Title: I'm the lie living for you
Disclaimer: some of the characters are mine; title from Evanescence
Warnings: AU, violence
Pairings: Brian O'Connor/Carter Verone, Carter's parents, Carter's grandparents
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 960
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, Let me light up the sky,/Light it up for you./Let me tell you why,/I would die for you. (Light Up The Sky - Yellowcard)
There are those who doubt Valentina's strength when they learn that Alpha Herrera is a female.
She tears out their throats the way her father tore out those of all who challenged him.
An enemy is an enemy, she teaches her son. A challenge is a challenge. Always respect a threat.
.
While Valentina loved Jonathan with everything in her, she would always regret that they could not run together as their other halves, that there were parts of him she would never understand, that he would always wonder at the jaguar inside her instead of having another half of his own. She loved him nonetheless, but by the old laws that still governed her kind even today, he could never be declared her mate.
Instead, she took his name. Became his wife, mother of his son. She would forever be, despite the marriage, Alpha Herrera – as her family, her pack, has been for hundreds of years, stretching back unbroken.
As her son will be.
.
Valentina raised her cub (for cub he was, a black jaguar - a good portent, the oldest member of the pack murmured while Carter explored on unsteady legs and Jonathan just watched in awe) with the understanding of true partnership, a combination of the human marriage and the shifter mating. He had dalliances here and there with other members of the pack, a few humans from outside it, and Valentina just shook her head, smiling. He was searching, as she had once searched, as her father had not. Papa chose a human woman to strengthen an alliance and Valentina has never thought otherwise. Her parents loved her but not each other, and she refused to settle.
Had the pack needed it, of course; but the pack did not. The pack did not and she loved Jonathan. She killed for Jonathan. Would have died for him, before Carter.
Valentina raised her cub to understand that the pack must always come first. But a mate –
A mate is a sacred thing. An alpha cannot die for their mate because of the good of the pack. But vengeance should be sought. A reckoning. And if the alpha is strong, is respected and loved, then the pack will demand blood, as well.
.
Valentina was sure that Carter continued his dalliances in Miami but he never spoke of them to her. Not until he met a cougar named Brian O'Connor.
She informed her closest council first, and word spread swiftly through the pack (though not to the human employees) that Heir Herrera had found a lover who might one day be his mate.
Valentina was excited, of course; but she doubted that anyone could be good enough for her son, smart and strong enough to match him, to challenge him. But she learned how Brian taught Carter's Miami pack, how he kept Carter safe, how he executed threats without hesitation or mercy. She could like what she heard, though, and still doubt.
They spoke on the phone a few times, Alpha Herrera and her heir's lover. Each time, she liked Brian more, and the doubts lessened.
.
She did not meet her son's lover until Carter returned home for good, bringing most of his Miami pack with him – as well as a coyote who was firmly in Brian's back and no one else's.
As far as she could see, there was but one problem: Brian O'Connor did not believe in mates, not the way Carter did. Oh, he loved her son, that was obvious to everyone. But he did not believe in mates, and he also (somehow) did not believe himself to be an alpha.
.
Carter's mate (for that is what Brian O'Connor is, whether he will admit it or no) carved out a space for himself without seeming to realize it. It was an extension of the position he held in Miami and he earned it with cold glances, sharp claws, words that skewered, and smiles that cut into all who dared oppose him. Carter was her heir, not just because he was her only child – his operation in Miami, his conduct with the pack, how he did not back down even with the older members of the council while still showing them the necessary respect… Carter was her Heir Apparent, and none could challenge that.
What they could do was challenge Brian. He was an outsider, after all, an upstart none of them knew. What they would never dare say to Valentina's face, to Carter's, they would spit at Brian.
There had been no formal declaration of Brian's place; Valentina had hoped he would realize on his own. But is not until a full year has passed since Carter's return that Brian approached Valentina and with his throat bared, he said, "Alpha Herrera, I intend to court your son."
"You began that courtship months ago," Valentina replied.
Brian had blinked and looked down, clearly wanting to fidget and just as clearly refusing to. He met her gaze again as he said, "We're going to mate."
"You have my approval, if you seek it," Valentina said. "And my approval still if you do not."
.
Word travels swiftly in packs.
Heir Herrera mating traveled just as swiftly as the previous Heir's choice of a human.
Many were happy that the Heir was happy, or did not care either way. But there were some, a vocal minority, that could be content with Carter as Heir – but an outsider, not even from the same land…
And so Valentina declared that challenges would be held on one of the ancient holy days, so that all those who believed Brian O'Connor should not lead could fight him.
She made sure that every invitation called them the Heirs Herrera, for they were both her sons now.
And she did not doubt that they would win.
