Page 8 of A Chance at Love for the Twin Alphas

I lick my lips nervously. “Would you mind if we took separate cars?”

Tony is surprised. “Why? I don’t mind, but why?”

“Just a feeling,” I say evasively, hoping he will buy it.

He doesn’t, but he knows me well enough not to push me. “Alright.” He nods. “Do you want to leave at the same time, or does your gut feeling tell you not to do that?”

Fuck that tease. I roll my eyes. “No, let’s both leave at seven.”

He raises his brows. “Henry, the party starts at eight. We will be far too early.” He shakes his head. “You and your messed up sense of timing. It’s impolite to be too early.”

“It’s impolite to be too late,” I argue.

“Both are bad.” Tony chuckles. “And the last time we arrived too early, we waited in the car for half an hour so that it wouldn’t be too weird.” He pauses. “Dude, your control issues are no joke.”

His voice sounds like he is teasing me, but I know he isn’t. “It’s not that bad,” I say.

“If you say so.” He nods. “7:15,” he offers as a compromise.

“Alright.”

I watch him get up and leave my office, probably to return to his own work. Once he is gone, I get up to put the chairs he and Dad sat on in their rightful place again, then sort through my pens. When I’m finished, I take the card out of the drawer.

We invite you to our 18th birthday, Elodie and Elise.

I look at the card, my heart beating faster. I’m feeling nervous.

I shouldn’t, but I feel terrified.

3

Secrets

*ANTHONY*

Asexpected,HenryandI were too early and spent fifteen minutes strolling around the area for a bit so that we wouldn’t be the first guests. Henry then separated and went off to buy some additional flowers and call one of our allied alphas, while I flirted with a girl I recognized as a young warrior from a neighboring pack.

I straightened my tie and smoothed my shirt when I left the small storage room again. “It’s safe,” I tell the girl I just hooked up with.

She nods, flashing me a smile. “No strings attached, right?”

“Definitely,” I promise. I only date loosely and never with women from my pack.

“Good,” she says, relieved. “I can only do meaningless flings until I meet my mate.”

I should be happy that she said that, as we are on the same page, but something in my chest clenches a bit. Meaningless, I think, everything I do is so meaningless. I don’t even know why I hooked up with her. It’s not like I felt the urge to fuck someone.

I just hate the thought of being alone. Whenever I’m alone, anxiety seems to crawl over me, suffocating me. It’s like I’m underwater, paddling my arms to reach the surface, but whatever I do, I’m being pulled down further and further.

I take a deep breath. This is not the place for a panic attack.

I nod shortly at the girl before making my way back to the party. Now, the place is buzzing, and it doesn’t look so weird anymore to be around.

Elise and Elodie are celebrating in a fancy restaurant they have booked for the whole evening. They are both members of the Royal Council of Lycans, the one that rules over the fellow lycans and werewolves. Recently, the Council opened a branch here close to our place. The actual base is in Paris, where the future king and queen will reside and rule once they step up as rulers and sit on the throne.

As high-ranking members of the Council, it was easy for the two of them to rent a whole pretty high-end restaurant. “Elise!” I wave at one of the twins. “Happy birthday!”

“Oh, Tony.” She beams and runs towards me to hug me. “Good to see you! And yes, finally of legal age.”

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