Chapter 5 - Mark’s Truth

Author POV - 

Brian and Mark departed from their home in Rival River pack and made their way on foot through the woods that separate them from Twin Lakes, they chat idly as they go, talking about the things they want to accomplish in their lives, they talk about anything that comes to mind except the mission they are currently heading towards. Brian dreads the topic coming up, hoping that as their opinions differ on the task at hand that they can just make it through the coming days without any accidents, injuries and more specifically without any fights between themselves. He feared their bond was too new for them to risk a fight no matter how much he disagreed with Mark's plan, they had after all only been mates for a month and still needed some time to really strengthen their bond to one another.

The bond, though accepted by them both was still delicate as they had not yet mated and marked one another, they had originally decided to wait a while and get to know each other better as individuals without the bond being completed, which was an unusual move as most wolves fight to complete the bond as quickly as possible and as the time came to a close they had discussed it again but then this mission had been given to them so they had agreed to wait until this mission was completed and Ace and his followers had been dealt with. Their thought process being, yes, being mated makes you stronger, but being mated also means that you are weakened when separated, and Brian knew enough about Ace to know he would try to use their bond against them if he felt threatened or cornered in anyway, which was likely to occur if they got too close to his hideaway. Mark had actually been the one to suggest holding off until Ace was apprehended and though Brian agreed with him, he still worried that Mark might have an ulterior motive to holding off. Brian was not an ambitious man, he was happy with his lot in life, he had no dreams of grandeur, no drive to lift himself higher in rank, he was happy as the Delta to Jack's pack, he knew the importance of his role and enjoyed himself. Mark however, came across to Brian as a very ambitious person, always wanting to better himself, always dreaming of more… more power, more money, more notoriety, he simply wanted more. Mark was an excellent warrior and was happy to be mated to a ranked member of the pack, but he was disappointed when Brian confided in him that Jack had offered him the Beta position and that he had turned it down. He just didn't seem to understand that Brian felt his role as Delta was an important one, and that he was happy and he was great at it.

Mark glanced over at Brian, who had fallen silent as they walked, he hated to admit that he was slightly disappointed, he already loved Brian, he was ready to fully commit to the bond, the thought of rejecting his mate had never occurred to him, though he did wish the moon goddess had paired him with someone more like minded, more willing to take some risks for the sake of others. But as he watched Brian make his way through some thick brush, clearly lost in his own thoughts, he thought back over the last month, the changes that had occurred in his life in such a short span of time, yes he had been a member of Twin Lakes, yes he had been aware of the crap Ace had been pulling, he had tried desperately to fight against the ill treatment of others, he had been reluctant to leave the pack after meeting Brian, not because he questioned the bond but because he was slowly making a difference, finally, within Twin Lakes, he had managed to stop some of Ace's men from acting out their sick fantasies on the unmated she-wolves of the pack, he had managed to help a handful of omega's escape the wrath of Ace and had even managed to get a few of them off pack lands. They were safely sequestered in a nearby human town, living together in a very small, cramped apartment that Mark himself had purchased early on, when it became clear that Ace had an axe to grind and that he would become the Alpha unless Sven somehow managed to find another. He was happy with the decision Alpha Sven had made to have Dave made Alpha, he liked what he had seen and heard of the man and he felt that the girls would do well to return, however, nobody knew of these girls, nobody knew what he had been doing in secret to save and protect them, not even Brian, he hadn't told a soul until now, and he had had no plans to tell anyone until Ace was in the ground, where he belonged, though he believed this needed to change. It was for this reason alone that Mark was so determined to find and kill Ace as quickly as he possibly could. He knew Brian was worried, he understood why, he had even hoped that would be the case, he hoped the worry would push Brian into action, but whenever he thought of Ace he saw those women cowering away from him until he was able to convince them that he could help save them. He saw them tear-streaked and trembling and an unbridled rage flooded his veins, blinding him to everything else.

Mark knew it was risky, he knew he would be outnumbered, but he didn't care, it was why he had dismayed Brian from completing the bond with him, he did want to be with Brian, more than almost anything, but he did not want to risk Brian's life as well as his own. 

Mark knew Brian had gone to Alpha Jack, he knew that Alpha Jack and Alpha Dave had collaborated and changed the plan, he knew they were being followed discreetly by others. It had all been a part of his plan, he wanted to make sure Brian was safe, and he wanted to end Ace so that the girls could return home to their families who currently thought them dead.

After some more thought of the plans he had been concocting he decided it was time to bring Brian into the loop, he had hated lying to him, manipulating him, but he worried that if he had told the truth from the beginning that instead of heading off with back up, that they would have been pulled off the mission, and to Mark, that was not an option. When they stopped to set up camp in half an hour he planned to tell Brian everything, he would bare his soul and hope that he would be forgiven for keeping secrets from his destined life partner, his mate.