Accepting My Twin Mates

Astennu

A muddled, high-pitched squeal grew louder and sharper as sleep vanished from my senses. Well, mostly vanished.

Sleep was fleeting, and exhaustion was the default setting with a newborn. We were still settling into a new routine, but just as we were getting used to Luka sleeping through the night, he would throw a curveball and wake up around 2am for a snack, “My eyebags are growing eyebags, Aasim slapped his muzzle in a yawn, shaking out his fur to help wake the both of us up.

I could just about make out Luka’s tiny arms waving above the rim of the white wicker Moses basket near the foot of our bed from where I lay in bed.

“It's your tum,” Evie mumbled, tucking into my side in a ball.

“Fine. Detach your boob, and I'll go feed him" I wiped a hand down my face, preparing to get up anyway to rock Luka until he calmed enough for Evie to feed him.

He was fussy when he was hungry, but slept like a log any other time. Our mother relished regaling Evie with stories of how much he was like Badru and myself at his age. We had to intervene on a couple of occasions before we were embarrassed to death.

“The two of you need to get up.”

The voice of my brother sat me bolt upright, realising he wasn't sleeping on the other side of Evie.

I picked up the clock on the side table, blinking to clear my vision. “Since when are you up at dawn?”

“We got our little man's big day.” He picked up Lukas wriggling body, who was fussing and wanting to latch for his breakfast. Badru rocked him gently, coming to sit on the bed to pass him over to Evie. “I gave up boobies for you, lit pup. The sacrifices I make."

Any trace of sleep vanished from her face, replaced by a familiar expression of outrage that only he seemed able to inspire. A faint snort of laughter left me as I watched the creaky and tired gears in her head turn, deducing whether she could successfully throw something at my twin's head without whacking our baby in the process.

“Yeah, you're the one making sacrifices,” Evie settled for grumbling, pushing herself up to rest against the headboard. “I can't drink coffee, I can't eat garlic, I can't eat sushi. I don't eat sushi, but now I don't have the option”

Badu passed Luka over, laying his calmed, tiny body in Evies arms and kissing her forehead. *There's also some stuff to sort out for the release. Mi see you at the Badr Kamil, and I promise, I won't be late.”

Badru didn't need to mention a name or any further details to elaborate on who he meant. I hated that I agreed to Isaacs release, but I couldn't deny that I was relieved that he would be gone. Even all the way in the cells, his presence bore down with an invisible weight over Badru and me. I still hoped our mother would reconsider her decision to leave in order to put an end to the debate over what to do with Isaac; it felt as though she was punishing herself for his actions.

Knowing there wasn't a wolf's hair in hell that I could be in the same space as that man and not put his head through a wall, Badru had gone back to question him about what he knew of Moonrise Lake pack, based on what we learnt at the Alpha meeting in Kentucky. According to Isaac, the pack's Alpha, Arlo, was aware of the fight rings but played no part in them. And neither had any of our former rogues heard mention of a Moonrise Lake or any pack matching their description of one situated in Wisconsin near Lake Superior.

“Ugh, I need a shower.” Evie slipped her b****t back into the cup of her nursing bra. “Can you get Luka ready and changed?” “Sure. I was gonna offer anyway."

I carried him through to the nursery to get him bathed, his diaper changed and dressed. The little flick that had developed on his crown wouldn't lie flat, no matter how much I tried. Luka’s black hair had grown longer in the past week and thicker too. It was pretty cute whenever Evie attempted to flatten the wispy tuft; she would growl in frustration and try to lick it down, just like a mama wolf.

Luka giggled away as I fastened his pale blue overalls, his chubby pink cheeks pulling back in a smile. I could see many of mine and Badru's features reflected back, save for his eyes. They were every bit his mother's, only with a slight luminous tint. I was just grabbing one of the crocheted blankets from the stash in the wardrobe Evie had made when my ammar glided into the nursery. Her hair was wrapped up in a towel around her head, and all she wore was her thin silk robe.

The fresh scent of her spiced vanilla mist and the tiny bead of water that ran over the pulse point of her neck had me wanting to make another pup rather than attend a party.

“Here, I'l take him so you can have a cold shower” Evie flashed me a teasing smile. “For Badru’s sake. You know he'll mind- link you getting pissy”

I glanced down, already aware of what was making its presence known. Alama (damn).

asim howled in his laughter, sparing not a whiff of shower!

sympathy. You need a dunk in an ice bath, let alone a cold

Very funny, wolf!

I'm not the one about to go to a children's party pitching one.

