ROMANCE: Mason (Bad Boy Alpha Male Stepbrother Romance Boxset) (New Adult Contemporary Stepbrother Romance Collection) (37 page)

“He is.”  Tina laughed. 

Blaine whipped his head around as Travis stepped out of the darkness and into the light of the porch steps. 

“What is it?”  He growled. 

“Gerard would like to meet again.” 

“Why can’t he come and tell me himself?”

Travis kept his eyes steady.  Blaine could smell the fear coming off of him.  He could smell fear from two other wolves nearby too. 

“He’s close.  Are you willing to talk?” 

Blaine turned his body, swigging beer in the process.  He let the bottle hang loosely between two fingertips by his thigh.  “I am.” 

Travis walked back into the darkness and reemerged with Gerard, Kenny, and Lucas.  Gerard stood at the bottom of the steps, his head low. 

“So…speak.” 

Gerard lifted his eyes only.  Blaine noticed that one eye was still swollen.  He definitely needed medical attention.

“I don’t want to see the pack separate.” 

Blaine sighed.  “Neither do I.” 

“Brooke’s a strong human.” 

“You owe her an apology.”  Blaine crouched on the top step, the beer bottle dangling between his legs.  “She wants to go home.” 

Gerard winced.  “She’s already home, Blaine.” 

Blaine stood.  “I would like to think so.” 

“Can I see her?”

Blaine moved to the side.  “She’s in the guest room.” 

Gerard mounted the steps, his emotions raging within him.  He wanted to hate the woman, but he hated his violent and rude reaction to her more.  He knocked lightly on the guest room door. 

“What?” 

“This is Gerard.  May I speak to you?” 

Brooke rolled her eyes, and slid off the bed, laying the book she was reading aside.  She opened the door, looking at Gerard blankly. 

“Your eye is a mess.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Go sit on the bed.”  Brooke ordered, and wandered into the hallway bathroom to see if there were first aid supplies. 

Gerard set Brooke’s book back down as she came back through the doorway, looking at her sheepishly.  “You like Stephen King?”

Brooke set the cotton balls and peroxide beside him on the bed.  “I
thought
he was brilliant.  Now that I’m living my own nightmare, I think he’s a pansy.” 

Gerard wanted to laugh but sucked in breath sharply as she touched a peroxide drenched cotton ball to the cuts above and below his eye.

“I thought Werewolves heal quickly.” 

“We do, but the worse the injury the longer it takes.” 

“You could have lost an eye.” 

“Look, I’m sorry for the way I acted.”  Gerard tried to look up at her as she stuck a band aid over his eyebrow.  “It wasn’t fair.  You’re the one Blaine loves.  It isn’t for us to decide.” 

Brooke capped the peroxide and sat beside him.  “Thanks, but I don’t think he loves me.” 

Gerard furrowed his brow, ignoring the pain it caused.  “Why would you say that?”

“He hasn’t told me he does.” 

Gerard was speechless.  “You married a man…not knowing if he loves you?”

Brooke willed the tears away.  “
I
love
him
.  I figured that was enough.” 

Gerard regarded her with a new respect.  “You really are tough.”  Brooke’s motionless body told him she was in no mood for joking.  “Please don’t go home.  You have a home…here.” 

Gerard walked slowly down the steps and out onto the porch.  He took the beer offered by Blaine.  He supposed they should have some kind of bro hug now that the fight was over, but the offered beer served as the same thing. 

“She left the door open.” 

Blaine smiled hopefully.  “Thanks.” 

Brooke sat with her back to the door, her head in her hands.  Blaine came and sat next to her, but didn’t dare to touch her yet. 

“What can I do?”

Brooke lifted her head, her eyes accusing.  “You haven’t even told me that you love me!” 

“What?” 

“That’s right…not once.” 

Blaine felt like he was an inch tall.  How could he have neglected
that
?  He brushed a stray tear from her cheek.  Her blue eyes were deep and intense.  He let his forehead rest against hers. 

“I
do
love you, Brooke.  I’ve loved you since that first night you let me kiss you.” 

“I love you too.” 

“Will you stay?”

Brooke sighed.  “I’ll try.” 

Blaine closed his eyes in gratitude before moving his lips to hers. 

