Say What?

Chapter two- I have two mates?!

My sister Jess had said that meeting your mate was the most phenomenal experience of your life, except maybe giving birth. I had never believed her, at least not until now. He has me crushed up against the door, and looks like he’s about to eat me. I was still deciding if that was a good thing when Mia bounded up the stairs. Crap. Runaway Mia! Runaway! Mia looks at me and an angry line sets between her eyes. I guess I was kind of breaking her no fraternising rule. But at the moment I didn’t care about rules. I cared about him, my mate and only my mate. It was as if I was locked in a trance, the kind of trance where pixies came and danced around in your head. I wanted to crush the pixies’ so I would only see him. Some sense leaks into my head and I open the door behind me.

“This, um, th-this is your room,” I stutter. He shakes his head and smiles.

“Thanks, looks comfortable. I can see I’ll fit in just fine.” He strangles his words out and rushes past in an attempt to reach the safety of his room without any further conversation.

“Dinner’s at six thirty. We’re having tacos,” I meekly say and he gives me a weak smile, careful not to look into my eyes.

“My favourite,” he tells me before slamming the door shut.

Mia stands on one side of the kitchen and I’m stationed on the other, preparing the guacamole and salsa. Some of the boys from the pack arrived to help and Mia set them on moving in two large dining tables. They were going to stay and mingle with the visiting alphas. Mia turns to me.

“He’s your mate, isn’t he?’ she questions, even though she knew the answer.

“Well, it sure as hell feels that way,” I mumble.

“I’m surprised you had two had the strength to separate. I was ready to call your brother.”

“So am I,” I tell her “and let’s just keep the fact that I may have possibly found my mate a secret from the male members of my family. I want to break it to them when they’re not so stressed.”

“I understand that sweetie. And did you hear about the brothers that are staying here?”

I smile and look over my shoulder at Mia, about to launch into another piece of gossip she’s heard.

“Brothers?” I ask. It’s unusual for brothers to train to be alphas together, because usually one has been selected beforehand to complete the training.

“Well,” she begins, “there are a set of twins staying here. It’s was agreed that their father would have chosen one of the boys to take his place when he steps down from the role. You see, the boys are both good alpha material in their own way. Jett, the one with the dark hair, is a big boy, muscles covering every inch of his body. He would be a strong alpha and produce strong pups, and be amazing on the battle field. But the other twin, Michael, your mate, is more level-headed and would be more reasonable and think his decisions through. So as you can see, their father must have had a hard decision. When it was time to send in the final name he wrote down both the boys names, and is leaving the decision to your father, which is a great sign of respect.”

So, my mate has a twin. And his name is Michael. I scoop the dips into separate dishes and place them in the fridge. Michael saunters into the kitchen and freezes when he sees me. Mia turns a wary gaze on him.

“May I help you boys?” Mia asks. Boys? Michael’s twin, Jett, swings around the corner and smiles.

“We were just wondering if you required any assistance,” he replies coolly.

Mia brightens. “You can help Jay set the table, Jett. Michael, can you please go around to the dorms and tell all the boys that dinner is in twenty minutes?” she chirps. Michael grins and hastily leaves, glad to be further away from me. I stretch up and grab the long white tablecloth. These cupboards were designed for people much taller than me. I pass the cloth to Jett, and I receive a slight tingle when our hands brush. I ignore it and walk the tablecloth out and shake it. We place it on the table and I walk over to collect the plates. Mia wrinkles her nose up at a mould infested hunk of cheese.

“You are just beyond rescue, you poor thing. I’m just gonna walk over to the pack house and borrow some of their cheese. I ‘ll do a shop tomorrow,” she informs us and throws the cheese in the bin on her way out.

“She talks to mouldy cheese?” Jett asks and I just smile.

“You’ll get used to her.”

I turn around and jump at his close proximity. Dumbly I reach behind me and set the plates on the bench. He tilts my face up with a gentle hand and looks me in the eyes. His body tenses and suddenly a wave of emotion rushes over me and I growl. I have two mates?!

***

I stare at the bottle of whisky in my hand. Dinner had been ainful, both of the boys sitting at opposite ends of the table with me in the middle. Mia was oblivious to my uncomfortable situation and I'd like to keep it that way until I can wrap my head around things. The river a few feet away looks so tempting, but in my current drunken state I would be an idiot to go in. I can hear two sets of footsteps behind me and instantly new that they were the two boys I was hiding from.