Her Brother, Her Mate

I watch in horror as Vincent strikes at my brother while Casey lunges at him. Casey hesitates momentarily when he hears Vincent say I’m his mate, but he had so much momentum he couldn’t stop his blow in time. Before his claws connect with Vincent’s face, Vincent mists again, appearing right behind Casey and slamming him to the ground by the collar of his shirt.

Casey shifts and shreds his clothes in an instant. The irony isn’t lost on me when I see the ‘#TeamEdward’ shirt he was wearing under his flannel get torn into pieces. I’m not feeling very #TeamVampire right now. Still, the mate bond sends me into a panic as I watch my brother’s wolf face off with a jealous vampire.

“What do we do?” Hillary watches in horror next to me. Carli and Matt are jogging over to the fight, Carli yelling and cursing at both of them while Matt blows his whistle like it has the magic ability to make them stop.

“I don’t know,” I mumble softly, a tear rolling down my cheek at the thought of Casey hurting my mate. Casey is….well, Casey. He’s one of the strongest warriors our pack had that was not one of the ranked wolves, and I know he has just gotten stronger and stronger since becoming gamma of the rugged northern pack. Vincent attacked him first without any warning, so I couldn’t even blame Casey for hurting him.

I can’t see the details of the fight, but the sounds coming from them as their lightning-fast movements blur in front of me sound horrifying. Goosebumps run up my arms as my b***d runs cold.

“ENOUGH!” Parker’s voice rings out over the field while he exits his truck in the lot, freezing everyone in place as his alpha aura rushes over us. Vincent, being my mate, even freezes, and I whimper in relief seeing that he is completely unscathed.

My relief doesn’t last for long. Casey shifts back, and his skin is a sickly grey as black veins spread across his bare thigh. Vincent bit him. My mate attacked and poisoned my brother. My knees start to buckle as terror grips me.

I find the strength to run across the field, throwing myself down next to Casey. Matt rushed to the medical cart, grabbing the anti-venom pen. My hands move across his clammy skin, trying to figure out a way to help him. He’s naked, but in my panic, I don’t even notice. Vincent clearly does as he hisses striding over to me.

“Get away from him,” Vincent hisses, trying to grab my arm. I jerk away, glaring over at him briefly with tear-filled eyes. “You are going to comfort that mutt over your own mate? He will be fine. He will learn to keep his filthy hands to himself from now on.”

“Vin, stop,” Carli shakes her head at him, eyes as horrified as mine. Vincent hisses at her too, making her growl in response. What is wrong with him? Why is he acting like this?

“He should have stopped rubbing himself all over Simone!” Vincent sneers, trying again to grab my arm but a growl at him, moving out of his reach. I’m not leaving my brother, no matter how much Vincent wants me away from him. He is making it a lot easier to ignore the mate bond pulling me towards him to comfort him and make sure he’s okay.

“He’s my brother,” I mutter quietly, turning back to cup my brother’s strained face. I know he heard me based on his sharp intake of breath.

Casey is groaning in pain as the venom travels through his bloodstream. Matt slams the pen into his thigh and all of us breathe a sigh of relief as the black tendrils retract as the venom is pushed from his body back out of the wound. Yellowing fluid oozes from the bite marks and Casey’s breathing evens out after several seconds.

“I didn’t know,” Vincent gapes at what he just did. “I thought he was-”

“Hitting on me? You called me primal, but you start attacking my own brother without warning all because you thought he was hitting on me?”

“I didn’t know,” he says, still in shock at what he did.

“I’m fine, sis,” Casey sits up with a g***n, “The fucker caught me off guard, but I’m okay.”

“It’s not okay,” I cry out, examining his thigh and letting my tears fall freely. Casey grips my chin and turns my face towards his.

“I’m fine. Stung like a b***h, but I’m fine.”ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

“I’m so sorry,” Vincent breathes out. I can feel his shame and regret through the bond but I’m too upset with what he did to look at him again. I don’t want to do or say something I can’t take back because I’m so mad.

“Thought you said the dude was a desk-work kind of guy?” Casey looks up at Carli with a smile, “He doesn’t fight like some helpless suit. s**t, that was the most intense fight I’ve had in a while.”

“I’ll take you on later then,” Parker smirks at him, coming over to examine Casey’s leg with a pair of shorts for him in his hands.

“Hey, I was close to kicking your a*s last time,” Casey jokes with him, wincing when Parker wipes the venom off his skin with a gauze pad.

“Keep telling yourself that. I broke your femur.”

“Yeah, Court was pretty pissed at me for that. Told me to not hold back next time.”

“Bull s**t,” Parker laughs.

Their banter lightens the mood, but I think the training session is ruined. Casey needs to get to the medical center and everyone is staring at Vincent with apprehension. I feel the need to defend him, but I can’t defend his actions right now. Yes, he’s my mate, but he bit my brother. He could have killed him if he bit him more than once.

“I can’t tell you how sorry I am,” Vincent looks down at Casey with worry and remorse.

“Hey, no big deal,” Casey smiles up at Vincent. After a second of examining his face, Casey’s smile falters and turns into a scowl. “I remember you,” he sneers, “You’re the f**k-head that had his tongue down Carli’s throat at the cove all those years ago. The sleazeball,” he’s glaring at Vincent now.

“Casey, don’t you start,” Carli scolds him, flicking him on the back of the head.

“Tell me I’m wrong. He’s the guy, right? The gigilo-looking fucker that came onto you the second I left your side.”

“He’s your sister’s mate and a good guy,” Carli tells him sternly, but her eyes falter as she peeks over at his slow-healing leg.

“First and second impressions of the prick say otherwise,” Casey glowers at Vincent.

Sorrow and regret, and maybe even embarrassment flood the link between me and Vincent as his emotions flood into mine. “Again, I am sorry. I’ll,” Vincent looks over to me, biting his l*p nervously, “I’ll be back at the packhouse.”

Vincent walks back towards his SUV solemnly, Carlos and Stephan watching us in tense observation.

“What a s**t show,” Carli sighs, nudging Casey with her foot, “You would have attacked a stranger hugging all over Courtney. It was a misunderstanding. I get you’re pissed, but you didn’t have to make him feel worse.”

“Was that night at the cove a misunderstanding? I’m sorry I don’t like the idea of my sister, who’s already going through enough s**t, being roped with a vamp who tried to take advantage of you when you were drunk at a party.”

“I tried to take advantage of him, shithead,” Carli sneers, making me and Parker both growl possessively, “That was nearly 4 years ago. How the f**k do you even remember that s**t. I forgot all about it.”

“He left an impression,” Casey sneers, glaring in the direction of Vincent.

“He isn’t a player or some f**k-boy like you’re thinking, Casey,” Parker tells him, glaring a little at Carli, “I wouldn’t be letting him stay on pack lands or around my mate and family if he was like that.”

Casey growls, then hops up, staggering slightly as he slips on the shorts Parker brought him.

I sigh, tucking myself into my brother’s side and trying to figure out how to tame the emotions filling me through the mate bond. How am I supposed to handle this situation? My brother, my rock and biggest supporter, doesn’t like my mate, and I can’t really fault him for that right now.