Mated to the Alpha Twins by Jane Doe
Chapter 90
I hadn’t really known the twin’s all that long, around six months if you wanted to be more accurate. We bonded quickly, though it was much longer for werewolf standards. The bond helped us all feel familiar and comfortable around one another, but there were still things I didn’t know about my dashing mates.
One of those things was how truly terrifying Kade was when in a murderous rage.
I had seen him on the battlefield, though my attention was horribly divided between him and his injured brother. I had seen him move in wolf form, but there was something sickeningly attractive about watching Kade move in his human body.
Kade raced forward, much faster than Tori or I could intercept and barreled into Zayne. Even in a suit, he was much faster than I would’ve anticipated.
Unfortunately, Kade was faster.
“Kade, don’t!”
My mouth clamped shut as Tori’s heightened voice rang out, practically drowned by the snarling coming from the two men. Her words surprised me, but her emotions—they left me near incapacitated.
If she noticed I picked up on what she felt, she made no move to tell me. Her eyes were glued to Kade and Zayne, both seconds away from another rage-fueled frenzy.
The two of them grappled and fought against one another for dominance, but Kade was blood thirsty and ready to exact his pound of flesh. His hand clasped around Zayne’s throat, nearly covering the entire thing. I could see the small ruby-like beads of blood that emerged from his neck. There was no reflection of pain or fear on Zayne’s face. I could feel just a bit of fear in his emotions, but that only proved he wasn’t a complete and utter fool.
Tori’s emotions seemed to jolt me from my shock, and I reached out to Kade with everything I had. I didn’t just pull on our bond, I pulled it until all of my energy was expunged.
Kade’s body jerked, like he had been electrocuted. I registered the pain in his emotions and cringed. I might’ve put a little too much energy into getting his attention.
“Enough, you’ve done enough.” I told him softly, placing my hand on the wrist that currently kept Zayne plastered to the wall.
My heart ached as I looked at Kade, his eyes black with murder and desperation. They couldn’t feel his emotions like I could, they couldn’t feel the storm that raged, but never once gave him a break from their torment.
The dark strands of his hair fell forward into his face, and his chest heaved from heavy breaths. Zayne was a statue carved from the wall, making no move or sound that might set Kade off again. I shouldn’t have been surprised that Zayne was utterly calm in the face of death, or that he was used to this kind of violence, but I was.
I let out a breath of my own when Kade responded to my touch, releasing his hold on Zayne. I let him compose himself, and watched as he placed a poorly constructed mask on his face. My touch was enough to keep him from murdering Zayne, but it did nothing to chase away that burning urge to K*ll something.
As soon as Kade was a healthy distance away from Zayne, I turned on Tori. She couldn’t ignore what she saw in my eyes, not when it shined so clearly. Her face was red from the brawl between Zayne and Kade, but paled considerably as she met my eyes. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged. What could she say? She couldn’t deny what her emotions knew true.
“Aurora, don’t—” She croaked when my eyes darted over towards Zayne.
Zayne was still stoic against the wall, and the coloring was coming back into his face. He said nothing about the exchange that was going on between Tori and I, but he did meet my stare with one of his own. He faced me without rebuke, even though I knew the one thing that could put a kink in his slimy life.
“We can talk about this completely pointless topic, or we can discuss how to return your mate to you.” Zayne said evenly, his voice glacier cold.
He didn’t spare Tori a single glance, and I flinched at the pain that coursed through her. She was muffling it, burying it down deep, but I felt it. I felt it even when she wouldn’t, and it f*uc*king hurt. Coal-hot claws tugging down my chest, slowly as they pressed deeper and deeper.
Zayne’s emotions were another mess all together. I could feel no remorse, no desire, no pain radiating from him. His emotions were so suppressed, so warped and twisted that I wondered if he had ever felt a genuine speck of happiness in his life.
In that moment, one of the last shards of innocence within me chipped. My heart shattered for my friend. It shattered for Tori when I lashed out with my abilities, and I felt that severed bond twisted around her soul; the bond Zayne Novak had rejected.
I took one glance at Tori and knew she didn’t want to talk about this, not here and not now. I gave Zayne a stiff nod, now feeling my own murderous urges bubble towards the surface. It was one thing to take my mate from me, but now he rejected my only friend? I wasn’t sure who paired us mates up, but I wanted to curse at them for this particular match. Tori deserved better, and Zayne deserved someone as slimy and foul as himself.
“I have something I need done for me. If I could’ve gone to anyone else, I would. As it stands, you’re the most useful and the last person my father would expect to help.” Zayne continued in a frosty voice, “Help me, and I’ll help you. Alec might just find the door to his cell wide open one night.”
Kade let out a snarl that Zayne somehow had the balls to ignore. I figured I’d do the talking for Kade, at least until he calmed down enough to say a coherant word.
“Answer my previous question and we might talk, and no more of that vague bull-sh*t.” I replied.
I f0rced my voice to remain steady and smooth, even though I wanted to shout until my throat bled. I matched his iciness with some of my own, and hoped he ch*oked on the damn shards.
“My father is responsible, obviously.” Zayne replied, rolling his eyes in a way that looked a tad immature for his heightened ego and future status. “His one mistake is our only hope. Typically, my father doesn’t care who knows about our—other businesses. So long as what he keeps secret, remains secret.”
“What is this big secret?” Kade spat, finally suppressing his anger enough to speak.
When Zayne remained silent, Kade smiled dangerously.
