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Chapter 10

Emmett POV

Embry, Chris, and I split patrolling duties over the couple of days following the bonfire. We knew that Paul and Brady need time together alone. But, the patrolling schedule I came up with went out the window almost immediately. It wasn't exactly fun for Chris and I to go into the house while Paul and Brady were there. Paul was just a smidge over-the-top protective. Give me a fucking break, I just went home to make a fucking sandwich (or five) and take a nap. Paul growled from the moment I walked in the door. I decided to sleep outdoors in wolf until he either gave Brady his mating mark or moved the fuck out. It was the same for Chris of course. We ended up doing most of the patrolling, sending Embry in for provisions.

Brady seemed cool enough or at least from the little that I knew of him. Embry told me about him growing up and that he had it rough. I just knew he'd have a superpower. Well, maybe it wasn't a superpower but, he could make me fly. We were definitely going to have fun with that. I could only imagine the possibilities. He wasn't much shorter than Embry or Seth in human form but, in wolf, he was so tiny. No wonder his power was defensive.

Now I knew why Paul bitched about Embry and I not keeping our thoughts to ourselves. Over the first couple of days after bringing Brady home, he took him out to run in the forest. Oh my god, Paul needed a brain filter. The only thing on his mind was Brady; look at Brady run, look at Brady sleep, look at Brady this, look at Brady that. I was so over it and it had only been a couple of days. Please tell me I wasn't that bad.

I didn't hear much from Brady which was good and bad. I figured he was probably only thinking of Paul and I don't think I could stand to hear it coming from him as well but, I couldn't get to know him either. He would say "hi" through our pack link but, he was able to hide his thoughts well. Embry said it was part of his shield but, that Seth would still be able to read him.

"Once he gets to know you guys better, he will let you in more," Embry explained.

"How the hell will he get to know me with his shield up all the time?" I asked.

"Emmett, he can still hear you. He's only blocking his thoughts."

"Really?"

"Well, yeah," Embry said. "Why don't you tell him about you and maybe he will start to open up but," he paused, "skip the pina-coladas." he chuckled.

"That's the best part," Embry rolled his eyes. "Hmmmm, he needs a song," I thought.

"Oh, god," Embry groaned as I started to sing the only song I could think of with his name in it.

"Here's a story, of a man named Brady," I began. I hummed through most of it until the end. "The Brady bunch, the Brady bunch, that's the way we became the Brady bunch."

"If Paul hears that, he'll go ape shit all over you," he said. "Leave me out of it."

"Oh, come on, Em. That was funny and you know it," I pouted. What was with everyone and the hate for the greatest decade of pop music ever? Granted, the song was from the previous but, still,

It was the morning three days after Brady joined our pack when I woke in wolf form sleeping at the edge of the forest when someone licked my face. I opened my eyes and saw Paul and his tiny mate standing over me. I could tell immediately that they had mated. Fucking finally.

"Hey, Ems," Paul said. He stood slightly in front of his mate and Brady poked his head around Paul's back. "I'm sorry I was so, um. you know. I didn't mean for you to have to live outside," he said with his eyes looking at the ground.

I stretched out my legs and stood on all fours in front of my alpha. "I know and we've slept in wolf many time over the years," I said licking his face. I stepped to the side trying to see Brady and Paul moved so that he was in front of him. I glared at him. "Seriously, Paul? You've claimed him, I can smell it on him all the way to Alaska and you're still worried? Hell, he could probably throw me over the roof of the garage which, by the way, we are so going to test out very soon," I chuckled. "Get over yourself, it's me, Emmett," I snapped. "He's my pack brother too, you know."

Paul huffed and stepped back. Brady stood with his head held high looking me in the eye. Embry and Chris bounded out of the forest having heard our conversation. Embry trotted right up to his friend, rubbing his body against him. He was happy for his friend to be mated. He now had another submissive. It was strange, We hadn't lived in this hick part of the world long and now we were a pack of five, spending the biggest part of our lives alone. Now, both Paul and I found our mates after so many years. Paul licked my nose taking me out of my thoughts. "I'm sorry, we just needed some time, alone," flashes of he and Brady together went through his mind. I rolled my eyes at him but, licked him back.

"Jake's coming," Embry said, "and Seth with a few of the others."

A moment later, Jacob appeared at the edge of the forest with his imprint and beta. I knew that the alpha mind link was useful but, I always hated that I would only get one side of the conversation. Even Embry and Brady were now able to talk to Seth through their link. Chris and I looked at each other trying to understand what was going on.

From the little bit that I got, the Alpha of Alphas died. Jacob needed to go before the council and be officially crowned. It also sounded like we were going to be making the trip with him. Either that or they were planning a bake sale, who the fuck knew. I watched as Paul stood a little straighter before telling Jacob he would be honored.

"He's going as Jacob's beta," Embry said excitedly.

