CHAPTER 1: Yet another painful rejection
DYLAN
“You didn't have to do that, did you?” our mum scolds us for the umpteenth time. “This is the third girl you're both rejecting since you turned eighteen. What's really happening my sons? What's wrong with you two?” she's visibly pissed off and I sincerely hate this side of her. She can flip anytime!
Prince Davis and I are already twenty one and we're both unmated.
As tradition demands, both of us are supposed to mate one girl but our lust for s*x wouldn't allow us to accept our three mates whom we've been able to meet during three different occasions, latest being today during our twenty first birthday ceremony!
A lot of people from different the packs were invited to the birthday which we thought was unnecessary. But all our parents wanted was to ensure we meet a good girl who will be fated to us by the moon goddess and make her our mate.
But what did we do? We rejected her, humiliating her in front of everyone present.
Now mum, dad, their Beta Victor and Camile, our Beta Austin, our uncles, aunts, cousins...literally everyone close to us is mad at us.
The party is still on but here we are, ready to face the wrath of our caring mother.
“Say something children!” she insists, tears welling up her eyes. The ceremony is still on and after breaking the heart of yet another damsel, she called us to her bedroom to question us. The girl's name is Princess Julia of the hallway Pack.
This is our first time rejecting a princess after rejecting two girls before at different occasions. One was Emma Myles, the daughter of Beta Myles Gavin of the Terrace Pack. We rejected us during our eighteenth birthday and she was really heartbroken but the moon goddess compensated her with another mate who's also an Alpha and she's happily married in another Pack with a pup.
We rejected the second girl last year after being invited to Hallway Pack by our parents as they went for an Alphas and Lunas meeting.
She was Julie the Gamma's daughter though we didn't get to know her dad's name. We left her heart aching and she was really hurt by our rejection. Well, it's not really our fault since all we want is to marry girls of our choice, not a f*****g fated mate! We're not proud of whatever we're doing but we can't just avoid it!
“We don't want to get mated to one girl mum, don't you get it?” I retort. “It's absurd!”
“But that's what our tradition demands son. You can only become Alphas if you mate and mark the same girl!” she explains desperately. “You are not getting any younger and I'm afraid, if you reach twenty five without a mate, we will lose the leadership of this pack to another family!”
“I can't share a woman with my brother. I just can't!” Davis scoffs.
“Do you boys know that you're being unnecessarily hard on your mother?” our dad asks from the doorway where he has been standing for God knows how long. “Tradition demands that you marry one girl and as long as you're twins, that's not changing any time soon!” dad tries to reason with us.
This is a discussion we've had before with both our parents and our grand parents. However much they try to reason with us, we don't seem to understand why they want us to mate only one girl. How will it be possible?
Ever since we celebrated our eighteenth birthday, we've been sleeping around with different girls but never once did we think about sharing a girl or sleeping with someone my brother has already shared a bed with! We term that as gross!
“This will be impossible dad...quite impossible! Why don't you all let us choose our mates? Each one of us deserves a girl by her side. One girl won't be enough for
both of us!”
“Dylan!” mum calls me cautiously. “Don't use dirty lines here. This is a Royal family son... we're Royalty and we command respect so if you don't tread carefully, you'll never live to be Alphas!”
“I'm sorry mum, dad...” I say. “I need to leave.” I say as I turn to walk to the door where our dad is standing, eyeing us with contempt, obviously pissed off with us.
“You don't get to walk out on me young man!” mum growls behind us. “If you dare take a step forward, I'll do something stupid and you'll have to live with the consequences!”
I turn to face her and I notice that her eyes have turned green and her face is red with anger. She's reeling mad!
“Sorry mum.” I whisper as I walk back towards where my brother is standing beside the couch.
Mum stands up from her bed and walks towards us.
Dad too leaves the door and also walks to where we are, hands in his pockets.
“I'll just let that disrespect pass and assume you both are not in your sane minds!” dad says calmly. “Sit!” he commands, making us scramble for the couch.
Whenever dad flips, we know we're in trouble and I don't want to leave this room with a scratch...neither does my brother.
