Chapter 4: Xander

I’m so pissed off at Rich. I can’t believe he won’t just reject Emlyn. What is he trying to do? Keep his mate and a mistress on the side?

And now, Emlyn drops the bomb that she’s pregnant. I thought for sure she was going to kill Gwen when she called her child a bastard.

I know Emlyn wouldn't want me to, but Emerson and I are close friends. If the roles were reversed, I'd want him to tell me.

So, I call him and tell him that his sister is pregnant with my brother's child.

"This is a fucking mess, Xander."

"I know, Em. It's why I'm calling you. I don't know how much longer Emlyn can stay here."

"She'll always have a place in my pack." He says, as I knew he would.

Now, all of us can smell Rich and Emlyn’s baby. Well, everyone except Rich. He seems to be the only one that is oblivious to it, his own child.

I know something underhanded is going on, I just have no idea what it is and it’s making me crazy. I’m a problem solver, it’s what I do. I have to be good at it if I want to be an effective CEO. And, I learned from the best, my father. The man is incredible at coming up with solutions to problems. He makes it look so effortless. I’d go talk to him if he were here. But, unlike most Alphas, he couldn’t wait to pass over the Alpha title to Rich, so now, he’s rarely here. He’s usually off somewhere, handing the world to my mother on a silver platter and dragging my youngest sisters with them.

And now, things are escalating in the pack. Gwen and Emlyn almost can’t be in the same room together without an argument starting and Gwen is awful. She is mean and cruel to the pack members, something Rich would never have allowed in his pack before. He seems to always be taking Gwen’s side which means he’s now in direct opposition to Emlyn as well.

I love my brother, but he’s wrong in this. I never thought I’d think this, especially in this family where my mother made sure that we all knew how important family is to one another, but if he doesn’t get his shit together, I may have to challenge him to be Alpha of this pack. I never wanted the position, I’ve always wanted to run the business, to be able to get away from the pack politics when I wanted to. But now, without my father here, I’m next in line to challenge him.

My mind is made up two weeks later when I find Emlyn lying on the floor of her bathroom. I knew something was wrong when she wasn’t downstairs for breakfast. I immediately mind link Cayd to come help me, worried that the stress of everything has gotten to her and maybe the baby as well.

When I go to put her in the shower, I think she’s being modest, not wanting me to see her naked. I don’t listen, nudity is common in the packs, but as soon as I pull her top off, I understand why she didn’t want me to see her and it has nothing to do with modesty.

Her body is covered in bruises. She’s so black and blue that it looks like she’s been hit by a car. I snarl knowing exactly who has done this to her and that she’s been hiding it from me. Cayd’s snarl comes almost immediately behind mine when he sees her and I know she’s been hiding this from everyone.

“What the fuck, Emlyn?” I growl at her. She should not have kept this from me. I can’t help her, I can’t protect her, if I don’t know what’s going on.

Cayd doesn’t understand, so he’s shocked and understandably infuriated when she tells him that the bruises are because Rich has been cheating on their mate bond.

“How often?” I ask her through gritted teeth.

She doesn’t want to answer me. She’s obviously still trying to protect Rich, but I’m not having it, not anymore.

When she tells me it’s been every night, she begins to sob. She looks at me and something passes between us. She knows she has to reject him now. If she doesn’t it could kill her, or maybe even her child.

Cayd goes to get Leana while I help Emlyn get dressed.

“You should have told me.” I say to her quietly.

“He’s your brother, Xander.”

“And you’re my friend. I don’t care that he’s my brother, no one treats you like this. He should be ashamed of himself.”

“Well, it won’t matter after today. I’ll reject him and then he can reject me and I’ll go on with my life.”

She looks at me. “I have to leave.”

“Of course you do. I would never expect you to stay here. Shit, I want to leave. I almost can’t stand being here any longer.”

“Will you do me a favor, Xander?” She asks me as I put her shoes on her feet.

“Anything, you know you only have to ask.”

“Find out what’s going on. Something definitely is. It isn’t like Rich to allow his pack mates to be abused. And Gwen is abusive. The sprites told me that it happens all the time and that Rich knows about it.” She looks at me sadly.

“Something is going on, and it has to do with Gwen. I don’t know what it is, and I can’t stay to help you figure it out. I have to protect my son.” She says.

“I know. And you know that Cayd will want to go with you, right?” I say, standing up and smiling at her.

She gives me a soft smile. “I hope he does. It would be good to have a friend with me.”

“Let’s do this and I promise you, if it’s the last thing I do, I’ll figure out what is going on.”

“Thanks Xander.” She says, as Leana and Cayd come back into the room.

The three of us surround Emlyn as she rejects my brother. I watch, dispassionately, as he drops to the floor, in obvious pain, but my concern is for Emlyn. She didn’t deserve any of this and it’s about time he got a taste of the pain he’s been giving her.

How’s that for a non-existent mate bond, brother?

I watch as Gwen immediately drops beside him, telling him to accept Emlyn’s rejection. She knows something, something the rest of us do not. That thought is reinforced when even Rich yells at her that he can't reject a bond that isn't there. I don't know what's going on yet, but I have every intention of finding out what it is.

Cayd picks Emlyn up and carries her to a car, taking her back to Safe Haven. She not only rejected Rich as her mate, but also her Alpha. She needs to get home and have Emerson reinstate her in their pack so she doesn’t feel and smell like a rogue.

Rich passes out on the floor and Gwen begins patting his face, trying to wake him.

“Step aside.” I snarl at her. I don’t trust her for an instant.

I reach down, picking up my brother and carrying him to his room. “I’ll stay with him.” Gwen says.

I turn and look at her. “Get. Out.” It’s a snarl, an Alpha command, and she yips before complying.

Maybe I’m used to be around Guardians, all of my sisters are Guardians, my mother is a Guardian, and our neighboring packs have Guardians that I’ve grown up with. So seeing a female so impacted by my Alpha aura, one who is supposed to be a Luna, just confirms to me, yet again, that something is definitely wrong.

I put Rich on the couch, wanting to change his sheets that reek of sex. Once it’s done, I carry him to the bed, removing his shoes and pulling up a chair to wait for him to wake up.

It’s hours later when he finally opens his eyes. His first question is about Emlyn, as it should be. As it always should have been.

I tell him that she’s gone home to her family. He tells me that Finley, his wolf, identified Emlyn and her wolf Morrigan as their mates, but he’s also saying that Gwen is his mate.

“I don’t know what’s going on, Xander.”

I stand. Now that he’s awake, I need to start putting timelines and pieces of this puzzle together. It’s time to figure out what Gwen has been up to.

“Neither do I, Rich, but you better figure it out.”

I nearly walk out of the room without telling him. She asked me, practically begged me not to say anything, but he needs to know.

“She didn’t want us to tell you, but she could feel it. Every time you’ve been with Gwen, Emlyn could feel it. This morning, I found her unconscious on her bathroom floor. She’s covered in bruises, Rich. Bruises you gave her by cheating on the mate bond you say you can’t feel.”

He sits up and looks at me, shock evident on his face.

“You could have killed her and your son. So, whatever you do, if you care about her and your son at all, stay the fuck away from Gwen and stay the fuck away from Emlyn until you get this figured out.”

I walk out, closing the door behind me. I will figure out what is going on, and when I find out who did this to Emlyn, to my brother, they will pay with their life.