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Zach adjusted his clip on tie and pulled his laptop from his car. Likewise, Dan was stepping from his Jeep one spot over, two coffees in hand. They were lucky to get here remotely on time after everything that had transpired plus the rush across town. He had been embarrassed when Dan walked into his home. The crispy white cabinets and marble countertops, an expensive green crushed velvet couch. The pristine white walls were a shocking contrast to Dan’s home. Whereas Dan’s home felt it had lived a life as a home, Zach’s apartment held little evidence that he lived here. The wolf didn’t seem to mind as he followed Zach to his bedroom. Unlike Dan, Zack has a traditional king size mattress. Dan took off his jacket and sat on the edge of the bed while Zach shed his clothes and walked into the open closet.

Amber eyes watched the husky pick through his clothes to dress, the big wolf spreading out on Zach’s bed to roll his scent into it. He had grabbed Zach’s pillow and nibbled on it before rubbing his face into it, pressing his scent into the fabric. He then tossed it behind his head. Zach chuckled as he watched the wolf open his eyes to look at him. Those Amber eyes questing over his body, drinking him in like a man lost in the desert. Even now, the wolf stood next to his Jeep, watching him. Waiting on him. His entire focus singularly upon him. It was different than the days and months past, almost possessive now. It caused a shiver to go up Zach’s spine as he began to walk with Dan towards the office.

“Sir, I was thinking… after last night… would you perhaps like to bring some clothes to my place… for the next time you… stay over.”

“You’re assuming there will be a next time–”

“Hoping, rather. Sir.”

Zach sighed through his nose before his paw reached down and laced his fingers with Dan’s. The touch was brief, short as their walk was but Zach did end it with the fact that he would enjoy a repeat of this morning. And last night.

“What does… this make us, Sir?”

“Make… us?”

“Well, we’re certainly more than just coworkers now,” Dan said. Zach laughed at him, nudging his shoulder and causing Dan to smile, eyes dancing happily over Zach.

“I suppose that’s true, Dan. I don’t know what we are yet. Whether we’re friends with a bit of fun or… more.”

“More, Sir?” Dan said, eyes bright as his tail wagged.

“Dan, I… I don’t know if I can be what you need me to be.”

Zach looked over at Dan and could see the energy had just drained from the wolf, like a broken vase. The sight pained Zach in a way he couldn’t understand. It was like nothing he had felt before and a whimper threatened to crawl from his throat as he watched the wolf. Observing the front Dan put on, forcing a smile back on his muzzle. There was just no way of hiding how wounded he felt.

~~~~~~

Alexis was sitting at her desk bright and early per her routine. She liked routines and liked to make sure things were where they belonged. Her desk in the foyer for example, always had everything neatly in its place. It was that initial observation that piqued her curiosity when she noticed the usual cup of hot coffee hadn’t been placed on her desk by 7:40 am. Not that Dan had to bring her coffee, but he seemed to like doing so. And his coffee was so much better than what was available in the breakroom. There was a commotion at the front doors and she looked up from her monitor to find Zach and Dan walking through the front doors together, hurriedly crossing the floor. She checked the clock and noted that it was five minutes past eight, more than twenty minutes later than Dan’s normal arrival time. As of late, it was even later than normal for Zach.

“Good morning, boys. Running late today?” she asked, prodding for information. They both looked back and forth between each other.

“Traffic,” Zach blurted.

“Overslept,” Dan mumbled, setting a cup of coffee on the mouse's desk.

Curious, Alexis thought to herself.

“Thanks, Dan!” She said, picking up the coffee and taking a sip. She grimaced, realizing it was cold and bitter. Dan’s ears dropped as he apologized. Even more curious, the wolf reached up and brushed a few strands of long white fur off the back of Zach’s dress shirt on their way to the stairs together. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she turned back around to her monitor.

Cold coffee? Overslept? Traffic? Something isn’t adding up here boys. How curious.

Alexis smiled and turned to her monitor, opening a chat window.

‘Giiiiiiirl, do I have some gossip for you!”

‘Spill the tea Sis, what is it?’

‘You’re not gonna believe who just walked in together.’

“Great, I hope we didn’t just start up the rumor mill,” Zach mumbled between him and Dan as they reached the second floor.

“Rumor mill, Sir?”

“Alexis. Everyone knows she likes… to talk. It’s usually good natured, who’s got a birthday coming up, work anniversaries to celebrate, you know? But sometimes, she gets into who’s dating who and trying to stir up drama.”

“That… is certainly something,” Dan mumbled, looking down at the lobby through which they came. Alexis seemed to be watching them from below. Dan sipped his coffee and continued walking. Zach was connecting his laptop and Dan was shrugging off his suit coat when Miles walked by their cubicle at 8:10. He stopped and did a double take as he noticed Dan wasn’t already sitting at his desk and checked his watch.

“Hello you two. Rough morning?”

Zach flushed red in the ears, caught red handed.

“Traffic,” Dan said, avoiding eye contact.

“Overslept,” Zach replied, his ears flattening on his head.

“Uh-huh. Fine then, keep your secrets. Just don’t make it a habit please.” Miles said, the pine marten stepping back into the hall. Zach and Dan both sighed in relief and set to their work.

