Chapter 73

Accepting My Twin Mates Chapter 73 AMTM chapter 70 – Tea?

Evgeniya The plummet back to reality had to come around eventually. Neither of the three of us could hide away forever in our bubble in the mountains. I was eager to return to see my father, to make sure he was doing ok, but I was dreading it in case anything had happened to him and he was keeping tight-lipped.

‘I’m fairly certain that if he and the Alpha had another smackdown, wingus and dingus here would have been mind-linked,’ Evva pointed out.

‘I guess…’ I mumbled, not terribly convinced.

“You ok back there?” Astennu turned in his seat from the front passenger. “You’ve got that deep thought crinkle going on across your forehead.”

Badru had jumped at the chance to drive. It gave him the sense that he was taking care of me and it meant his hands were busy elsewhere to perform their usual wandering. He had pouted that I had climbed in the back, no doubt hoping that I would have been upfront and within range.

“Yeah,” my wavering tone gave my real thoughts away. “It’s just… I’m starting to worry about my dad. I mind-linked him that I was coming back and he said he’s been fine… but, I don’t know. I guess I’m tense in case we’ve been intentionally left out of things.”

“I doubt it,” Badru flashed me a comforting smile in the rearview mirror. “When I grabbed supplies to come up to the lodge, I asked Tam’s mate, Suzanna, to keep an eye out and report anything to us, no matter the time. She hasn’t mind-linked once.”

“Oh… why didn’t you say something before?”

“Are you serious?” He almost careened off the road, snapping back to glance at me. “I’ve had other things on my mind for the last three days and none of it involved thinking about your dad.”

Touché.

“Maybe you could spend the rest of the day with him? Providing Ru doesn’t drive us off the road,”

Atsennu chuckled, earning a small growl from his twin. “What about taking him into town, if he’s comfortable with it?”

“That sounds nice,” assuming I was successful in talking him into it. “Sure you two can stand being away from me all day?”

“I’ll have to stare at the door and pine till you come back,” Badru playfully pouted, turning the Jeep into the stables to drop his brother off.

“Or you can come see Heru with me?”

“I would rather eat my own arm.”

“You mean you didn’t want to come out on a ride? I could call Catalina, instead,” Astennu snorted. “I’m sure she’d looove to come keep you company.”

“Sure, I’ll tell her to bring Adrian. The two of you can f**k around with horses to your heart’s content!”

The two of them bickered.

“Why do you have to hate all my friends?” I sighed, slouching back in my seat in a huff.

“Not all of them. We like Lucy,” Astennu half grinned.

“Yeah, even though she’s your mom now,” the other finished the wisecrack.

“Ok, I think we’ve roasted each other enough for one drive,” I noticed the pale gold stallion out in his paddock stomping the fenceline. “You better get to Heru before he leaps out.”

“Here,” Astennu fished in his pocket before he got out, pulling his wallet free. He was giving me his credit card? “I know you’re proud and you’ll fight me on spending our money, but please take it.

Anything you need, use it.”

I did want to fight him on it. I wasn’t used to being given things and I certainly wasn’t used to spending other people’s money like some trophy wife…

‘Quit being a stubborn muffin and take the damn card,’ Evva huffed. ‘It’s not a chain dependency you’re undertaking. He just wants to help and reconcile with some of the misdeeds done to our father.’

“Thank you,” I surprised my mate by taking the card, slipping it into the slot on my phone case, and not digging in my heels and bunkering down to argue. “Sneak Heru a few treats from me.”

“I will,” he leant in between the gap and pecked my lips in a lingering kiss. “I’ll see you later.”

Pulling up to the main entrance of the pack house, a steady stream of pack members were coming and going about their day. Badru and I drew a few curious looks, and I could tell from the direction of their eyes, they were prying in their gaze to see if I was marked. By the hushed mutters and flicker of brows shooting up in surprise, they were expecting to see one gracing my neck.

Instinctively, I folded in on myself, despising the scrutiny and being the topic of gossip. I knew I would have to get used to it; I was now thrust into a public standing. The knowledge made it no less comfortable to digest.

‘Hey,’ Badru grasped my hand and feathered a gentle kiss across my knuckles. ‘f**k their whispering.’

‘Should I tell them in those words?’

