Chap-2*The Dirty Brother-In-Law*

We stared into each other's eyes for about a minute in deafening silence, one waiting for the other to penetrate the layer of awkwardness with a proper move that doesn't include talking about the mate bond.

The rustling from behind me was a sign that somebody had listened to my heart's desire and had interrupted the silence.

"Brother!" the same accent as Alpha King Aramis, the same blood as him but an entirely different person, that's who my mate Tanner was.

He rushed inside the hut and ran into his elder brother's arms.

"Congratulations for being a second runner up," Alpha King Aramis broke the hug to pat his brother's back, who was all patched up and would probably heal in a few hours.

"Thank you," Tanner answered before he turned over to me and shifted beside me, "And I'm guessing you have already met my mate," As Tanner wrapped his arm around my waist, the look on Aramis' face yelled it all.

He felt the mate bond with me!

I didn't want to look like I was lost because I knew I would never want to be with someone like Aramis. He was controlling and batshit crazy, Tanner, on the other hand, was easy going.

I admit to not having strong feelings for Tanner, but he had persuaded me to win my heart one way so I gave it a try.

I just didn't want to focus on the mate and whole mating stuff, my destiny was to become a bigger warrior and then one day free our land's lost souls from the curse of the Wailing brides.

"Oh! She is your mate?" Aramis frowned secretly for obvious reasons, I felt weirded out too but the good thing about growing up in a mansion where you have to mask your emotions and act fine was that I've mastered the expression of ignorance.

"Yes, brother! Remember I told you about a girl I am trying to get to like me?" Tanner laughed innocently as he didn't think too much of it but his brother didn't seem very impressed when he heard how hard his brother had been trying to peruse me, "That's her, Phoenix Hart!" he finished and Aramis only gave him a nod.

“She is lucky it was just a competition,” Aramis’ comment sounded like he was leading to something else, “You should know I would not usually sit around and watch somebody hurt my brother. He is my baby brother, my family, my entirety and if anybody was to ever hurt him, I don’t know what I will do,” instead of reacting to his brother introducing his mate to him like a normal person, he pretty much warned me about never hurting his brother.

I didn’t say anything to him in response because if I had opened my mouth, I would have dragged him to mud for everything wrong he had done to other’s families.

"Princess Phoenix! Your ride has arrived," Thankfully, someone to the rescue. A guard informed me about the car my father has sent for me, which turned out to be the perfect time to shoot away.

"I will leave now," I told Tanner with a mild smile on my lips, "It was nice meeting you," running my eyes to Aramis made me acquainted with his stare on my face.

He didn't respond to me but when I was out of the hut, I heard him make a comment that needed a response from me but I ignored it for now.

"You could do better than this one," Aramis told his brother. I didn't get to hear what Tanner said because I have walked away and ended up taking my stuff and reward to my car. The ride back home was just filled with bittersweet memories of my past.

I was actually trying not to focus on the mate bond I felt with Aramis, it was strange and inappropriate that the Moon Goddess decided to mate me with the two brothers.

My pack and family were gathered outside the mansion, waiting for my arrival. I got out of the car wearing a medal and holding the award in my tight grip.

They all looked so proud of the little girl, who has now achieved a name for herself.

"My pride! I knew you would win," My father spread his arms across to fill me in his embrace, looking a little uncomfortable in a black suit with a coat so tight that he would have ripped it open if he had left his arms spread like an eagle for another minute.

"Thank you, dad!" I smiled and accepted his display of affection with a mutual hug. He had been nothing but very loving towards me in the last few years when he realized his fault for abandoning me after the death of my mother.

"Hey, our little sister grew up and chose violence," Zion joked, standing beside his mate and now legal wife Iris Malarkey; and Omega from the Zelta Dawn Pack.

There was no need for her to say anything to express her unlikeliness to my existence. The eye-roll she gave when Zion took my award to praise it said it all.

"Did you get her a Barbie doll?" Veronica taunted while giving me a side hug. It was truly saddening that my own sister was jealous of my achievements. She would always stand behind her alpha mate, who has lost his pack and was now living in our mansion like a coward; Hassel Baine.

He wasn’t standing in the crowd for now, but I hoped to see him soon.

"Ah! The twins never grew up, it seems," I too fired back with a little smile to annoy Veronica and Markus. The twins did share braincells, Markus didn’t like me joining the Battle Academy. He thought the battleground should be left alone for the male werewolves only, I disagreed.

I entered the mansion with my father’s arm wrapped around my shoulder and holding my award after he snatched it out of Zion’s hands.

The mansion looked the same, the tall white ceilings and spotless huge windows remained the same. The beautiful floating wall split the foyer from the living room. I walked along with my family to the living room and sat down on the curved sofas while I decided to sit on the chesterfield opposite theirs.

"Look! I heard it was your mate in the final battle with you," Hassel joining the living room got me into stretching my neck secretly, absorbing the anger and hatred from the past and channeling it with a smile for now.

"That makes sense," Veronica slid to the side to give him a place to sit with her.

"He didn't hold back. We have promised we will never let each other win," I didn’t plan to jump on Hassel and strangle him right then and there. If anything I have learned during my time in the battle academy, it is to always wait for the right time.

"Yeah! yeah! Right! That's what he tells me whenever I pretend to fight him. How do you I win? You got lucky having the last round with Tanner," my sister playfully elbowed Hassel, who was waiting for an eye contact from me.

I gave him a rough eye contact and tapped my foot anxiously on the floor, it was unintentional.

"Speaking of which, you are still going out with that one? I mean, I understand you want to be under the eye of the crowd but his brother! His brother is not a very nice example," Zion being the eldest has always composed his posture, but he failed to put a leash to his mate, who was waiting to remind me how it feels like marrying the one upper class in the hierarchy.

“Not to mention, he is a beta. The ones more powerful than you are always going to look down on you,” being an Omega didn’t change anything for her in our mansion, but she never quit complaining about getting mistreated even when she was the one pulling strings of my brother.

“Alpha King Aramis is crazy about his brother. Imagine him always interrupting in your relationship to make sure you are just nonstop pleasing his brother,” Zion added after he felt guilty for upsetting Iris for being the next Alpha in line.

Ridiculous!

“Tanner is not a child,” I have only spoken up when my father felt that the siblings were ganging up on me to ruin my day.

"Will you guys let her enjoy her victory meal?" My father scoffed while shaking his head at them in disbelief. They all awkwardly looked down and sighed, they were indeed just trying to get under my nerves.

"It's fine dad. Some taunts and a little mockery is unable to hurt your Warrior daughter now," As I commented, I passed a deep glare to Hassel, whose smile faded away.

"I'll freshen up and then come back to join you all," I excused to get up and shower. I was still in my warrior fit and the sweat had dried up on my skin now.

I climbed the stairs confidently, walking in the hallway and past all the bedrooms that I once used to bang upon for help.

My bedroom was kept the same and by kept same I mean they didn’t renew anything. My father would usually let the matters into my sister’s hands and she would give zero fu*ks about my bedroom or stuff.

Taking a warm shower in my beautiful white bathroom and tub helped me calm down. Slipping into a red boat neck top and black jacket with black pants, I walked out of the bathroom to a surprise waiting for me in my room.

“What the heck are you doing in my bedroom?” my eyes glowed purple at the sight of the man, who had terrified the life out of me many times when I was helpless.

“Come on! you cannot run away from me,” Hassel’s threatening tone was how it always started.

And now he was in my bedroom again with the same look of lust in his eyes as before.