~~~~~~

Daily life seemingly went back to normal for Zach and Dan as they settled back into their new routine. The only difference was whether Zach woke in his own bed or not. They would work together, eat lunch together, workout together, and sauna together. Cuddling on the couch together was a new addition. They had even taken to carpooling together. The sun was a silver in the sky as Dan pulled onto his street, his stomach grumbling in hunger. Both he and Zach were exhausted after their workout routine. It was then that he let go of Zach’s hand and put both paws on the steering wheel, his focus forward on something Zach had yet to see.

“Dan?” he asked, looking from the wolf down the street.

The steering wheel creaked as Dan’s grip tightened and the Jeep rolled to stop without entering the driveway. Zach looked out of the windshield to see a foreign car parked in Dan’s driveway. The sedan in the driveway was the definition of a ‘beater’ completed with faded paint, scratches, missing hubcaps, and a dented bumper. However, it was the person behind the untinted windows that Dan was focused on. The setting sun meant that most of the figure was shaded by shadow but Zach could see fur white as snow and a maw opened in what appeared to be a snore. Whoever this was was sleeping in Dan’s driveway. A quiet whine began to crawl out of his throat as he looked at the snoring person.

Dan looked at Zach, muzzle open and unable to form worlds. Instead he desperately flung open his door and raced for the car. Hearing the scrabble of shoes on pavement, the sleeping figure had snapped their head up and looked around in alarm. When he spotted the wolf approaching he gasped in shock, a pained look on his face. He had little time to get his bearings before his car door was yanked open and he was jerked to his feet by powerful arms. Dan stood there, shock evident on his face as his hands rested on the shoulders of the smaller figure.

“How… how? How did you find me?” he whined, shaking with emotion. Zach exited the Jeep in a state of panic and ran to Dan.

“Dan, who is this?” He looked to the other figure, realizing the white furred figure Dan had pulled out of the car was also a wolf. “Who are you?” Dan released the figure and looked at Zach with shocked wide eyes as he stepped back.

“This is… it’s … he’s my–” emotions were welling inside the big wolf, shock slowly giving way to anger.

“Ash?” Zach asked, both wolves nodded as the husky looked between Dan and Ash in surprise.

“Hello big brother,” the smaller wolf said quietly. His tail thumped against his car. Dan’s response was a whine that was followed by steadily growing low growl.

“You have a lot of nerve showing up here, Ashford.”

“What… I don’t know what you mean.”

“Don’t play stupid brother. Getting me kicked out of the pack wasn’t good enough? What more do you want from me. You have it all.”

“Dan… big brother, please. I didn’t do anyth–”

“Sixty seconds, little brother. You get sixty seconds to explain why you’re here. If I’m not satisfied you leave,” Dan growled through clenched teeth. The hurt look on his face was constantly flickering between sorrow and anger as he licked his fangs. His voice was so garbled, Zach almost didn’t understand him.