                                                        Two years later…

“Dad, don’t you
dare
feed her another piece of cake!”

Jack looked at Brooke innocently.  “But it’s her birthday!  Her
first
birthday!”   Jack lifted his granddaughter high above his head, laughing as she squealed with delight.  She had her mother’s blonde hair, but he could see Blaine’s strong features. 

“Give me that baby!”  Darla demanded. 

“You’ve been calling her “that baby” since she was born!”  Dale teased.  “Her name is Jaqueline!”

“I know, but she’ll always be the
baby
!”  Darla cooed, and began bouncing Jaqueline on one knee. 

A football whizzed past Blaine’s head as he flipped hamburgers on the grill.  “Hey, watch it!”  He chided Kenny and Lucas. 

“Sorry!”  Lucas laughed as he tried to outrun Kenny to the ball. 

Brooke shook her head and nudged Blaine in the back.  “Look over there.” 

Blaine scanned the tree line until he saw Jeanette and Travis sitting on Gerard’s picnic table.  The sight of the empty cabin still made him a little sad, but he knew his friend would return, and when he did he would bring his own mate home with him.

“How long have they been up there like that?”

“Oh, about an hour now.” 

Blaine looked again.  Travis was entertaining Jeanette with some kind of story, his hands moving rapidly as he talked.  Jeanette lowered her head, laughing shyly. 

“She’s different around him.”

“I know.”  Brooke smiled.  “You can’t chose love.”

Blaine looked down at her, his heart expanding a little more.  “No…and I’m glad.”

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BONUS

DESTINED TO BE WITH MY ALPHA

By Sicily Duval

Madison looked at herself in the mirror while she pulled the pins out of her hair, letting her dark brown hair fall out of the French roll she wore to the office.

Behind her Blake was undressing systematically the way he did everything; undo the tie, hang it up, undo the buttons from the top down, shirt in the hamper. She watched him in the mirror. His body was still taut and upright like it had been thirty years ago. He still had that wild rugged look she loved about him. Fierce. Animalistic.

When last had she seen him change? His wolf had been a thing of mystery when she’d first found out, shortly after they’d started dating. It had been a magnificent creature, large and ferocious, a force to be reckoned with. Not a reason for her to leave him, instead a reason for her to stay. He’d been her version of coloring outside the lines in a world where she’d had to be perfect.

As the years had gone by he’d taken care of himself so he didn’t shift around the kids. He had business trips around full moon. He started eating his meat rare, not raw. He’d even allowed the kids to have a dog, even though he growled at the poor animal every time the kids were at school.

There was a time when the sight of his bare chest would make her go crazy, and she would interrupt his routine to climb all over him. They would tumble in bed and he wouldn’t get his shirt in the hamper until morning.

Now when she undressed he barely looked at her, and when she looked at him he looked down to see if there was a stain on his shirt. She sighed.

“I have to work late tomorrow,” she said, still looking at him in the mirror. He took off his watch and put it on the nightstand, face towards the bed.

“That’s fine,” he answered. He was on auto-pilot.

“Do you want me to get something ready for you so you don’t have to worry about cooking? I don’t think I’ll be too late if you want to wait for me…

“I’ll have a big lunch at work and have a sandwich. I might get out a bit, if you’re going to be late. I need to stretch my legs.” It was close to full moon. Blake changed now and then when it wasn’t the pull of the moon that lured out his wolf, just to get it out of his system. He was very particular about not changing around the family.

She pursed her lips into a thin line and turned her eyes back to her own face. He used to wait for her. There’d been days in the beginning that they’d only eaten at eleven at night because they’d waited for each other.

Then kids came and routine had been important, but they were both in Massachusetts now, Emma studying at Harvard and Lash working at Witmark & Lewis while he finished his MBA part time. The empty spaces were filled with the realization that Blake and Madison had just grown apart.

They’d both taken so much out of their day to take care of the kids, they’d forgotten to make time for each other. And now that there was so much time available again it was jam-packed with awkward silences.

But it wasn’t just that, was it? It was the fact that he had stayed strong. His wolf pulled him through. And Madison hadn’t been able to do that. She’d been the one that had gotten sick so often. And when he’d had to take care of the kids because she couldn’t, she was sure he’d resented it.

