The Alpha Twins and their Runaway Witch

16

Alex and August woke up in their new rented home. Enjoying the quiet of the space. August worked to figure out the coffee maker while Alex made them breakfast. Cleaning as he went, everything loaded neatly into the dishwasher. When the plate of sausages, eggs, hash-browns and toast was set on the breakfast bar for August to enjoy, the kitchen looked like no one had ever cooked anything. It was eerie how Alex could cook so clean in August's opinion.

August nudged over the large mug of coffee towards his brother, followed by the small carton of cream and sugar. Still shuddering as he watched his brother add three heaping scoops of sugar and enough cream to turn the coffee almost white. August himself added barely a drop of cream to his own mug.

The twins doom scrolled through their phones reading the news while they ate breakfast. Both enjoying the change of pace of a quiet breakfast, in a nice kitchen just the two of them. Not in a road side diner, or a hotel restaurant. Quiet moments were rare in their lives. This could have been a very nice morning for the two of them. A taste of what their future could be. A nice home, that was theirs, separate from all the other Greenrivers. Except both of them were only being quiet because the pull was like an itch under their skin that could not be ignored.

This breakfast was functional. They wanted to get out on their bikes as soon as possible and hunt the source of the calling. They needed to be well fed in order to do that. Thankfully, now that they had a home base, they wouldn't need to pack up each morning, or load up the bikes with bags. They could ride light. Could stay out later knowing everything was already set up for them to crash at the end of the day.

Breakfast done, August got up from the breakfast bar at the kitchen island. Willing and planning to leave the plate where it was. They could clean up when they got back tonight. Alex glared at his brother, picking up all the dishes and loading them into the dishwasher. Filling the detergent indent in the door and starting the cycle even though the racks weren't full.

August left it alone. Alex cleaned when he was stressed. Well, everywhere outside the bathroom at least. August did notice that Alex had showered in a different bathroom than the en-suite to the master bedroom. Leaving the shared space pristine. Which had made August feel self conscious about using it himself so even though there was a perfectly good bathroom right in their room, he too went down the hall to the bathroom Alex had wrecked. 

Doing his best to mop up the tsunami of water Alex somehow managed to pour over the floor. August assumed that he and his brother were seeking a matching set of twins when he pictured them mated and settled. Living together in one big house. When they had their own home he was going to look into getting drains installed in the floors of the bathrooms. 

Alex expected they would find the source of the calling easily today, and it would be their mates. Just like August thought. Neither would say it, but each brother was dropping little hints that the other could pick up. They both knew what the other wasn't saying. Rigid Alex was an open book to his brother. Alex had tied and retied his topknot several times. Tried a pony tail. Feigned for a moment that he might leave it loose. Clearly switching from focusing on anything emotional to instead focus on his crowning glory and vacillating between all the possible hair styles he could wear on the day they might find their mates.

Meanwhile Alex had noticed how August had checked the kitchen cupboards at least four times while breakfast cooked and lamented groceries and other things they did not have. Had also seen August change his shirt at least twice over the course of the morning. Even though he would be wearing his leather over whatever he wore while on their motorcycles.

August was stressing that the home they had rented in a rush wasn't going to be enough for his mate when they brought her home. August was worried that his wardrobe or style wouldn't measure up, that he would be found wanting by the mate they had been searching for, for years when compared to self assured, styled Alex. 

August always undervalued himself. Alex knew that his brother didn't ever seem to understand that being a steady, relaxed, calm voice and presence in any storm or situation was an immeasurable value. August had far more girls who were interested in a serious relationship with him. Alex was a one night stand, August was more.

Well aware of each other and their current anxieties, they locked up the house and mounted their bikes, heading back to the city. They started by doing a perimeter sweep, on the east side, the pull felt stronger so they started to work their way closer to the inner city. Weaving their way to the centre city, near the university district. Except, the closer they got to centre city, the less certain they were on the direction they should go. As if a new force was interfering with their ability to follow the calling.

They did not take this as bad news. They had been searching for so long, had never felt closer than they did right now. However, feeling like what they were seeking was just on the next street over constantly was nearly unbearable. The crushing feeling getting worse every time they realized that they were not in fact as close as they felt. The intangible, far away feeling had been so much easier to bear. Now the call was clearly in front of them, and still out of reach. The path forward more muddled than it had ever been.

The area around the university was dense with people. Students crammed into every possible apartment space. Local families, shops, restaurants, a couple office towers making the area feel crowded and too full of people. Then there were witches and other shifters going about their business living in the bustling city that was so different to the pack and Golden Green.

There was even a street that certainly had a demon of some kind making his lair in one of the buildings. They had driven down the street once and both their wolves had reacted badly to demon aura. It wasn't a succubus or incubus and the twins really did not much experience with any other kind of demon or monster. Lumi had come across an ancient demon when she had been kidnapped a few years ago, she said nothing had ever been more terrifying. They had marked the street and made a note to avoid the area if they could in the future.

They had expected it would be easy to find what they were seeking now that the source was obviously in the same city as they were. They pushed themselves to keep riding along the city streets until it was mid afternoon. They were hungry and cranky as they stopped for lunch. Eating fast food sat on their bikes in the parking lot of the restaurant and taking off again.

Neither were in a very good mood when they finally had to admit to themselves that they would not be finding their mates today. The hour had grown late when they finally headed back to their rental. The next day was much the same, then the day after, and the day after that. The city was a maze of alleys too small for even their bikes to drive through. Warrens of interconnected buildings. Locked doors and places they could not gain entrance.