TWISTED FATES BOOK 2: EVEN MORE TWISTED

Sammie

So it’s been a whole four hours since Dev’s abrupt departure this morning. Four grueling hours since he left for Ravenswood Pack. Four painstakingly hellish hours with no word. Not one response to my numerous texts and calls. I knew I fucked up, but he wasn’t even going to let me explain. Goddess, I know I sounded like a bitch, and most people would say that I got what I deserved, but I didn’t care. I’m not perfect. I have been battling my own demons the best way that I could in hopes that I would come out of it with some sense of self-worth.

I knew Devon was my mate, but I learned the hard way that you can’t always count on things like that. You need to be strong for yourself first. Yeah, I was being helped by Aiden, but that wasn’t planned. I had intended on dealing with everything on my own, but then Aiden showed up. Maybe the Moon Goddess sent him to me to pull me out of the downward spiral I was plummeting towards. I don’t know. Perhaps I’ll never know, but for whatever reason, it helped. I found myself smiling instead of wallowing in my self-loathing, and that’s how I was able to let Devon back in finally. I planned on telling him and our friends the truth; well, most of it anyway. The fact that I retained my memories of Justin was something I wasn’t ready to divulge yet. I wasn’t prepared for the looks of pity or fear. Hell, when Aiden first found out, I could see it. He was afraid of me. I hated it so much. Samantha was right. She told me that I needed to keep that side of us hidden, and while Aiden may have moved past his fears, I just couldn’t deal with everyone else’s. Nope. That was my pain to suffer alone. Aiden only saw the tip of the iceberg. I couldn’t let him know about the darkness dwelling within me. He was too innocent. Too good.

The ping from my phone brought me out of the chaotic thoughts running through my head.

It was Dev.

I hesitantly reached for my phone, knowing this could be either bad or good; since I hadn’t heard hide nor hair from Aiden, I suspected the latter.

It was neither.

D: Hey. So I just wanted to say that I know things got heated this morning. I believe that nothing is going on between you and Aiden, but we need to talk about things. I am going to use this time to sort through all the crazy shit going on in my head. Hopefully, this also gives you time to collect your thoughts as well. See you when I return. D-

And that was it, folks. No, go to hell, Sammie. No, I love you, Sammie. Nothing but complete and utter neutrality.

Go figure. Leave it to Dev to keep me entirely on edge until his return.

I took a sip of my lavender blood infused tea and rubbed my temples from the freight train of a headache that was rapidly approaching.

Am I the only vampire that gets headaches?

Ish.

The patio’s French doors opened abruptly, and suddenly Aiden stepped in cautiously. He looked me over as if to test the waters by my reaction to his appearance. His hopeful eyes looked at me. He was my brother, after all. Like a simple puppy waiting to be greeted by his master, he then lowered his head, unsure of what to do. I ran over to him and embraced him for a long time. I was happy that he was safe, considering Devon had looked as if he wanted to kill his Gamma. Aiden wrapped his arms around me, and I lost it. I cried. I don’t know why, but I was scared of the distance between Devon and me. A distance not only in miles but between our hearts.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“Why are you crying, Sam? Did something happen after I left … did he reject you?”

I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders.

“Then what happened?”

“I-I don’t know, Aid. I mean, I understand he’s pissed, but … he just texted me and pretty much told me that he needed this time apart to think.”

“So does that mean he thinks something is going on between us?”

I shook my head.

“No. Devon said that he knows we aren’t like that. But I’m pretty sure he knows I’ve been keeping things from him. He’s hurt and rightfully so, but it still makes me feel like shit too.”

“Sam, I know this is absolutely an I told you so moment, but being the bestest brother in the world, I won’t say it. But I did warn you that you needed to tell him.”

I looked up and raised an eyebrow at my oh so dense brother.

“First off, bestest brother? Aren’t you my only brother? And secondly, not saying something literally means not saying it. Not saying that you aren’t going to say it, and then say it in the same sentence.” Wow-what a mouthful.

“Hmm. Well ... Hahaha … I guess you got me there. Awk-ward …”

“Aiden?”

“Yep?”

“You’re so lucky I love you. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure I’d be shoving my Manolos up your ass right about now.”

“Goddess no … Haha … we can’t have that! Not Dark Willow! HAHAHA!”

Aiden burst out laughing, causing me to laugh in turn. Goddess, my brother was such an airhead.

“Hey, Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“It worked.”

“Huh?”

“I said it worked.”

“What worked, Aiden?” I eyed him suspiciously.

“I made you stop worrying about Dev. It worked.”

I stood there speechless as I stared up at the goofy grinned man in front of me.

He was right. He made me forget what I had been upset about and eased my tension. Even my headache was gone.

Well shit.

Either Aiden was just lucky enough that he could alleviate my stress or was really, really smart and knew what he was doing all along.

Goddess, help us all if it turns out to be the latter.

I shook my head and smiled at him.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

“What’s say I take you out to lunch?”

“Ooh, I’m down! Benihana?”

“Benihana.”

“Yesssss. Chicken fried rice, Chicken fried rice. Oh so nice, Oh so nice. Havin’ it twice. Havin’ it twice. Chicken fried rice is oh so nice.”

