Chapter 4: Enemies

Ivy

Like his brothers, Damien had those glorious grey-blue eyes and a physique that I imagined male models would have killed for. But unlike his brothers, his hair was jet black. So black, in fact, that I was almost sure that he had to be dyeing it.

Damien placed his helmet on the handle of his motorcycle and even from my spot on the stairs, I could see the tension knitting his shoulders. He wore a leather jacket and torn, black jeans with maroon-colored Doc Martens.

“What are you two doing here?” Damien asked and I found myself surprised by how soft his voice was. “I said that I never wanted to see either of you again and I meant it. If Dad is trying one of his stupid games-”

“I’m not particularly pleased to see you either,” Liam shot back. “Let me guess, Dad told you about Ivy?”

Damien glanced at me and I tried to ignore what meeting his gaze did to me. He then looked back at Liam. “...did he tell you the same thing?”

“What do you think?” Liam sighed.

Garrett laughed nervously “There’s no way Dad would set us up like this, right? He’s probably just trying to mess with us, don’t you think?” he offered, looking between his two siblings.

I didn’t know anything about the Alpha of Hemlock Pack but this argument didn’t sound very compelling to me.

“All our father has ever done has pitted us against one another,” Liam began evenly though it did little to hide the annoyance that was radiating off of him. “Why would now, when there is a fresh pack to start, he change his tune?”

Garrett swore and scrubbed a hand through his blonde hair again. “I’m gonna have to talk to him about this. But in the meantime, why don’t we all just say what we’re thinking.”

Liam raised a brow at his brother. “Enlighten us.”

“I should be the one that stays,” he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Damien laughed and I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t like the sound of it. “Of course, Garrett because everything is always about you, isn’t it?” he shot sarcastically.

“Dame,” Garrett began, taking a step forward. “We both know that you are the last wolf that should have the title of Alpha. When was the last time you took care of anything? Stuck around for anything? I’m not trying to be an asshole or anything but you’re not equipped for this type of responsibility.”

“I’m inclined to agree,” Liam chimed

“Oh, f*ck you guys,” Damien growled and I could smell the wolf in him clawing beneath his skin. “You’re a brat that’s never had to work for a single thing,” he said, pointing at Garrett before pointing at Liam. “You’re a pretentious narcissist that can’t stand to hear the word ‘No.’

“I know, I’m such a monster, aren’t I? Why don’t you go back to crying in your tattoo parlor that I paid for?” Liam snarled. There is a flash of something across Damien’s face, an expression I can’t place before rage quickly replaced it.

“Can you go five minutes without flaunting all your damn money around?” Garrett spat at Liam.

“I don’t know. Can you both go five minutes without begging me for some of it?” Liam shot back.

I stood in the center of it all like a deer caught in the headlights. I was an only child, I had never known what it was like to have siblings. Yes, I had grown up with Sara who was basically like the sister I’d never had but that was different.

There had always been a certain distance between us no matter how close we were because I was the daughter of the Alpha. We were on different levels. We lived in different homes and had different experiences and expectations put on us by our parents.

We didn’t have to share every life experience or have to deal with each other when we didn’t want to. I didn’t know what a normal sibling rivalry looked like. But as I watched all three of the men get more and more aggressive with one another, I was almost absolutely sure that it wasn’t this.

“Guys,” I began. “Calm down-”

“I’ll remind you both that you are two of the most irresponsible men I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve started my own successful company and purchased multiple properties some of which were for you, as you both know,” Liam declared. “Handling a pack will not only be something that I can do well but easily. So do yourselves a favor and leave.”

“You’re such a dick,” Garrett snarled, pushing Liam.

“Takes one to know one.” Liam pushed Garrett back hard enough to actually send the larger man back a step. The look of shock on Garret’s face was enough to tell me that he had not expected that from his brother.

He pushed Liam so hard that he actually ended up stumbling down the stairs and into the dirt. Liam’s eyes flashed and he tackled Garrett into the stairs. I watched the tumbling men as fists and feet flew.

“Wait, stop!” I tried to push my way between them and grasped for anything to yank them away from each other but I could hardly touch them. They were two full-grown Alpha werewolves and despite my own blood, I was still one woman against two men.

I thought I was strong but trying to break these two up was proving to be truly humbling. I tried again but this time one of them pushed me away and I fell to the ground. At least, I would have if Damien had not caught me in his grasp.

Before I could say a word, he had released me and dove head-first into the rumble with his brothers. “Don’t you push her, you assholes!”

