Baby Brother

Dahlia POV*

When Draven called me, I was surprised that it wasn’t just to talk. He needed advice this time, and he sounded very conflicted about something.

Draven and I are as thick as thieves, and have been since we were small. We are only thirteen months apart, so sometimes it feels as if we are more like twins. 

“Dahl, I’m in some shit. I need someone to tell me that everything will be alright,” he said as soon as I answered the phone. 

Instantly confused, I asked him to elaborate. However, I was not expecting him to tell me that his fated mate just showed up at the academy. 

“My fated mate is from Hardwick. She is three weeks away from turning eighteen, so she is clueless. I feel like I’m making an ass of myself around her, and behaving like a creeper. What do I do about it? I can’t stay away from her, and she already thinks I’m strange,” he explained. 

I giggled to myself, and shook my head. I asked him how his wolf was reacting, and he said that Daxton kept urging him to go to her and claim her right now. With her not being eighteen yet, that was against our laws.

“Then you are going to have to be patient, baby brother. Keep as much distance as you possibly can. I know the next few days will be hard to do because of you having to meet with the students, but after that, until she turns of age, you have got to stay clear. Whatever you do, don’t let that tramp find out who she is to you either. I fear what she will pull if she knows that your mate is in the school. I wish you could just get rid of her,” I replied.

The tramp, aka, Candy Brooks, has been obsessed with Draven since their third year at the school. When he became headmaster, she talked her grandfather into making him hire her as student resident on the floor for the third and fourth year girls. Something that Draven has regretted from the day she started.

Their third year, after a football game, Draven made a drunken mistake at an afterparty and snuck Candy into his room, and they had sex. According to him it only happened one time, but she spread it throughout the school that it happened multiple times, and claimed they were dating.

It got so bad that I had to step in and set the record straight, embarrassing her in the process. I ended up getting pulled out of school for fighting her to shut her up. My dad was not happy about my actions, and made me finish school at the pack high school. 

“I don’t think she suspects anything, she is too busy trying to be accepted by the new popular girls. She will fit right in with them, because they are just as self centered as she is,” he laughed. 

He got quiet, and then told me something that broke my heart. 

“Dahl, I think I hurt her already. I was trying to get to know her, and asked her something about her parents. Their Alpha murdered them, and I asked her why. The way I said it made it sound like I was accusing them of being bad people without knowing the situation. She ran away from me, and must have cried herself to sleep out on the fields. I startled her, but she willingly walked back with me. She even told me what happened to her parents. They weren’t bad people at all, and I jumped to conclusions like I always do. She said we were good, but I’m still unsure,” he explained.

I knew he meant well, but he was right, he has a tendency to insert his foot in his mouth from time to time. 

“I’m sure you are fine. Just think before you speak. I know you are eager to get to know her, but if she has that kind of trauma, you have to be gentle. Ease into it, not everything needs to be rushed,” I reassured him. 

Once I had him calmed down I told him about what was going on here at the pack. My dad was fully ready to retire and ride off into the sunset with his new girlfriend. Once he left his duties as Alpha, our mother would no longer need to pretend to love him, and she could finally be with her fated mate completely. 

“Daddy has already passed off most of his duties to Jeremiah. He is so wrapped up in Josephine that he has already checked out mentally. It’s fine though, because if you think about it, Jeremiah has run this pack the majority of daddy’s reign anyway,” I said. 

I heard him scoff. He really disliked Josephine. She was half our dad’s age, and thought that once my dad stepped down he would still have unlimited access to money. Boy, was she in for a rude awakening.

“Hopefully, Frank implemented the change in allowance clause in his stepping down documents. Dad is going to be pissed, but I needed to do it because of her. Otherwise, the pack would go bankrupt under my nose,” he said. 

I told him that everything was in order. I was making sure of it. Draven was definitely right about her, and limiting my dad’s income after he stepped down was the right choice.

“I have to go, Draven. I have a meeting with Olga in fifteen minutes. If I’m late, she might turn me into a toad,” I laughed, causing him to burst out laughing. 

Olga was our pack’s medicine woman. I preferred natural medicines to chemically created ones. I met with her three times a month to help with migraines I had suffered from since I was a child. 

“Alright, sis. I’ll call in a few days to give you an update. I hope Olga’s methods are still working,” he said, and we disconnected our call.

As I walked towards Olga’s cabin, I decided that I would go to NightShade this weekend for a visit. I needed to see this mate for myself.