Aiden broke into a little jig as he made his way towards the patio door.

Yep, that’s my kookie brother for you.

********************************************************

13 Days Later

Devon

It’s been almost two weeks since I’ve spoken with Sammie. I don’t know why but I just felt like we needed, actually more like I needed, this time apart. As much as I missed her, I felt like there was so much drama that had happened between us these last couple of months. I just needed to take a step back and focus solely on my Alpha duties. All the past events that transpired evidently took a harsh toll on every one of us; my outburst was a clear indication. The fact that I took my anger out on Sammie was inexcusable, but I just couldn’t stop myself; it was like a runaway train heading towards its impending derailment.

I couldn’t stop my outburst.

Shit.

Maybe that’s why I haven’t had any communication with her since. Granted, she did try texting me the first couple of days, but I ignored them and focused solely on work. I visited four of my allied packs and exchanged information regarding the recent attacks. I made it known who the suspected ringleader was but as far as her end game, that remained a mystery. The attacks were calculated and executed without fail; each time the same MO, a few members would be killed and left as a smokescreen while other pack members were kidnapped. How she was able to accomplish this was still beyond our cognition as her methods were flawless and undetectable.

The only saving grace of this trip was that I could reconnect with my allied Alpha brethren and resolidify our packs’ alliances. Since it had been a couple of years since the five of us had seen each other, it was quite interesting to see how they had fared over this time. Since a were’s aging process is several times slower than that of humans, even more so for an Alpha, most of these men hadn’t changed that much, save maybe a few small differences but nothing too significant. The only Alpha that seemed to have changed the most happened to be Alpha Shawn Valutien of the Volga pack in Volga, Iowa. With the recent passing of his mate and Luna, time was not very kind to this man. His appearance went from muscular and clean-shaven with a military buzzcut to the complete opposite. He was no longer in shape, rather shocking considering that he is a were, Alpha at that. He was also rather unkempt and reeked of alcohol. He had the bushiest scraggly beard that appeared to have few tidbits of what I could only assume to be remnants of whatever he ate before our meeting. To be honest, I had the strangest sense of Déjà vu when I first walked into his office and saw his appearance. Of course, Slade had to snicker at my thoughts and told me to take a good look at what Sammie had to live with before the whole-time alteration occurred. Not gonna lie; that sight sent shivers down my spine.

Truth hurts.

“Shut it, Slade.”

Slade chuckled and went back into his little corner.

I mentally rolled my eyes. Goddess, my wolf, was such an asshole.

The town of Volga is, in fact, a pack with roughly around 200 members. Valutien was quite clever with setting this place up as its own small, fully functional town. Because it was located in such a rural area, human traffic was scarce, save the occasional passerby that needed fuel or even something to eat at the local diner. Other than that, weres solely inhabited the place. Since I was heading back to my own pack in the morning, I decided to spend the night here.

*****************************************************

My men and I were chilling at the local, and only, bar, Mitzie’s Tavern. It was a relatively decent-sized establishment. There were a couple of pool tables, a few dartboards, a handful of tables and booths, as well as a small dancefloor should anyone be inclined to cut a rug with whatever melodies happened to be playing from the jukebox.

I know I could have probably headed home directly after meeting with Shawn but knowing that the drive would roughly take about four hours. Since Toby and Derrick, the two warriors I brought with me, had put in extra time these last couple of weeks, I figured they deserved to let off some steam. I opted to sit at the bar and down a few glasses of Jack on the rocks. It seems that the guys already managed to find a couple of unmated she-wolves to entertain themselves with for the evening. Of course, I also had my fair share of turning down several offers to enjoy the company of the unmated she-wolves that attempted to approach me. I may be at an unsure place with my mate, but I was certainly no cheater.

As I took a sip of my third double, I took note of the ambiance of the place. It had a somewhat rustic feel, correlating with the log cabin walls and exterior. There were several old-time alcohol logos and neon decorations adorning the walls. Of course, no pack tavern would be complete without the stereotypical stag heads directly above the entryway door and the back wall’s center above the mirrored Bar Back. There were surprisingly quite of few patrons for it being only a Wednesday evening. A couple of seats next to me was a female, probably close to my age, but then again, considering our aging process, I could be totally off. She seemed rather petite and had long black hair that draped down her back, and her head was tilted down at the bar counter, causing her tresses to conceal her actual visage. I don’t know why, but there was something about her that disturbed me. Not that I knew her, but her posture just felt like something was off. Once I turned back around, returning my focus on my glass filled with amber liquid and ice, I heard a couple of rather belligerent males approach her. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her instant reaction at their approach; she winced.

“Hey, Josh. Looky here. If it isn’t our favorite little Omega.”

“Oh Shit, Keith. You’re right.”

Both men arranged themselves so that she was now sitting in between them as they stood and leaned forward with their elbows resting on the bar’s counter.

“Hey, little Omega … whatcha doing over here sitting all by your lonesome? Don’t you want to hang out with us, your buddies … huh?”

“You know Josh; it almost feels like our little toy doesn’t want to be around us anymore. I mean, look at her; she’s not even answering us as if we’re not standing right here.”