Within the mingling group, what I couldn't take my eyes off was Evie. Her hair was down, catching the summer breeze that tussled her natural dark gold waves, and each movement flashed a gleam of sunlight, adding to its hue.

Even when her gold turned to silver, I don't think there'd ever be a time she would cease to captivate me. She wore a simple cross over dress in a traditional white linen for a Blue Moon Burn, which was about the only old tradition we were observing in this joint gathering.

In the middle ages, Blue Moon Burns were held to officially crown a new Luna on the next blue moon a pack faced.

mine, but I had watched many others write their mugadas

After everything that had happened, my mother couldn't have been more right about this celebration. It was exactly what the pack required for some much-needed integration and levity.

“Hey, you enjoying the burn-s***h-baby shower?"

“It's definitely different. I've never been to a Bad Kamil before,” he chuckled, picking up one of the small squares of papyrus paper nestled on the raised square table beside the torch. “What do I do with this?"

“I guess I don't need to wish him good looks. Between his three parents, hell be fighting the wolves off when he's older” He began to pen his words down. “What did you write for yours?”

“I actually haven't written it yet..."

Because I was struggling to think of a way to phrase’ please never sell your fellow wolves into slavery’ and have it sound as a blessing should: positive and comforting.

“Ym fairly sure the moon goddess would be okay if your wish is for Luka to be nothing like his grandfather,” he said after watching me fidget with my piece of papyrus. “I mean the shitty one. Konstantin seems pretty adorable.”

“How did you figure that was the problem?”

“Bryce would think Solstice came early. Anyway, I better get my mate his drink. I said I'd bring him something and got myself distracted”

jude ambled away, a drink in both hands, leaving me alone to figure out what it was I truly wished for my pup.

“Probably the one thing Isaac lacked, Aasim said casually, and I realised what I wanted most for Luka.

One little quality was all it would have taken, and maybe I wouldn't have grown up with prejudices I had to unlearn; maybe I wouldn't have made such a mess in the beginning of winning my mate's affections and I most definitely wouldn't have been forced apart from my ammar, thinking I would never see her or my pup again.

Compassion. See the person, not their station.

I threw it in the fire, hoping that Luka would learn from all the mistakes of his predecessors and not make the same fuckups we did.

My mother sidled up to me, grasping my elbow and breaking my gaze from the crumpled-up ashes of the papyrus. “I was wondering when you'd make your muqadas, habibi (darling)

“I needed to think of the right blessing? I cut my line of sight to my son, back in Evie's arms, and falling asleep on her shoulder. “Did you manage to keep to one, or did you sneak some extra?"

“He's my first hafid (grandson); I'm allowed a couple” Her laughter faded as she looked over at Luka, the nearby fame giving away the heavy shimmer in her eye.

“Mom, just don't go through with it. You don't have to leave.

Ves, habibi, I do. You can keep asking, but it'll be the same answer’ She rubbed at her mark like she had been doing increasingly over the months. Its the final thing I can do for you and your brother!

2 days later

After a tearful goodbye between Evie and Bastian and a seven-hour drive, we arrived at Ashen Star pack. Jude and the other vampires had landed just outside White Tree pack before we had even crossed the state line into Oregon.

Alpha Morgan invited us to his home with Serenity, not too far from the Ashen Star pack house, where another pair of familiar faces were waiting. The future Luna's adopted brother knew Bastiaan and Christopher from his childhood too, and he brought his mate and newborn pup to meet them also. I had only met William briefly during mine and my brother's welcome home party last year, but his mate, Elisabeth, I knew well from our home packs’ close alliance.

Their daughter, Noa, was a sweet little thing with pretty emerald eyes like her mother.

I made sure to keep any topic of “ight clubs’ as discreet and ambiguous as possible, that was Catalina's drama to deal with her sister, not mine

“I know you're desperate to get back home to your family, but do you want to see a little of the pack with us?” Morgan offered me. “We'll come back here after. The guy you wanted to speak to agreed to meet and help you out”

“He will?" I trailed behind the rest of the group alongside the Alpha as we descended the steps of his home, letting the others walk ahead

“Yeah, but I don't know how much he'll want to share with a stranger straight off the bat.

That's fine; I'll hear whatever he has to say. You two can even come up to Two Moons sometime! I nodded towards Bastian, who was laughing and reminiscing with his brother, Serenity and William. We have plenty of former rogues who went through everything Bastian did, so your guy might recognise one of them.

The walk around the pack's main estuary town took somewhat longer than I wouldve liked, but I certainly wasn't about to push anyone to hurry up for my benefit.

