Alpha Brothers - the Lonely Brother (book 3)

Chapter 13

Chapter 13
Malcolm
We got back to the cave just as the rain started to fall. We were able to catch two pheasants before it did and collect a few fire wood to cook them on. I hadn't gone bush in a while, but I was happy for Tarna to lead the way.
"I can't believe you didn't tear them apart," I stated, as we crawled down the narrow tunnel.
She shrugged, "I've been doin' this for awhile."
"I know but, wolf jaws meets tiny necks," I said.
"Well, now their dinner."
I chuckled, knowing that it was true. Sitting down on the edge of the mattress, I started to pluck the tiny feathers from one of the bird's neck as Tarna started building a fire. She slightly turned her head and smiled at me before looking back at the wood.
"You okay over there with those birds? I'm sure you don't cook your own food over at Faol Coillie," she teased.
"You know, I've been known to cook a pheasant or two," I told her, making her head turn back at me to see if I was lying.
"Really?" she said in that I don't believe you tone.
"I have. We use to go campin' all the time."
She frowned and turned her whole body so that she didn't have to keep turning her head.
"Your siblings, you mean?" she asked.
I nodded, "Siblings, parents. All of us. Pa and Ma wanted to make sure that we didn't forget that we were a part of nature. They didn't want us to strain from our wolf side."
"That must have been hard for you."
I opened my mouth to correct her when I realized that she had made a connection that no one else had. People never realized how hard it was for me to welcome something that had made me something to fear. My parents had thought that camping and family bonding would make my wolf stop being so controlling. It didn't work.
"Can I ask you somethin'?" she asked.
I shrugged, "Hasn't stopped you before?"
She thought about that for a moment but decided just to ignore it.
"Your family," she started, "I've heard stories about them, you all seem pretty close."
I nodded, "That's because we were. I mean, they still are but I'm –."
"An outsider," she finished.
I nodded and swallowed, trying to ignore the pain that I felt when Allie told me exactly how she felt about me at the start of the week.
"Do you think they will forgive you?" she asked.
I shrugged, "Callum already has. He was never really angry that I had turned away from them, he's always been understandin' like that. But it wasn't until he found Olivia that he fully understood why I did it."
"Olivia? His mate?"
I nodded, "his very human mate."
She giggled at that, "A human werewolf queen, I bet he loved the idea at that."
"She's stronger than she looks. She's proved that too many times," I said remembering the time that Hector Macangus had poisoned Callum, forcing his wolf to take over. I had taken Liv into the woods, in hope of leading Callum to us which of course worked. I didn't underestimate him. I knew that he would attack me. I did underestimate Liv though. Before we had left, I thought I had made it clear that if I told her to run, she would run. But she didn't. Instead, she found a way to bring Callum back to her, saving his life as well as mine.
"What about the others?" she asked, standing and walking over to a cardboard box that was falling apart.
"Ahh, Archie took awhile. But his situation was a bit more complicated."
She frowned, turning with a box of matches in her hands, "What do you mean?"
"Well, growin' up, Archie and I had always been close, closer than Graham and Allie on some days. But after the first Macangus attack, I was too busy tryin' to control my wolf again that I didn't notice his sudden draw back. He started goin' out at night comin' back with a new lass. It wasn't until I had disowned my wolf that I had realized what had happened," I paused, trying to think of a way to put it but there wasn't a nice way, "Archie, the idiot had started workin' for a vamp by the name of Adin Hudges," Tarna's eyes widened, shocked that the brother and beta of the Alpha King would work for a vamp, "by the time I found out, Archie had already quit but Hudges didn't go down that easy. He returned to Scotland just under a year go around the same time Amy, Liv's sister came to town. Oh and Amy is also Archie's mate."
"Oh," Tarna chuckled, "That would have been very entertainin'?"
"I have to say, it was," I admitted, grinning at the memories, "Liv did not like the idea of Archie with her sister, that's for sure. But to her credit, neither did Amy. She had him jumpin' through hoops from the day she got to Faol Coillie."
She giggled, rocking on her heals as she laughed. It felt good to know that I could make her laugh. It was something I could never do with Bonnie. She was too broken. More than I was now.
"Anyway, after a while, Archie forgave me too and he ended up provin' himself as Beta by killin' Hudges."
"So everythin's rosy in the Patterson's garden?" she asked.
I wanted to say yes but I found myself holding back the word. Everything was rosy for the two happy couples, but the rest of us were still trying to find the fertiliser.
"I don't know," I admitted, "I might have to get back to you on that."
She nodded, "Fair enough."
We fell into comfortable silence as I watched her work her fire and I continued plucking the birds that will soon become dinner.
It was only than that I realized that I had shared a lot about my family to her, something I never did. Trusting people had never come easy to me, I guess it was because I was a private person. But though Tarna was my mate, she was still a stranger to me.
Without stopping myself, I asked, "You said once, that you never knew you birth parents."
She nodded, "that's because it's true."
"I know, but you never really tried to track them down. Maybe you have a pack or a –."
"Or what?" she asked, not exactly snapping, "What's the end of that sentence? They might have a pack, but there's a good chance that they are rogues just like me. They might have a family, but it would be just a reminder how they left me in the forest to be food for animals and how they made a better life without me in it."
When I realized that I had upset her by bringing it up, I said, "Tarna I never meant –."
"It's fine Malcolm, honestly," she buttered in before I could finish.
I wanted to believe her, but the way that she dropped and shook her head told me that she was far from it.
"I accepted it a long time ago that my parents didn't want me. Did the idea ever cross my mind? Sure, every night in that orphanage, every birthday wish, every coin that I through down a wishin' well. But there's only so many times you can wish before you realize that wishes don't come true."
"You might think that I don't know how you feel, but I do," I told her making her eyes roll.
"It's true. Every birthday wish, every coin I through down a wishin' well. I wished to be able to control my wolf and that wish never came true."
"I'm sorry Malcolm, but your wish can come true. We just have to work harder at it."
I could have minded. She was belittling my problem and trying to make it seem that I had no idea how she felt. But the only thing I could take from that sentence was, we.
"We?" I asked.
She frowned, "Well aye. Did you honestly think that I would give up after today?"
I shrugged. I just never heard the word we from anyone but my siblings when talking to me.
"Besides, I love people playin' with my hair."