Chapter 62

Accepting My Twin Mates Chapter 62 Chapter 62 – Is That…?

Evgeniya Badru rubbed his elbow absentmindedly while he skimmed through and amended the new rotas and schedules in place.

“I told you he had reach,” I huffed a sigh of laughter through my nose, continuing to peruse through some of the books and artefacts on the bookcase. “I thought you’d know that by now.”

The cause would come as little surprise to most, Heru. At the stables, like the impulsive wolf he was, Badru had tried to get a little handsy as I finished up brushing the stallion.

Evva was still chuckling to herself at our mate’s pout. ‘He was warned, our nugget thought he knew better and, of course, he was bitten.’

We had come to his and Astennu’s personal office afterwards, just down the hall from their father’s in the main pack house. It was a space I hadn’t seen before. Their desks were similar but not identical; a huge sliced log that sat upon rustic tree stump legs. And like their bedrooms, the decor was a mix of slate-blue and dark gold colours.

“I’m sure the beast deliberately lulls me into a false sense of security.”

“I don’t think Heru is some mastermind,” I raised an eyebrow, finding a shadow box frame containing an ancient-looking portrait.

“Ha!” He laughed bitterly. “That beast knows what he’s doing, trust me.”

“Hey, what is this?” I stood back from the portrait.

It had been placed away from the window, in a darker spot of the room. The canvas was faded and, in some parts, tarnished. The man was almost visible, with long black hair reaching his chest, clean-

shaven and had what appeared to be midnight sapphire blue eyes. There was a look about him similar to the twins. The woman was trickier to make out, except for golden hair and possibly hazel eyes.

“That?” Badru pushed away from his desk to stand behind me, taking his opportunity to paw at my hips and stomach. “That’s our ancestors, Alpha Emmerich and his Luna, Estrid. I think the portrait is from about 1450.”

So these were the real faces of the old werewolf legend. There were several historical and fairytale versions. The various fairytale adaptations painted Luna Estrid as either a vampire, wiccan or human princess that fell in love with the Saxon Alpha and they fought the evil forces, side by side, that kept them apart.

The historical legends were a little tamer.

One version was that they were true mates; the first and only human mated to a werewolf. The other was that theirs was simply a marriage of alliance between the Saxon Alpha, Emmerich Rolfe, and the Scandinavian princess, Estrid of House Skötkonung, to secure a treaty between humans and werewolves. One of the more famous books was titled The Wolf Lore of Howling Woods Pack, focusing on the year 1453 when the two races began to see peace. Although, it was only since the turn of the 20th century that humans began readily joining and living in our packs.

Even though the picture and finer details were faded, the pure look of love between the two couldn’t be fake.

“You and Aste kinda look like him, the same eyes.”

‘For a 600 year old guy, he’s pretty damn fine,’ my wolf also fixated on the ancient wolf’s irises.

“My dad has a journal that’s supposed to be written by them,” he nodded towards the portrait. “It’s been passed down, Alpha to Alpha. Only our family knows about it.”

“What does it say?”

“No clue,” he turned me in his arms. “It’s all written in sassisch, a dead language. There’s a few random words I know, but none of it really makes sense.”

The door handle rattled with the thumbprint pad activated. I had already sensed who it was, though.

Astennu entered, a tense look on his face as Badru and I pulled apart. I had felt it through our bond that something troubled him. He and his twin shared a glance, clearly mind-linking. Whatever I had felt, Badru would have experienced tenfold through their twin bond.

“Dare I ask?” I perched myself on the nearest desk, resting my hands behind me.

Astennu shook his head, “I didn’t even get chance. My dad stormed out as soon as I mentioned Konstantin’s name.”

“Maybe he’ll have chilled out by Winter Solstice?” Badru rubbed along his jaw, the heavy stubble beginning to resemble a short beard.

“Yeah, in a decade.”

“Why is your shirt damp?” I pushed off the desk and ran my fingers over the almost dry patch just under Astennu’s shoulder.