Bastiaan had been separated from all the family and people he had known for close to two decades. I could wait overnight to see my pup, even if Aasim was a whining ahbil (asshole) about waiting.

“Bastian?” a voice shouted from behind, not belonging to any of our group.

I turned to our left, the joyful chatter ahead of me falling to silence as they followed suit. A broad-built wolf male, with black hair and dark grey eyes, approached, and a familiar, unsettling sensation of recognition sank in my stomach.

Vee?" Bastian threaded between the bodies on either side of him, staring at the man as though he were seeing a ghost. “Yeah, but I go by Valentin now.”

“I can hardly be surprised Vee’ was an alias.” Bastiaan released a shaky laugh, and Valentin almost picked him off the ground ina bear hug. “I thought you were dead. You never returned.”

“No.. I... It's a long story. Morgan and Ren gave me a home here, and it's where I met my mate.”

The man's distinct Canadian accent... damn it all, I knew this wolf.

He was the first rogue I ever brought in, back when ! thought I was being a good little wolf and knew no better as a nineteen year old

“Wow. We're just running into all the wolves our pack sold! Aasim matched my dismay at the sheer volume of coincidences. “Ym glad you found your happiness” Bastiaan gripped his shoulder and unwittingly let a name slip. “Even Diego managed to keep his head long enough to find his mate.”

“Whoa, Diego? As in Catalina's Diego 2” Elisabeth repeated.

And from living in close proximity to Catalina, I knew when Latina she-wolf anger was activated. “When she said she met that wolf in a “club’, was it in that slave fight pit?”

“Uh... yeah? She was going to tell you when she visited in a few days; now your pup's here” I tried to salvage the situation, but I doubted it was of any use.

She pushed her child into her mates arms and jabbed me hard in the chest with her index finger. “You let my hermanita (baby sister) throw herself into that kind of danger?!”

“I don't think there's any “letting’ Catalina do anything. She just does what she wants."

“You're right. I need to go shout at her, and then come back and kill you, Rolfe? She stormed off, and William followed after to stop her from driving up to Two Moons for a showdown with her sister here and now.

“I perhaps should not have mentioned Diego” Bastian's hand remained frozen on Valentin's shoulder, staring after Elisabeth like the rest of us.

I sighed louder than lintended. “Don’t worry. It's me she'll castrate, not you."

Can I worry? I'm rather attached to our testicles, Aasim objected. Speaking of remaining attached, I think our newest friend recognises our scent

My wolf's instincts weren't wrong.

“Maybe we should do this inside,” Morgan said, cutting the tension in the air.

Whether he figured out the issue on his own or was discreetly mind-linked by Valentin, I didn't know, but I was appreciative of his tact.

“Do you guys still need privacy?’ Serenity glanced between the three of us, nudging her mate to voice her mind-link.

“No, you all might as well hear it"

I followed the future Luna up the few steps to her home, with Bastiaan and Christopher behind me. Glancing overmy shoulder as I passed the threshold of the home, I half-expected Valentin to turn around and walk away, given the indecision that crossed his face. After all, the last time he followed me anywhere didn't end pleasantly for him.

With an encouraging nod from Morgan, he must have resisted every instinct telling him to run and chose to follow inside.updated by FindNovel.net

“It is you, isn't it?” The question was launched before the door closed. “I can't remember what you looked like, but I remember your scent and voice... you sold me to that hell hole. And you?” Valentin's anger switched to genuine hurt and betrayal aimed at Morgan. “You brought him here?”

“It wasn't like that. It was all my father” I swallowed the bitter lump of having to say the word. “No one knew what he was doing. He sold my own mate because she was born a rogue.”

“He speaks the truth, Valentin. I would not be here without him or his brother” Bastiaan was quick to jump to my defence. “nd I would have never been reunited with my own brother either”

Serenity spun the wolf around to face her, her expression flickering as she mind-linked him.

“Fine, for Bea."

The way Valentin's entire face softened, Bea must have been his mate.

“I won't waste your time, and I'm sorry to say this” - the wolf would barely look in my direction ~ “but Bastian was held in that place far longer than I ever was. If he's told you everything he knows, then there's nothing I can add."

I nodded, exhaling in defeat, because I knew there had to be more out there.

“Wait, that symbol on your wrist?”

“It's nothing I chose. I was forced to have it by the pack that held me."

“Can we see it?’ Serenity mind-linked.

“The book is well over five hundred years old. There's pieces missing, faded text... I can try and get you some scans, but I can't guarantee you'll find much”