Surrogate for My Brother-in-law - Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Leo
With a heavy heart, Leo summoned Zane to his office. He didn't want to believe what he'd heard in the garden. He hoped against all evidence that his brother would have some rational explanation for his treacherous behavior.
After he'd sent Tessa away, he'd been too angry to have anything like a rational conversation. So he'd called the guards and had Zane taken to his room. He'd spent the rest of the night fighting to control his wolf. It growled and raged within him.
Zane's betrayal burned. Knowing that Tessa had been involved hurt, too. Though from the sound of things, Zane had been working to recruit her. And she'd clearly been reluctant. So maybe she had just been lured by his brother's charisma and didn't fully intend to betray the pack.
He would have to keep a very close eye on her. And warn Ethan. That wouldn't be a fun conversation, but it had to happen.
Later, though. First, Leo had to confront his brother. He could not put it off any longer.
The guards brought Zane to Leo's office. Leo waved them out when they hesitated. He did not require back up to speak with his own brother.
“Zane,” Leo said. “You know why you're here.”
Zane nodded and crossed his arms. “Yeah. Because I finally decided to do something about this mess you've made of our pack.”
“Mess? What are you talking about?” Leo asked.
“You know what I'm talking about,” Zane snarled. “This pathetic patchwork of a pack! You're wasting time with an arranged marriage and messing around with the maids, trying desperately to get yourself an heir. Meanwhile we're guarding another alpha's territory instead of claiming one for ourselves!”
Leo shook his head. “I don't know what you mean by 'messing around with the maids,” he growled. “You know I'm faithful to Eva.”
“Sure, that's the problem. You're faithful to Eva, but you haven't made her a true Luna.”
“What do you mean?” Leo asked.
“She's still living in her mother's house! She doesn't have control of the staff, the meals, anything!”
“I didn't realize,” Leo said, and shook himself. It wasn't a good idea to get distracted. He'd talk to Eva later. “But that's no excuse to encourage my staff to... to spy on me.”
Zane shrugged. “I have to do something to get out of your damn shadow. I'll never be anything as long as you're standing in my way.”
“Zane,” Leo tried, once more, to reach out. “You could be anything. You could be an alpha in your own right. Choose a mate, take some of the wolves. I know plenty who'd be willing to follow you.”
“Sure, form a pack out of your leftovers,” Zane sneered. “I should have been Alpha after our father died, not you! Just because you're older.”
“That's not why he passed the title to me,” Leo said. “My wolf was the only one strong enough to face the Rogue king.”
“That's what you tell everyone,” Zane said. “Who knows? Maybe you even believe it. But times are changing, brother mine. The wolves the packs reject and dismiss as nothing have had enough! And we are going to take what's ours.”
“Wait. No.” Leo shook his head. “Zane, you can't mean you're working with the Rogues?”
He'd hoped that Zane's plots were with other younger pack wolves. Surely there were other dissatisfied younger siblings hoping to climb the ranks. He hadn't wanted to believe Zane's “friends” were the same wolves who had murdered their parents.
“The Rogues,” Zane sneered. “The boogeyman that has all you pathetic old school alphas running and hiding with your tails between your legs! You're afraid of them. I've made allies of them!”
“They killed our parents!” Leo roared. “They made war on every pack, attacked women, cubs, the elderly and injured!”
Zane shrugged. “What happened to our parents was regrettable, yes. But clinging to the old ways is going to cause all our deaths.”
“What are you talking about?” Leo asked.
“The world is changing, Leo. If you weren't so willfully blind, you'd see it. The packs seem strong, but we're rotten at the core. Alphas and Lunas do what they want, abuse whoever they please, and the rest just take it because they have no choice. And if you step out of line, you're banished, a Rogue. No wonder they hate you all.” Zane shrugged. “And that's only the trouble from within. The humans are growing their armies, you know. They build stronger weapons, more vicious tricks and traps to use against us.”
“We have treaties with the humans. They respect our territory.”
“Because we gave them no choice!” Leo said. “The moment they are stronger than us, the second they stand a chance in a fight, we're done. They see the packs weakening and they know their chance is coming soon.”
“You're insane,” Leo said.
“I'm the only sane one in this pack!” Zane shouted.
As if that shout was a signal, and maybe it was, the windows of Leo's office shattered in a shower of glass shards. Massive wolves, two fully shifted, then four half shifted, flooded into the room.
Leo spun to face his attackers. He was at a disadvantage, not just from numbers but because he didn't have time to shift. He was unarmed; he hadn't grabbed a knife to meet his own brother.
He lost track of Zane in the melee. He hoped his brother was just standing by. He hated to imagine one of the vicious swipes for his throat might have come from him.
Leo dodged and blocked what he could. If he could just have one moment to shift, he could take care of the invaders. They had him outnumbered, sure, but not a one of them was an alpha.
The guards would hear the commotion and come in soon. They could buy him the seconds he needed to shift. Why hadn't they already done so? Leo caught a glimpse of the door and saw that Zane had shoved the desk in front of it, blocking the guards.
Okay, he was on his own. That was fine. It would be fine. He just needed to hold out a few minutes, exhaust his attackers without letting any of them get a lucky strike in.
A growling, fully shifted wolf leaped and landed on Leo's chest, carrying them both to the ground. Leo twisted just in time to get his throat out of the wolf's mouth. The movement pulled at his left leg, and he felt teeth sink into his shoulder.
“No! Leo!”
Leo knew that voice. What was that voice doing there?
Tessa shrieked from somewhere behind his bookshelf. Which made no sense at all. There was nothing but a wall behind his bookshelf.
Then the whole thing came crashing down on the writhing, fighting mass of wolves. Books scattered everywhere. A candle, thankfully unlit, rolled and bounced across Leo's cheek. The wolf on top of him took the worst of the impact.
A tiny hand reached into the melee and dragged Leo to his feet and into a small, dim hole. There was a small tunnel behind his bookshelf. How did he not know that was there?
Tessa crouched in the darkness. “Come on,” she said. “We have to go, now!”
Tessa, his maid, had just come out of a secret passage and shoved a bookshelf over onto a half dozen enraged Rogue werewolves. All right, then.
Leo grinned at her and twisted away to face his enemies. He reached inside himself for his wolf.
It was time to show them why he, not Zane, was the alpha.