‘If you don’t, I will,’ and he set a rather seething glare at a small group flashing me with some disparaging looks. “You got time to stand around and talk about s**t that’s none of your concern, you clearly got time for double patrols. So step the f**k off.”

The group scarpered in every direction, bar the pack house, as though a cattle prod had been flung at them.

‘Holy hell, check out Ru being spicy,’ my wolf melted in a puddle of little hearts.

I was in no better state, a rather warm flush igniting my cheeks cherry red. Was I so sure my heat had actually ended?

“What?” His eyebrows puckered, seemingly completely unaware of how his blunt display touched my heart.

‘And there’s our oblivious nugget,’ Evva sighed longingly. ‘The world is right again.’

‘I think I prefer his innocent, oblivious side,’ I threaded my hands with his, holding on just that bit tighter.

‘No one else gets to see it.’

We parted ways at his Alpha wing and after dropping off my bag in my room, I went to see my father, my feet hurrying up the steps two at a time. My hand had barely made contact with the wood of the door when it was torn open, his large and burly frame eclipsing everything.

“Moy solnyshko (my sunshine),” his arms flew around me.

I was expecting a bone-crushing hug, but I was pleasantly surprised by his gentleness, tucking my head under his chin.

“What am I smelling?” He pulled back, holding me at arm’s length. “What is this scent?”

“Oh, it’s an oil that a wiccan friend sent to help with my heat. Aste and Ru liked it, so I’ve been wearing it as, like, a perfume,” I shyly tucked a lock of hair behind my ear.

“Hi Evie,” a voice I would know anywhere, squeaked.

Lucy.

She held nothing back in her hug, squeezing my waist tightly. Now that I was further into the room, I could detect her scent was far heavier than if it were from a mere visit. There were also a few of her items scattered about that I noticed; they had gotten awfully pally these past three days.

‘Do. Not. Ask. For our sanity’s sake,’ Evva shuddered.

Like I needed the reiteration.

‘You look glowing!’ Lucy commented, wriggling her brows. ‘I take it you made the most out of your mates? Can they walk straight?’

‘They’re fine,’ I pursed my lips, praying she’d be quiet… my father did not need to hear what went down, not that I could remember some parts.

“So,” I cleared my throat awkwardly. “I’ve been cooped up for far too long. I thought you might like to come into town with me, dad. You too, Luce, if you want?”

“Town… where other pack is,” he frowned heavily.

“You don’t have to,” I embraced his hand, squeezing lightly. “We can go somewhere else?”

“I need to learn with this,” he gestured at nothing in particular, but I knew what he meant.

‘I tried to take him yesterday, but he wasn’t about to be persuaded,’ Lucy mind-linked, sliding her hand up his chest. ‘I think he needed you.’

‘You really are the mom friend,’ I sent her a little smirk, grinning wider when she blushed with a scowl.

I turned as my father leaned down to her, not wanting to see any glimpse of him and Lucy locking lips.

Resting my hand in the crook of his elbow, I steered us out of the pack house and down the snowy pathway past the training centre that led into town. There were several settlements throughout the pack lands, but as this one was closest to the pack house it was a little more diverse in what it offered.

“You and Lucy look as though you’re doing… well?” I fumbled my phrasing, awkwardly, wanting to shove my head into the mound of freshly fallen snow.

“We are well,” he chuckled in his deep timbre. “She feels as though lost piece has… vernulsya… uh, come back, to me.”

“It’s funny you say that, she said the same thing about you too. Maybe it’s because you’re both second chance mates?”

“Maybe…”

*

*

*

Wrapping my coat tighter, I nestled further into my father’s side, warming my hands around my large cinnamon-spiced hot chocolate with lashings of whipped cream and chocolate shavings. After trying a sip of mine, his first-ever experience, I had gotten him a gingerbread one. He said it tasted like the baked goods Lucy had plied him with.

He was less enthusiastic about shopping than I thought he’d be, and my expectations were set low before we even left the pack house. My father was definitely going to be one of those wolf men that relied on the women in his life to buy him clothing rather than look for any on his own. Despite his rather adorable grumblings and frowning, I had managed to get him a couple of staple pieces. As time had gone on, I began to see the heavy similarities of his grouching with myself when I sulked.

