Alpha Turned

Zach answered the phone as he placed his dinner on the table. He'd been waiting for his brother to call him back and update him on the situation with an unknown wolf in their territory. The chances were slim that it was anything serious, but he'd had a hard time settling down since Aaron's call hours ago. Finally he'd decided steak and a beer would calm the twitchy feeling.

For two years he'd been the alpha of Mountain Pack, which technically covered about a four-hundred-mile territory, though ninety percent of the pack lived within a twenty-mile radius. His Uncle Samuel had been alpha before that, but he'd retired and Zach had moved up to take the position. Since then, there'd been no major problems. Hearing that a rogue wolf was living unannounced within his territory definitely constituted a problem. The question was how major it would be.

"Hey, it's Aaron. I'm about two and a half hours from your place and I need to see you." The tension in his brother's voice was loud and clear. Zach put the beer he'd been pulling out of the fridge back and grabbed a soda instead. Shit.

"You all right?"

"Yeah," Aaron sighed. "Just tired."

Zach concentrated on the bond he had with all his wolves and felt the exhaustion pulling at his brother. He closed his eyes and sent a burst of energy through their link.

"Thanks, Alpha." Aaron sounded grateful.

"You're welcome. You changed?" Zach caught himself, shook his head. "No, don't answer that. You would have told me if there was anything we needed to deal with before you got here. I'll wait. You need anyone else here?"

"No, just you for now. I don't think it will take long to explain, and you'll probably need some time to think things over. We don't actually need to do anything before tomorrow."

"All right, I'll be here."

Returning to his steak, he ate mechanically, his thoughts running rampant. It worried him that Aaron had made the change. It would have taken something fairly extreme to prompt such a thing, knowing how exhausted it would leave him before his long drive. Wolves rarely changed for only a few hours and usually expected to rest afterward.

Other than being tired, his brother was obviously all right. Zach would have known if he'd been hurt. Besides, Aaron was a powerful wolf. He was a couple of years older than Zach, and while he'd always been the more laid-back brother, he was fourth in the hierarchy. Whatever situation he'd encountered, he should have been able to handle it. Reminding himself that his brother wasn't hurt only helped a little as he finished his meal. Distracting himself with other business, so that he would be able to devote his attention to whatever problem Aaron was bringing him, helped some more. Finally his security system alerted him that a vehicle was approaching. He watched from the window as his brother pulled up and turned off the ignition but didn't get out. The tension he'd managed to slough off reemerged full force. He opened the door.

Aaron looked right at him for a second before getting out of the truck. He made his way slowly up the walk as if waiting for something to happen. And then it did. The scent of a wolf not his brother or his brother's mate carried to him on the breeze. Not his pack, either. Something more, something special, something his. His blood sang, his breathing picked up, and when Aaron stopped some feet away, his wolf protested, wanting to get a better grasp of his mate's scent.

He grabbed the doorframe to keep from charging his brother. "Where is she?" he managed to get out without growling.

Aaron's gaze fixed on Zachary's shoulder. "About three hours away, little town called Slade. There's a problem." His eyes flicked to Zach's when his brother growled and he hurried on.

"She's okay, she's fine." He walked slowly closer.

"Why is her smell all over you?" Zach heard the tension in his own voice, but couldn't stop it.

Aaron dropped to his knees, lowering his head a little more, and didn't say anything.

Zach breathed deeply, pushing his power down. "Go take a shower." He stepped back into the house and headed to the living room. "Please."

As his brother hurried to wash the scents from his body, Zach paced his living room. He repeated the other man's words to himself, over and over. "She's okay, she's fine."

Aaron was back quickly, wearing a clean pair of jeans and t-shirt and smelling strongly of the soap from the guest bathroom. Zach tried out a smile, though he didn't think it was very genuine.

"Did you use the whole bottle?"

His brother sat at the far end of the sofa. "Almost."

"Tell me."

"She's beautiful and strong. She's young, twenty-four, but not so young. She has her own shop and loyal friends. She has no pack." Aaron took a breath but continued before Zach could ask the obvious question.

"She was attacked four years ago, raped and turned. She escaped when they didn't think she would live and has never spoken to a werewolf since. She knows nothing about us and was obviously hoping to keep it that way." The silence following that statement was huge.

With enormous effort, Zach maintained control, though he didn't particularly want to. He wanted to strike out, strike back, hurt those who had hurt his mate. But he needed to hear the rest, needed to find out who had hurt her, so he reined it in.

"Did you fight?" he asked, when he thought he could control his voice.

Aaron's face was gratifyingly shocked. "What? No! No, of course not."

"If she didn't understand, if she attacked you--"

"No." Aaron took a deep breath, hanging his head. "When she told me, I didn't...I couldn't...I'm sorry, Zach, but I lost it. I had to change and go into the woods. Run it off, the need to kill something, to find them, hunt them and kill them. I couldn't pull it back and I had to change and leave her sitting there, after telling me what she did."

The pain radiating from his brother pulled at him. As his alpha, it was Zach's job to comfort and support his wolf. The need to fulfill that obligation helped him to find his control. He walked to the couch and sat heavily beside his brother, shoulders touching, and let out a deep sigh.

"I was just wishing I could do the same. Tell me the rest, Aaron. Please?"

Aaron turned to look at him, staring into the eyes of his brother, not his alpha, showing him all the empathy, all the rage that he had felt, that he still felt. Zach nodded his understanding.

Clearing his throat, Aaron told him. "I don't think she's ever told anyone about it, not even as if it was just a rape. She didn't go into details, she just...I think it already had taken a huge amount of control to not attack me on sight, to get me out of her shop, away from her friend, away from her town, and then stand there and wait to see what I would do." Aaron let his head drop back to the couch. "Damn, Zach, I don't even know if she was aware that she could beat me. I think she was ready to give it her all, kill me or die trying, if that's why I was there."

"She's strong?" Pride colored Zach's voice.

"Hell, she had me baring my belly within five minutes," Aaron grumbled, though he smiled. He straightened back up. "Listen, Zach, I know neither of us is exactly Mr. Sensitive but you're going to have to be really careful not to push her too fast. She doesn't know anything about werewolves, let alone about mates. I told her I would call her tomorrow." He paused, looking Zach over, judging his reaction. "Why don't you get some rest and I'll come back early in the morning with Tracy and we can talk about what might be the best way to do this, before we call her."

Zach grunted and heaved himself off the couch. "Be here early," he said as he walked out of the room.