Oh Brother Where Art Tho

"When are you going to grow up Aaron?!" Beta Carson yells.

Who does he think he is? He doesn't know me! I've been nothing but a proper Alpha to him! I've shown him respect! I've used his title! He doesn't show me the same courtesy! And I haven't even snapped at him for it! How can he tell me to grow up?! He's the one throwing a temper tantrum! I bite my lip trying to calm down and not explode on this Beta.

"Beta Carson..." I start but he cuts me off.

"Cut the crap Aaron!" He yells and turns away running his hand through his hair. He turns back to face me. "Are you ever going to forgive me Aaron?" He asks.

"Beta..." I begin again.

"I guess that's a no!" He says turning away again "Sorry I bothered you Alpha." He starts to walk away. He called me Alpha? Wait a second... what is going on here?

"Wait!" I call after him. He stops and turns to me. He looks so hurt? Sad? What did I do? "I don't know what you are so upset about... What's going on here?"

Beta Carson walks back up to me. "I am upset Aaron." He says placing a hand on the back of my neck. In that moment I realize that he is tall. A fraction of an inch taller than me even. Lilly did say something about him having Alpha Blood. It shows. "I am upset because you are so distant with me! So formal! Cold!"

"I've been nothing but respectful to you Beta!" I defend myself.

"There you go again! Is that all I am to you now? A title! Mason's Beta?!" He yells stepping away from me.

I am so confused. What am I supposed to call him?

"I don't get it man! What do you want from me? You want me to drop the Beta?! Fine Carson! Are you happy now?" I yell back frustration finally getting the better of me.

"You haven't called me Carson a day in your life! No that's not what I want Aaron!" He screams in response.

"What then? what!? What DO you WANT?!" I yell to him. He storms back up to me and looks me in the eye.

"I want my brother back!" He says.

Before I know what is happening I punch him in the nose and he falls backwards onto the ground.

"At least that's something." He says spitting out blood "feel better pup?!"

"You bastard!" I yell and kick him in the gut.

"Guess not." He coughs.

"My brother is dead!" I yell. I turn away from him and start to walk away.

"What?! Who told you that?!" He yells after me as he stands up. I turn and look at him.

"My father... my brother ran away because he wasn't Alpha and was attacked by rouges... we didn't even have enough of him left for a proper burial! So shut it! I've tolerated you so far out of respect for Mason... but if you keep this up I will kill you!" I spit. I see his jaw drop.

"Come with me." He says.

"Why should I?!" I scream at him.

"We need to talk to Alpha Mason." He says.

He walks back into the house not even waiting to see if I am behind him. As he reaches the door I decide to go. I jog to catch up to him.

"Alpha?" He says knocking on the door.

"Come in Carson." Mason says. "What happened to you?!" He asks as the Beta enters.

"I need you to talk to him!" The Beta tells him. As I enter Mason's eyes widen.

"So I see you boys talked." Mason says grinning at us.

"Yea." The Beta chuckles with little humor as he grabs a tissue and holds it to his nose. "You could say that."

"You need to control your Beta Mason or he's gonna get himself killed!" I say through clenched teeth. Mason laughs.

"You aren't gonna kill him pup!" Mason responds.

"I just might if he keeps it up!" I yell.

"He doesn't know." The Beta says "or rather he doesn't believe me." Mason nods.

"Sit down son." Mason says to me. My eyes shoot daggers at him. He is too calm for my liking right now. "Sit boy!" He yells. I growl slightly but take a seat next to the Beta.

"I'm going to tell you a little story. Keep your mouth shut until the end then you can decide what to do." I nod at him. I'm not much inclined to talk anyway.

"Once upon a time my Beta was killed. I had no one I trusted to fill the position. The pack next to me had just agreed to a treaty that guaranteed peace for us. I began spending a lot of time in this pack." Mason says.

"You already told me about my father and yours deal Mason." I say.

"I also told you to keep your mouth shut!" Mason says and I sit back in the chair.

"Now where was I... I got to know the Alpha family rather well. One day the eldest son turned 20 but he didn't act like an Alpha. He was a good boy but not an Alpha. My friend would not tolerate weakness from his son so he beat him. I tried to stop him but his mind was set. One day he took a whip to the boy trying to force him to become an Alpha. That is when I suggested to the boy that he run. Eventually he did. He showed up at my door heart broken and bloodied. He planned to run as far as he could but asked to stay with me long enough to heal. I agreed and eventually convinced him to stay on as my Beta. He was strong and had a good heart I knew he was up to the job. My friend found out I'd taken his son as my Beta and he flipped. He said his son was dead and if I wanted peace I'd keep it that way. The boy was not welcome on his fathers land and was forced to change his last name but he stayed very much alive." Mason finished.

