Chapter Four
(Marcus, you need to come home now so we can talk,) Julian ordered as he realized with a sniff of the air that Marcus had not come back to the ranch house after leaving town suddenly.
(Don’t order me around, brother,) Marcus growled back.
(Quit moping and feeling sorry for yourself and get home!)
(Goddammit, I’m coming!)
Julian flopped down on the porch swing and waited for his brother to show up. They had a small crew of hands that lived on or near the ranch and those men were hard at work, cleaning stalls, repairing fences and barns and just doing all the day to day upkeep that a ranch required.
Julian felt an uneasiness in his soul at the knowledge that his mate was alone in that town so far away from him. His wolf wanted her to be near him always and Julian knew that no matter what Marcus may say, his brother was feeling the same restlessness.
He had also felt his brother’s guilt and pain over what had happened earlier while at the clinic. Julian had opened their emotional link long enough to feel that and he could not help but feel sorry for his idiot of a sibling.
Marcus was powerful, strong and dominant. It was what caused him to search out so many females his entire life, it was what had him taking so many risks as a marine to save the life of every man around him and it was what caused most people to simply assume he was an abusive jackass with nothing to offer other than muscle.
If Marcus had been permitted to stay within a pack he would have been beta, responsible for the safety of the pack and of the alpha. But now he was simply a rogue and the vulnerability of that ate at Marcus every day; Julian knew it did.
But Marcus was going to have to learn to control his temper where Abbie and her children were concerned. Those three were a part of their lives now. Julian might be the more submissive of the brothers and not necessarily the great warrior his brother was but he was going to stand his ground with Marcus on this. He would not be denied his mate.
Julian was aware of Marcus bounding onto the back porch in wolf form and letting himself in the back door. It was several long minutes before Marcus came storming onto the front porch and flopped himself down in the rocking chair.
He was agitated and upset that much was clear. He was on edge and ready for a fight which meant Julian was going to have to tread carefully if he wanted to accomplish anything other than a yelling match that ended with Marcus leaving once again.
“We have much to talk about,” Julian began cautiously.
Marcus shook his head, “No, we don’t. They have no place in our lives.”
“She is our mate, Marcus.”
“We have no need for a mate, Julian.”
“Of course we do!” Julian countered. “Already without her near I feel as if I’ve been torn in two. I need her and I need those children and you do too.”
“No, I don’t,” Marcus denied though Julian could tell by the tension in his brother’s voice and the way his hands tightened on the arms of the rocking chair that he was lying. But why? Julian knew it wasn’t because Marcus wanted other women. The moment that Marcus had allowed himself to physically touch Abbey, which was the when he had taken it upon himself to clean her face, Marcus had ensured that he would never again desire any woman other than his mate—other than Abbey.
“Why are you so determined to fight this?”
“Why are you so damned determined to accept it?” Marcus snarled as he surged to his feet and began pacing the porch, shoving his hand through his wild hair.
“Because she is our mate. Those children will become ours as soon as we seal the bond with their mother. It is as simple as that, Marcus.”
“There’s nothing simple about it, Julian!” Marcus growled tightly. Julian knew he was using all his self-control to keep from yelling.
“Am I going to have to open the link and read your mind myself or will you just tell me what’s got you so worried?” Julian sighed.
“Don’t go reading my mind, brother,” Marcus warned. “I don’t like it.”
“Then talk to me and I won’t have to,” Julian replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
“The packs will be pissed when we take a mate. It will paint a target on our backs for them to sink their claws into. Not only that but the other rogue wolves around will finally see a weakness in our armor and they might come after it.”
Julian growled and shook his head, “They can try and they’ll die for it. And as far as the packs go we haven’t heard from them in nearly twenty years. They don’t care about us, Marcus. They don’t care what we do as long as we don’t threaten them or their territory.”
Marcus grumbled and slammed his hands down on the banister, “I was happy without a mate, Julian. I was happy with the way things were…”
“And they will never go back to the way they were. You know that as well as I do. We’ll be happier with her, Marcus. Can’t you feel that?”
Marcus sighed and rubbed his face roughly, “She’s scared to fucking death of me.”
“Can you blame her? You acted like a caveman today. What was that about anyway?”
Marcus growled, “She yelled at me,” he stated as if it were that simple. “Shit, I wouldn’t have hurt her! I would never hit her.”
“Well she thought you were going to.”
“Because some bastard has hit her before.”
The brother’s spent the next few moments growling, breathing deep and fighting back rage at the knowledge that their mate had been abused by someone.
“Are you bound and determined to take her?” Marcus questioned.
“Yes,” Julian replied. “I won’t be denied my mate.”
Marcus scratched at his scruffy jaw and shoved his hands in the pocket of his jeans, “Fan-fucking-tastic then, big brother.” He shoved himself from the banister and threw his hands in the air. Marcus had always been the type to use his hands to emphasize his words. That’s all he’d been doing in town and Julian had known that but it had been clear that Abbey hadn’t. “You do what you have to do, I don’t want any part in it.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Julian reminded him gently.
