“Remember how I told you about Timothy Tillers, that Omega who came to Green Field?” Keith said. “The one who wasn’t my mate, but I thought he was?”
Brian’s shoulders tensed and Keith caressed his arm.
“He was from Golden Valley,” Keith continued explaining. “He had history with Morgan’s brother, and in my fucked-up mind at the time…” He shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t know what I was thinking. It doesn’t make sense anymore, but I wasn’t operating on all cylinders back then, and I was sure I deserved endless pain for my failures. Morgan was the only Alpha who was strong enough to put up a good fight.”
“Keith?” Peters said quietly.
They both looked over at him.
“How could you have been confused about a mate bond?” he asked.
Brian had been wondering the same thing.
“I don’t know.” Keith shook his head. “I’ve been trying to figure that out. Now that I’ve experienced being with my real mate, I can’t explain how I ever mistook Timothy for him.”
“Well, you need to figure that out because it’s not something you’d have been confused about unless someone wanted you to be,” Peters said.
“He’s right,” Brian said, and not only because he had just promised himself to turn a new leaf with Peters. “What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know but those Alphas in Green Field have always been up to no good, and they’re still at it. They had one of their cronies call me. That’s how I knew Keith was here.” Peters shifted his gaze to Keith. “They assumed we were enemies and that I’d want revenge because I almost died at your hands in that last challenge. They gave me your location assuming I’d use the information to come here and kill you.”
Brian’s breath caught in his throat. Sickened at even the mention of harm coming to Keith, he tightened his hold on him.
“Cowards,” Keith said in disgust. “Can’t even do their own dirty work.”
“Yes, they are,” Peters agreed. “But cowards or not, you need to deal with them. Once they realize you’re still alive, they’ll try something else. They’re weak but determined.”
“Determined to do what?” Brian asked. To protect his mate, he had to understand the Green Field Alphas’ motivations. “What’s their problem with Keith?”
“Their problem is that he’s the rightful Alpha of the Green Field pack and the Ruperts want to hold onto power.”
“Rightful Alpha?” He had been told that Rupert Jackson was the Green Field Alpha and had been for years.
“The pack was expecting me to take over as Alpha as soon as I came of age,” Keith explained. “That was always the plan. Rupert Jackson was only supposed to be temporary; he was holding the role for me.” Keith scrunched his eyebrows. “I met Timothy Tillers right before I turned eighteen.”
The pieces clicked together. “Right before he was supposed to lose his position, you suddenly met someone who you thought was your mate and he rejected you and then he…” Brian stopped himself from saying the other thing the Omega had done, which was kill Peters’s entire family. “…sent you into a tailspin,” he said instead.
“That can’t be a coincidence,” Peters pointed out.
Brian nodded in agreement.
“It’s not,” Keith said. “I’ll go to Green Field and take Rupert Jackson out. It’s time.”
“You will do no such thing,” Brian said, heart racing. He cupped Keith’s cheeks and met his gaze. “You’ll stay here where you’re safe and I’ll handle Rupert and his son.”
Instead of taking offense as most Alphas would if someone told them what to do or implied they couldn’t handle a fight, Keith smiled and kissed him.
“Thank you.” He turned his head toward Morgan. “He’s worried about me,” he all but bragged. “He doesn’t want me to get hurt.”
Grateful that his mate took his concern as a compliment instead of an insult, he took his hand, raised it to his mouth, and brushed his lips over it.
“His bigger concern should be whetheryouwant you to get hurt because that’s the only way it could happen.” Peters rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Besides, who would hurt you in Green Field? That’s your pack. They love you.”
“The pack might, but the Alpha doesn’t,” Brian reminded them. “Neither does his son. I don’t want Keith to challenge them.”
“You’re worried about the Jacksons?” Peters said disbelievingly. “Nearly any Alpha is more powerful than they are. Neither father nor son are worthy of the title, and you think they can beatKeithin a challenge?”
Peters hadn’t seen Keith in that basement, weak, barely conscious, close to death. That image haunted Brian. He would not, could not, let that happen again. “Rupert Jackson is the pack Alpha and his son is also an Alpha and next in line. You’ve already pointed out that they have every incentive to kill Keith and they’re trying to do just that.”
