Fate Succumbs

by Tammy Blackwell

  “I overheard you talking to Sarvarna,” I said, sounding way more aloof than I actually felt. “She offered you a way out of being mated and a position in the Pack. It was a good bargain.”

  “A good bargain?” Jase’s voice was about two notches louder than necessary. “Seriously? My sister’s life in exchange for a place in their corrupt ranks? You thought I would want that?”

  There may have been a time when I would have apologized, quelled at his anger. Jase always had the stronger personality of the two of us. He led, I followed. But no more. Things had changed. I had changed.

  “How was I supposed to know any different? Did you send me a message?” I turned to Talley. “Or you? Did you try to send me a brain note saying, ‘Don’t worry about Jase. We have a plan.’?” Now I was getting loud.

  “Do not yell at Talley.”

  “You let me sit in that cell and think you didn’t care.”

  “I was trying to save you!”

  “You didn’t come to see me!”

  “I had a role to play!”

  “But you didn’t come see me! You left me! Alone!” I swiped away a single escaped tear. “What kind of brother doesn’t even come and say goodbye? Even Sarvarna would have understood the need for closure. But you didn’t come. It could have all went wrong. I could have died, and you would have never said goodbye.”

  “How could I?” He was practically whispering now. “How could I go down there, look at you in that cage, knowing you might die, and not show them how much I love you? You’ve been my best friend since I was six months old. Almost every single one of my happiest memories has you at its center. Just the thought of losing you makes me literally sick to my stomach. How could you not know that?”

  Emotional conversations are not commonplace in my family. Yes, we love each other, but we don’t normally feel the need to say it. Maybe we should more often, though, because hearing how much my brother cared for me was enough to start repairing some of the fissures in my soul.

  I bolted towards him, arms wide, and he caught me in a bear hug. I squeezed back with all I was worth. He saw it as a personal challenge, and squeezed harder, making my ribs scream in protest.

  “I love you, too, you know?”

  “Damn straight you do.”

  I rested my cheek on his shoulder. “Now that we’ve got this settled, can we kick Liam’s ass?”

  Jase laughed. “Doubt it. Have you sparred with him yet?”

  I shook my head. “He’s too busy making me run around in circles and do push-ups to actually let me do something fun.”

  “Dude, I have, and I promise ‘fun’ is not a word I would use.”

  I tried not to be annoyed at Jase and Liam’s obviously close relationship, but failed miserably.

  “You’ve never sparred?” Talley asked.

  “Nope.”

  “No physical altercations of any sort?”

  “Since you stopped me earlier today, no.”

  Jase was working on something in his head. I could tell by his scrunched-up face and the way his finger hovered in the air, periodically following an imaginary trail.

  “No punching?” he asked.

  “No.”

  “No kicking?”

  “No.”

  “How about arm wrestling?”

  “No. And before you ask, we’ve avoided Slug Bug, Slap Bets, and any and all Dance-Offs.”

  Jase rubbed his chin. “And in wolf form?”

  I shrugged. “We rolled around a bit.” My cheeks heated slightly as I said it. For some reason, talking about it felt akin to divulging intimate details I would rather not share with my brother. “So, what’s the deal here? You seemed surprised that one of us hasn’t tried to kill the other yet.”

  Actually, once I thought about it, it was kind of miraculous.

  “It’s just not normal for two Shifters to not try to determine a hierarchy,” Talley said. “Usually, when two Dominant Shifters like you and Liam are around each other, it takes less than an hour for a brawl to break out.”

  “Maybe it’s because I’m a girl,” I pontificated. “There really isn’t much use in getting into a pissing contest since I have to sit down to pee anyway.”

  Jase made a choking noise. “Wow, Scout, that was unbelievably crass.”

  “And a lie,” Liam said as he walked up the porch steps. “If she would have sat down to pee at half the places we’ve been to lately, she would have gotten a disease or worse by now.”

  “And that,” Jase said, “was unbelievably crass and gross.”

  Liam collapsed into an old rocking chair, which considered giving way under his weight. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to offend your mate.”

  I was about to correct him over the whole “mate” thing when something caught my attention. I don’t know how I missed it up until that moment.

  Jase and Talley were holding hands.

  “Wait. What?” I couldn’t seem to pull my eyes off their clasped hands. “Okay, someone needs to start talking now, and I choose…” I looked from one to the other. Jase was smiling at Talley who was looking at her bellybutton and flushing bright red. “Jase. Spill it.”

  “The ceremony hasn’t been completed yet, but we plan to do it in the spring.”

  “You’re getting married. In the spring. To Talley.” The world officially no longer made sense.

  “Not married,” Talley said. “We’re just completing the mating ceremony then. We’re going to wait until we finish school to get married.”

  Very sensible and Talley-like. Only one problem… “You guys don’t want to be mates and get married.”

  Jase finally looked away from Talley and at me. “Says who?”

  “You. There was yelling involved. Yelling and pouting and lots of anger. All of it directed at me."

  “Did I ever actually say I didn’t want Talley to be my mate?”

  “You know, quite a bit has happened between then and now--”

  “No. I never said I didn’t want her.”

  “But there was yelling.”

