Chapter 28: {27}

They had been in the room for twenty-four minutes and forty-three seconds. Nate was sure of this because of the wooden clock which hung off of one of the walls in the small room. He had just been watching the hands of the clock move for over ten minutes, his mind running away on him if he wasn’t concentrating on something.

His eyes flickered from the clock to Brody who was still beside him. His mate was tapping his fingers anxiously against the table top, his nails making little thumping sounds against it every few seconds like clockwork. It was the only sound in the silent room. There hadn’t been words shared between them since just after they had arrived, both of their minds too preoccupied to focus on anything else.

Brody must have felt Nate’s eyes on him as the boy looked up, green eyes meeting brown. There were mixed emotions on his face, but Nate could see the strength and determination behind his eyes that mixed with just a sliver of hope.

The door opened, the sound intruding on the silence that had become them. They both looked away from each other and towards the door where Nate’s father and the older man from the council now stood. Brody stiffened beside him and Nate did the same. He looked into his father’s eyes, hoping to see something that would allude him to what transpired in that room, to the fate the council had chosen for them. Unfortunately, his father’s face was unreadable like usual, a blank mask over his features.

The man standing beside him was the one who broke the silence. ‘We have made our decision,’ he declared. ‘I will let Mr. King here tell you the details. It was nice meeting you both,’ he concluded. The man then turned away without so much as a word, leaving just the three of them.

Nate’s father walked into the room, pulling out the chair next to his son and taking a seat. He seemed reluctant to speak, just looking at the two of them with a slight hint of hesitation.

Nate didn’t know what to say now. He wasn’t sure if he could handle what his father was going to say. He didn’t know what he would do if his father told them that they were being split up. The mere thought of it was like a knife to the heart. He looked over at Brody, seeing the face of the person that he intended to spend the rest of his life with. He knew that his father’s words weren’t going to stop him. In that moment he was going to take any chance that he could to be with his mate, and if that meant that they had to run away from everything that they had ever know, then so be it. He held out his open hand to Brody, needing the strength of his mate.

Brody took it, wrapping his fingers around his mate’s in an instant. He then looked at Nate’s father. ‘What did they decide?’ he asked cautiously.

Mr. King placed his hands on the table as he spoke, ‘They decided that merging the packs wasn’t a good idea. It is quite unusual for any pack to merge with another, and they decided that uprooting entire families from Montana to Washington just wasn’t the right thing to do.’

Nate gulped, looking over at his mate. Brody looked heartbroken, his eyes filled to the brim with unshed tears as he stared at Nate’s father.

Nate squeezed his mate’s hand, feeling the weight and warmth of it. Were they splitting them up? He wondered. Were they going to try to do what Charles had wanted from the beginning, separate them and rip their titles away from them?

‘W-What do we do then?’ Brody practically whispered out.

‘Well, they did come up with a solution,’ his father explained.

Nate looked at his father expectantly, ‘Why are you dragging this out?’ he asked in slight annoyance. ‘Just tell us, we can handle it,’ he promised, but he wasn’t all too sure of his own words.

Mr. King looked down for a moment before bringing his gaze up to meet his son’s. ‘They decided that you two are capable of running a pack. They looked at your camp test scores and from what you said, they decided that you two would be able to run one pack, together.’

Nate smiled, a giant grin. He and Brody were going to be together. His father opened his mouth to speak again but Nate cut in. ‘That’s great!’ he exclaimed, feeling the weight of his worry and fear falling off of his shoulders.

He looked at Brody then, expecting an identical smile to be covering his mate’s face but instead he was faced with something else. Brody was crying, small trickles of tears falling down the soft skin of his cheek.

Nate squeezed his mate’s hand, moving his chair as close to Brody’s as it could get. ‘Brody?’ he asked, unsure why he was so upset. They were going to be together. They had won. Why on earth would Brody be so upset?

In turn, Brody ripped his hand out of Nate’s grasp, running from the room.

Nate looked after him in shock.

‘What was that about?’ his father asked.

It hit Nate then. One pack. They were to run one pack. Brody has assumed that the one pack was Nate’s, that he would have to move and leave his broken family and barely functional pack who needed him.

He faced his father, ‘Which pack?’ he asked hurriedly.

His father titled his head slightly in what Nate assumed to be sympathy, ‘Brody’s pack in Helena, Montana. There was no other option, the Helena pack had no other qualified possible leaders and your brother is able to fill your position.’

Nate sighed, ‘Thank-god.’

His father straightened up again, ‘You aren’t upset?’ he asked.

‘Upset?’ he asked.

‘You are going to lose your title as council member and you won’t be able to run the pack that you were raised in. I thought that you would be much more distraught,’ he explained. ‘Not that I wanted you to be upset, I just thought you would have been,’ he clarified.

Nate just sighed, a part of him wanted to yell at his father, to tell him that he never wanted the myriad of responsibilities that had been thrown onto his shoulders from the moment that he had been born, but instead he thought about the future that lay ahead of him and he saw more hope and possibility that he could have ever imagined having, and all with the love of his life by his side.

‘Are you disappointed that I won’t be a council member?’

His father looked conflicted, ‘A little. I understand now that your destiny isn’t as a council member. You’ll be able to make a great life for yourself and Brody. Your brother will take your place.’

He thought of his little brother, Riley, and the future that he would have, and he smiled at his father. ‘Riley is going to be a great council member,’ he told his father. ‘He was made for this.’

His father smiled, a rare occurrence, ‘He will. Now, you should go find your mate, tell him the good news.’

Nate smiled, walking from the room. He didn’t look back as he found his way back into the hallway, making his way to the main entrance. He stepped through the glass doors, looking around the grounds. The sun was just starting to set, a light orange glow filtering through the trees.

