"A brother is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit."
~Unknown

Dominic

Spencer came home around ten, a small smile on his face. He greeted Lily and me when he entered the living room.

"Hey," he said, shutting the front door behind him.

"How was studying?" Lily asked.

"It was fine. What have you two been doing while I was out?"

"Eating dinner, then I went on patrol with Brian, Maya, and Scarlet, helped mom with some work, too. Dom helped dad work out some new patrol schedules. Speaking of which, you and Dom have patrol in a few minutes."

Spencer frowned. "Is this punishment for staying out late?"

"Hey, you knew we were creating patrols tonight and decided to go to the library and study. Your fault," I pointed out.

"Yet I still got more done in the past few hours than I did in the past few days, so I have no regrets about it. What time do we head for patrol?" Spencer queried.

"Once you set down that backpack of yours."

"Then let's go," he said, placing his backpack on the couch. The two of us bade goodnight to Lily even though we both knew she'd be up until at least two or three binge-watching a TV show.

"What coat color are you choosing?" Spencer asked.

"I'm going to go with my ever trusty black," I answered.

"Oh come on, Dom, live a little."

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"White."

"If there are any hunters out, they'll spot you immediately."

"I'll smell them first. Or I'll switch colors. It's the beauty of our kind. We can change our coat as we please," Spencer remarked before shifting into a wolf. I rolled my eyes at him and turned myself. The two of us trotted off into the darkness of the forest, only the path illuminated by the moonlight. Thank god for our sharp wolf sight, or else we'd have no idea where we were going.

So what route are we taking today? Spencer projected the thought into my mind.

Near the cave. Mom and dad smelled something strange up there a few days ago. They want to make sure whatever it was didn't come back. I responded.

Do they think a hunter wants a wolf head as a trophy instead of a deer or elk?

Wolves are rare in Colorado if there are any wild ones at all.

Besides us? Spencer teased playfully.

What's gotten into you tonight? You're unusually happy and hyper.

Is that a crime?

Is it a girl?

My brother snorted in amusement. What girl do you know of could make me this happy?

I would hope it's Callie, but I have a feeling it's not since she's been with us the entire night. So is it a human?

There's no girl, Dom. I'm just in a good mood, all right?

So why do you smell of- I took a whiff of his shoulder- I don't even know what the smell is, but I will say it's nice.

I was sitting next to a girl who put on some perfume. Some of the smell probably got on me.

Spencer, you know I wouldn't care if you hooked up with a human right? I have.

When?! He demanded, sounding slightly offended.

High school. I replied.

Did you actually do it in the school?

Yeah, once. I admitted. Theoretically, if there was a girl, and if she theoretically went to school with you, the basement is ninety-nine percent of the time unoccupied. I would suggest keeping this between us, though. If Callie caught wind of it, she'd try to find the girl and, worse, go after her. She's protective of you.

My brother sighed. I know she is. Everyone is. I appreciate it, don't get me wrong, but I'm an alpha. My job is supposed to protect all of you. I wish everyone would stop pushing Callie on me. I'll date when I'm ready, and I'll date who I want from the pack, whoever- Spencer suddenly halted, nose twitching. Do you smell that?

I can't smell anything over that perfume.

Shut up. I'm serious. Let's check out the cave. If anything's hiding, it'll be up there. Come on.

We silently trekked up the side of the mountain, where we could hear distinct noises coming from inside the cave, albeit quiet ones.

You go above the cave; I'll peer inside. I ordered. Spencer leaped quietly up to the top of the rock, looking down at the entrance. No one would see him if they came out. He'd have the advantage in a fight. Then, on the other hand, there was me: the idiot standing in front of the cave where if anyone came out, I'd be the first thing they saw.

Anything? Spencer asked.

I can't see any-wait, people are coming. Get ready. I warned. Spencer crouched down- a position that made it easy to launch onto his unsuspecting victims.

"I'm telling you, whatever was on our territory made its way over here. I don't know why, but it's been circling both territories," a guy said.

"Wonder if the Starks have caught the scent yet," another male responded. The voices sounded strangely familiar.

"We certainly can't ask. Besides, it's probably some hunter that is wanting to get wolf head as a mantelpiece."

"That's a cheerful thought. Thank you for bringing that up."