“Brother, please–”

“Why did you do it, Ash? Why did you rat me out to Father? Did you want to be Alpha that bad? I would have told him in my own time, you were never meant to see what you–”

“Rat you out? No!” Ash said, stepping towards Dan. Zach stepped in front of him and the smaller wolf growled down at him, lips pulling up to show teeth. “But out Dog,” he spat but Dan was there in a flash, snapping his teeth at Ash from over Zach’s shoulder in response. When Dan pulled the husky to his chest, Ash knew he made a mistake. “Big Brother, I would never rat–”

“I’m not going back, Ash. I have no interest in being Alpha or continuing our bloodline. It’s all yours, you can have it. 40 seconds.”

“Brother, I don't want that.”

“Is that why you’re here, then? To ask me to come back, so you don’t have to be Alpha? What is your game?”

“No game!” Ash whined, pleading.

“He cut me out of the family like I was a cancer and tossed me to the side. Like I was nothing. Like I was just a defective part he could throw away.” Ash was whimpering, tears welling his eyes.

“Big Brother, I’m sorry!” Ash howled in anguish. His eyes were closed and he was close to sobbing. ”I never wanted that to happen!”

“Then what did you want to happen, Ash?” Dan growled. Zach placed a hand gently on the arm wrapped around his chest, breaking the wolf’s training of thought. Dan had almost forgotten he was there in his anger.

“Dan, look at his ear. Look, a piece… it's missing.”

Just like Dan, there was a chunk missing from Ash’s ear where the pack ring should be, only it was larger and more ragged. The space was scarred and furless and stood out much more than the spot in Dan’s ears. The sight caused Dan to still as his heart skipped.

“I didn’t rat you out!” Ash whined, bearing his throat in submission as tears ran down his face. “I was shocked after catching you with that other boy, but I was more shocked to realize I wasn’t ALONE, Brother. I ran because I was scared but I was so relieved.” Ash looked away in shame and sobbed. “You wanna know why I am here? It’s because I’m like you, brother.”

Dan’s face blanked in an instant, shocked by the revelation.

