Chapter 1
*** Damien’s POV ***
*
“You will find her soon, son. Just be patient.” Dad said with a sigh for the hundredth time in the last two years. He wore a pitiful expression on his face and it was hard not to roll my eyes at him every time he said that.
“But when, dad? We are already twenty years old and I know two years is not that long, but I really want to find her.” I told him desperately.
We were working in the office, sorting out the pack's bills and documents and, of course, Dylan, my twin brother, was nowhere to be seen as usual.
“I am sure she will show up soon. Maybe she hasn’t turned eighteen yet or maybe she is from another pack.” He said reassuringly and I nodded my head with a sigh.
I have wanted to find my mate since we turned eighteen… or our mate if we have only one for the two of us. Most of the time, twins have only one mate. It’s rare to have one for each, especially for identical twins like Dylan and I.
Sharing with him was always a problem because, even when we were kids, we needed to have two of everything. Moreover, all of our stuff needed to be in the same colour as well, because we would start arguing about which one was better.
I hope we are not going to have one mate for the two of us, because I don’t know how we would handle that situation. Maybe we look totally the same from the outside, but we were different in a lot of things from the inside.
After an hour of working in the office, I decided to go to eat something and check what Dylan was up to while he should have been in the office with us and help. We were now the Alphas of the pack and we had a lot of responsibilities, but Dylan didn’t take it as seriously as I did.
“I will go and eat something.” I told dad, who just nodded his head without looking up from the files he was reading, so I just stood up and left the office.
Dad passed down the Alpha position almost a year ago, but he was bored, so he and mom used to help us with paperwork and stuff. I was grateful for that, because I couldn’t really count on Dylan a lot of times. He was always hanging out with our friends and girls and I would have to do everything alone if our parents didn’t help me occasionally. My sister, Sera and her mate, Mason, used to help sometimes too, but with their baby around, they didn’t have so much time, especially now that they were expecting the second one to arrive soon.
As I reached the main hall downstairs, I could already hear the yelling from the game room, so I rolled my eyes while I made my way towards the door. I walked in and saw Dylan and one of our friends, Jacob, playing video games while a few she-wolves from the pack were fussing over them in admiration.
“Hey Damien. What’s up?” Jacob stood up to greet me with a handshake.
“Hi, J. Not much. Busy with pack stuff as usual,” I said, and glared at Dylan pointedly. He noticed when he looked in my way and just rolled his eyes.
“It’s a pity that you can’t hang out with us more often,” Jacob said, and I nodded my head without taking my eyes off of my brother.
“Yeah. I would be able to join you more often if Dylan here would do his job as well, so we would share the work.” I said disdainfully and Dylan scoffed and stood up from the couch.
“Why are you crying when dad is helping you all the time?” He asked and I rolled my eyes at him.
“Because that’s not his job anymore, Dylan. He had passed the title to us already for a while, if you didn’t notice.” I told him matter of factly.
“Alright, guys. I need to go. See you around.” Jacob said and shook hands with both of us before walking out of the room with the girls to god knows where. I think he just hated hearing our arguments.
“God, you are so annoying. It’s just paperwork that anyone could do. I am not in the mood to waste my time with unnecessary things like that. I am glad mom and dad are helping us. Just leave me alone already.” He said frustratedly and I let out a sigh. I didn’t want to argue with him again. I was tired of it and that was one of the reasons I wanted to have my mate already, to always calm me down when I was upset, just like now.
“Let’s just go to Tony’s. Are you up for it?” I asked him and he let out a sigh as well while he placed the controller back in its place.
“Sure, let’s go.” He said, and we headed out of the packhouse.
I loved my brother, don’t get me wrong, but he was very annoying and childish sometimes. I mean , most of the time. We are Alphas now and he should act like that before someone wants to challenge us for the title.
“Where are you guys going?” Uncle Dante appeared in front of us as soon as we stepped out of the packhouse.
“We will just go to grab something to eat at Tony’s,” I told him.
“There is a lot of food in the kitchen. Why do you want to spend money on it?” He asked and we both shrugged our shoulders.
Uncle Dante was the brother of mom and our Beta until his son, Noah, who was our cousin, turned eighteen. That was two more years, so we were stuck with him for now, but I didn’t mind. He knew what he was doing, so I didn’t need to worry about that too.
“It’s good to get away sometimes, Uncle. You know how it is.” Dylan said with a smirk and I rolled my eyes at him. He was the one to talk, he was barely around.
“Yeah, I know. I will see if I can help your dad then.” He said and walked into the building without another word.
“You really should help more, Dylan. I want them to see that we take all this Alpha thing seriously and that we really care for the pack. Don’t you want them to be proud of us? What are you going to do if someone challenges us for the title? Won’t you feel like you haven’t done everything you could have?” I asked him as we were driving towards the cafe and he let out a sigh.
“Okay. I promise to involve myself more, just stop nagging already.” He said and that was enough for me. I just hoped he meant it.
“Cool.” I said, and he parked the car in the front of Tony’s Cafe.
“Hi, man.”
“Hi, Brice.” We greeted and shook the hand of the guy behind the counter. His family owned the place.
“Hi, Alphas. How is it going?” He asked with a huge smile. His mate was pregnant with his pup and since the day they found out, the guy was just smiling like an id*ot. I was a bit jealous of him to be honest. A nice mate and a pup sounded really appealing. Dylan thought differently though.
“It’s going well. How is she holding up?” Dylan asked, referring to his mate, Chantal.
“She is fine, she just gets tired easily, but everything is okay.” He said and after talking some more, we gave him our order and sat down at our usual table.
