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Brand leveled a glare on me. “Don’t talk about your mother that way.” He spat a mouthful of blood on the already filthy concrete floor. “What is it with you and Finn? Trash talking the women you ought to be lifting up.” He curled his lip. “You’d fit right in down here at Southern.”
My cheeks were hot. I knew he was right. “Relax, brother. I love my mom, and if anyone else said anything against her, I’d fucking destroy them. But being her son…” I let out a long breath. “You know who your dad is to you? Hard to measure up to? That’s how I feel about Mom. She’s legendary. If women could be Alphas, she’d be one.”
“I know. She’s in the history books in my pack library.” Brand smiled. “The first female Enforcer in your pack. She was sixteen, right?”
I grinned. “Yeah. They had to let her graduate high school early so she could meet with the Russian pack when they tried that land grab. I still can’t believe they got so far.” Of course, that initial battle had only been a precursor to the much larger, far more costly war that had taken all the North American packs by surprise a decade later. “Mom was there for the first battle at Bertaud Lake. She said her parents thought it would be a safe, diplomatic venture. Mom snuck her sword into her pack.”
“You Canadian fuckers. Your grandparents probably just thought they’d leave nicely if they asked with a please.”
I shot him the finger. “Well, my mom sent their heads back in a crate with a lovely thank-you letter for the visit, and a politely worded death threat for the entire Russian Council of Alphas if they tried it again.”
He grunted a laugh. “I love your mom.”
“Me, too.” I scraped my hair back, doing mental calculations as to when she might arrive. My mother had power, top-notch fighting skills, and would bring along our very best fighters. Once she arrived, even if it meant a host of other problems for me, at least Flor would be protected. Once I told her, that is. “I hope she loves my mate.”
Brand’s dark eyes went wide, then narrowed with something like suspicion. “She’s obsessed with true mate lore. Whenever you meet her, if you meet her, your mom will fall in love along with you.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure my true mate is exactly what Mom’s been picturing.”
Brand was silent, but when he finally spoke, his voice thrummed with intensity. “Who?” The question sounded like a threat. Of course, it might have been the menacing growl that came out with the word, and kept on echoing in the empty cell.
I waited a few seconds, trying to think how to say it. He stopped growling and repeated himself, louder. “Who? Just say it. You’ve met her, haven’t you? Who’s your damned mate, Glen?”
He sounded supremely pissed, which shocked me. Brand was the closest friend I had, along with Finnick. As close as family, and we’d fucking lived together as brothers for years, training side by side for our futures leading our packs. “Shouldn’t you be happy for me, man? I mean, I just told you I found my mate.”
“What’s her name?” he growled louder, and I backed up a few inches. Brand was a solid nine inches taller than me, and we both knew he could kick my ass—in human form, anyway. Wait, was he shifting?
“Brand, what’s the deal?”
“Call it a hunch,” he snarled, grabbing the front of my shirt. “It’s Flor, isn’t it?”
I relaxed, feeling a stupid smile cover my face at her name. “Of course it’s Flor. You think I attacked a deranged Alpha for some random girl? I don’t care how brave and crazy she is, that’s not the sort of thing I’d do for any unranked shifter.”
He closed his eyes for a second, a line appearing between his thick brows. “I should have guessed. Does Finn know?”
“No…” I said, drawing the word out. “But he can’t be her mate if she’s mine. He said he wasn’t certain.”
Brand’s shoulders slumped and he let go of my shirt as he let out a sigh. A sigh I recognized from years of friendship. His gaze speared mine, and I read everything he wanted to say, but couldn’t. Wouldn’t. “I’m certain, Glen.”
It took a moment for his words to register. He was certain she was his.
My heart lurched. “It’s not possible. A bond happens once, if at all. I would know; Mom made me read dozens of books on mate history. How could one girl have two true mates?”
Brand let out a shaky breath. “Try three.” Then he muttered something that sounded like or more.
I felt my blood go cold. “No. Just… no, Brand.”
“I held her shirt,” he said after a few seconds of silence. “I didn’t even touch her, but it was like?—”
“Like electricity,” I finished for him. It felt like he’d carved out my stomach with his words. “Fire in your veins.”
“Not for me,” he whispered. “It was the same feeling I get when I’m at my lake. Peace. Like I was home. It… scared me. At first, I thought maybe it was something else, like a pack bond thing. I couldn’t scent her, under that sewage smell. But I felt compelled to protect her, to go back to her.”
He shuddered, sitting on the steel bench beside me.“I wondered if she was my sister or something, a long-lost relative. She felt so right, as if I’d always known her. But then I went into the kitchen with Luke, to stitch him up. And I smelled her.” He shifted in an unmistakable way, adjusting his jeans. “Her scent was strong there; it’s where she worked for years.”
My heart was aching, but I tried to joke. It was what we both needed, a little levity in this somber moment. “Is that why you had wood all day?” He threw a pebble at my face and hit my cheek. “Ow.”
“Yeah, asshole, that’s why. I can’t help it. Her scent is…”
