Alpha Brothers - The Trickster (book 4)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6
Graham
"So why are we out here again, Graham?" Cuddy groaned as we continued through the trees and in ankle deep mud.
Cuddy was probably the closest thing I had to a friend in the pack. We were the same age and had been in many fights with each other. He was born into the pack and his family was well respected. But I don't think I would die for him. He probably felt the same way about me. But to be fair, I wouldn't die for a lot of people.
"Because my brothers are bastards," I sighed.
"There's nothin' new there."
"Malcolm's taken Tarna to a doctor's appointment, Archie's busy with the new wolves and Callum has a meetin' with an Alpha of some pack – I wasn't payin' attention. But that's why we're doin' the boundary check."
"Oh, because Graham Patterson couldn't do the boundary check by himself," he complained.
I shrugged, "I just wanted your company."
"Bite me," he snapped making me chuckle.
"What was wrong with you yesterday anyway?" he asked, after a few moments of silence.
I frowned, "What do you mean?"
"Graham," he said stupidly, "When you and your siblings have an argument we can all hear it."
I shrugged again, not understanding why he was asking, "So, we argue all the time."
"Aye, but," he paused, stopping me, "you didn't have a lass that night."
My eyes narrowed at him, "What's your point?"
"You lied to you siblings."
I shrugged, "I lie to my siblings all the time. Just today, I told Callum that I would be happy to do the boundary check for him, guess what Cuddy, it was a lie."
"No, this is different," he said stepping forward, "You didn't want them to know that you weren't with a lass. You like the fact that they think you're a snake."
"And what's the problem with that?" I asked, "It's better for them to think of me as some sort of...trickster, a user. It means that they don't feel bad when they forget about me."
He scoffed and shook his head, "You know what Graham, if I didn't know you any better, I'd say that you do it because you love them."
My eyes narrowed harder as he continued to walk.
"I hate my siblings," I growled, "Allie is a little brat. Archie is a snake and a hypocrite. Malcolm, well give me a list, honestly. And Callum..." I bit my lip, knowing that the only reason why I hated him was because I was jealous.
I was jealous that he had so much patience and love for all of us that he would forgive even the brother that had once turned away from us and disowned his wolf. And if it wasn't for Tarna he would see be up in that bloody attic.
"And Callum what?" Cuddy asked, growing that smug look of his.
I scoffed, shaking away the thought, "Just go that way and check the west side. Meet back at the house."
"Aye, righto," he waved me off, heading west as I turned east.
A low growl erupted from the sky just as the rain started to pour. I groaned, annoyed that I wasn't given any warning. Great, now I was goin' be soakin' wet by the time I get back.
The idea of just turning back and telling Callum what he wanted to hear floated through my mind, but I shook it out of my head. It can be my good deed for today.
I halted when I caught the sweetest smell. It was rich and fresh and pure. Like nothing I had ever smelt before. And I wanted it. I couldn't understand why. I never wanted anything. Well, that's not true. Everything was given to me. I had never had to work for it. And now I had to. Now I had to find the thing that made my eyes glow their golden colour and my fangs grow. I should have known the affects. I had watched my three order brothers go through the same thing and yet, I was completely oblivious of what was happening to me.
Find that thin', I growled to myself, and take it like everythin' you own.
I followed my instinct and followed it till I found a small girl, curled into a ball by the stump of a tree as the rain poured onto her. Her black hair fell over her face and shoulders, covering her face.
Mark her! Something inside of me yelled as my eyes burned in my sulk. My heart started to race as I realized what I had just found.
Her head lifted and I smelt her salty tears. She was crying?
When her eyes landed on me, she froze. Both of us frozen in the passing time, both not sure of what to do or what to say.
Her cries began to start again as she realized what I was. A werewolf. Just as I took a step forward, she bolted to her feet, holding her palm out to me. I frowned not sure of what she was doing. And just as I felt the branches on the trees shake, I realized the power that she contained. My little mate was a little witch? But she was wasn't in control. I could sense her power, feel it as if it was inside of me. She wasn't in control.
Finding my words, I warned her not to be scared, "Don't –."
She took off into the trees. Not wanting her to get away, I chased after her. It wasn't hard. She was exhausted and I had my self-drive. Plus, what I lack in strength I made up for in speed. If I wanted her, I was going to have her. I just had her in my grip when I slipped and I took her down with me.
She screamed, making my ears ring. She kicked and slapped me and the only way I could make her stop was to take her wrists in a tight grip and lift them above her head.
"Shutup!" I yelled before I could stop myself.
Her screams turned to small whippers as her fear grew. Oh crap, I was scaring her mate. Oh crap, my mate. My mate was right in front of me. I had convinced myself that she didn't exist. I had convinced myself that aye, my oldest brother could find his, and my second and my third. Maybe even my sister could find hers but mine was never out there. But she was. She was right in front me, shivering from both fear and the cold.
I needed to get her out of the rain. The house was too far away and I didn't – no, there was a place. The cave. Tarna, Malcolm's mate had been a rogue  since she first shifted at thirteen. She had been living in a cave for a year before she met my brother and it wasn't far from here. Hell, I think it even still had her old mattress that she use to sleep on.
"You have to do as I ask," I told her.
She frowned, her cries stopping.
"Je ne fais pas tout ce que vous demandez,"
My mouth dropped as her words went through one ear and out the other, "What?"
"Je ne fais pas tout ce que vous demandez," she repeated again.
Was that French? My mate was French? Oh crap my mate was French.
Not letting her to say no, I scooped her up in my arms and headed in the direction of the cave.