The few shopping bags sat at my feet by the bench we had taken a short rest on. It was just outside of town facing a wide lake that flowed into the river that fed Reflection Lakes nearer the pack house. The sun was slowly fading to orange as it set and the first of the trumpeter swans that wintered here were beginning to fly in to roost for the night. Soon, this entire lake would be a cacophony of their honking that neither of us would be able to hear our own wolves over.

“Do you like it here at all?” I decided to be direct. Like me, my father wasn’t someone who skirted around his words.

He stared out onto the lake, watching the white swans land, a pensive expression clouding his eyes. “It is not as bad as I thought. Most have avoided me, but a few pup warriors were keen to talk.”

“The younger pack warriors? How did that even come about?”

“Lucy would not take no as answer to eat in dining hall,” a tiny smile crept under his beard as he drained the last of his hot chocolate. “For some reason, they thought I had much I could teach.”

“You must know a few things that you’ve learned over the years to survive?” I probed.

“Some things I learned from your mother. She was great warrior in Tundra River,” he said proudly. “But what could I teach pack?”

‘This is your opening, ask him!’ Evva urged.

“I think you have more to offer than you realise and I’m not the only one who thinks it,” I took a deep breath and went for broke. “You know that Astennu and Badru’s last Beta didn’t work out. Now they need someone who they can trust, someone who’s been on the outside and can see what needs to change…”

He was not the least bit naïve in where I was leading the conversation. The same fear flashed in his eyes that I had experienced when it dawned on me that I would have to be Luna at some point.

“It’s not a position you have to take and it’ll be a while before the guys ever ascend the pack.”

“I cannot be Beta…” he flustered. “How would I lead anything? I may speak little English, but I no read or write it well.”

“That doesn’t matter and you have a lot of people around you to help. You’re not on your own,” I squeezed his hand. “Astennu and Badru think the world of you. And besides, you’ll need all the extra training to cope with Lucy’s treats she’ll be making you,” I patted his stomach, knowing exactly what my friend was like.

“You make joke, but that she-wolf likes to feed,” he chuckled, standing to offer his arm to me to walk home and picking up the bags so I could finish my hot chocolate. “I… I will think about it, but I don’t know what leader I would make.”

“You said your pack, Fire Mountain, chose their leaders, right?” My father nodded as we walked along the pathway home. “They definitely would’ve chosen you, you’re a natural leader. I had to have gotten it from you.”

“No, that is your mother. Heather stood up to most, no matter what.”

“What was she like?”

“Very much like you,” a rueful warmth swept through his eyes. “You look like her, have same spice scent as well.”

“And here I thought I was more like you,” I chuckled, knocking back the last of my drink.

“I hear my tone in you, but that sharp tongue, that is Heather.”

My fingers drifted to my chest automatically, only to be left disappointed wishing I had worn my locket.

“How did you meet?”

“By ocean. I had finished my first band,” he indicated the first tattoo on his wrist. His finger slowly traced over the black lines as though he was tracing the memory itself. “She was digging for clams on her pack shore and felt pull, so she followed.”

“Was it a love-at-first-sight deal?”

“For her, yes. For me…? No. At time, I trusted no wolf. I still don’t,” he sighed bitterly, a deep frown clouding his features. “But when I fell in love with her, it was because of her, not because bond said I should.”

My head bobbed slowly. Everything he was saying hit a deeply powerful chord.

I hadn’t wanted to trust the twins either when our eyes met for the first time after Evva had awoken.

True, I wished I hadn’t run away as I had…

‘You mean jumping out of a window, thinking you could outrun a pair of honry as f**k Alphas was dumb?’ Evva sarcastically sniped.

‘I’m surprised you didn’t remind me that I couldn’t get the window open either.’

‘Be thankful I didn’t mention you storming out into Ru’s closet,’ she howled in delight.

I internally wanted to hide my face. Yes, I could have done without the idiocy in my first entanglement with Astennu and Badru. But I was glad I hadn’t jumped all over them, that I had kept them at a distance. Because now I knew my feelings for them were not the bond dictating my path for me…

… I loved them because of the side of themselves they had shown me that I never knew existed, one that few had ever seen. I loved them because when I highlighted what was broken, they didn’t dismiss me as others had; they believed me without hesitation. And they didn’t just want to fix things for me, they wanted to do it with me.