“I dunno Keith; I’m beginning to feel like she doesn’t like us anymore. Maybe we’ve neglected her for too long. What do you think, Joshy?”

The pale female began trembling as she quickly placed her money on the counter to pay for her drink. She cautiously tried to get off her barstool, obviously wanting to depart from her intruders and leave. Unfortunately, neither of the two brutes were having any of that as the taller bulkier one; I assumed Josh was his name, placed his thick callous hand onto her shoulder, forcing her to get reacquainted with her seat.

“Hey, you weren’t trying to skip out of here without us, were you, little Omega?”

“Yeah, kitten. That’s not very nice of you. You know we Always leave together after the bar closes to enjoy the after-party.”

“Unless, of course, you were just so anxious to have us play with you that you wanted to start the fun earlier. Is that it? What do you think, Joshy? Should we start the after-party early tonight?”

A small whimper escaped her lips as she whispered.

“N-n-no p-please, Just l-l-leave me, a-a-alone guys. P-please.”

The two asshats just laughed and took another swig of their PBRs.

I’d had enough.

Undoubtedly these pencil-dicks were trying to intimidate this meek-looking Omega.

I gulped down my drink and slammed the glass down on the counter, then gestured for the bartender to give me another double, knowing damn well I was going to need it once I was done dealing with these idiots.

I turned so that I was facing all three of them and let out a mighty growl.

“ENOUGH!” I bellowed. The power emitted from my Alpha aura caused them all to tremble and bow their heads. The two dicks were clenching their fists tightly, obviously not happy that an outsider Alpha had intervened in their pathetic attempt to bully some omega she-wolf into nonconsensual favors.

I got up from my stool, stalked over to the little she-wolf, and grabbed her tiny wrist, leading her off her seat to stand behind me.

“What the FUCK, man!” The one names Keith hissed through gritted teeth.

“The FUCK man, is that I will not sit idly by and watch you pencil-dicks bully some lower rank into sexual favors when she is not interested!”

The one named Josh began laughing as if I had told him some kind of hilarious joke.

He slapped the back of his hand against his cohort’s chest and then shook his head.

“Dude, he thinks that she isn’t interested.”

I glanced over at the petite framed girl, who just hid behind me with her head bowed in submission, trembling, then looked back over at the nimrod twins.

“From what I can see, she is definitely NOT interested. Now, I may not be your Alpha, but I can assure you, Shawn is a good friend of mine. I can also assure you that should I decide to beat your wanna-be rapists’ asses into next year, he’d let me. My advice to both you idiots is to heed my warning and get the fuck out of my sight while I’m feeling generous.”

The one named Keith glared at me and smirked while glancing at the girl behind me.

“Fine, Alpha. We’ll leave, but for the record, I wouldn’t be so sure about what you see here,” he waved his hand gesturing about the scene between the three of them, “that little skank is playing you like a cheap fiddle. Not sure what your little game is, kitten but don’t come crying later on, begging for us to take your little whore ass back. You got that bitch … we’re done with you!”

I felt a little tug at my sleeve as she winced from the harsh words they were tossing like daggers her way. I let out another growl in a warning, and the two douchebags abruptly left the bar laughing.

Oooookkkkay …

I shook my head and returned to my seat at the bar. I reached for my drink and gulped down the amber liquid all at once, then glanced over at the little she-wolf.

She stared at me with her doe-eyed blues, then hung her head submissively while clearing her throat.

“T-thank Y-y-you.” She muttered in barely a whisper.

“No prob. Just doing what anyone would do in this situation.”

“N-no. Not everyone. B-but thank you none the less.”

“Think nothing of it.”

Shit.

I must have drunk more than I thought. I was starting to feel a little woozy as I gripped onto the bar for some sense of support.

“Hey … um … you don’t look well. Do you need any help?”

My head was quickly becoming fuzzy as the room began to spin.

Damn, I need to ask Shawn if their alcohol is enhanced with wolfsbane making them as potent to us weres as regular alcohol would be to humans. I tried to get my bearings but to no avail.

I needed to get out of here. Maybe some fresh air would help.

“Huh? Umm … you know, I think I may have had a bit more than I thought. Hahaha … I think I’m going to head back to my hotel room to sleep it off.”

“Well, honestly, it’s on my way back to the packhouse. Is it ok if I join you and make sure you make it there, ok? I mean, it’s the least I could do for someone who just saved me from being violated by those two jerks.”

“Y-yeah … sure.”

We slowly made our way out of the bar when the effects of the alcohol kept growing. I had to lean on the little she-wolf for support once we took a few steps into the parking lot.

“Uh … I seriously have never drunk this much. Sorry for this. I genuinely appreciate your help. I’m not normally like this umm … sorry I never caught your name.”

A slight giggle escaped her lips.

“Oh, that’s right, you didn’t. It’s Maricela. Don’t worry about it. And Alpha Montgomery … I’m sorry.”

“W-what?”

Wait … why was she sorry, and how did she know my name?

I was about to ask her when all of a sudden, I felt a sharp sting in my neck and then my world went black.