The King's Rogue

Ch 6 Brother's Pack

I looked in disbelief from one to the other, thinking surely she was pulling my leg.

"The wheelchair, Little Brother?" Brother motioned toward the door as the girl laughed at me.

I found myself obeying, going out to the hall and struggling to roll the wheelchair that hadn't been there before to the door.

"Stupid wolf, don't you know anything?" she scoffed at me from the doorway. "You have to unlock the wheels!"

Brother had her settled and was loping down the hall, pushing her. She screeched in delight, hollering for me to hurry up.

My feet felt rooted in place. Brother was the Alpha King? The good-natured friendly man was the one I'd been terrified wanted me dead? He had called Mac. That meant... The King's Enforcer was that easy-going behemoth whose obvious love for Lone Wolf I had envied? My Max, awed by a king he had said was more wolf than any of us, had been truly worried about my safety. He had been scared of what the King would do to me because I bit Michael.

I looked up when I heard Brother's laughter. He was spinning her chair around in front of the elevator doors as if he was some overgrown kid himself. He smiled at me, summoning me to him with a lift of his head. I pushed myself away from the wall, taking a slow step.

"Would you hurry up all ready?" Sister called out to me before turning to Brother. "I thought Max said he could move! He's pokey, Brother," his sister pouted. Then she lifted her head, challenging me.

I couldn't resist. I took off running down the hall. I leaped sideways, using my parkour, jumping against the wall, flipping over to the far side, running sideways for a few steps before flipping around to stop in front of her. I was breathing hard, having answered her challenge the only way I knew how.

She clapped excitedly, grabbing me, pulling on me with all her weight so I had to lean down, where she threw her arms around my neck to hug me. I didn't understand why she kept triggering panic in me. Brother threw a warning look at me as the elevator doors opened and he ushered us in.

She didn't stop talking, asking Brother about people I didn't know. She was barely waiting to get quick, mostly one-word answers from him before she was asking the next question. She fell silent as the elevator dinged, suddenly becoming very regal. When I looked at Brother, he was pulling this cockamamie chintzy crown from the back of the wheelchair and putting it on his head.

The elevator doors slid open to a crowd of kids, many in wheelchairs. There was a moment's pause, then they all started clapping and hollering out. Many of them howled. There was a hush as Brother threw back his head and answered their howls with one of his own. His song reverberated against my bones, calling me one of his. I trembled, holding back my desire to answer his call.

"Well," Sister stage-whispered to me, "push me out there!"

I grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, my heart pounding. Brother was already moving through the crowd. He laughed and hugged one boy, playing with the fake wolf tail on the boy's lap.

"I would know your howl anywhere, my brother. It's so good to see you again," I heard him say.

I pushed Sister slowly, as I listened to Brother greet the kids on a personal basis. He knew so many by name. He shook the hands of fathers, accepted hugs from mothers. I swear he made eye contact with every kid there, his hands reaching out to accept them all. How could one man have so much love in him, to be able to share it with so many? Then he turned back around as we came up behind him and I saw the look he gave Sister. All that love for all those kids was only a drop in the bucket compared to the love I saw in him for the overbearing, annoying girl I was pushing toward him.