Badru I hung up on the architect in the first move to building the home my nour el-ain had been dreaming of.

We had an appointment scheduled in a few days’ time to survey the site and see the first drafts of what could work and what Evie liked. From how her face lit up when she saw our lodge, I knew the rustic aesthetic was to her taste. She didn’t want lavish or extravagant. All she wanted was a home of her own.

The sound of the door downstairs rattled, followed by voices. My parents.

‘‘Iilahat ‘aelah (goddess above), here we go,’ Baniti muttered, gearing himself for another argument as I headed downstairs.

Things were slowly progressing with my mother. She wasn’t as hostile over the prospect of handing her title over to my mate. But my father was still clinging to his mindset that he had acted accordingly with Konstantin. I knew I would be wasting my breath trying to convince him otherwise on this point of contention.

“Habibi! (Darling!),” My mother rushed to greet me, all but pushing my father out of the way in the kitchen. “You look so well. Where’s your brother?”

“With Heru. He’ll be here soon.”

“No mark still, I see,” my father’s tone gave nothing away. I wasn’t sure whether his was a comment of reproach, relief or condescension.

“Don’t start. It’ll happen when Evie is comfortable with it,” I swallowed down my snarl. “And a hi to you too, dad. We don’t see you for three days and that’s literally the first thing you say?”

My father humphed in reply, not bothering to ask how I or my brother was, or if Evie was doing better.

Nothing. This was a new level of pig-headed obstinance for him.

“If you wanna know what’s new, Astennu and I have an idea who we want as our Beta,” and I regretted my words, instantly.

‘I’m not sure that’s the best topic to switch to,’ Baniti winced at my ill-thought-out distraction.

‘I know!’ I internally grimaced. ‘It just slipped out.’

“Konstantin,” my dad stated calmly, unfazed by his correct presumption.

“You’re telling me you don’t have anything to add?” I asked, when he remained silent. I expected him to have an entire tirade lined up.

“Would anything I say change your mind?” The only thing that shifted in his expression was the quirk in his left eyebrow.

There wasn’t a damn thing he could say and he knew it. My jaw ticked in irritation. How ironic the situation was. My father had stood virtually in the same position with his father, my grandpa who had passed when I was still a small pup, when he took a she-wolf, Kate, as his Beta instead of recruiting outside the pack for a wolf male for the rank.

“Exactly,” he took my silence as all the response he needed and filled the electric kettle, handing it to my mother since he was banned from ever making her tea. “So why should I waste my breath? If you want to make a 50 year old rogue wolf your Beta, who hasn’t lived a day in his life in a proper pack, then that is your prerogative.”

Why did he have to be such an asshole about this?!

And I was about to voice just that, opening my mouth to snap my hostile reply, when my mother cut me off.

“That’s quite enough,” she slammed the kettle down on its base. “I’m fed up to the back teeth of all this arguing,” she glared at both my father and me, lingering more on him.

The front door slammed, distracting us all from the silent stand-off.

“Wow, we’re back all of five minutes and a fight’s already broken out,” Astennu didn’t even need to take in the temperature of the room to know what had happened, sensing my anger through our connection.

“It wasn’t an argu-”

“Dad, I can feel it through my bond with Ru,” Astennu interrupted, sharing a knowing glance with me.

“Is there any wonder we don’t want to live here anymore when we come back to this?”

“And neither of us want you to feel uncomfortable in your own home,” our mother glared our father down, hushing him before he turned this dumpster fire into a full-blown shitstorm; any more than it was.

He stood behind her, rubbing her arms and placing small kisses on her shoulder to pacify her anger.

“Evie’s father looks to have settled… with Lucy,” our mother tentatively tried to break the awkward silence that had rooted itself firmly. “If your mate is feeling better now, I was thinking of inviting her out tomorrow, for tea. She’ll be an important part of your life and I want to get to know her properly.”

If mine or my brother’s brows had shot up with any more force, they would have popped clear off of our foreheads. Miracles did happen.

I was almost tempted to laugh at the poetic turn of events. Evie had said she would have rather had a tea party alone with our mother than speak to her father about a lycan female’s heat. It appeared she was getting her wish.