Mates and Missing Kids

IX : The Twin Thing

"I love you not only for what you are,
but for what I am when I am with you.
I love you not only for what you have made of yourself,
but for what you are making of me.
I love you for the part of me that you bring out."
-Roy Croft

-----------------------------------

AARIC GALLAGHER

------------------------------------

I rubbed my face as I trudged back to the room I shared with Dev. Comforting people took a lot out of me. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy helping people, I mean, it's in my nature, but sometimes, carrying others' problems became too much.

I had meant it when I said that I would always be there for Ian. Be a shoulder to cry on. He was my best friend, after all. More like family, really.

There was just too much going on.

Between the kidnappings, Ian breaking down, and the threat Lance received (yes, he told me about it), I was overwhelmed.

Padding into our room, I yawned, then flopped down on the bed next to Dev. He looked up from his phone and his face immediately adopted a worried expression. "Hey, are you alright?" he asked. I nodded, but Dev just put the phone on the bedside table, and said, "No, you're not. You need a hug don't you?"

I nodded again and crawled over to his side. He wrapped me in a giant bear hug while rubbing my back. Smiling, I remembered the time our parents had finally told us that we would have the same mate.

We were only twelve, four years from gaining the ability to tell our mates from the crowd by a simple look, or a scent drifting in the wind. Dev and I had always been closer than normal siblings, but we had never really cared.

Our parents sat us down and told us why that was. They had decided we needed to know before we found out on our own.

Identical twin shifters were literally two halves of a whole, biology-wise, and even though Amber, Dev, and I were triplets, Dev and I had come from the same egg, and Amber from a different one. This, obviously, meant we were technically twins.

They went on to explain that since identical twins were once one person, they quite often had the same mate. That also meant that they were each other's mate as well. Our parents called it 'The Twin Thing.'

We were shocked to say the least, but I was also kind of relieved.

My whole life, I had believed that Dev's mate would take him away from me, and that freaked me out. Dev was, and still is, my rock. He's the rational one. The one that reminds me, time and time again, that, try as I might, I can't make everyone happy.

He's everything I'm not.

He's hardheaded, stubborn as a mule, quick to tell people off, and just plain tough. I may look the part, but I'm about as tough as a marshmallow. Dev on the other hand, well, his mark enhanced not only his strength, but also his sense of smell, which made him the best person to ask if you wanted to track someone, or something, down.

No one dared to mess with him. They all saw him as the big, bad wolf that would break you in half if you annoyed him. But, occasionally, he let out the side only I got to see. The side that was extremely protective and a bit of a worry wort. He always told me that it wasn't fair that I got all the comforting genes, and he got the ones that accidentally made people cry when he tried to calm them down.

After shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I rested my head on Dev's chest. He tangled our legs together before kissing the top of my head.

"Better?" he asked.

"Definitely," I replied, as I snuggled closer to his warmth. I started to drift off to sleep, but a small feeling kept nagging at me. Something felt like it was missing. What was it?

*Our mate.* Farall, my wolf, chimed in.

"Do you think we'll ever find our mate?" I asked out loud, glancing up at Dev.

"God, I sure hope so."

~~~~~~~~~

It's a shorter chapter, but don't worry. Stuff is about to go down. When, you ask? I'm not telling you. It would ruin the surprise.

So, what do you think of Dev?

How about Aaric?

Stay sparkling, my friends!
     -Star