Chapter 18-

Ava:
I am excited to hear my friends voice until I look down the stairs and see her in Lucas’s arms. I know he doesn’t love me, not yet anyway but that doesn’t change the fact that I am starting to care for him. I want to be more to him then a burden that he picked up as an act of love for Ember. He has been so kind to me, and such a comfort especially because I haven’t seen much of Ember other than at our community dinners. She must be busy fighting off the love of every man that comes into contact with her. Lucas told me he has no intention of making me his wife, but that I’ll always be safe and cared for in his home. I must be special to him if he chose me and wants to take care of me. I am so thankful that he hasn’t pushed me into relations that I’m not ready for, but I think I’m getting there. He is so handsome and strong. Why shouldn’t we be happy together? I know Ember loved him, but she is married now, and she seems happy with the Alpha. She can’t have both men. I hate that she’s in my house with the man that claimed me, ME! Her hands are on him and she’s throwing herself at him. All of the women have been flocking to her and calling her Luna, they wouldn’t be so enamored with her if she was making moves on their man. Is one man not enough that she has to come here, and try and take Lucas from me. I thought she was my friend that she would be like a sister to me. I hear them making plans to meet up, and my blood boils, hot angry tears run down my face. After Lucas leaves, I hear Ember call for me, but I ignore her going back to my room. I can’t see her right now. I need to think of a way to make Lucas mine to let him know that I’m ready to move forward with him, and that I want to be his wife, his mate.
James:
Lucas comes to the meeting but he walks in late. He must think I’m an idiot if he thinks I don’t smell Ember all over him. It makes my body heat uncomfortably thinking about why he would have her scent all over him. I stuff down the anger I don’t want to keep having the same fight over and over especially when I have so many things going on right now. Our pack has grown, and we are finally moving forward, I love seeing all of the new families coming together. Maybe they just ran into each other, I know she has been thinking about Ava and wanting to see her but that still doesn’t explain why he would be touching her. The thoughts of his hands on my mate clog my brain, and make it feel like fire is pouring through my veins. I don’t want to accuse him in front of the council members when I don’t know all of the facts, but that doesn’t take away my deep desire to rip his arms from his body. The elders and I discussed the possibility that Ember might have two mates before the rest of the council got here. The elders told me that this has happened before though rarely. In the past when something like that has happened it’s when there are a large number of males and few females or if the populace was struggling to grow, I don’t think that can be it because we have so many new females making our numbers soar. The other instances have been when twins have shared a single mate, but that also doesn’t apply to our situation I am two years older than Lucas. We do look alike other than his scars and the fact that I am slightly bigger. We decided to keep it quiet for now, and continue to live as we have been. I have also been hoping that if Ember gets pregnant maybe her feelings and connection to my brother will fade. This is my greatest wish, which I know is selfish but who knows maybe I’ll even get lucky and Lucas will fall in love with Ava or fill her with a child of their own. Nothing would make me happier than to move past this with my mate at my side and my brother happy with a woman of his own.
I shake the unease filling my brain and get back on track with our meeting. We talk about the new families in our community and so far, we don’t have any problems, which is much better than I anticipated when we made the plans to take the women. We discuss the new school plans that Ember and I drew up and everyone gets excited, and I’m filled with pride that Ember is already enriching our community. We end with a discussion about boosting up our security, with the women in our pack now we have a lot of fear that hunters will return. I want to keep my people safe above all else. People start to flow out of the room as things die down. “Lucas could you stay behind. I wanted to talk to you for a few minutes alone.” He simply looks at me and nods. The light, easy relationship we have always enjoyed is strained and we both feel it. “What can I do for you brother?” “I just wanted to check in with you; you are still my Beta, and my brother. I don’t want things to continue to be difficult between us.” “I love you and am happy to be your Beta, I love this pack and will always support you. With that being said I don’t want to mislead you into thinking I have forgotten about Ember or that my feelings have changed, I love her still.” I work on calming myself because I am so sick of having the same fight. Knowing he feels no guilt in wanting my mate infuriates me. Lucas has always been so easy going and has never fought me like this on anything.
“Since we are speaking of Ember, I wanted you to know I spoke to the elders about our situation, although it is very uncommon it isn’t impossible that she may be mated to us both. When it does happen, it is usually to brothers and almost always twins.” I hate the hope that fills his eyes. The thought of having to share her makes me sick. I have no idea how it would even work. “With that being said I have decided to keep things as they are. We don’t know if that’s the case and the elders said they’d continue to look into it. Who knows maybe you will feel the pull to Ava, or she might bear you a pup soon and all this mess will take care of itself?” “I can guarantee you that Ava will not bring a child of mine into this world. The only woman that will carry my child is Ember.” That sets it off and we both turn and begin to tear each other apart. His wolf is so similar to my own that it feels like I’m fighting myself, and neither of us are leaving this room unharmed if this continues. Just as I pin him down ready to tear at his throat Ember bursts into the room.
“Please stop!” She charges at me, trying to pull my large wolf form from atop my brothers. A lot of the humans have had a hard time adjusting to us shifting, but not my brave Ember. She is foolish to charge into our fight, but part of me loves that she knows I would rather die than harm her. Lucas and I both shift back standing before her panting and naked. Her heart starts racing, and I can smell her arousal perfuming the air in the conference room. The need to throw her down and fuck her has never been stronger. My cock stiffens needing to be inside her. Her reaction tells me nothing would make her happier. Ember's pupils dilate, and she starts sweating as she looks us both over. The small moan that escapes her tells me I need to get her out of here now or Lucas and I will kill each other to bed her. The whimper from her and the growl that rips from him as I throw her over my shoulder and leave are devastating. Can she really be both our mate? Fuck I hope not. As I bring her into the house, I notice she is burning up and whimpering. “Ember, baby are you ok?” “James, I’m sorry I don’t know what’s going on I just feel awful. My body feels like it’s burning, I think I need a cold bath.” I carry her upstairs to our room and begin to strip her down as I do, she starts panting again, her scent making my dick ache with a need to be burried inside her.