Accepting My Twin Mates

Chapter 9 - What's With This Window?

Evie

Oh hell, they were my mates… the twins… both of them!

'Yeah, that's how this works with them being identical… seriously, I thought you were supposed to be smarter than this?' My wolf decided this was the perfect time to sass me.

'Are you seriously doing this now?!' I couldn't believe Evva's need for sarcastic quips. 'Why aren't you going insane wanting them?'

While I felt an enormous pull in their direction and their scents were the stuff of my dreams, something seemed off. My wolf wasn't begging me to jump them, I didn't feel the need to run and fling myself at them either. This was nothing like I had heard other wolves speak of when they found their mate.

'Did you really want me to just roll over and show them my belly?' Evva raised her mental brow at me with her rhetorical question. 'Besides, your instincts are telling me they're kinda pricks, so…'

My split-second thoughts and running commentary of my wolf were interrupted by deep rumbling growls that made certain things quiver, coupled with the word 'mate' said in unison from identically deep and silken-toned voices. This couldn't be happening. Why would the moon goddess do this to me? To Evva?

The last words Badru had ever spoken to me four years ago, stabbed at my chest viciously, "…even your mate wouldn't want you… rogue…"

They were going to reject me.

I knew it.

And like what any sane and sensible person would do in my situation when faced with two mates that were more than likely going to completely destroy me… I ran.

The only way out I had was where I had come from. So I hurtled straight into the room I had just vacated, slamming the door and locking it behind me. And now I was cornered with no way out.

Astennu

As soon as the word 'mate' left my lips, her astounding beauty morphed to dread… and fear. The sight twisted my insides, painfully. All I wanted was to comfort her, tell her how long I had dreamt of this moment. Everything about her fell into place; why she had been so firmly ingrained in my mind these past weeks, why my yearning for her grew instead of diminished, why I felt so out of control around her… and why the guilt ate away at me as it did.

Before either I or Badru could utter another word, she turned and threw herself into my brother's room, slamming the door with impressive strength behind her.

My wolf could offer no help either. Aasim was a mix of excitement and panic, desperately trying to link with Evie's wolf to show how much we wanted them. But he was struggling. Our wolf counterparts communicated with their emotions in place of words, strongest between family and mates. We could sense our mates' fear, their anxiety, their elation… and hostility too.

Shaking free of our momentary astoundment, my brother and I bolted, in chorus, to his room door. He wrenched at the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. She had locked it. I pounded my fist at the door, desperate for her to give us a chance.

"Evie! Open up. Please, just talk to us!" I begged. And if needed, I'd get down on my knees too.

"It's not as though you can actually hide in my room, pretty mate," Badru called out, a slight smirk playing along his mouth. Was he serious right now?!

'Evie, I swear, nothing bad is gonna happen. Please, open the door. I'm begging you!' I tried to mind-link but I received no response.

If she was in a state of panic, she may not even realise she was blocking everything out. My mother had said she couldn't get through to her either, now I knew why.

I kept rattling the door, hoping the lock would give out, but we were not going to be that fortunate. My mind-links were met with perpetual silence, as were Badru's. All I could feel was terror and determination through the mate bond. She wasn't determined to face us. She was determined to escape us. I stood back, to think of a better way around this when my brother took it upon himself to ram his shoulder into his own door. This was not going to help our mate think she was safe and that we could speak calmly.

'What?' Badru finally stopped to see me staring at him in disbelief.

'You want an axe too, Johnny?'

'Why would I want an axe?' He looked at me confused. Oh, for the love of…

'…The Shining. You literally look like a madman,' I deadpanned.

'Save it. We'd get the wall to understand before him,' Aasim muttered.

Our brother had never learnt to grasp the concept of sarcasm. Goddess bless his little naïve soul.

My exasperation at my twin was cut short when we both stilled, smelling the crisp air of the outdoors spill from under the door. Was she about to jump out of the window?!

Evie

'Are you going to start thinking things through at all? Or are you determined to be a gigantic muffin about all this?' Evva sassed in her usual tone.

'Will you shut up and actually help me?!' I heaved, backing away from the door, staring at it as though it was electrified.

'Go talk to them. You're solving nothing by running,' she huffed.

'That's not help! That's… just… rational advice,' I whined. Goddess, my head was starting to pound.

'Fine, jump out the f*****g window then,' she sighed.

That I could actually work with. I ran to the window, the one I had slammed closed just moments before I came face to face with my fated mates… goddess above this was not happening! I tried to snatch the window open again, but it wouldn't move an inch, no matter how hard I tried.

Come on, release dammit. You were just open! I silently cursed, heaving and huffing with exertion.

The banging on the door behind me and the knob rattling, threatening to give way made me leap out of my skin. I needed out of here and now.

"Evie! Open up. Please, just talk to us!" One of them almost sounded as though he was begging. Instinctively, I knew it was Astennu, in the same way I knew which was which by looking at them.

"It's not as though you can actually hide in my room, pretty mate," and I could practically feel some sly smirk spreading across his lips, smug that he thought he had me cornered… oh, I would show him!

An almighty crack shuddered the door. s**t, they were trying to break it down. I continued to yank at the window, believing that it had just become wedged in my haste to close it before. The damn pounding across my forehead and towards my temples was beginning to make me dizzy too. I was just about to give up and smash the damn thing open when I realised the stupid lock was on this whole time! It must have clicked automatically when I slammed it shut.

Had I taken my moron pills this morning?

With my error corrected, I opened the window to freezing air blasting me in the face. I looked down at the drop, now seeing the reality of the height I would have to jump from.

'...You do know I was being sarcastic with this suggestion?' Evva said. But it wasn't as though I had any other viable option.

'You literally have a million of them. And this is the dumbest. I might not have wanted to leap and devour them both, but even I know we're going to have to actually face them!' Evva snapped.

'Shut up, can we make it?' Why couldn't my wolf just support me in the moment?

'Yeah, probably,' she sighed, growing bored of the conversation.

Taking a deep breath, I climbed out and balanced on the sill, praying with my jump down that I hadn't just made the most painful mistake of my life. To my surprise, I landed easily in a crouch position, although the balls of my feet kind of hurt from the drop. Not wanting to waste another second, I took off running through the near-lying trees. Who knew how long that door would hold and I needed as much distance as possible between me and the twinkly-eyed twins. Why on earth were they blessed with such mesmerising and luminous irises? Their sapphire colour had pulsated and glowed with such intensity I was almost transfixed on the spot.

The weather had taken an unseasonable turn. A cold snap had graced us with its arrival, coating the landscape in a freak snowfall, leaving around three inches of snow all around. And all I was wearing was a thin sweater, some knitted leggings and espadrilles. It wasn't as though I had planned to have a romp through the woods, in snow, while having to escape the two men I had fantasised heavily about for years; both in ways I wanted to punch them… and other things…

Why the hell did I think this was a good idea?! This was idiotic! I cursed myself for the thousandth time as I bolted through the icy landscape. My feet were quickly becoming numb and the cold sweat of my skin chilled me to the bone.

'I did try and tell you…' Evva's smug voice filled my mind yet again. 'Running from Alphas, who are made to hunt. And we're their mate, essentially their ultimate prey… good luck pal. We'll see how far you get.'