"You're welcome. We should get out of here before the Starks show up. They won't take kindly to us being in their territory, nor will our parents. Come on, let's get home." Just then, Hunter and Caleb Laroche emerged from the cave. Both immediately sensed our presence. I lunged at Hunter, who seemed ready for me as he shifted and rolled out of my way. Spencer leaped down onto Caleb, effectively pinning him to the ground on his stomach. My brother changed into a human and demanded, "What are you doing on our property?"

"Get the hell off me!" Caleb snarled, bucking so hard underneath Spencer, he went three feet in the air, giving the Laroche alpha enough room to escape. Hunter barreled into me, and then the next few moments were a blur. I remember hair flying, lots of growling, me biting Hunter, and Hunter biting me. The older Laroche kicked me off of him, and I was about to go in for another attack when Spencer commanded, "Stop! That's enough!"

I snarled at Hunter, but he didn't attack. I could see in his outraged eyes how he desperately wanted to.

"What?" Caleb snapped.

"Tell us what you're doing on our property," My brother said. It was only then that I noticed the gash on my brother's jaw, blood dripping off his face. Cuts crisscrossed his arms, but nothing compared to the wound on his face. My attention turned to Caleb, who clutched his horrendously bleeding hand. Hunter gripped his shoulder, the skin ripped open by my teeth. They all looked like hell, so I could only imagine my state.

"We were tracking a scent that's been in our territory recently. It keeps coming back. We tracked it over here and checked out the cave to see if there were any clues as to who or what it was. Whatever it is either is really good at covering its tracks, or it knows we're tracking it," Caleb informed.

"Well, we'll keep an eye out for it in our territory, and you keep an eye out for it in yours. Got it? Because next time you're over here, we're not going to attack to hurt. We're going to attack to kill," I warned.

"Right. Like you two haven't ever gone into our territory before, like a couple of years ago on the fourth of July, remember that?" Hunter queried.

"Don't push it, Laroche," I spat.

"Enough. Get out of our sight," Spencer said. With death glares that could send assassins running, the Laroche alphas walked off.

Well, more like limped off.

"You okay?" I asked my brother.

"Yeah, nothing I won't heal from. You?"

"I'll live. Come on, let's get home. Mom and dad aren't going to like this."

"About the scent or the Laroches being in our territory?"

"Both."

We shifted back into wolves, slowly making our way back to the compound. We were quiet, engrossed in our thoughts until about halfway home when Spencer broke the silence.

Hey Dom? Do you know why we're not supposed to like the Laroches? He asked.

No, and I don't care. They're rude, inconsiderate, and ignorant. Why?

I just don't understand why we're supposed to hate them is all. I usually have a reason to hate people, but with them, I hate them because everyone else in the pack does. That's all.

Some things won't change Spencer. Our relationship with the Laroche pack is one of them.

After that, my brother didn't say another word. We walked agonizingly slow back to our house because every step hurt. The Laroches had done a bigger number on us than we realized. It'd only taken us half an hour to get to the cave when we started our patrol, but it took us over an hour to get back. When we arrived, Lily was watching TV, but her head snapped around when we entered.

"What the hell happened?" she demanded, looking us up and down.

"Met some friends of ours," Spencer remarked.

"And by friends, he means the future Laroche alphas," I said.

"What were the Laroche boys doing in our territory?" My mother asked furiously, coming into the room with our father trailing behind her. Seeing our bedraggled appearance, she added, "Are you two okay?"

"They were following a scent that keeps showing up in their territory. They tracked it into our territory tonight. It was the same scent Spencer and I were following. They don't know what or who it is, though. And yeah, we're fine."

"Who attacked first?" Dad queried.

"I did. They were in our territory."

"Why'd you let them go?"

"Because Spencer got them to agree to tell us what they were doing."

"If the Laroches are worried about this scent and are willing to risk coming into our territory to figure out what it is, then I'm going to say it must be something important," Spencer pointed out.

"Spencer's right. I know they've come into our territory before when they've been on a hunt, but it was never this deep. If the Laroches risked doing that, then they must be spooked. We need to be on guard for a while until the scent disappears or until we figure out what it is," dad said.

"You two go get showered and then come downstairs so I can fix up your wounds," Mom told them. Neither of us needed any further encouragement to do so.