“Our mom,” he shared the same worried side-eyed glance with his brother. “There’s a lot she’s been keeping in, but she won’t see anyone about it. For now, let’s just place where we eat turkey at the bottom of our list of priorities.”

“So… what about your ste-Lucy,” he wisely changed his word swiftly at the last second. “You heard from either of them?” And I didn’t miss Badru’s little suppressed grin, holding a burst of laughter.

I narrowed my eyes, “I’m slightly terrified to mind-link.”

“I doubt they’ve jumped into bed together straight away,” Badru said with little tact. “I got questions, though, on how that would even work, logistically.”

“Stop mentally scarring me!” I tried to shove him.

But he caught me instead, pulling me into his arms and kissing up my neck.

“Ru!” I squirmed. “Will you put me down?”

I felt Astennu’s hands on my hips and thought he was helping. How wrong I was. His hands worked up under my sweater, caressing my stomach and higher.

‘You smell really good today,’ Astennu mind-linked, both he and his twin growling against me.

I wanted to melt into them, but this wasn’t the time or the place. I shook my head free of the fog and shoved them away with more force this time.

“Jeez, the pair of you are getting handsy today. I think I’m gonna go to my room for a while,” I started to move to the door and looked over my shoulder when I felt them about to follow. “And I don’t need an entourage. I’m… I wanna see if Lucy came back.”

It was starting to get dark, but no way was I about to mind-link.

‘Please don’t. We can’t run the risk of interrupting anything,’ Evva grimaced violently.

On the approach to my room, I could pick up the fresher scent of Lucy’s. I couldn’t pick up the scent of my father, so I took it as a sign that he wasn’t in there. However, my senses were new. What if I was wrong?

‘Take the risk and cringe later,’ Evva hesitantly nudged in my mind. ‘I’m fairly certain you’re correct, anyway.’

‘Goddess, I hope we are.’

Normally, I would let myself in via the keypad. This time, I knocked.

Not a moment later, the door creaked open. “Hi…Evie.”

“…Hey.”

‘Oh great, we’re a pair of matching awkward muffins.’

‘With good reason,’ I argued back to my wolf.

“Am I, uh, ok to come in?” I fiddled with my locket to give my hands something to do and diffuse my nervous energy.

“Of course, you never need to ask,” she grabbed my free hand and pulled me in.

She looked so much better, even more so than after the rejection. Her skin practically glowed, though her eyes were still a little red from earlier. I half-sat on the edge of her bed, noticing the hugely oversized henley shirt drowning her frame, my father’s scent of mountainous air rolling off of it in waves.

“Is that…?”

Her face erupted in a flash of red. “Um, yeah… he, uh, Konstantin, your dad, gave it to me.” She struggled to look at me, “…and I gave him my wrap… I just got back a few minutes ago.”

“Did you…?”

“No! No,” she squeaked. “We… I, uh, held his hand. We’re taking things very slowly.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I winced. “Are you accepting the bond?”

She nodded, burying her head further in the shirt that may as well have been a dress on her.

‘Oh goddess, this is delightfully adorable,’ Evva guffawed loudly.

“Are you fine, with this?” Lucy knelt on the bed next to me.

“Yeah… I mean, ok, it’s gonna be weird, how can it not be? But I’m really happy for you both, I swear. I just need you to promise me one thing and it’s non-negotiable,” I turned fully, crossing my legs to face her. “You can never, ever, at any point, tell me about your s*x life.”

She burst out laughing, and I smiled along. “I’m serious. There isn’t enough therapy in the world that will help me get over any mental image you put in my head.”

“Well then young lady, you had better behave, or I’ll tell you everything in detail… not that I’m ready for anything to happen yet,” she blushed, having too much fun with this scenario.

“Oh goddess, I hate this already.”

“I don’t even know how we would do anything,” she continued on, ignoring my cringing. “He’s almost two feet taller than me… I’m kinda nervous about the fitting part.”

“Ah,” I shoved my fingers in my ears and curled into a dramatic foetal position. “I can’t! Please don’t.”

