SWNOVELS Chapter 2
WES
Can I say this sucks? Is that fine for me to say? It sucks that Grey, my identical twin brother, fucking fell into his fated mate during a pack war. Can I say it sucks that it’s been four years and I haven’t found mine yet?
Since I was 15, the only thing I ever wanted was my fated mate. I’ve seen the movies and read the books, twins always find their mates at the same time. Not the Andrews twins. Nope. This isn’t a book or movie so why would fate give me what I want. No. She hands Grey fucking everything.
All because he just happened to come out first. He’s older by two minutes.
Because he’s the oldest, he gets handed Alpha when my dad retires. Him! The guy who can’t even spell responsible let alone act like it. He’s a giant kid. He’s mouthy, pushy and thinks everything’s a fucking joke. He bugs me every chance he gets.
You’d think getting a mate would straighten him out, but no. It made him fucking worse. He can’t go a day without reminding me how perfect his life is. All I want to do is live mine in peace, but since he found Mia, my life has been the exact opposite of peaceful.
Don’t get me wrong. I love Mia. She’s cute as a button with sandy blonde hair and red bangs. She’s tiny at 5 foot nothing. She’s also sweet and can keep Grey inline when she’s around, but because she’s a healer. She works a lot for the Unit and I’m left to babysit my immature asshole of a brother.
Being Grey’s Beta, I find myself having to explain a lot of shit to him about being Alpha and it’s annoying as hell. Some days, I just say fuck it and do his job for him. It saves me the headache.
Besides, I have headaches of my own to deal with. Namely, the fucking ghost that’s haunting me.
Yeah, you heard me. A ghost…I think. Well, it’s something.
It started about a month ago. I kept hearing things like soft whispers, or the occasional laugh. I thought it was just the wind or something.
Until I was alone in the shower one night…
****
“There’s rats or something in the house, Grey.” I say as I walk with him to the locker room.
“Wes, we’re shifters. Rats would be stupid to move in to our house.” Grey says as he adjusts his trainers bag on his shoulder.
“Ok. Maybe they’re rats with a death wish. There’s something in my room. I hear it.” I say as I push open the locker room door.
We walk down the rows and turn just before the last set. We both grab our locks, turn the combos and open them at the exact same time. It’s a twin thing.
“Ok. I’ll call ghostbusters.” He chuckles as he tosses his bag into his locker beside mine.
I pull off my sweaty t shirt and throw it in my bag. I shove him. “I’m serious, Grey. I can barely sleep. Every night, it sounds like somethings walking around.”
“Ok. Fine. I’ll call an exterminator.” He shakes his head. “You coming to Feral tonight?”
“Hard pass.” I say.
Grey closes his locker and leans on it. “Come on. You never come out anymore and Mia misses you. She likes it when you’re all girly and dance with her at the club.”
He hits my bare arm and I scowl at him. “Dancing isn’t girly.” I growl.
Grey smirks. “It’s pretty girly.”
I point in his face. “And that’s why I’m not going.” I wrap my towel around me and head for the shower.
“Whatever. I’ll tell Mia you’ll see her at 10.” He says as he heads for the door.
“I’m not going, Grey!” I call to his back.
“Don’t upset my foxy lady, Wesley.” He holds a finger up as he walks out.
“IT’S WES!!” I yell.
“10 O'CLOCK!”
I groan as I shake my head.
I walk into the shower room. If you don’t know how we operate, the locker room and shower room are coed. Meaning males and females share everything here. This is the Alpha dorms. The recruits live in the barracks on the other side of the complex.
It's a Friday and the end of the day. All the trainers have headed out to the bars. I’m the only hold out. I have too much work to do at home. Grey and Mia will go off partying and I’ll be stuck at home finishing pack business and studying for my law degree. I don’t want to be trainer forever and with a brother like Grey, I'm sure a lawyer in the family will come in handy at some point.
Besides, Grey and Mia have so much stupid fun together. It makes me sick sometimes.
I use to love the club scene, but as time goes on and I strike out, I just want to be left alone.
These days, that’s easier said than done.
I walk into the shower room. There’s shower heads across the walls and hooks on either end of the room for towels.
I hang up my towel and pick a head. I turn it on and wait for my water to warm up. I open my shower kit and put it on the shelf behind me.
Once the water warms, I shove my aching head under the stream of the shower. My hair wets and I run my hands through it to squeeze the water out. I reach for my body wash and hear a noise. Like something was knocked over in the locker room.
I side eye the door for a minute, dismiss it and continue washing.
The sound of a locker door closing or something, has me turn quick to the entrance to the shower room.
“Who's there?”