I just looked at my hands on the table while I was thinking about how nice it would be to bring our mate here. She would sit between us while we would both feed her in turn.
“What are you smiling about like that? Were you again thinking about her?” Dylan asked while he shook his head and I let out a sigh. “Man, you need to chill.” He added and I rolled my eyes.
“I know you are fine without a mate, but I need her. I desperately want to find her. I was even thinking about travelling to look for her. What if she is in a pack far away from here?” I told him desperately and he let out a sigh and leaned on his elbow.
“Let’s just wait till the end of the year. If she doesn’t cross our path, we will go and visit some packs to look for her. Alright?” He said and my eyes widened. I didn’t think he would say that. Maybe he realised that he was longing for her as well.
“Yes, let’s do that.” I told him excitedly. I knew that the end of the year was still a few months away, but the thought of looking for her instead of sitting around and waiting made my day.
He just let out a chuckle at my expression while he shook his head.
“Oh, hi. I thought you guys were busy in the office.” Serena, our sister, walked up to us out of nowhere. She was wearing an apron and there was flour on her face and hands.
“Are you busy baking?” Dylan asked instead of answering.
“Yeah, I am trying. I just needed something so I came to ask Brice.” She said with a chuckle. She had a small bump already as she would give birth to their second child in a few months.
Sera was a special werewolf and we were very proud of her. She had long white hair and she owned the super power of teleportation. Not to mention her fighting skills. She was totally cool and we loved her dearly.
“I hope you will give us a taste when it’s ready,” I told her with a smile.
“Of course. Come by after you guys have eaten. I will be done with it by then, but I need to go now. Mason is waiting for me.” She said and pressed a kiss on both of our cheeks before disappearing from the front of us.
“Don’t you think about how it feels to have a mate who cares about you?” I asked Dylan, who just looked at me with an expressionless face before he let out a sigh and I just looked at him and waited for his answer. It was like I was looking at my reflection in the mirror, we looked totally the same, but we were already used to it. A lot of times, even our family members confused us when we masked our scents.
“I do think about it and I want to find her too, but it’s no use being sad over something that you should be patient about.” He said and he was kind of right, but it was hard to be patient. I know he didn’t want to find her as much as I did. He was fine with the way he was living now. Casual hook-ups and parties with friends.
“You are right.” I told him sadly and he was just looking at me until our food arrived and we started eating quickly.
I was glad he offered to look for our mate if she doesn’t show up until next year. That calmed me and my wolf down a lot.
Connor, my wolf, was restless every time we came across a mated couple. He was jealous of them when he saw them flirting and cuddling and started whining about going to find our mate. I was feeling the same way and I started to go insane from the anticipation. I couldn’t imagine how some werewolves could wait decades to find their mate. How do they survive?
“Let’s go to taste Sera’s cookies.” Dylan said after we were done with our food and we made our way back to the pack house.
After my sister and her mate got together, they moved to a separate apartment in the packhouse, two floors below ours. We were very happy about having Serena close to us. Dylan and I were stressed for years while thinking about her changing pack when she finds her mate, but luckily that wasn’t the case. Her mate is from this pack as well, so she would stay with us, which made us very happy.
“What’s up, guys? Come in.” Mason opened the door for us with a huge smile on his face. Those two were always smiling as they were very happy and I was glad for their happiness, but I wanted to feel that way too.
“Hey man.” Dylan shook his hand before walking past him.
“Hey.” I shook Mason’s hand too and moved further into their apartment.
“Sera is in the kitchen,” Mason said after he closed the door behind us.
“Where is my favourite nephew?” Dylan asked and Sera walked out of the kitchen while wiping her hands in her apron.
“He is your only nephew.” She said playfully and Dylan just smiled and picked up Aiden, our two-year-old nephew, who ran towards him as soon as he heard us.
“Dian….” He chuckled as Dylan threw him into the air before catching him and I walked up to them with a smile on my face. I loved children and I desperately wanted one, but I never told Dylan about it or to anyone, for that matter.
“Were you a good boy?” Dylan asked him.
“Bad bo….” He said in his cute baby voice and let out a giggle. He was a naughty one, but everyone loved him dearly in the family. We all let out a laugh and I went to take him from Dylan.
“Come here, buddy.” He came to my hands without hesitation and I hugged his small body to my huge one. He was the sweetest thing ever.
“How are you holding up, sis?” Dylan asked Sera, referring to her pregnancy while I was busy with Aiden.
“I am good , bro. Mason is helping me a lot with Aiden and I don’t have any problems like nausea or pain, so I can’t complain.” Our sister replied with a smile and Mason pressed a kiss onto her forehead.
“That’s good to hear. I can’t wait for our little niece to arrive.” I said with a smile. Her belly was quite big already and we knew that it was a girl. “Are you excited about having a little sister?” I asked the little guy who just frowned at me.
“Baby…” he said and pointed at his mommy’s belly.
“Yes, sweetie. There is a baby.” Sera said while they were both smiling at their son proudly. I felt the tug in my chest again as Connor started whimpering in my head. Suddenly, I felt like I would suffocate if I stayed any longer.
“Uhmm… I need to go now.. I told dad I was just grabbing a bite so I need to go back to the office.” I said quickly and handed Aiden back to Dylan.
“Okay… see you…” I cut my sister off when I closed the door behind me after I hurried out of their home. I couldn’t watch them. The thought that our mate was nowhere to be found made me feel physical pain and some days, like today , I just couldn’t handle it and the whining of Connor didn’t help my situation either. I didn’t even want to eat cookies anymore.
