Page 5 of Alpha's Twins
Her words cut more than I’d like to admit, especially after meeting Aiden, but I brush them aside, nodding. “Well, exactly,” I laugh, “I don’t want to look too keen.”
At that, she bursts out laughing. “I wouldn’t worry on that front, he’s a total babe. I doubt he’ll be hassling you.”
It’s a sucker blow and she knows it, her smirk in place as she breezes back out of the room, leaving me staring at the dress, determined not to cry. I will not cry. She’s right, after all. This is more of an inter-pack thing, and it’s not really about me. I’m sure he won’t care what I look like, anyway; he’ll probably never even speak to me after today.
That is what I tell myself as I get dressed, do my hair, and makeup. The silence in the small room is deafening. I wish Hannah and Roy could have come, at least, but there was no time. The flowers were due to go out, and the next event is only days away. I don’t see how the store can run without me, but at least Hannah can complete that order before closing the doors. The thought of all our hard work just ending like this breaks my heart. There is nothing for me here.
I step out into the hallway, but the weight of my lack of choices suddenly feels overwhelming, and I stop at the top of the stairs to try and steady myself. It’s then that I hear the laughter and voices downstairs more clearly.
“It’s a win-win. We won’t be responsible for a shifter without a wolf anymore, and the trade terms are better than before,” Nolan chuckles. It’s nothing I didn’t already know. I’m literally the only one in our pack without a wolf, and the pack doesn’t like it when people’s faces don’t fit.
I hear a woman’s voice and quickly realize it’s Nicola. “She’s going to bust out of that dress. Are you sure he won’t back out when he sees her?”
There’s more laughter, and I don’t need to look to know it’s at my expense. I should have known better than to think I could ever build something within the pack and be free of their ridicule. I'm still the same shifter without a wolf, only now I’ll be shackled to an alpha who doesn’t even want me and will probably reject me as soon as he has a good look at me.
It’s hard to feel anything other than shame when I know they’re right.
The pit in my stomach only grows as we head to the ceremony. I make a point of wearing my neutral mask so well that hardly anyone even bothers to speak to me. My pack, people I have known all my life, are about to discard me on this dangerous island, and they barely have two words to say to me. For a while, I fooled myself into thinking that I was earning their respect with my store. Now I see I was merely earning their temporary tolerance.
It’s only as we walk into the clearing where the ceremony is being held that the sheer scale of it hits me. The island really has gone all out. Everywhere I look, there are colorful bannersand flags, people milling about, gawking at us as we approach the center. I tug at the front of my dress, suddenly very aware of how revealing it is. Unfortunately, everything I wear seems to only highlight the size of my chest, so Nicola was partly right about me busting out of it.
I look around and don’t see Aiden, but so many unfamiliar faces stare back at me that it makes me want to disappear. I feel dazed as we move through the crowd, and I try to keep my head down. Nolan appears to be lapping up the attention, though, as he greets some of the island’s betas like long-lost friends. Nolan can really turn on the charm when he wants to.
When we finally reach the front, I’m surprised to see so many witches. We don’t really mix on the mainland, but there seems to be a lot here. I don’t have time to think much about it as Nolan suddenly squeezes my arm a little too tightly and leans in close.
“Just get this done, Serena. This is as good as it gets for you,” he whispers as Nicola hands me a bunch of wilting flowers, and they leave me standing there alone at the end of the aisle, with everyone looking on.
I stare at the sad-looking flowers as the wind whips gently around me and try to steady my breathing. A sound from the side of the stage draws my attention, and a strange feeling of warmth washes over me as Aiden steps up, making eye contact with me. I brace myself for his reaction, an outright rejection or some kind of comment about last night. Instead, he holds my gaze and smirks slightly. It’s not entirely unkind, perhaps just a sign of recognition. He turns to Nolan, and I wonder if he’s going to tell him about last night after all, but instead they simply shake hands, and he steps toward me.
“Well, Serena?” he says quietly. “Nice to meet you, officially.”
His eyes sparkle with amusement, and it only makes him look more attractive. I feel like my brain is going to short-circuit as I struggle to find a response. Instead of waiting, he simply takes my hand and signals for the officiant to begin. He obviously wants to get this over with, too.
