Chapter 28

Accepting My Twin Mates Chapter 28 Chapter 28 – Should We Go In There?

Badru Finally, after several agonising hours of tedious but necessary work with our parents, we were free.

Neither of us knew where Evie was, but she didn’t feel far. And I liked Astennu’s idea to surprise her with dinner. It was chivalrous as f**k and like something out of the mediaeval tales our father used to tell us of our ancestors. True, we didn’t know her preferences. Fortunately for her, my brother and I would eat anything, so we could gather a selection for her to choose from. Unfortunately for me, the delicacy I wanted on my menu wouldn’t be available for some time.

We walked side by side down to the pack dining hall, to gather up an offering to our goddess and deliver it to wherever her temple resided.

‘I really wish Evie could have seen you in there,’ Astennu shot me a soft look.

‘Why?’ I didn’t feel like I’d done anything differently.

‘You were really strong today, and you didn’t blow up like you usually do. You held it together and I’m really proud of you,’ he slapped my shoulder.

‘Don’t start getting all mushy!’ I felt the heat rising up my neck.

‘Evie would have probably swooned, if she saw,’ he continued, grinning and wriggling his eyebrows.

‘Really?’ A natural tug pulled at the corner of my lips.

‘You’re hopeless,’ he chucked, shouldering me playfully.

My wolf barely had words. He had lost any semblance of composure at the notion of Evie swooning over us.

She had missed us in action twice. The next time we went all Alpha, I would need to make sure it was in front of her. Not that I wanted to show off for her… but I wanted to show off for her, to demonstrate I could be a worthy mate, my brother too.

Entering the dining hall, an excitement washed through me, the captivating and maddening scent of spicy vanilla carried over the other aromas, wrapping around me, leaving a fleeting sensation of her hand on my cheek. My skin virtually tingled at the memory of her skin against mine.

My eyes scanned the hall, seeking her out, my bond drawing me to her like a moth to a flame. There she sat, in one of the private little nooks, through the glass doors…

…Drinking wine with Catalina?!

How long were we in that meeting? Why was that woman with our mate?! What the f**k was going on?!

‘I thought you said she was leaving?’ Astennu stared at the same scene at my side.

‘She said she was! I swear.’

‘Ru?’ He closed his eyes in question, taking a deep breath. ‘What exactly did she say?’

‘After we cleared up the stuff this morning and I made sure she wasn’t going to say anything, I asked if this meant she would leave. She said yeah, sure,’ I explained. Had she lied to me?

He shook his head, ‘I really shouldn’t blame you or be surprised by now.’

‘…She was being sarcastic, wasn’t she?’ I now realised, feeling a little dense.

‘Oooh,’ Baniti sighed, dejectedly. ‘And I thought we handled it.’

My brother gave me a pitying look, nodding. No matter how many times this happened, he always showed me patience and though sometimes he would make fun of me, it was never out of malice.

The spasm of panic still laced our features that the woman we thought had ruined our chances with our mate was now laughing and drinking with her. We looked back to Evie, only to find a pair of the prettiest stormy blue irises staring right back. A hint of a smile on her naturally plump petal pink lips instantly eclipsed anything else in my world.

‘She sees us! And she’s smiling,’ my wolf spun in a circle, elated and wagging his tail.

And Aste thought my moods were fickle.

Should we go in there? Our mate seemed to be having a nice evening… would we spoil it? Our plan to surprise her with dinner had obviously been quashed. Maybe we could quietly join our mate? She was in a private room and there were blinds we could drop to ensure all eyes were kept off of us.

‘There are five very headstrong women in that room, and they look like they’ve been drinking wine…

I’m slightly worried about going in there,’ Baniti peered out from under his paws.

This was my fearless Alpha wolf that boasted our warriors weren’t offering a challenge anymore? And he was nervous of five possibly wine-drunk she-wolves? Actually, he may have a point.

‘Are you two just going to stand there staring, looking like lost puppies or what?’ My mate’s beautiful and strong voice entered my mind.

‘I think that’s our invitation,’ Astennu smacked my chest.

‘Is this wise?’ I questioned.

‘Our gamma is there, it would only be natural to talk to her.’

That wasn’t exactly what I was alluding to, but whatever.

We walked over casually, our heads held high to appear as natural as possible. As the Alpha heirs, it went without saying that we drew attention. However, our mate wasn’t alone, so it would be unlikely anyone would connect the dots.

Astennu closed the wooden slat blinds on the glass doors that he shut behind him, while I stood slightly staring at our beautiful mate.

“…Hey,” my mouth twitched, itching to break into a smile but knowing others were watching, even though those present knew.

A round of giggles rippled through the four she-wolves, causing a sweet blush to creep across Evie’s cheeks as she glared at them to be quiet. She was so pretty when she blushed.

“So, you took care of the asshat?” Suzanna asked, knowingly, once she had composed herself.

“Yeah. He’ll no longer be our Beta,” I slid into the seat next to her and across from Evie at the round wooden table.

Astennu reluctantly sat in the only available seat, between me and Catalina. Just the mere mention of Finley, without his name, sent the small red-headed she-wolf rigid.

“What’s wrong? Am I missing something?” Catalina peered at Lucy on the other side of Evie.

