"You think he would? I mean, you didn't." "He just heard about it sunshine, he didn't actually have to see them die. Believe me, there were plenty of times last night I stood at our bedroom door fighting with myself to stay. If you weren't there, I wouldn't have. "Even now it's almost all I can do to not run out that door." I shuddered. I started to play with the little bits of chest hair that littered his chest while my mind swirled. "Why? Why do you think he did it?" Ethan shrugged. "It doesn't make sense. So what, he had a thing against vampires? Take out half a pack because of it? No, that doesn't make sense. "I think a lot of it had to do with that he wanted dad's seat, to be alpha. He seemed too bitter and jealous. Jealousy will make you do crazy things, and bitterness is even worse. I guess I just don't understand why he chose to work with rogues, I mean that is a move that is risky as hell." "Well, he could have just challenged your dad," I suggested. "Why not that?" "Because he's selfish and only wanted power," Ethan almost bit out. "He wouldn't have won anyways, I saw him spar with dad. Dad would have killed him. Easily. "Challenging the alpha the right way is the honorable thing to do that's good for the pack, he obviously didn't give a shit about this pack and didn't mind ripping us all in half to get his damn seat," he growled out. "But what has he gained besides it? What has happened with the treaty because of it? I know some has changed, but if you look at it a little more holistically, not much has. Also, what happened to all those rogues? Please don't tell me they disappeared?" Ethan shook his sleepy head. "No," he almost yawned out. "There were plenty dead, but there were plenty to spare. They knew that. They sent in sick ones, real sick ones to overwhelm us before the real fighters swooped in, I saw the bodies. Bodies killed like that were killed by warriors, not dogs on the edge of death. "I know pop, Billy, and Thomas looked for a long ass time. Hell, I helped them. There wasn't a trail, but at the time, we had assumed that there were not very many of them and that maybe what was left of them went into the silver mountains to die." "Silver mountains?" Ethan flickered his eyes to me. "In the mountains north of here there's silver. Humans used to mine silver out of them a long time ago. I think a ways east of us there's an active mine, but most of these are shut down. "It's hard to live up there, the wolves that do are more wolf than human. The silver screws you up. It's in patches, well, like patches. I've only been up there once with Billy and Lander. I convinced them to let me come with them to scout around the mountains to see if we could find any rogues." "And?" He shrugged a little. "None, just snow and a headache. The silver will do that. It's deep in the ground but we can still feel traces of it. In some places, it's really screwy, like you can't mind link screwy." "Note to self," I murmured against his chest. "I was planning on taking you on vacation there?" he teased. I smiled and rolled my eyes. "You're so romantic, you know that right?" "Only for you sunshine," he said coyly before kissing my forehead. I ended up falling asleep on his chest not long after that. It was a good sleep, better than the one I had the night before that was plagued with nightmares. It was like the nightmares pitied us and decided to take a mid-morning coffee break. Ethan shook me gently to wake me up eventually. My beast stirred and stretched out in the back of my mind, we still felt tired, the sadness would do that to you. "Evan's awake." "Can we make more coffee?" Ethan smiled and covered my lips with his. "Yes sunshine, come on," he breathed against my lips before helping me up. I stretched lazily then walked to the kitchen where I mechanically cleaned out the coffee pot and started to fix it up for a new brew. Ethan was filling the pot up with new water while I scooped the grounds into the thin little coffee liner; he came up behind me, resting one hand on my waist while the other poured the water into the coffee pot. He put the glass pot back in its place then wrapped his arms around my tummy as I shut the lid and hit the 'start' button which caused the machine to gurgle to life. Fingers were moving my hair to the side while he pressed against me, subtlely, but noticeable enough that the bond was reaching out to him. Lips were tracing my shoulder while fingers reached under my shirt to the smooth skin of my belly. He lightly bit at my mark, causing me to let out a soft gasp moan which made him rumble a little. "Ethan, your brother," I breathed as my body seemed to instinctually curl towards him. "I don't think he'll mind if we're gone for a bit, do you?" he breathed against my neck.