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Jacob asked if Paul would go as his beta. It's only temporary because he needs to leave Sam here," he explained. "He told Paul that he needed someone who was strong and experienced and that he considers Paul his brother. He is is here to gather support from another alpha. If he shows up with more support, the less likely another alpha will challenge him."

"When does he leave?"

"We're all going," Embry was obviously excited to go. I could understand. We were now in the presence of the future Alpha of Alphas and it was an honor. How Paul and I ended up in here, I would never understand. When the meeting was over, Jacob left but not before Paul bared his neck to the other alpha giving him his official submission. It was a lot like a handshake in the pack world. All alphas were ruled by the Alpha of Alphas but, with Paul's gesture, he was saying that he (and our pack) accepted Jacob's position. Not all alphas did. Someone could challenge him and if they won the battle, their family would then be the ruling power.

We left two days later, each of us with a bag tied around our necks. Jacob said that we had to travel in wolf, sort of a pilgrimage in keeping with the old traditions. I thought we should travel in style like in a couple of macked out jeeps or convertibles. We even had to walk in formation to which I rolled my eyes at. Neither Paul and I agreed that any of us were lower ranking than the other. Sure, we all had our roles within the group but, that didn't make my mate any less important than me. At least within our home, that shit was thrown out the window and Paul took turns doing the dishes just as much as any of us.

When we arrived at the large estate of Jacob's great-grandfather, my jaw hit the floor. Jesus, who knew his family had this kind of money. It was like a log cabin on steroids. At the base it had huge rocks and boulders with huge redwood logs on top making up the rest of the house. It looked old but very well-kept. We approached the largest front door I'd ever seen in my life, large enough that we could walk inside in our wolf forms.

"Most of it was built a couple hundred years ago and can house an entire pack," Brady said quietly. Over the past few days, he slowly opened up to us. He seemed to know a lot about the old legends of the pack. He told us that the stories of the shape-shifters and cold ones fascinated him while he was growing up, reading anything he could get his hands on. He never believed they were true until the night of the bonfire. "There are fireplaces in several of the rooms and a lit candle in every room to ward of the cold ones or at least that's what was written."

We all phased before leaving the surrounding forest and the large doors opened before we climbed up the steps leading inside. The huge foyer had a roaring fire place that was taller than I was and two large staircases on either side. We all looked like riff-raff in our jeans and t-shirts. I felt like I should be in a monkey suit sipping champagne or some shit. The two men who greeted us looked our age but seemed aged somehow.

"Welcome, Prince Jacob," the first one said. "It is good to see you again."

"Thank you," he replied in a formal tone. I could see he was tense, his jaw clenching.

"You seem to be in good health as well as your pack," the second man said as he looked over the group of us. I could tell immediately that I didn't like either one of these dudes. They were stuffy and needed to come off their pedestals. Nothing a whoopie cushion couldn't handle. Something moved out of the corner of my eye and I turned my head to see several submissives standing off to the side of the large room. They stood there silently, waiting for instructions.

"As do you, William," Jacob replied.

"You left Samuel back home I see," the other man stated.

"Yes, of course, Joshua. I would like you to meet Paul Lahote, alpha and acting beta in Samuel's place while we are here," he said putting a hand on Paul's shoulder. "He is the leader of a small pack but, one I know will grow in time. He is a strong leader and fighter and I'm proud to call him friend."

I mentally scoffed at the entire situation. I now had the names of the men but, I opted to think of them as 'Thing One and Thing Two". This was the stuff I hated about our old traditions. The submissives were barely treated like humans and the alphas acted like their shit didn't stink. All I could think about was how to get away from the Dr. Seuss characters, curl up with my man with a beer and pizza on a couch and watch a game. I wondered if they had cable out here.

I felt a nudge, like someone pushed on my chest. But, I realized it wasn't almost as soon as I felt it. I looked at Brady who trembled slightly and Paul who had put an arm around him trying to comfort him. He had only phased less than a week ago and wasn't in complete control of his gift. I looked over at Chris to see confusion on his face and then I looked at Embry who reached out with the hand not holding mine to hold Brady's. We could all feel Brady.

"My pack is tired after our journey," Jacob said. I hadn't been listening to what was being said too focused on what was going on within our pack. "If you would show us to our rooms."

"Of course, Jacob," replied Thing One.

We all made our way up the large staircase in formation, of course. We were given three rooms. One for Jacob and Seth, the two others were large enough to hold the rest of us; one room for the wolves from Jacob's pack and the other held the five of us. We settled into the ridiculously large room with two king-sized beds and a sitting area with a tv on the wall and a couple of sofas facing it. There was only one bathroom but it was enormous. For a brief moment, I thought about the people back on the reservation and the small modest houses they lived in. I pushed it to the back of my mind knowing this was neither the time or the place to bring up how wrong all of it was.