through a meal or a drink? Or had it been airborne? It definitely hadn’t been injected, a fact my eyes had already confirmed, but knowing three alphas had been taken down confirmed the gut instinct that it’d been inserted via another method.

Would I have noticed it had I been there?

Fuck.

Fuck!

I wanted to scream, to rip the damn room to shreds, to demand the physician to do something more useful than just stand there and wait to call the time of death.

This was ludicrous.

Bitten wolves could die as easily as humans, but we healed quickly. My shoulder was proof of that. I hadn’t used that arm to hold my mother, but I could at least move my opposite limb now. In a few hours, I’d be able to swing it around, too. And after that, it’d be good as new.

Mostly because of Makayla’s nursing.

I found her still lingering in the hallway, her expression blank as she watched me through the open door. Hardt studied her intently, his hazel irises pulsing with interest.

I nearly growled at him.

Wolves could sense mating bonds, and while I might not have scent-marked Makayla yet, our connection would be crystal clear to everyone nearby.

Fortunately, she seemed completely oblivious to the asshole sizing her up. Maybe ponytails aren’t her thing, jackass, I thought at him, noting his long black hair. Seriously, what the hell were you thinking?

Some men could pull off the whole thick-mane-of-hair thing, but not Hardt. He resembled a motorcycle wannabe with his tats and muscular arms. Why my brother had picked him as a beta, I had no idea.

Totally not worthy.

My wolf harumphed in agreement. Of course, he was focused on Makayla, not the pack hierarchy.

I had to agree with that assessment, too. She deserved a lot better than the likes of Hardt.

Her pretty blue eyes caught mine. Rather than offer comfort, she cringed, then winced, and then shuttered her gaze, making me frown.

What are you hiding, little wolf?I nearly asked.

Because guilt practically poured off her in waves, irritating my inner beast.

My jaw clenched, my instincts rioting. You know something. I can smell it.

But I couldn’t go over there and demand she start talking, because it meant leaving my mother.

We’re talking later, I told Makayla with my eyes.

She gave a slight nod in agreement, clearly reading the intention from my expression.

I’d meant what I’d said earlier—if I found out she had ill intentions toward me or my pack, I’d kill her. Fuck fate. I could take the pain of living without a mate, because it’d be better than remaining with a duplicitous wolf.

“Alaric.” My mother leaned harder into me, her nostrils flaring as she took in the scent of her family. It seemed to calm her momentarily, her shoulders shuddering as she wrapped her own arm around my lower back. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you, too, Mom,” I murmured back to her, glancing at my father again.

He just gave me a nod of approval. I supposed that was better than him saying, Do more. Which was his usual phrase when we spoke.

He’d never come out and said it, but he was disappointed that I hadn’t challenged Tyler for the position of alpha. A pack could only be as strong as its leader, and as the strongest of his sons, it had been my responsibility to take charge.

Only, I hadn’t wanted to do that to my brother.

A fact that, he and the others would argue, had made me weak in the end.

And unworthy.

Swallowing, I shoved the feelings aside and focused on my goodbyes. I hadn’t seen my brother in over a year. I’d actually been somewhat looking forward to seeing him yesterday, too. Not that I could say that now.

Damn, man,I thought, reaching out to draw a thumb down his arm. My shoulder protested the movement, but I fought through the pain. Tyler was worth it. This moment. This final touch.

My chest warmed, stirring a sensation deep inside me that stroked me to my very soul.

It was as though I could feel my brother touching me back, telling me everything was going to be okay, and promising to be there in the afterlife.

Maybe it was in my head.

But I believed with all my heart that he knew I stood beside him now.

Don’t let me down,he’d say. Don’t let them down.

You know I will, I would reply. It’s what I do.

Fuck off, Ric. You can say that bullshit to Dad, but I know the real you. I know why you did it.

You don’t know anything, I’d argue. Because that was what I always said. Just as I always smiled afterward. You really did know.

I did, he would agree. I really did.

My throat worked as I tried to hold on to that conversation, to have a real one now, to will him into consciousness to verbally spar with me one last time. This was my brother, my own flesh and blood, my only real link to the pack.

No one else knew me like he did.