They moved so quickly it was hard to see where one of them ended and the other began. I didn’t know what to do or how to make this stop.

“Can you guys just calm the hell down?” I shouted at them. “This is so dumb!”

When a fourth car rolled onto the property, I was ready to drop to my knees in despair. “Please tell me that you guys don’t have a fourth brother?” I nearly sobbed.

This stopped the fighting and the men stared ahead at the car that made its way further onto the property, toward us.

The three of them stood and almost as if they’d planned it, flanked me. Garrett’s shirt was torn, his lip was busted and his right eye was nearly swollen shut.

Liam’s left side of his face looked like one large bruise and Damien’s lip was cut and bleeding profusely. I gazed at all of them and they stared hard ahead of us at the car rapidly moving toward us.

“No,” Damien managed with his mangled lip. “We don’t have another brother.”

“Meaning that whoever this is, they don’t belong here,” Garrett finished.

Liam glanced over his shoulder to fix me with a stern glare. “Stay here, Ivy.”

In unison, the Anderson Triplets moved toward the car. The car stopped and shut off suddenly. A man with blonde hair that was beginning to grey at the roots styled into a crew cut emerged from the car with a jovial smile.

A grey five o'clock shadow colored his face and with his overalls and red plaid flannel, he looked a bit like an aging lumberjack. “There are my boys,” he laughed. “Jeez, looks like you guys roughed each other up pretty good, huh?”

The tension that hung in the air previously quickly melted away and the men made way for the older man that was very obviously their father. His sons were nearly a spitting image of him save for those blue eyes, his eyes were a darker shade of blue that looked almost violet.

Eyes that I had only seen in the likes of celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor. I wondered vaguely what their mother looked like to create such handsome children.

“Dad, what the hell?” Garrett exclaimed, scrubbing his disheveled hair. “What’s going on?”

“Glad you find it so funny,” Liam added.

Their father waved them off and brushed past his sons, walking directly to me. “Hey there, Miss. Lynnd. Sorry about not arriving sooner, I was hoping to beat you here,” he said. “I’m Derrick Anderson of Hemlock Pack.”

I immediately took his hand and pressed it to my forehead to show my respect to the older Alpha. He caught my hand before I could finish the gesture and mirrored it.

“I’d like to formally apologize for my boys. They can be a bit..hotheaded. But they’re going to go wait in the house now - I’d like to talk to you alone.”

“Dad-” Damien began to protest. But Derrick shot him a look that could have cut through ice.

“My boys are going to go wait in the house for me while you and I have a nice chat,” he repeated without even trying to hide the threat in his voice.

It was shocking to watch these three men who only moments prior had been beating the hell out of each other look so chastised as they filed back into the house.

Once they were gone, Derrick turned to me and smiled a little as he released my hand. “Well, Ivy,” he began, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I wish we were meeting under better circumstances. I’m sorry about your loss.”

“Thank you.”

“That being said. This is a bit of an awkward situation for me, you see. I’m just as new to all this as you are. Did your father ever teach you what it would mean for you as a female with Alpha blood?”

I shook my head.

“I figured as much. He probably never thought something like this would happen, can’t blame him. This is rather rare,” Derrick began.

“Well, as you know, Alpha wolves can choose whatever mate they’d like and women with Alpha blood normally have a mate chosen for them when the time is right by the people closest to them. But Alan never chose anyone for you. And now that he’s-well, you know- it leaves you in a bit of a strange position. Here you are with this beautiful Alpha blood and no mate. That’s where I was thinking my boys could come in.”

“All of them?” I gasped.

“Goddess, no,” he laughed. “But one of them, yes. My sons are triplets. So each has got just as much of my blood as the other. All of them have qualities that would make them amazing leaders.”

“So you want me to choose between your sons?” I asked as the weight of what he was saying began to sink in.

“That’s the idea, yeah. I’ll leave the choice entirely up to you and I trust that you’ll make the decision that is best for your future pack,” Derrick winked. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go break the news to them. Trust me, it’s better if I do it.”

With that, Derrick Anderson turned and sauntered into my home while I felt as though I was drowning out there in the darkness. This was too much for me to handle, was it not enough that I was giving up my entire life to devote myself to the pack? Now I had to choose a mate for the sake of it as well?

I thought of my mother now mated to a man that she didn’t know and didn’t love because it was her duty to put the pack between all else. I didn’t want to be like her. I didn’t want to sacrifice everything for the sake of others and throw my own heart to the wind.

I wouldn’t do it. One treacherous thought kept resounding through my mind, pulsing with a life all its own:

I would mate for love. No matter what.