They climbed into bed. Blake read a copy of Men’s Health while she flipped through whatever women’s magazine she found interesting. And exactly thirty minutes later they switched off their bedside lamps.

Blake was an animal of routine, and the consistency had always worked for her.

“Good night, honey,” she said in the dark.

“Night dear.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” He turned his back to her, and he was asleep within seconds. She lay away, staring at the ceiling in the dark, wondering when those words had lost their meaning and become a force of habit.

On Tuesday she stepped out of the office at four o’clock, an hour before she usually knocked off, and walked to her car. She drove the few blocks to the Medical Park, and stopped in the parking space reserved for the patients of Dr. Kinsey. The secretary greeted her and looked up her medical card.

Madison sat down in the queue. There were five people ahead of her. It was good she’d told Blake she would be late. Doctor appointments were always so unpredictable.

She pulled out her cell phone and found his number on her contacts list. Her finger hovered over the ‘talk’ button, but instead of dialing she closed her contacts list and opened up a text message instead.

Remember I’ll be home late. Fresh bread in the bread box and sliced ham in the fridge. Love you.

An hour and a half dragged by. Madison spent the time reading outdated magazines and watching the toddler in the corner construct a tower. She’d loved them at that age. It seemed so quickly the time had just disappeared, and now she was a middle-aged woman instead of a young mother, waiting for a doctor to tell her what the rest of her life would look like.

Finally it was her turn, and she stepped into the office. Dr. Kinsey smiled at her. The woman was young, with blond hair in a professional ponytail and a smile that reassured patients.

“Madison, it’s great to see you again,” she said. “I know I’m not supposed to say that, because usually when I see people again it means something is wrong, but you’re one of my favorites.” She smiled and flipped open the file.

Madison smiled and sat down. Dr. Kinsey was friendly. Better than the old man they’d been visiting for so long.

“Ah, yes,” Dr. Kinsey said and stood up to walk to her cabinet. “The tests have come back.” She walked to the desk with a piece of paper and sat down.

“The good news is it’s not cancer or anything like that. Your reproductive system is fine and your irregularities aren’t something we can’t fix.”

Madison felt relief wash over her. Her monthly cycles had gotten worse, and with cervical cancer in her bloodline she’d feared the worst. She was frustrated that Dr. Kinsey had started with the good news, though. That meant that it could still be pretty bad.

“What’s the bad news?”

“You have von Willebrand’s disease.”

“What’s that?” Madison asked. It sounded serious and like it was a joke all at the same time. Diseases usually had horrible names that spelled out how terribly they were.

“Your blood has what they call the von Willebrand factor that allows it to clot so your body doesn’t bleed out when you have an injury or during surgery. If you lack the von Willebrand factor, you risk mild to moderate bleeding, in your case. You have type two.”

“How did I get it?” she asked.

Dr. Kinsey flipped through Madison’s file again. “Usually it’s passed down through genetics, but your family doesn’t seem to have any in the family history. It’s possible to acquire it through some diseases or medication.”

“So I got this from taking medicine when I was sick with something else?”

“It’s possible, yes.”

Madison nodded slowly, trying to take in the information, but it didn’t make sense to her. It didn’t sound like it was terrible dangerous. How many times did she bleed, after all?

“What do we do now?” she asked.

“Well, as long as you stay away from blood thinners and medicines like Ibuprofen you should be fine. I’m going to prescribe you a birth control pill that will keep you regular. Other than that you should be fine. I’ll give you a list of what to avoid.”

The consultation finished and Madison got in her car. Pierre, South Dakota wasn’t a large city. It was small by most standards, and the roads were all but busy this time of the day. Still, Madison took her time going home. She supposed she had to tell Blake. It was something he should know, after all, even if it seemed a little pointless because it didn’t really change anything.

She pulled into the drive way and walked in through the front door. The lounge lights were off, the dusk outside making it virtually dark inside.

When Madison flipped on the light, Blake sat on the arm chair.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “You’re sitting all alone in the dark.”

“I know,” he said. She put her handbag down and sat down opposite him.

“I wanted to talk to you,” she said. Now was as good a time as any.