  Jase brought Talley’s hand, which was still entwined with his, up to his mouth and gently kissed her knuckles. The look on Talley’s face said she was imagining little frolicking birds and butterflies dancing around their heads.

  My brain was beginning to hurt from trying to wrap itself around this new development.

  “I was angry at you for forcing Talley into being with me when she deserves so much better.” His smile was all Jase. “Now she’s made that decision for herself, I’m more comfortable with the situation.”

  “So you like Talley? Like, like like Talley?”

  “I love Talley.”

  I looked at my best friend, who was still seeing those animated critters. “And you?”

  “Head over heels,” she replied.

  Liam watched the entire exchange with amusement. “How long have you known this?” I asked him.

  “Me? May.”

  “May?” I narrowed my eyes at the traitorous couple. “You confided in Liam and not me? What the Hades is up with that!”

  Jase’s hands flew up in a defensive pose. “Calm down, Anger Monkey. I don’t know what he’s talking about. Tal and I didn’t figure it out until September.”

  I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and reminded myself that everything wasn’t about me. What I really needed to focus on here was Talley. I love my best friend, but she’s one of those people who only see the sunshine and rainbows. The problem was, Jase can be a lot like sunshine and rainbows. When he’s shining, there is truly nothing better. When all of his smiles and attention are just for you, the world is a brighter, happier place. But like sunshine and rainbows, he has a tendency to disappear without warning and stay gone for a very long time. Being his sister shielded me from a lot of his darker days, but I’ve seen him drop girlfriends and friends on a whim and never so much as think about looking back. It’s not that he’s cruel; he just doesn’t realize what he’s doing. When it comes to re
lationships, he’s got a bit of an AD/HD problem.

  Sure, he seemed genuinely into Talley at the moment, but what about next week or next month? What would happen when the cute girl in his English 101 asks him to a party? Or when things started getting complicated with Talley? How would Talley, who never put anything less than her whole heart into anything, survive the aftermath?

  The cold, simple truth of it was she wouldn’t.

  “Have you guys really thought about this?”

  “What’s to think about?” Jase said. “It’s just a lifelong commitment. We decided to jump into it all willy-nilly like. What’s the worst that could happen?”

  Talley rolled her eyes, which was proof enough she was spending too much time with him. “Of course we’ve thought about it.” She looked me straight in the eye. “This is what we both want. Promise.”

  “Are you sure? I mean, you might think this is what you both want now…”

  Talley’s gaze didn’t waver. “I love him, Scout. And he loves me.” She held up their linked hands. “Trust me. It’s not exactly like he can lie or hide his true feelings from me.”

  “But it’s Jase.”

  “It’s Jase,” she smiled. “My mate.”

  Chapter 10

  I couldn’t sleep that night. The day had been a revelation-filled piñata. Jase hadn’t betrayed me. Mrs. Matthews had. Charlie was hurt and under constant Alpha Pack supervision, but he was alive and healing. Jase and Talley were dating, or whatever it is you call a pre-mated relationship, and they both seemed really happy about it. The small part of my brain not obsessing over those new developments was busy coming up with new and inventive ways to kick Liam in the head.

  When I finally couldn’t lay there with all those creepy dolls staring at me any longer, I got up and wandered through the house. Jase and Talley were sleeping in the living room. Jase was on the couch and Talley had an inflatable mattress. As I snuck towards the front door I noticed Jase’s hand was dangling off the couch and onto the air mattress, where it was interlaced with Talley’s. It might have been sweet and cute if it wasn’t so bizarre and creepy.

  Liam said he wanted to sleep on the extra couch on the screened-in back porch, but that wasn’t where I found him. As I stepped through the back yard, keeping a wary eye out for the assorted vermin running about, he had to have heard me, but he just sat on the fence and stared off into the mountains.

  I climbed up on the other side of the post. Balancing on top of a fence is a bit more difficult and uncomfortable than all those cowboy pictures would have you believe. After a bit of awkward maneuvering I finally found a position that didn’t make it feel as though the slat of wood was going to leave bruises on my butt.

  “It looks like a John Denver song out here,” I said, breaking the stillness of the night. There was no moon, but the stars gave enough illumination for my sensitive Shifter eyes. Eastern Kentucky might get a lot of flack because of its economy, but it really is one of the most beautiful places in the world. “You know, life really isn’t anything other than a funny, funny riddle, and I do thank God I’m a country girl.”

  Liam didn’t so much as roll his eyes.

  I shifted ever so slightly so I was somewhat facing him. “This isn’t working.”

  “Try leaning forward,” he said. “Put more pressure on your feet and less on your backside.”

  “Not what I meant.” Although, he was right, it did help. “This arrangement of ours, the one where I trust that you know what in the Hades you’re doing and don’t ask too many questions. I can’t do it any more.” Not after he let me suffer when all it would have taken was one lousy sentence to tell me Jase actually cared if I lived or died. “If you want me to play whatever part it is you have planned for me, you’re going to have to talk.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  I took a deep breath. “Then I walk.”

  “You really think you have any chance of surviving without me?”