Mum lowers herself on the couch beside Davis while dad takes the space beside me.
One look at my mother and I suddenly feel remorseful for ever disrespecting her.
“Listen to me my children.” she starts talking, wiping some tears with the back of her hand. It really breaks my heart to see the Luna crying and my heart breaks into a million tiny pieces knowing that I'm the cause of her tears! “Your father and I are growing old and all we're asking from you is to man up and stop rejecting your mates. We want you to take the leadership soon and start ruling the pack. Your father and I want to venture into other businesses and besides, we don't want people to start talking saying that we don't want to let go of the throne!”
Silence ensues after she says that and we both remain quiet. I'm facing the floor while prince Davis is playing with his fingers.
“I hope you've heard your mother!” dad speaks up making me pay attention to him. “No son of mine will marry a chosen mate, never. You both should man up and go after one of those girls whom you've rejected or sit here and wait for your next fated mate. And pray it'll be soon because if you reach twenty five without a mate, all hell will break loose and you'll be stripped off the Alpha title and it'll be given to another deserving family!”
“Goddess forbid!” I find myself saying and when I meet Davis's angry eyes, I flinch and pretend I didn't say anything. Davis is my younger brother since he was born a few minutes after I was born but still, he's the toughest among us and he always has a way of controling me. To be sincere, all the stuff I do, all my ignorance and hard headedness has been fueled by him!
The next one hour is spend advising us about the need to look for our mate, the need to stop sleeping around with every damsel in the kingdom, the need to become great Alphas just like dad and grandpa.
After our parents are through with the advise, we apologise for our bad behaviour and arrogance then promise to change. After they're convinced that we're now good sons, we walk out of their bedroom after a stern warning to go and look for the girl and accept her.
In my mind, I'm not yet convinced that I need to share a mate with my brother!
****
The party is now over after our Beta Austin Victor and the top warrior Damian Rowan released everyone to leave. I just thank my stars that our auntie Luna Adiah wasn't around since she'd have given us a piece of her mind. She hates it when we give her only brother a hard time!
Our cousin's from Twilight Pack didn't attend as well due to some serious commitments which they had in their pack.
Beta Austin who turned eighteen just three weeks ago has a mate whom he met during his birthday and they're now living together, awaiting the necessary traditional ceremonies.
The top warrior is still unmated and he wishes to choose a mate for himself just like us.
“How did it go in there?” Beta Austin startles me from my reverie. After leaving the house, Davis and I walked straight to the venue which was almost deserted and took our seats, our minds distant in thoughts.
Davis hasn't said anything to me yet, neither have I.
“The usual scolding...you know..” I start. Austin is about three years younger than us and to be sincere, I sometimes envy him. He doesn't have drama encircling his life, he doesn't sleep around, he already has a mate...in short, his life is just uncomplicated!
“So what did you two decide?” he asks, his face laced with concern.
“We haven't decided anything and to be sincere Austin, you're pissing me off!” Davis scowls. “You're so suffocating! Damn!”
“Davis!” I call my brother warningly. “He's our Beta, our best friend and he's just concerned about us!”
“Really now?” he scoffs at me. “He's the good guy according to our parents and were the useless one here. Give us a break boy!” Davis growls, making Austin to flinch.
“I'm sorry Prince Davis.” he raises his hands in surrender. “I didn't mean to pry into your private life!” He throws us one last glance before he takes his leave. “See you around Prince Dylan.”
“Do you know that you were unnecessarily hard on him? You didn't have to be rude!” I say to Davis after Austin leaves. “He's our Beta and he was trying to do his job!”
“He should learn to mind his business when necessary!” Davis says. “This is definitely not the right moment to be friendly to us. I'm trying to think here and if you don't shut up, I'll also send you away from here!”
Oops! He's definitely not in a good mood.
“If you say so...” I shrug in surrender. “When you're done thinking, you know where to find me!” I say as I stand up and walk away.
I also want to think but I'm not going to step onto everyone's toe while at it. Right now, I'm going to find Austin and we will have a chat...All I want is for him to advise me on what to do!