Page 27 of Next Door Midlife Alpha
Will sprawled on the deck, but his years at sea made it easy for him to recover. He scrambled to his feet and returned the attack. He pitched his weight against Dylan as his claws swiped.Fairy tales only get you so far! The old bastard teased us with that, but he’d never say where it was!
It’s for good reason that the Alphas have only passed that knowledge on to the next in line.Dylan felt a burning scrape against his side as one of Will’s claws caught hold of him. He put his head down and rammed his skull into Will’s throat.
Will staggered back, his golden eyes glowing with hate.So you’re going to rub that in my face all over again? You want to tout yourself as being such a great Alpha, but you can’t ever let that go.His rage sent him flying forward once again.
The boat rocked dangerously, and Dylan spread his paws wide to stay balanced. Will shoved into him, pinning him against the gunwale near the stern. The sharp edges gouged into Dylan’s back,and it was getting harder to breathe.You want to talk about living in the past? You’re the one who’s held a grudge against me since the day we came into this world. It’s not my fault I was born first, but you’ve always acted like it was something I did to purposefully offend you.He turned his head and sank his fangs into the side of Will’s neck.
You took away my chance to actually be something!Will thrashed his head around, trying to get away from the sharp pressure of Dylan’s teeth.I was positioned to be born first! Fate had already decided that I was going to be the Alpha.
It’s not like I wrapped the umbilical cord around my own throat.Dylan clamped down harder, seeing that he had the advantage now. They might be on Will’s territory on the boat, but he had always been the better fighter. He continued to turn his head to the side, slowly twisting so that the two bears were changing places. Soon enough, Will was the one pressed against the railing.I’m sure Mom didn’t exactly want that c-section, either. There was no choice to be made. It was how things were. Stop acting like the world and everyone in it is out to get you. You’ve always made things hard on yourself, and that kind of attitude only makes it worse!He tasted the salt and iron of blood on his tongue.
Will’s paws scrambled wildly in the air. His claws thrashed against Dylan’s side, but not with enough strength to cut through.Everyone has always treated me like I’m different, like I’m less than!
No, we haven’t.Dylan knew he could say that with complete conviction. He’d assessed himself endlessly as an Alpha, especially after the fateful night of his initiation ceremony. He held his grip with his teeth, knowing he couldn’t trust Will not to attack him again.We’ve always treated you as a brother. You were the one who acted like an outsider, no matter how hard we tried to fix that in you. But that wasn’t our job, especially not as kids. No one would ever have felt the way we do about you if you hadn’t pulled that stunt at my initiation ceremony. That was you, Will. It’s about time you accepted responsibility for the things that’ve happened in your life and stopped trying to act like everyone else is to blame.
Will landed one final blow to Dylan’s side before his paw slowly slid down. He breathed heavily.Fine. You’re right. It’s not like I could ever win against you, anyway.
Slowly, Dylan dislodged his teeth from Will’s throat. He straightened, backing up just enough to let Will get up but without giving him any chance at a good charge.That’s the problem, Will. It’s notsupposed to be about winning. Not between brothers. Not between clan members.
Will slumped down to the deck, a pitiful version of the angry beast he’d just been, and melted back into his human form. He was a solid, muscular man compared to many, but he looked tiny after he’d just taken the shape of his bear. Blood ran down the side of his neck from the neat rows of holes that Dylan had just made, but when he wiped it away, there was nothing underneath but round pink scars. “Always the noble one, aren’t you, Dill?”
Most of the fury had been worked out of him now, making it easier for him to let his bear go. The boat and the water sounded strange as his hearing altered back to its normal state. The sunlight, which had shown him every individual strand of Will’s fur, was now overwhelmingly bright. The boat also returned to normalcy, no longer rocking and pitching but bobbing peacefully. “It’s not a competition.”
