Brandon was back to take over the Alpha role. He hadn’t come back for me. He’d only married me because of Ilsa, I was sure of that. If I didn’t have her, we wouldn’t be here. I just needed to remind myself of that.
Chapter 7 - Brandon
I stood in what was my father’s office. I stared at the piles of paperwork and the dusty books of records, wondering what he did with his time. “Jesus,” Kaleb whistled next to me as he took the space in. “Wow. This is a cluster fuck of a mess.”
“The fuck did my father do with his time?”
“Maybe he didn’t use his office,” Kaleb said, instantly trying to go for my father’s defense. I glared at him. My father was always at the office. It was his space, where he could handle everything without having to bring it home. He still brought his issues home.
I shook my head, grabbing at the first paper on a pile. It was a request for money to help a single mother. I looked at the next one and found another. I flipped through the pile, finding they were all requests for something. I rubbed at my eyes. I knew this was going to be a lot of work, but I didn’t realize just how much.
“Asher and Westley should be here in a few minutes. Do you want to use the meeting room instead?”
I shook my head. I wasn’t sure if there were sound barriers in the other rooms, but I knew my father’s office had them. We needed to make sure no one could hear us, so we would have to use this space. Even if it was a cluster fuck in here.
I grabbed at the piles, moving them to clear off the desk.
“Do you want me to throw these?”
“No,” I said, pointing toward a filing cabinet. “Just put them on there for now. I’ll go through them.”
Kaleb’s eyebrows went up. “Brandon, some of these requests are from two years ago. Just state that you want new ones put in.”
“And no one will,” I said simply. “If my father didn’t listen to them, what makes them think I will? I’m going to go through all of those.”
“That’s a lot of work,” Kaleb said, giving me a pitiful expression. “And not that I don’t think this isn’t important, but we have a bigger picture to look at here.”
I placed my hands on the desk. “Kaleb, I’m aware of the picture. But I also know that stopping the hunters is only half of the problem. The pack is weak. It’s an easy target, and it needs a guiding hand. It starts with acknowledging that without proper training and getting these people what they need, another problem could arise.”
Kaleb went silent for a moment. “And what about after the mission?” He raised an eyebrow at me. “What about when we do what we need, and Chelsey has us go back and start on another job? Have you thought about that?”
I was waiting for Kaleb to question why I took the Alpha role. It was a great way to avoid people questioning why I was home now after three years.
“I’ll manage.”
“You can’t be captain and be Alpha when this is done, Brandon. You are going to get drained during this job.”
“Then it sounds like one of them is going to have to give.”
Kaleb stared at me, a little surprised. “Are you saying you’d leave the team?”
“I don’t know, Kaleb. How would you react if you went home and suddenly found out you were the father of a three-year-old? Or that your father was the Alpha and just let the entire pack go to shit?” I felt responsible, and I had to do something.
Kaleb sighed softly. “Yeah…there is that.”
I rubbed a hand over my face. “I just…I need time to sort everything out. This was supposed to be simple, and it’s not.”
“Should we get into how you slept with my sister now or later?”
I glared at him. “It wasn’t like that.”
“Really? You’re saying you didn’t sleep with her once and then leave her?”
I forced a laugh. “I’m sorry, I was a little busy with my father threatening me.”
Kaleb went silent. We both know leaving wasn’t my decision. Kaleb didn’t have to go, but he chose to follow me. He’d stated he needed space from his family.
“I was wrong to do it, but I don’t regret it.” Jade had felt like home. That was how I described us. We’d always gotten along. We didn’t even have to talk because we grew up together. And when we slept together, I thought it had been perfect. A way to add a cherry to a sundae.