Marcus scoffed, “There’s always a choice,” he argued before striding off the porch and toward the barns.
Julian just shook his head and laid his head back on the swing. Obviously Marcus was going to be stubborn about this but that didn’t matter. Eventually his brother would give in to the inevitable and take Abbey as his mate as well.
“And Marcus!” Julian called out stopping Marcus in his tracks.
Marcus turned his head back, “What?”
“I saw the way you looked at those kids.”
Marcus bristled, “I fucking hate kids.”
Julian laughed as Marcus stormed off. Marcus was feeling guilty for being so mean in town and it was coming off as anger. That was fine… eventually the man would cease to find things to be angry about. It was just Marcus’s way to throw a temper whenever the unexpected happened to him. Julian was the thinker, Marcus was the one to storm away angry and be mad at the world.
Now that things were settled with Marcus there was only one more thing for Julian to figure out. How was he going to get Abbey to agree to move her and the kids out to the ranch? And how was he supposed to explain to her that she was the mate to not only one werewolf but two?
***
Jason Martin let out a grumble when the knocking on his door continued. It was only three in the morning but whoever it was at his front door was persistent.
“Honey, what if it’s trouble?” his wife, Samantha, whispered as Jason threw his legs over the bed.
“I’m sure it’s not trouble, sweetheart. Probably just Joseph,” Jason replied.
“I don’t want him here either,” Samantha snapped. “He is trouble and I don’t want him around our son.”
Jason shook his head, “I know you don’t and I don’t either. He knows that so it must be something serious to have him here in the middle of the night.”
“Or he’s drunk and needs someone to take him home because he’s lost again,” Samantha muttered.
Jason sighed as he stood up and slid into his slippers. “I’ll deal with him,” he bent over and kissed his wife on the brow, “I promise. I’ll be back soon.”
Jason left his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He slipped past the bedroom of his eight year old son and then took the steps two at a time to the floor below. The knocking was still tapping out a steady rhythm and he growled as he grabbed a baseball bat, (just in case it wasn’t his brother), and then threw open the door.
“What the hell?!” Joseph exclaimed as he stumbled back a few feet. “Are you gonna hit me with that damn thing?”
“I should,” Jason grumbled at his younger brother. “What are you doing here? And why do you look like hell?”
Joseph ran his hand through his messy brown hair and scratched his stubble covered jaw. His bloodshot eyes were wide and panicked and dark circles surrounded them, “She left me! She took the kids and she left me! I can’t find them anywhere.”
“Good. You don’t need to. You just got out of jail for the beating you gave her at that motel. Do you know how hard it was for me to keep you from going all the way to prison over that?”
“She wouldn’t have sent me to prison. She values her life much,” Joseph spat. “But you have to help me find her.”
“I can’t…”
“You have to! You put one of those tracking things on her truck right? Well track it for me and tell me where she took my kids. I deserve to have my damn kids, Jason!”
“Joseph…”
“You better help me, Jason, or I’ll tell the Chief all about your help over the years.. won’t he be glad to know what his police officers are really doing on his time? What they’re covering up?”
“I’m getting tired of the threats,” Jason ground out as he laid the bat aside and rubbed his face.
“Then help me and I won’t have to keep making them. These are my damn kids we’re talking about, Jason.”
Jason knew he should say no but this was his brother and they were all they had, “Fine. I’ll do it in the morning and I’ll call you so you better go straight on home now and sleep off the gallon of booze it smells like you’ve had tonight.”
“Thank you, Jason! I knew I could count on you,” Joseph exclaimed sappily as he gave Jason a sweaty, uncoordinated hug.
“Go home, Joe. And don’t come around here anymore. You know Samantha hates you.”
“You need to teach that bitch a lesson,” Joseph snapped as he stepped back out onto the porch.
Jason shook his head, “Not all of us beat our wives up, Joe. Now go home and I’ll call you around nine or ten with the information you need.”
Jason shut the door in Joseph’s face and clicked off the porch light. There was a good chance that Joseph would kill Abbey this time. That woman should have known better than to run like that. Joseph didn’t allow that kind of disobedience from his wife.
Jason didn’t beat his wife but he figured what a man did with his wife was his business. It wasn’t his job to tell Joseph it was wrong. This time Abbey would be dead, Joseph would be in prison and Audrey and Tanner would be coming to live with them. That would make Samantha happy. They’d been trying for years to have another child and couldn’t seem to make it happen.
Happy to have found the positive silver lining in all the negative, Jason quickly made his way back to bed and his waiting wife.
A/N: And the trouble is coming! For those of you hoping Marcus will one day be a sweet, soft man... that's probably not going to happen. That's not to say he wont' have his few 'aww' moments but he's a dominant all the way. I hope you're enjoying the story! I've put all my others on hold for now so I can focus on this one because it's the one that's really speaking to me right now!