“No,” Will agreed, still trying to catch his breath. “Maybe it’s not, or maybe it just never seemed like it to anyone else. It always did to me, though. You were the special one, the chosen one, and all because fate had twisted back on itself, changing its mind. It chose me, but then it chose you. I thought that wassome major bullshit. That’s why I started that fight during your initiation ceremony. I wanted everyone to see how unfair it was. I was mad at you, but only because you had everything I ever wanted. Or at least, everything I ever thought I wanted.”
Dylan watched him attentively, not yet sure if Will was speaking from the heart or if this was just another tactic of his. “Did youreallywant to be Alpha? Did you actually want the weight of the entire clan on your shoulders, looking to you first when things go wrong?”
An ironic laugh barked between Will’s lips. “Yeah, yeah. I know. Even if I really had been born first, Dad wouldn’t have let me have the position. He would’ve chosen you because he knew I wasn’t cut out for it.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.”
“That’s whatI’msaying,” Will corrected sharply, “and the old bastard was right. I’ve already proven to myself that I’m a shitty leader. There’s no point in trying to delude myself even further.”
That wasn’t the response Dylan expected at all. Will may have given up on fighting him physically, but to actually give up entirely? “What are you talking about?”
Hoisting himself to his feet, Will sat on therailing with his shoulders slumped forward. “I left here a loser all those years ago, with no money to my name and no direction in life. I happened to get a job at the docks, and things just sort of took off from there. I got into the fishing industry and was working my way up in the world. I actually earned myself a leadership position with this company, in charge of not just myself but several other men and boats.”
It was hard to imagine Will doing anything that required cooperating with others. “That sounds pretty good.”
“Yeah, until I went and fucked it all up.” He’d had that easy smile and casual look about him ever since he’d arrived, but it was gone now. A deep crease had formed in his brow, and his knuckles were white where he gripped the gunwale. “I’ve never been good with money. I know that, and the casinos know it, too. I had a big fat wad I was supposed to pay out to my crew, but I blew it all in one night.”
Dylan wasn’t surprised, but he didn’t say so. He’d never expected to hear Will confess so much to him, much less to acknowledge his own shortcomings. “Damn.”
Will nodded. His gaze rested on the deck, but histrue focus was nowhere near Truro. “Damn is right. These are some rough guys, and they know I did them wrong. They’re after me, Dylan. That’s why I came back. I thought if I could get a hold of that treasure, I could make things right again.”
“Why didn’t you just come to me?” Dylan asked. He’d had plenty of hard feelings about Will, but his heart was starting to crack now. He didn’t like seeing all that pain and worry on his face. “The clan takes care of its members. You know that.”
“Pride,” Will sighed. “Plenty of other tangled-up shit like that. I also figured that everyone already thought so poorly of me that I’d never get any help unless I helped myself. I’m a piece of shit, Dill. Don’t think I don’t know that.”
“Idon’t know that.” He hadn’t been sure until now. Dylan had allowed the past to override any chance of seeing what was really going on with Will, but he had a whole new perspective now. “You’re not a piece of shit. You just have some things twisted up in your head. That happens to people, people of all kinds. We can work through that if you’re willing.”
Will slowly lifted his head until he looked into Dylan’s eyes. “Are you serious? You’re not just going to send me packing after all this?”
“What kind of Alpha would I be if I did that?”Dylan crossed the deck and reached out to grip his brother’s hand. He pulled him to his feet and wrapped his arms tight around him, pounding him on the back as if he could pound some sense into him. “We need to talk about this and see what we can do. You don’t have to do any of it on your own. You never did.”
“It’s going to take me a while to convince myself of that,” Will admitted, sounding a bit like the boy that Dylan had known all those years ago.
“I know.” Dylan pulled back and clapped him on the shoulder. “Give us all a little more credit, and we’ll be sure to give you some, too. Your dog is worried about you. Why don’t you take a bit of time and then come up to the clanhouse tonight? We’ll go over your situation and see what we can do.”