It was why I’d left.

The pack would never understand that choice or the heartache that went with it.

You were meant to lead them first,I whispered to my brother now. You should still be leading them now.

What can I say, little bro? Fate’s a bitch. It wasn’t really him, the words in my mind ones of my own making, but man, they sounded just like him. Because I knew that was exactly what he’d say to me now.

He’d tell me to buck up, shut up, and get the job done.

He’d tell me this was always meant to be my path.

And then he’d tell me, You’d better not let Hardt take over. He’s not a Calder, Ric. He’s not you.

I reached down to grab my brother’s hand, giving it a squeeze.

His fingers squeezed back.

So weak and subtle, but there. A passing of the torch. A blessing. His way of saying, You’ve got this.

And what if I don’t? I wanted to ask him. What if I don’t have this?

Then I’ll be hovering over your shoulder, cheering you on every step of the way.

I felt the brush of fur, his wolf nudging mine, all of it taking place inside my soul and forever ingraining the moment in my memories.

And then it was gone.

Hewas gone.

His last breath kissed the air, and I swore he murmured my name. Ric.

He could finally let go because his baby brother had returned home. The new alpha was here. His job was done. And in that final second, I felt his energy pass through mine, blessing the rightful heir.

Me.

My mother crumpled into my side, her tears dampening my sweater.

I didn’t cry. I remained tall, my hand still wrapped around my brother’s fingers, my eyes glued to his face. Gone. He’s gone.

But I felt him all around me, in me, his memory one I wouldn’t soon forget. Eighteen years, I had run in his shadow. He’d taught me everything he’d known. He’d groomed me just as my dad had groomed him. We’d taken all the same classes, played all the same sports, and competed with one another every step of the way. It hadn’t mattered that I was two years younger; I’d performed on his level and above.

It had only pushed him harder.

Which, in turn, had pushed me harder.

A rivalry born of the best intentions.

A brotherhood I very much missed.

He’d grown into a powerful alpha, his business savvy extraordinary. I had taken my skills elsewhere, but that hadn’t made either of us any less proud of the other.

My father might call me weak for not challenging to become the true alpha of this pack.

But my brother had known it was out of respect for my elder.

A familial birthright.

One passing to me now after twelve years of being on my own. I stood before a pack I no longer knew. Beside my parents, who might not even want me here. Before a beta who had challenge written into his expression despite the fact that my brother had literally just died.

If he tested me now, he’d regret it.

I’d destroy him.

There’d be no compassion. I’d put him in the fucking ground.

Because taking me on the day of my brother’s passing was a death sentence to anyone who wished to interfere. My wolf growled in agreement, my need to run strong and overpowering my ability to think.

I can’t lead like this, I realized. I can’t walk out there and offer comfort when all I want to do is rip this damn house apart.

Someone poisoned my brother.

That someone had to pay.

But I couldn’t do that here. I had nothing to go on other than a meeting. And I wouldn’t be able to travel back to see it for another few days.

There was a funeral to plan.

A burial ritual I had to attend.

In honor of Tyler’s memory. In preparation for consoling the pack. In necessity of taking on a leadership role I’d never wanted.

I’m alpha now.The realization slammed into my chest, knocking the wind from my lungs. I can’t do this. It was never meant to be me.

Only, it was… and I’d turned it down.

And now they all hated me.

Or just didn’t know me.

Goddamn it.

I needed air.

I needed to fucking breathe.

I can’t do this.I managed to somehow unlatch my mother and hand her to my father, his blue eyes shrewd and narrowing into disapproving slits.

I just shook my head. I couldn’t handle his bullshit right now. It’d been too long since I’d let my wolf out for a run, and if I didn’t leave this room right now, I’d shift and rip something apart.

Tyler’s dead.

He’s fucking dead.

Because I wasn’t there.

Because I put my job before him.

Because I put my own pride before the pack.

No, that wasn’t fair.

It wasn’t right.

But hell if I could make myself focus now.

I pushed through the house, ignoring everyone and everything in my path, and burst out through the door of the back patio.

Then I took off at a sprint into the woods. I just need to run and breathe.

Run and breathe.

Run.

And.

Breathe.