“I wanted to talk to you, too, actually,” he said, putting his elbows on his knees and cupping his hands around his mouth.

“I went to the—“ Madison started but Blake cut her off.

“Are you happy?”

Madison blinked. “What?”

“I asked if you’re happy. Do you get what you need out of life?”

“Well, that’s a strange question—“

“It feels to me like we’re just going through the motions. Nothing we’re doing is for us, it was all for the kids, and now there’s nothing left of the lives we started in the first place.”

“What are you talking about? What happened?”

Blake shook his head and leaned back in the armchair. Sitting like that, all sunken in on himself, she realized how old he’d really become.

“When last did you do something for you? Something that you wanted to do, just because?’

Madison tried, but she couldn’t find anything that she’d done, not in the last ten years, at least.

“I don’t know,” she said softly. Where was this going?

“Sometimes I feel like neither sides of the double life I’m leading is worth it anymore. Our marriage, the kids… all of that has become so stale.”

Madison looked at him sharply but it didn’t look like he was worried about offending her.

“And the other side of me, the wolf…” Blake never discussed his wolf. “I’m not part of a pack, and this lone wolf nonsense is starting to get to me.” He took a deep breath. “I think we should get a divorce.”

Time froze. It was like something had sucked all the air out of the room, and the sudden silence was so heavy Madison could almost hear it.

“What?” she asked, her voice sounding impossibly small.

Blake looked at her with an expression impossible to read.

“You’re not happy, Madison. I can see you’re not. And my life is unfulfilled. I have nothing that I can proudly state: I did that.”

“But Emma and Lash—“

“Besides them.”

Madison shook her head, because he was right. Blake stood up and walked out of the room. Madison stayed behind alone on the couch. She’d heard of relationships that ended once the kids were out of the house. She’d always pitied those women. And now she was one of them.

Why then, didn’t she feel heartbroken? Sad? Rejected? She waited for the shock to come, for the emotions to hit her full on. A relationship ending, after all, had to hurt.

But she was acutely aware of the empty void inside her where emotions should have been. The lack of unhappiness about it. The fact that maybe Blake was right, because if she felt this way about an announcement like that, it might have been time to end it.

In bed that night she turned to him.

“We should tell the kids,” she said. He closed his magazine and laid it down on his lap.

“I’ll phone in the morning.”

Madison shook her head. “I don’t think we can do this one over the phone, honey.” Could she still call him that? “We need to go see them.”

“You hate flying,” Blake pointed out. Madison was terrified of flying. Stepping in a plane led to an immediate panic attack. It just couldn’t happen.

“I’ll take leave, and we’ll make a trip of it. We have to do this.”

Blake nodded, and picked up his magazine again. They didn’t even argue anymore. Surely that was a sign that neither of them was willing to make an effort anymore.

Only once the lights were out did Madison remember that she had never gotten around to telling Blake about her new disease. It didn’t matter now.

2

“There’s construction work on most of the I-90,” Blake said. Madison was packing her bag when he walked into the room. He’d been planning their route online. “It’s going to be a twenty-six hour trip.”

“No way around it?” Madison clipped her suitcase shut and hauled it to the door. Blake watched her without offering to help.

“Most of them have construction zones and the rest will take far too long. It’s the quickest, but we’ll have to overnight somewhere.”

“We can do that, I’m okay to stay over.”

Blake nodded and walked out of the room again. Madison searched for something, a spark of a feeling, but she was sufficiently numb. It was amazing how business-like Blake was about it. How they made the arrangements like clockwork.

They loaded their bags into Blake’s car, and he slammed the boot shut. He climbed in behind the wheel. Madison had a cooler bag at her feet with snacks for the road. The neighborhood was quiet, most people taking Saturdays to sleep in and relax. Usually the roads were busy by now.

“We’ll drive to Chicago and stay there. I’ve booked a room. Then we’ll do the final stretch tomorrow, and get there tomorrow night. The kids are expecting us, we can stay with Lash for the night and make the trip back on Monday. That should have us both back in the office by Wednesday.”

Blake started the car and pulled out. He switched on the radio and tuned into a station they both liked. It made it easier, they wouldn’t have to talk.