Page 16 of A Chance at Love for the Twin Alphas

Mal smiles. “I’ll get us something to drink.”

When she leaves, Elise sits down next to me on the bench. “And here I thought you’d jump on anything with a vagina,” she teases. She doesn’t sound angry, though. Her tone lacks any venom.

“I try not to have sex with girls who will regret it later,” I admit.

“Why do you do it?” she asks carefully. “Sleep with so many women.”

I look away from her. Most of my friends are guys, and none of them would ever ask something like that. “I don’t know,” I say.

“Yes, you do,” she says quietly. “It’s not because of Henry and Elodie, is it?”

“I’m happy for them,” I tell her. “Besides, they only found out they are mates today.”

“We both know they had the hots for each other before,” she points out.

She is right, yet it’s not why I’m so messed up. “They aren’t the reason,” I reassure her.

She sighs. “If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here to listen.”

“And you?” I ask. “What do you need a timeout for?”

She shrugs. “Elodie and I have been together since I remember. It’s always been the both of us against the rest of the world. The weird twins who were bullied in school. The weird twins who don’t know their parents. The weird twins who finish each other’s sentences. The weird twins, who were hired by the Council as teens. It didn’t matter, though, because we always had each other.”

I take her hand to squeeze it. “You will never lose Elodie,” I say softly.

“I know, but it will never be the same.” She sighs. “Fuck, Tony, I knew we’d find our mates one day, and I knew we wouldn’t be able to stay together forever, but still.” She leans her forehead against my shoulder, and I brush through her hair softly.

“It’s okay,” I mutter. “I understand.”

“I’m so happy for her, but I’ll miss her,” she admits.

“I think because we’re identical twins, it’s hard for us to share them,” I tell her. “It’s the same for me. I don’t know what it means for Henry to be mated to Elodie. Will he still become alpha with me? Will he become a member of the Council? Are they going to move or stay here? There are a lot of insecurities concerning our future now.” I pause. “But at the same time, I think it’s important that this happens and we all find our separate mates. We’re all individual people, and I think we need to learn to rely on ourselves, too. We won’t lose our twins. We just need to learn how to share them, and I think we’ll gain something new from it.”

“Henry will be like a brother to me now,” Elise admits. “You’re right. Maybe this will also be a chance for me. I’ve always hid behind Elodie. Maybe I need to step up my game too now.” She pauses. “It will take some time for me to adjust to this new reality.”

“That’s okay.” I smile. “You know, if you ever want to talk, I can listen too.”

“Yeah.” She grins. “Pity we aren’t mates.”

“You don’t mean that.”

“You’re right, I don’t.”

We both laugh.

“Just imagine if we were mates too,” I muse. “And we’d have children. Our children would be cousins, but genetically, they’d be siblings.”

“Goddess,” Elise mutters. “That’s too much of a mind-fuck.” She smiles. “No, no offense, but I prefer to find my mate somewhere else.”

I nod in understanding.

“I meant it, you know,” she says suddenly. “If you ever want to talk, I’m here. I won’t judge, just listen.”

I let her words sink in before I nod. “Thank you.” I pause. “Maybe one day…”

Before we can deepen our talk, Mal is back with drinks and a few snacks. She sits down next to us, and we start to chat for a bit. She tells Elise and me about her boyfriend and how he basically just pushed her aside to run to his mate. Mate or not, that’s a pretty shitty thing to do.

While we talk, I can feel something wet on my cheek. Looking up, I can see the night sky being covered by thick, dark clouds. Then the snow starts to fall.

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