I look at Mason dumbfounded. My jaw drops. I rub the back of my neck and stare at the floor.

No way. This can't be him. He never said anything. My father has been dead 9 years and he hasn't reached out. My brother would have... he loved me. He would have stopped my father. He would have protected me. He always did when I was little. If he was a few hours away? Nothing would have stopped him.

"No." I say.

"Aaron..."the Beta says reaching for me. I pull away and stand up.

"No!" I scream. I can feel tears in my eyes but I will NOT let them fall. "You are lying! If my brother were here he would have came for me! If my brother were here he wouldn't have let me take his place!" I say removing my shirt exposing the burns cuts and whip scars. "MY brother loved me too much for that!" I say pointing to the scars. "MY brother is DEAD!" I yell.

"But he's not." Mason says

"I'm so sorry Aaron." The Beta says standing up and stepping toward me.

"HE IS!" I yell.

"I'm not." the Beta says trying to hug me. I punch him in the jaw sending him flying across the room breaking some of Mason's shelves with the impact of his body. He comes back over to me "Aaron I'm not dead!" I kick him in the side of the head and he crashes into the arm chair I was sitting in and topples it over. He gets up and comes back over to me. "I'm here Aaron." I knee him in the stomach. He doubles over a moment then stands again. "I won't leave you again." I grab him by his button up and throw him into the door. "I love you Aaron." He says and I run over to him. I jump on top of him and punch his face again and again.

"Fight back!" I yell at him. He is just letting me beat him and it makes me even more mad. "Why won't you fight me?!"

"I love you." He says again. I grab his collar and jerk him up to me ripping his shirt open. What I see makes me step back. Deep scars cover his torso. Larger and deeper than any of mine. I can't believe it!

"No!" I scream and kick him in the chest his body breaking through the door. This time he doesn't get up. "No, no, no, no!" I yell. As I try to run to him Mason grabs hold of me.

"That's enough Aaron." He says. I look at Beta Carson again and the tears flow freely.

"No!" I yell pushing him away. I run to him. "Andy No! I'm sorry!" I sob holding my brother.

"We need to get him to the infirmary Aaron." Mason says as he comes up to me. I look up at him then to my brother. I pick him up and make my way to the infirmary.

"Doc Frasier I need your help!" I yell as I enter the room.

"I'm coming, I'm... Carson?... put him on the bed quickly!" Doc says when he sees the unconscious body in my arms. "What happened?" He asks then his eyes find my bloodied fists. "They say you should see the other guy but seriously Alpha?" He says working on my brother. "Get out of the way." He says pushing me.

"I'm so sorry." I whisper.

"That won't help him pup! Get over here and help me stop the bleeding!" The Doctor orders.

I feel numb. Everything whirls around me. I move over to the bed and hold the gauze on the gash in his head.

"You completely shattered his ribs!" The doctor says.

"Will... will he... be... ok?" I ask.

"A lesser wolf would be dead!" The doctor yells. "Why didn't you stop this Mason?" He asks. I hadn't realized that Mason followed me.

"He told me not to." Mason says.

"Why?!" I yell at him my voice squeaking like a pubescent teen.

"He said he wanted you to accept him... Or he wanted to die... if that's what you needed... he said he wanted to die if it would help you." Mason said.

"Well he may just get his wish!" The doctor responds.

"No! Stupid! Stupid! How could this help me Andy! You idiot!... You should have stopped me Mason!... why didn't you just stop me!?... why didn't he stop me?" My voice fades and turns to sobs. Mason grabs my shoulder and pulls me into a hug. I cry into his shirt.

"It will be ok pup... he will be ok." Mason whispers to me.

"Get him out of here Mason." The doctor says.

"Come on boy... let's get you cleaned up." Mason wraps his arm around me and leads me out the door. We walk up some stairs and he stops in front of a door. "I had someone bring up some clothes that should fit... bathrooms down the hall. Get yourself cleaned up." He says and turns to walk away

"Mason?" I say and he stops "I'm sorry Mason... I'm so sorry!" I say.

"I know boy." He sighs and pats my shoulder. "I know."

With that he walks away. I step through the door. I see the clothes on the bed grab them and go to the bathroom.

I watch the shower change color as the blood washes off of me. My brother's blood. The last family I have and I may have killed him.

I turn off the water, get dressed and go to bed.

("Not The Alpha" will tell you Carson's background and you can see a little Aaron and Lilly... if you are wondering when in the story line to read it now would be good since we now know his and Aaron's relationship.)