“I’m joking,” she pulled my hands away, laughing. “Sort of. I might need to start doing yoga again.”

I pursed my lips in a tight line, trying to block out what she was saying.

“It’s kinda weird though-”

“We’re beyond weird at this point,” I patted her head, taking my own chance to annoy her.

“What I mean!” She slapped my palm away with a tiny growl. “It feels like I’ve known him forever… I never felt that with Fin. Did you feel like that with your mates?”

“Kinda? I mean, I always had a not-so-subtle hang-up on them. Even though I wanted to slap them both… I still felt comfortable with them, overly so.”

She nodded, as if trying to make sense of something in her mind. Her thinking was startled to a stop by my phone going off from my back pocket.

It was Catalina calling. I answered, putting us on speakerphone.

“So! How did it go? Have you had some cute father-daughter bonding time?”

“Uh… well…” I glanced at Lucy, seeking permission to dish on all the details.

“No fair!” Catalina whined after we had finished telling her everything. “I called the Russian daddy first.”

“I swear to goddess, if you try and get in my father’s room-”

“Don’t get your panties in a wad. I’m not going to do that again… in the same month, at least,” she teetered to herself. “I should come back, though, I’m missing all the drama. Your pack is far more interesting and Badru must be missing me terribly.”

“It would make his day,” I snorted. “And the only thing missing when my dad and Isaac faced off was you in the background popping another bottle of champagne.”

“Wait, hold up. Does this make you Astennu and Badru’s mother-in-law now, Lucy?”

“Oh goddess,” she slapped her cheeks. “Does it?!”

“Sí (yeah),” Catalina said in exaggeration. “You’re a step-mommy, mommy-in-law and you might even be a grandmommy soon-”

“Ok, thanks for calling. Bye-bye, now” I cut her off, hearing her hysterical laughter on the other end.

Poor Lucy was back to her rosy-cheeked state and I didn’t fare much better.

“Have you eaten?”

“No, I… I’ve been a little too worked up,” her stomach grumbled in a low pitch.

“Would you, maybe, want dinner with me, my dad and the twins?”

“Like our first family dinner together?” She beamed, having too much fun with this.

“Yeah, sure, mom,” I flicked her nose.

As Lucy fretted over what to wear, I mind-linked Astennu and Badru if they could arrange a dinner again in my father’s room. There wasn’t a chance in hell we were doing this in the pack dining room, even in one of the private alcoves. They replied they would arrange the whole thing and would meet us up there. Eventually, Lucy settled on a woollen fitted skirt and turtleneck, with thick cream tights underneath.

“Moye solnyshko (my sunshine),” my father greeted me as soon as we entered his room, kissing my forehead.

Like Lucy, he looked lighter, as though the great weight on his back was easing. His gaze turned to her, his eyes slowly sweeping over her figure. She looked away with a tiny smile, returning to her flushed complexion. Neither said a word, but their body language spoke volumes.

‘Is it me, or are they awkwardly adorable?’ Astennu quickly pecked my lips while my father’s focus was elsewhere.

‘It’s definitely not just you.’

Badru attempted to steal a kiss from me as well, but, unfortunately for him, he was caught before he could. My father’s narrowed warning stare, more smokey steel than blue, had my mate freeze and stand up straighter, trying his best to appear innocent.

Evva howled in laughter, ‘he wants approval so badly.’

Dinner had been swiftly prepared and awaited on the table. The surface was meant to seat four, only, with three large wolf males, it was a tight squeeze. Lucy shyly slid in next to my father, mumbling a ‘thank you’ when he offered to fix her plate. I was starting to wonder what they could have possibly spoken about because, aside from single words uttered, they hadn’t said anything; she could hardly look at him without blushing profusely.

My mates had crowded in on either side of me, almost tussling between them which would fill my plate.

Out of my father’s sights, their hands had wandered under the table, feeling up my thighs and higher.

They were taking advantage of my dad’s distracted attention to the fullest.

What on earth had gotten into Astennu and Badru in the last few hours?