“You want to help, but you won’t go against dear dad.” Kade laughed. It was an empty sound that rattled around the hollow parts of me Alec left behind. “There’s not a f*uc*king chance in hell I’m trusting you.”
“That sounds a shame, because I’m willing to trust you a whole f*uc*king lot.” Zayne snapped back, taking on Kade’s particular fondness of obscenities. “I need someone who hates my father enough not to rat me out, because this could benefit us both. You want Alec back and to help some white wolves out? Done. Help me and we can do that.”
“Suddenly you care about white wolves?” Kade asked darkly, “Is that whose helping you with this meeting? Why don’t they come out then?”
“The people who help me have just as much to lose as I do if we are caught.” Zayne replied, his lips pressed into a tight line. This time he faced me, and his words sent a chill skittering down my spine. “My father collects white wolves, that is his secret. He wants you, vehemently. You would be the crowning piece to his collection. You can run along and tell someone; chances are they’ll be dead before the morning. Or, you could listen to me. I’m not stupid enough to trust you, and nor should you do the same. We both want something, and we can both help. It’s an idiotic move not to take this chance. I’ve risked enough just meeting with you, let alone telling you this.”
His words confirmed what I had already known deep down. Bright side; the most powerful member of the High Table wanted me alive. To control, use and own, for his own slimy purposes.
“He can’t be serious.” I scoffed for what might’ve been the sixth time since returning to our current rooms.
Tori sat on the bed, glaring down at her hands. She had snuffed out that tendril of sadness that sprouted within her, and replaced it with stubbornness and anger. Kade leaned against the wall, still looking incredible as ever in his business attire.
“He can’t own someone.” I said, again. “I’m not sure how this magic, werewolf world works, but slavery is illegal. It was a huge mistake when it happened the first time. Haven’t werewolves learned from that?”
“There’s always those who want to throw the world into darkness again.” Kade grunted, “Werewolves don’t include themselves in human history much. We have our own battles fought and won. There might’ve been a few packs that fought in some human wars though, but we don’t learn about them.”
“That’s good to know.” I muttered, mentally scolding myself.
Some part of me had already known this would happen, possibly even back when I had first met Sage. I thought about the old woman often, and hoped her life was still beautiful and simple.
What I needed now was to toughen up. There was no use in complaining. I squared my shoulders and swallowed my fear before turning to face Kade.
“The first thing I’m going to do when I take my seat on the High Table, is set every enslaved white wolf free.” I said, sounding much more confident than I felt. “I know it won’t be as easy as it sounds, but I’m willing to figure it out. What I cannot do is sit here afraid and practically walk into Marcus Novak’s arms. I won’t be controlled, especially by the likes of him.”
Kade paused for a moment, looking me over as he leaned against the wall like a stone-carved adonis. After a few heavy seconds, he smirked and strolled over to me.
Even with the abyss in my heart from Alec’s absence, Kade’s smirk made my heart do tap-dances in my chest.
“There’s my girl.” He murmured, lifting my chin until his lips brushed against my own.
The action was so soft and sweet that it left me a bit breathless, and as always, wanting more. Before I could have anything further, Kade nodded in Tori’s direction and pulled away.
“It seems the two of you have things to talk about.” He noted in a low voice, intended for my ears alone. The next words he said were laced with intimacy and a fierce yet desperate protectiveness that spanned beyond normal means. It was an ‘I love you’ that reflected the strangeness in Kade. “I won’t be far, I promise.”
The moment he left, I turned on Tori.
I hesitated for a moment, gauging the situation. I wasn’t exactly sure how she would react. Tori was one of the strongest women I knew. She was someone who took everything life gave her head on, and battled it into submission with sheer will and determination. But this, this was different.
She had told me about rejection, a short while after I finally accepted Alec and Kade. I understood why the twins didn’t mention it, especially after expiriencing Tori’s emotions firsthand. Rejection—it was a knife to the soul. So much different than a physical wound, and twice as deadly. It was a constant, never-ending pain which led to a shortened life. Tori deserved so, so much more than that.
I realized she had stood from the bed, and stared in shock when she smiled at me. My eyes were watery, I realized. There were tears blossoming, brought on from the torment of her emotions and the realization that my best-friend had been rejected.
“Don’t cry, don’t. If I start crying, I don’t think I’ll be able to stop. And I’ll murder you if you make me miss this High Table meeting.” She scolded me, grabbing my hands in her own. I sniffled and laughed miserably, pulling myself together in record breaking speed. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”
“No—I mean, hell. I’ve made a few mistakes myself, but I can’t blame you.” I admitted. I geared myself up to ask the one thing I was dreading. I needed to hear her say it, but I also hoped that my abilities were wrong on this one. “So he—he actually did it, didn’t he?”
Her shoulders slumped just a bit, but her smile never faltered.
“He did. The stupid prick rejected me, not that I’ve particularly lost much. Have you seen his personality? He’s seriously lacking, and the daddy issues are through the roof.” She huffed, sounding much more like her usual self. It made me a bit relieved to see her flair was back, because how could she live a short life when she seemed so…alive? “Can you believe it, Aurora? I’m an Alpha’s Luna. I guess my bossiness comes from somewhere.”
“Unfortunately, I’ve had the ple@sure of seeing Zayne Novak for exactly what he is.” I rolled my eyes, earning a smirk from her. “Obviously, I can believe it. I’m beginning to think I have some kind of foresight going on because I called it back at the cabin.”
“With all the crap that’s going on, I don’t think you need another ability.” She snickered, only half serious.