My little brother… he’s like… me?

~~~~~~

Zach had guided Ash inside Dan’s home, past the office, through the kitchen, and to the small dining table. Dan growled when he tried to take the bigger chair, so the small wolf tucked his tail to sit in one of the standard chairs. The smaller wolf sat hunched into his seat, staring down at the table lost in thought while Zach and Dan watched him. Zach’s ears perked when he heard Ash’s stomach growl loudly, watching as Ash’s ears flattened in embarrassment. He remained at the table, either too embarrassed or afraid to make eye contact inside his brother’s home. Zach was the one to move, disappearing into the cabinets. The was the clink of ceramics and Ash looked up in surprise when Zach set a bowl in front of him. The bowl was filled to the brim with a kibble type cereal and milk. When he looked up, he seemed to notice Zach for the first time since this odd encounter had begun. He gave a small smile as he blushed under his white fur, nodding in thank you to the husky as he patted him on the shoulder.

“You are welcome, Ash. I’m Zach by the way. I’m Dan’s–”

“Coworker,” Dan interrupted, giving Zach a look. “And he’s not welcome, not yet.” Dan grumbled back. “He still has a lot to explain.”

“You are right brother, I do have a lot to explain,” said the smaller wolf.

“Can’t he at least eat?” asked the husky.

“After. If I feel like he’s telling the truth, he can eat then.”

Ash sighed. “The night I saw you with–” he looked at Dan and looked away with a furious blush. “I went to talk to Father. I thought if… I kept my words as a hypothetical, if I was being vague enough he… he wouldn’t know I was talking about me.” Ash picked up the spoon he had been offered and began poking at the kibble. Dan growled but otherwise remained quiet.

“He got… mad.” Ash whined, wrapping his arms around himself. ”I had never seen him so furious. He thought… he thought I was talking about you, Dan. His prized alpha son,” Ash said bitterly, eyes flicking to Dan before looking down in shame. “Sorry.”

“Continue,” said Dan with a small growl.

“Father began asking questions, started throwing things, smashing others. He asked if I had seen you do something to make me ask these questions. When I wouldn’t tell him, he became enraged. I didn’t know what happened until I woke up and it was dark out. By then, my eyes were beginning to swell shut and he was gone!” Tears began to pour from eyes, all the while he continued to stare at the bowl. “I tried to call you, Brother. I tried to warn you, but it was already dark and you… you didn’t answer and… and… and then you were gone.”

“He had smashed my phone by then. And my face.” Dan snorted, leaning back in a chair. “I had to accept my degree with a black eye.”

“I… didn’t know. Not then at least. So I went to the school to look for you…but you were already gone. You just disappeared and I… I… lost …you,” Ash whined. Snot streamed from his nose and he tried to clean it up with the back of his hand. He sniffed hard and the crackling noise issued from his long muzzle made Dan freeze in shock. It caused Dan to really look over his brother for the first time. This close up he could see Ash’s white fur was hiding numerous scars on his muzzle. As the younger wolf gritted his teeth in anguish, Dan could also see a few were missing. The most worrying of all, was the bony lump on top of his muzzle and how it seemed that his nose was crooked.

“He sent me to a camp, Dan.” Ash whispered. “Mom tried to stop him, but he… he hit her.” His voice turned into a groan of sorrow. “So I went. I went so he would stop hitting her. Hitting us.”

Dan shook with rage, lips pulled back to show his teeth as he stared at the floor. His paws clenched into fists, claws pricking his paws pads as blood began to drip to the floor. The sound itself had caused Ash to close his eyes and shudder for fear of being hurt again. That sound caused terrible memories to rise again. “ I– I hoped it would work, I honestly did,” he choked out between sobs. “I just wanted it to all stop. I can't… count how many nights I cried myself to sleep, trying desperately to find a way to keep my family. Anything to… to not be me. I… just couldn’t.”

“Oh course not, no,” Zach shushed him, placing a hand on Ash’s shoulder. “There is nothing wrong with you, Ash. Okay?”

Dan was now watching his brother from the wall he leant against, the expression on his muzzle once again a mix between fury and sorrow. His amber eyes seemed to be on fire. How long he had hated his brother, raged about what he had done, everything he had lost because of his big mouth. How many nights had he wept for the betrayal sleeping alone in his Jeep as his stomach growled in hunger. And here was the villain of his story, laid bare before him and having suffered the same as he had, or worse.

“He hurt me, brother. Said all I had to do was agree to marry a female he had selected from another pack and he wouldn’t do it. When I said no… he started with the fingers in my left hand. He broke every… single… finger. One by one. When that didn’t work, he slapped me over and over again. Told me I was ungrateful. Nothing more than dirt beneath his paws. He hit me so hard that he broke my muzzle, Brother. When he was done, he dumped me just outside the gates of the pack land. He only stopped when Mom threatened to involve Uncle Reese. Before he threw me through the gate, he ripped the pack ring out of my ear with his teeth.”

Under the improved lighting, Zach could see that unlike the relatively clean cut in Dan’s ear, Ash’s wound was jagged and rough. The shape of the scarred void resembled a bite mark. Amber eyes looked up with shame and tears and Zach couldn’t escape the echoes of Dan’s pain mirrored on Ash’s face.

“Mom and Uncle Higgs were the ones that drove me to the hospital. After I got out, they gave me some money and a new phone.” Ash wiped the snot from his muzzle. “They told me where they thought you might be. Higgs gave me the car, said it was a write off dumped at his shop but it ran well enough to get me wherever I needed to go. I spent what little money I had on a Private Investigator to find you and worked a few odd jobs along the way. I spent the rest of it getting here.”

The silence dragged on between three for several minutes before the growling of Ash’s stomach returned once again..

“You may eat brother,” Dan said quietly through the tears that fell down his face.

Ash nodded, not even bothering with a spoon as he stuck his muzzle into the bowl and ate hungrily. He was finished quickly, licking the milk from the bottom of the bowl before setting it down. Zach and Dan looked at eachother with raised brows.

“Ash, when was the last time you… had a full meal.”

“It’s been a few days,” he admitted with a soft whine. Zach looked at Dan with sadness in his eyes,

“How about I order some food. Do burgers sound good?” the husky said, stepping towards the living room. The growling noise from Ash’s stomach was all the reply he needed to know they would be well received.