Waving to a couple of herd members along the way, I headed toward the woods. They ignored me, just like they always did. But if I didn’t, they would complain to my father that I wasn’t a herd-player.
I walked toward the river. I loved the sound of the running water. It helped drown out my thoughts and calmed me, and I reached my favorite boulder, the one I like to sit on, about a half-hour later. I joked that the goddess left me a chair, because it had a little indent that was perfect for my butt. Super comfortable, even though a rock didn’t sound like it should be.
Closing my eyes, I listened to the water. The breeze shifted slightly, and suddenly, everything changed. My unicorn was on edge.
Mate. Dying. Help him.
I didn’t have a mate, but my beast insisted. I grabbed the bag and started running. I’d be quicker in my shifter form, but if I shifted and ran and I needed to cross human land, I was stuck.
I kept running and running and running, the scent of blood tickling my nose. My unicorn was right. Somebody was dying.
And then I saw him, a body slumped against a tree, unmoving, covered in blood.
Please don’t let me be too late. Please don’t let me be too weak. Please, let me save him.
2
BRYDEN
Sitting on the edge of a stream with my feet dangling in the water was a favorite pastime when I was a kid. My brother, Emerson, was usually beside me and one of us would start a water fight. In the summer, we’d play in the stream all day, while during the winter months, each of us would try and topple the other into the cold water.
But those days were long gone and so was Emerson. Not that he was dead. He was living what I hoped was his best life with his mate. But to our den, he was as good as dead because he’d been banished and his name removed from our den records as if he never existed.
And he was persona non grata because his fated mate was supposed to mate with our Alpha. My brother had been away working when the mating was arranged between our den and another, the way such matings had been done for thousands of years. It wasn’t a love match, nor were they fated mates. It was necessary to ensure good relations between the two dens.
Our Alpha poo-pooed the concept of love and expected everyone in the den to feel the same. But when Emerson returned for avisit, he recognized the Alpha’s omega as the one fate had put on the earth for him.
The ceremony was the following week, and my brother wrestled with what the universe had given him. He and Dex, the Alpha’s intended, avoided one another until they couldn’t. They met near the stream where Emerson and I played as children, knowing the consequences of mating without the blessing of either den.
My brother woke me in the middle of the night to say goodbye. It was unlikely we’d meet again, and the possibility broke my heart. Alpha would look to me on discovering Dex had vanished, and he and his tech guys—our den was in the IT business—would go through my phone and likely find my brother and Dex.
So, at three a.m., we destroyed our phones, the one link I had with him. Our emails and social media accounts would go dark, and he told me in a decade or two, to look for him in the mountains. That was a lot of territory and would take more than a lifetime, but I vowed never to give up the search.
He placed his hands on my shoulders. “Be happy, Bryden. I love you and always will. You could have informed on me to Alpha or the council.”
“Are you kidding? I’m your brother. I would never. You deserve to be with your mate and so does Dex.”
“It’s not the life either of us would have chosen if we had a choice.”
One last hug and he vanished with Dex into the shadows.
I was woken at five, along with the rest of the den, asking if we’d seen Dex. His scent mingled with Emerson’s, and they draggedme out of the cabin I’d shared with my brother as the den looked on.
Alpha demanded to know what had happened, but he was posturing because he could scent the two had mated before they left. He wanted me to say out loud that my brother had stolen his mate so all the focus was on me and Emerson.
They’d go after him, and if they found him, which they probably would, they’d kill him and Dex too. I couldn’t allow it, so I'd told Alpha and the den it was my idea the pair should mate. I figured I’d take whatever punishment the den deemed fit.
“I refused to see them in pain for the rest of their lives, so as the elder brother, I gave them our family’s permission to mate. I bestowed my blessing on them.”
“That wasn’t your choice to make,” he raged, and people around us shook. “When an Alpha chooses a mate, no one has the right to break the bond.”
“You forget, Alpha, you were not yet mated, and as Dex wasn’t your fated mate, there was nothing keeping you together, only a handshake or a scribbled signature.”
Alpha was enraged as expected, and he lashed out at me, raking his claws over my chest. Blood spurted out, and I fell to my knees.
He’s going to kill us. My beast’s instinct was to fight back, but this was Alpha, not a random bear we’d hurt.
He won’t.