‘It’s a long story but the short version is, he was my mate. I ended it, and now he isn’t,’ Lucy switched to mind-linking, a deep troubling crease forming along her brow.

‘I’m so sorry. You’re definitely better off without that puto,’ Catalina almost snarled.

‘I know… it still kinda hurts though,’ Lucy knocked back another glass of wine. “I think I’m gonna go to bed… again.”

“I’ll walk you back, I’m a little beat myself,” Evie yawned into the back of her hand.

I was crestfallen at her words, as was my brother. I wanted to beg her to stay with us. We had been wanting to get back to her for hours.

‘…We didn’t get to tell her how we were a total boss today,’ Baniti whimpered incessantly as our nour el-ain got up to walk away.

‘He isn’t going to cause her any problems, is he?’ She mind-linked, about to open the door only to be beaten to it by my twin opening it for her, causing her to blush a little again.

‘No,’ Astennu answered. ‘I let him know it wouldn’t be tolerated. But Badru dominated the meeting. He really defended you today.’

I felt a rush of warmth mixed with panic from her, before Astennu added, ‘don’t worry, they don’t know about us, just the assistant arrangement.’

Her panic melted away with his words.

‘I’m sorry… for putting you in this position…’ she began to apologise, looking over her shoulder as she walked away with her friend.

‘There’s nothing to be sorry for,’ I reassured.

‘The pack put you in this position… and we didn’t help either,’ Astennu lamented. ‘Just focus on getting some sleep and we’ll see you in the morning.’

‘And don’t forget the coffee for your new bosses,’ I grinned when she stopped dead to glare at me.

‘I don’t think you’ll like what I put in the coffee I bring you,’ she held back a snarl.

‘One of these days, she is going to actually slap you and there’s nothing I’ll do to stop it,’ my brother shook his head.

‘Why would I want you to stop it?’ I took one more glance at my nour el-ain as Astennu shut the door after she disappeared. f**k, I was going to give this whole game away and I couldn’t bring myself to give a damn.

“Wow. You two have it real bad,” Suzanna snorted, slapping her hand on the table.

“What?” I was drawn back to a reality where other people existed.

“We can practically taste the s****l tension floating between the three of you,” Tamlyn giggled loudly. I had never really seen this side of her.

Catalina cackled along with her, hiccupping slightly. Both my twin and I glared at her, not trusting why she was present and with our mate of all people.

“I’m way too full of vino to care about you giving me the Alpha look. Like it would ever work on me, anyway,” she rested her chin on her hand.

“Why won’t you just leave?” I bit out through clenched teeth.

“Because I found friends here,” she said in a sing-song voice, booping Astennu on the nose.

“Do that again,” he growled in threat, batting her hand away.

“Ok, it’s time I got you two drunks to bed,” Suzanna shook her head, picking her mate’s legs up that were draped across her lap.

“I’m not drunk,” Tamlyn complained in a slurred voice, almost tipping over as she stood.

“Clearly, I was mistaken,” her mate raised an eyebrow, although Suzanna didn’t look mistaken to me.

“Wait, Tam your cane!”

Tamlyn was already making her escape, managing to open the door successfully on her second attempt by pulling instead of pushing, and began to wander in what I knew was the wrong direction.

“And she’s heading to the restrooms, not the stairs,” Suzanna sighed. “Come on, Cata, let’s reorient my dingdong of a mate.”

We were left alone amidst a devastation of at least twelve empty bottles of rosè and white wine.

“That was entertaining,” Astennu exhaled.

“Yeah… real laugh riot,” I huffed, leaning back in my seat and even I would admit I was pouting.

Dammit! All I wanted was an evening with my mate and I had been left high and dry.

‘We’ll have plenty more chances,’ he tried to soothe.

‘You’re only saying that because you get to go first tomorrow,’ the lucky bastard, yet again.

Astennu would have Evie all to himself, while I had to go over training schedules to cover for what would have been Finley’s job; another reason I wanted to punch him. No matter; I had my time with her planned for the following day, and it would be romantic as hell. No way would my older brother outdo me.

“Let’s grab something to eat and call it a day,” he stood, grasping my shoulder.

I couldn’t be too annoyed with him. I knew he was as disappointed as me that his idea had fallen through. Tomorrow was a new day and we could try again.

*

*

*

Lying in my bed, I had stared at my ceiling, awake, for the past hour or two. My mind wouldn’t relent on Evie. I wasn’t sure exactly why, but my bond with her had been tugging rather vigorously, more so than when it had snapped into place. Desire, heat and want thrummed through our connection and all I wanted was to go to her; which I doubted would go down well with her, showing up at her door in the middle of the night. Eating hadn’t taken my mind off of her much and neither had fixing the doorknob to my bedroom. Now, sleep was eluding me in favour of those enchanting stormy eyes…

‘Ru?’ Astennu’s tired voice reached out to me and not a second later, my door opened to reveal his figure dressed in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt.

“What’s going on?” I rubbed at my face.

“I’m taking a leaf out of your book and trying something impulsive and probably dumb. Wanna come with?” He whispered with a half grin.

I should have been insulted, however, I was more intrigued by what he had planned.