He looked around, unsure of where Brody had run off to. He couldn’t feel him, so he knew that his mate wasn’t very close, further distressing Nate.

That was when he saw Lucy and Kayden, the two of them were sitting under one of the tree’s talking. Lucy’s back was pressed up against the tree’s thick trunk and Kayden had his legs tucked under him as the spoke.

Nate crossed through the grassed area to get to them, walking at a hurried pace. They saw him coming, concerned expressions on their faces.

He didn’t stop walking until he was practically standing over them, ‘Have you two seen Brody?’ he asked them.

Lucy looked up at him with wide eyes, ‘It went badly, didn’t it?’ she asked in almost horror. ‘I was so sure that they would listen to reason. I can’t believe that-’

Kayden cut her off, ‘What are you talking about?’ he asked her. ‘What went badly?’ he looked at Nate now for an explanation, but he wasn’t much for talking until he knew that Brody was safe and he could tell his mate the good news.

‘Come over here,’ he motioned towards Lucy.

‘What’s going on?’ Kayden asked, but he didn’t walk with them when the two of them walked just out of earshot.

Nate ignored his friend, instead meeting Lucy’s eye line. ‘Did you see him?’ he asked.

She nodded sadly, ‘Yeah, he came running out of the building crying and I saw him from the distance and waved him over but he didn’t look like he saw me. I wasn’t sure what to do and Kayden was with me so I couldn’t really follow him. I messaged you like a thousand times to ask if he was okay and how it went. Didn’t you get them?’

Nate shook his head, ‘We left our phones in my room,’ he explained.

‘What happened in the meeting?’ she asked nervously.

Nate smiled weakly, but he meant it. ‘We won, the packs aren’t merging but we get to run Brody’s pack together.’

‘That’s fantastic!’ she exclaimed. ‘Then why is Brody so upset?’

‘He didn’t hear the whole verdict and he thinks that we are running my pack, and he is worried about his family. I just need to find him and sort all of this out.’

‘Yeah you should,’ she nodded. ‘He went that way, if that’s any help,’ she pointed towards the forest.

The pond, Nate realised. Brody was at the pond.

Nate thanked her and headed towards the tree line at a jog. He should have realised earlier that was where Brody would have gone. Nate breached the tree line, the orange glow of the setting sun bathing his skin between the shades of the high tree’s and guiding his way.

Nate had been to the pond so many times that he was half sure that he would probably still be able to find it in complete darkness, but he still appreciated the light nonetheless. With each step he grew more worried, imagining Brody falling apart thinking that his pack was going to be left in peril.

Nate finally reached the clearing, stepping out from the line of tree’s.

He saw his mate immediately, and the sight was like a dagger to his heart.

Brody was sitting at the water’s edge, his legs tucked underneath him and his head cradled in his hands. Soft crying sounds were audible and Brody’s body shook slightly with each sob.

Nate ran over to him, practically falling on the ground beside him and wrapping his arms around Brody. His mate welcomed the embrace, pressing his face into Nate’s chest and wrapping his hands around the arm that Nate had over his chest.

‘Brody,’ Nate held him close.

‘What’s going to happen to my pack now?’ he asked in a shaky voice.

Nate pulled himself away from Brody slightly, forcing his mate to meet his gaze. ‘They are going to be fine.’

‘They aren’t-’

‘They are going to be fine because the two of us will be there. We will protect your pack, we will do it together.’

Brody’s face was full of confusion, ‘What? How?’

Nate laughed at his mate warmly, ‘You never heard the rest of what my father had to say. They chose your pack for us to run, not mine.’

Brody gasped, ‘They did?’

Nate nodded with a smile as Brody sighed, relief clear on his face. ‘They did.’

Brody’s face turned into one giant smile and the smile only faded slightly when he asked, ‘What happens to your pack? To your council position?’

Nate shrugged, ‘They go to my brother.’

The smile fell off of Brody’s face then. ‘You lose everything?’ he asked in almost horror. ‘You had to give up everything for us?’

Nate gently linked both of his hands with Brody’s, ‘I gained everything,’ he whispered.

‘What?’ Brody asked, guilt all over his face. ‘You were supposed to be a council member, it’s what you were born for.’

Nate shook his head, ‘I was born for this,’ he told him. ‘I never wanted all of that stuff. I never wanted a life of endless meetings where I basically lived on the road, constantly travelling and having to work. I wanted a life of family, I always wanted a pack where I could know people’s names and make a real difference to the lives of the people I lead, and you are giving me that. Together, we can rule this pack and we can be together, have the life we dreamt of.’

Brody smiled slightly, the corners of his mouth lifting just a little and the hurt and worry falling off of his face. ‘This is really what you want?’ he asked.

Nate didn’t respond, instead he just crushed his lips to Brody’s in a passionate kiss. Brody let go of Nate’s hands, preferring to thread one gently into Nate’s hair and the other one just held him close. Nate savoured the way that it felt, but his mind kept telling him that there would be thousands of these kisses to come, and it made his heart feel like a gooey mess inside his chest.

Nate pulled back, bringing his hands up to wipe tears from Brody’s eyes with his thumbs, soothing the reddened and puffy skin.

He looked into the green eyes of his mate, those beautiful eyes that belonged to an even beautiful soul and decided that this was the time.

He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get the words out Brody blurted, ‘I love you.’

Nate laughed, a bright smile stretching across his face. ‘You stole my line,’ he accused adoringly.

Brody giggled, ‘You can still say it back, you know.’

Nate cupped Brody’s cheek with his hand, ‘I love you Brody.’

Brody smiled brightly, ‘For the rest of our lives?’ he asked teasingly, already knowing the answer.

Nate didn’t say anything in return, he just nodded, sealing the promise with a kiss.

(This isn't the last chapter, don't worry)