I listen closely in the dimly lit shower room. The only sound is the running water from the head above me.
I wait for someone to either call out or walk in. When nothing happens, I finish washing myself.
I slowly grab my shampoo and wash my hair. Just as I finishing rinsing it out, I hear splashes of feet, running across the wet floor, behind me.
I whip around. The water falls in my face and I wipe it away. My heart is thumping in my chest. I look around room. I’m the only one in here.
“You better not be fucking with me, Grey!” I call out to the locker room.
My eyes travel back and forth across the room, suspiciously, as I wait for Greys stupid laugh.
I heard laughter alright.
The room fills with soft, distant giggles. They almost sound child like.
I slightly tilt my head and jut my chin out. I shake my head slowly.
“Nope. Fuck this.”
I slam the water off, grab my towel and run out of the room like my ass is on fire.
I’ve seen this movie before.
I practically fall into my open locker, tripping on my boots. I quickly dry myself off and get dressed.
I grab a boot and shove a foot in it.
“ARGH!” I grind as my toe slams into something hard.
I take it off and reach into it. I pull out a fucking acorn. This has Grey written all over it. He was probably in here trying to scare me and this was in his shirt or some shit.
“Thanks a lot.” I growl and throw it into my locker.
I put on my boots and tie them up. Just as I was sitting up, I noticed something in the corner of my eye. I stop dead. I side eye a spot on the wall. It’s see through. Invisible. It’s moving against the wall. The wall waves liked it’s under water in the shape of a person. My heart races and my breathing speeds up. My skin starts to sweat. I turn my head to the spot. Nothing's there, but white painted cinder block.
“Nope. No way.” I grab my bag, quickly and slam my locker shut. I book it out of the room and out of the nightmare. I’m showering at home from now on.
No fucking invisible creature is killing my ass. Forget it.
****
I couldn’t shake the locker room incident for days. I know what I saw.
“Grey, there’s something in that room.” I lean on the table and growl.
“Wes. There’s no such thing as ghosts alright. Come on.” Grey cuts his steak and shoves it in his mouth.
“OK, but I saw something. It was definitely shaped like a person.” I insist.
“Wes, you’re just stressed. I get it. Being my beta is hard. You’ll get used to it.” He waves his fork at me.
“This has nothing to do with being your fucking beta, Grey. There is something watching me.” I scowl at him.
“Ok. Enough. There’s no invisible creature and there’s no ghosts. I have a council meeting.” He grabs his plate and takes it to the dining hall kitchen counter.
“Mia?” I give her pleading eyes. She’s gotta believe me.
She looks at me like she feels sorry for me or something. “I’m sorry, Wesley. It just sounds…It sounds a little hard to believe…”
“Come on! Are you serious? After everything?” I flop my hands on the table.
She shakes her head. “I’m sorry, Wes. Maybe Grey’s right. Between work and school, you have been stretching yourself pretty thin.”
“Yeah…See? Stressed.” Grey says to me as he puts on his suit jacket.
I clench my teeth. “I’m not stressed. I’m pissed off.”
Grey wags his finger at me. “You need to see the doc before you pop a brain cell.” He says.
“Vein. You pop a vein!” I correct loudly.
“That too.” He says.
I growl as I throw my hands up. “Whatever. Let’s just…go.”
I grab my suit jacket and follow Grey out.
****
Day after day.
Night after night.
Things just get weirder.
My text books go missing. My socks disappear. My reports are a jumbled mess of letters on the screen of my laptop.
I had an eight page essay get sent to my professor. He printed it out for me.
“Care to explain this, Wesley.” He hands it to me.
He called me into his office with concern for my intentions in his class.
I swallow as I look it over. “Um…” I’m looking at four pages of well thought out legal notes and then five pages of random letters all in a lines like a toddler was just hitting the keys on the keyboard. To put the icing on the cake, it somehow made it from my laptop to my professors email box.
I bite my upper lip. I have no explanation. I slowly shake my head. “I’m sorry?”
“You have 12 hours before the deadline to hand in a proper paper or I’m giving you a zero.” He warns.
“Right…um…Thank you…” I take the report and shove it in my bag.
I turn and leave his office.
“Grey’s a dead man.” I grit as I storm down the hallway.
This better be Grey’s fault.
As I walk down the steps of Caledon University, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I stop and turn around.
I see students walking up and down the steps, but no one’s around me.
“I know you’re there. You’re not scaring me. Quit fucking with my head.” I whisper as I eye the space around me.
Some students shoot me weird looks and I turn back down the steps. I’m fucking talking to myself now.
All I know is, I better prove this thing is real, or I might actually start to think I am going crazy.
I just don’t know how to catch something you can’t see.