  “I don’t have a chance of surviving period.” I knew the truth, had Seen it in one of the visions of the future Talley claimed she didn’t have. “The question is, does your mysterious plan have a chance of working without me?”

  He didn’t answer immediately. We both sat there, staring out into the distance. My super-senses were at their weakest, so I couldn’t pick up on much other than the area immediately surrounding us. Most everything was sleeping, although there were some mice in the barn having a grand old time. If I concentrated hard enough, I could just make out the sound of Talley’s snoring.

  “What do you want to know?” he asked just when I had made up my mind to go back inside.

  “Everything.”

  “That all?”

  I thought about all the unanswered questions, all the mysteries crowding my thinking space. “Start with your real name.”

  That seemed to actually catch him off-guard. “What do you mean?”

  “After Alex’s funeral Stefan approached me. He said Alex’s real name was Christopher, but that you both changed your names after running away. So, what is it?”

  There was another long lull in conversation, but eventually he answered. “Bryce.”

  “Why change it?”

  “When the Alpha Pack burned down our house with my parents in it, they thought we were inside, too. We assumed new identities and let them continue to think Bryce and Christopher were dead.”

  “The Alpha Pack burned down your house with your parents inside?” My stomach twisted. “How do you know it was them?”

  Another pause, and then a deep breath. “My parents met in Romania when they were both in training to be part of the Alpha Pack,” he began. “My mother’s family is one of, if not the, most powerful line of Seers in Europe. At least one girl from every generation was invited to become a Potential once their powers manifested. Usually they waited until they were eighteen to actually move them to the Den, but Mom went when she was fifteen. Future Seers are very rare, and they wanted her immediately.”

  He didn’t look anywhere near me as he talked. It was as if he was telling his story to the mountains, but I was okay with that. As long as I got to hear it, I didn’t care who he told.

  “My dad was nineteen when he joined. His Pack wasn’t very large and held very little Territory in Germany, but he was Dominant enough to catch the Alphas’ eye. Gerard was the Alpha Male at the time, and he took Dad under his wing, preparing him to become a Stratego.

  “They never said why they left. Mom would occasionally allude to things, but never said anything concrete. All I know is that after three years, Dad was granted a special Lone status and moved to Canada, taking Mom with him. Two years later, I was born.

  “Our childhood was fairly normal, or at least I thought it was. We learned about being Shifters the same way human kids might learn to be Catholics. It was just part of who we were. They talked about the Alpha Pack in the same terms your parents would have spoken about the President or something. They were part of the social structure, a governing body that made and enforced our rules.

  “Things changed when I was nine. That’s when my sister was born.”

  A sister….? “Nicole.”

  Liam nodded. “You know how your siblings are supposed to annoy the shit out of you just because that’s how life works?”

  “As you may remember, I tried to kill my brother earlier today.”

  “We never felt that way with Nicole. She had Alex and I tied around her tiny little finger the moment we walked into the hospital room and first saw her angry red face.” He laughed silently at the memory. “Mom said she was furious at having been born. She apparently liked the womb a little too much. Mom finally agreed to induce labor when it was two and a half weeks after her due date and she still hadn’t made an appearance.

  “At first, everything was fine, but when she was six months old we got a visit from some Alpha Pack Seers. Dad had sent me and Alex to our bedrooms, but we snuck out into the hall to eavesdrop. I didn’t understand much of w
hat they were talking about, I was just a kid and they were talking about grown-up stuff, but I got the general idea of it. They wanted to take Nicole back to the Den with them. I didn’t know at the time that was the standard procedure when a girl is born to Shifter parents.”

  “It is?” I hadn’t heard that before. All Alex ever told me about female Shifters is they never make it to adulthood because the Change is too much for their body to handle. “All of them?”

  “Initially, yes. Actually, parents are supposed to take their female daughters before the Alpha Pack immediately following birth. The ones who don’t show any signs of carrying the Shifter gene are sent home, but the others…” Liam rubbed a hand over his hair. “They say they’re trying to find a way to save them. Most parents let them go without much of a fight because they want to save their kid, and if they can’t, then it’s better to not have grown too attached, right?”

  “They seriously just leave their babies with those psychos?” Even if I hadn’t known Sarvarna was completely unhinged, I don’t think I would be able to just walk off and leave my baby with someone else. And I couldn’t imagine it would take anyone more than a few seconds with the Alpha Female to realize she shouldn’t be trusted with a goldfish, let alone a baby.

  “It’s the way things have been for as long as anyone remembers. When a Shifter gets married there is this blessing everyone puts in their wedding cards and stuff. It says, ‘May your days together be many and blessed, and may your children be born male. And should you have a daughter, may she See with the eyes of God.’”

  “You are one seriously messed up group of people.”

  Liam actually turned his head and looked at me. “You don’t even know the half of it.”

  “So tell me the rest. Did your parents let them take Nicole back to Romania?”

  “No. They thanked the Seers for their time and concern, but Mom told them she Saw Nicole’s future, and it was as a Seer, not a Shifter.”

  “She lied.” Because I had seen Nicole in her wolf form and knew better.

  “She lied, and the Seers didn’t know any different, so they left. My parents thought that would be the end of it until Nicole actually Changed, but they underestimated the Alphas.”