The ceremony itself is simple but quite sweet—or at least it would have been under different circumstances. I slip into autopilot, pointedly ignoring the way goosebumps rush along my fingers every time Aiden has to take my hand. I refuse to let anyone see how much he affects me, and I don't want to give them any more reason to make fun of me. He looks so handsome, it’s almost painful to look at him. We must look ridiculous together.
I grip the tightly bound stems of the bouquet as the witch reads an incantation of some kind, focusing on the familiar buzz of energy from the flowers. Something tangible I can hold on to. When Aiden is told to take my hand again, his practically engulfs mine, and I cannot ignore the strange sensation that overcomes me at the contact. I try to stuff it down again, and this time, the energy seems to flow directly into the bouquet as the flowers bloom between us, soft leaves and delicate pink flowers growing and cascading to the floor.
My cheeks burn bright red, and the crowd gasps in awe. Dimly in the background, I hear Nolan explain that I have a gift with flowers and how pretty it is. I steal a cautious glance at Aiden and find him staring at me with something completely unreadable behind his handsome face. I wonder if it’s the witch’s incantation or simply Aiden’s imposing presence, but I feel the whole world suddenly tilt, and I have to steady myself by holding his hand, the flowering bouquet between us.
I try to rein in the flowers as they trail along the floor, but I fear there will be no reining in my emotions where Aiden is concerned.
Chapter 4 - Aiden
I’m not really sure what I expected from having a mate. I’ll admit I probably didn’t give it enough thought; I was too caught up in the ways I didn’t want things to change. I never anticipated what my mate might be expecting.
Discovering that Serena was the sexy woman I caught trying to leave the night before the ceremony was one thing—that she was trying to escape me, that was a first. I don’t usually send women running, but apparently this one is different. The second is that she barely wants to look at me, never mind talk to me. She seems completely immune to any of the usual ways I charm women.
She looked completely radiant during the ceremony. Nervous, but radiant. I was tempted to tease her about her near escape, but something in the way her eyes kept darting to Nolan told me to leave it alone. Her fear out on the trail was real, and I felt like a total jerk as I sent her back to her pack, but the fallout would have been immense if one of Nolan’s party had run away—so much worse if it had been the woman they’d brought over to be my mate. I’d almost told my brothers about my encounter with the beautiful, tiny shifter this morning, but now I’m glad I didn’t. I don’t know why, but once I realized who she was, joking about a woman running from Nolan didn’t seem as amusing. Even if I still think Nolan is an asshole.
What is even less funny is that my mate still appears to want to run, even now that she knows who I am. So is Nolan the asshole, or am I?
It appears the answer may be both of us, given that Serena appears less than happy about being my mate. I didn’t expect this reaction; I was so caught up in my feelings that itdidn’t even occur to me that she might not be happy about her part in it. Women like me, after all. I wasn’t expecting a great romance, but I at least thought we’d consummate the mating and have some fun.
I was right about one thing: she was happy enough to be leaving Nolan and even the people traveling with him. She barely gave them a backward glance as I introduced her to Ava, Emily, and my brothers. She seemed genuinely shocked to discover that Tristen’s mate is a witch and almost as short as she is. The pack party after the ceremony continued well into the evening, but Serena retreated to the house at the first opportunity when the girls offered to show her where she’d be staying. Once she was in the house, she pretty much locked herself in the spare room—so much for consummating the mating. I didn’t want her to feel awkward as the party continued, so I stayed at the house, too; I bet everyone thought we were having a wild night.
I scoff at the thought as I slam my fist into the bag hanging from the pack gym’s roof. It’s been forty-eight hours, and I still can’t shake the irritation every time someone ribs me about my mate, insinuates we fucked all night, or asks how it’s going. My wolf feels more on edge than ever. Even getting back to patrolling last night didn’t help. I assumed I was just feeling restless over Malik, but it feels so much bigger than that. How can anything feel bigger than Malik’s lingering threat?
I hit the bag again and again until I feel a satisfying burn in my knuckles. The guys are beginning to arrive for tonight’s patrol, and I can feel my wolf’s stark need to run coursing through my veins. I need to run or fuck, and only one of those outcomes is likely tonight. I know I could technically hit up the bars on the edge of town—I’ve no doubt those witches would like another round, and goddess knows I could do with a drink if that had any more of that batch. But something about being seen ascheating on my mate within two days of the ceremony doesn’t seem as appealing anymore.
