A HEALER FOR THE ALPHA TWIN BULLIES

KYLIE: My eyes are bloodshot as I lie against my mother’s grave, my body hollowed out and too heavy to move. I have cried until my chest burns. The earth beneath my cheek is cold and damp. My fingers clench around the only thing she has left behind for me, her gravestone. Her voice echoes in my head, soft and familiar, until it is cut short by another sound. “Kylie!” I jolt upright with a strangled gasp, my heart slamming violently against my ribs. My gaze snaps to the doorway, colliding with Alpha Ian’s. That is when I realize I have been dreaming. “It’s Christmas Day,” he announces cheerfully. I force a half-smile. How could I forget? The day everyone gathers beneath the huge tree to open gifts. The day I pretend to be happy. “I’ll be down in a minute,” I mutter, trying to steady my breathing. “We’re waiting under the tree,” he says, already turning away. The door shuts softly behind him. My mother died last year from cancer. Before she passed, she made Alpha Ian promise to take care of me. They have been best friends, and he honors her wish by bringing me into his home. One would think that is a good thing. An orphan sheltered by the Alpha of the pack. But living under his roof means living with his sons. The Alpha twins—Ronan and Rowan. Their names don’t need to be spoken for my body to react. Nowhere is safe for a girl whose father is killed in the war while her mother is still pregnant. After I am born, she falls ill, and people decide I am either cursed or a blood-sucking demon. Alpha Ian thinks he is doing us a favor by sponsoring my education at the highest-ranking academy in the pack. Instead, it gives the rumors a larger audience and the twins a stage. They hate being linked to the bad seed of the pack. They hate the whispers about their father and my mother having an affair. So they punish me for it. “Kylie!” Alpha Ian’s voice snaps me back to the present. I kick my foot out of bed and rush into the hall, finding him a few steps away. “I was—” “Just come on already,” he cuts me off. I follow quietly. As we near the foot of the stairs, my heart begins to pound. Christmas doesn’t stop them from being cruel. I keep my head down, silently berating myself for not checking the mirror, searching for anything they could use. When we reach the living room, the twins rise from the couch in exaggerated annoyance. “Finally,” Ronan drawls. “Someone decided to f*****g make it downstairs.” They move toward the massive, perfectly decorated tree. Alpha Ian guides me forward, and some of the tightness in my chest eases. With him here, they won’t dare. We gather beneath the tree and the Alpha cheerfully checks the gifts, picking out mine. Then Alpha Ian hands me the gifts with my name on them, but one box stands out. It is huge, oversized, and wrapped to perfection. The name Rowan and Ronan is boldly written on it. “From us,” Rowan says, his blue eyes radiating innocence. A part of me knows nothing is innocent about their gift. Every instinct in my body screams don’t, but the only place I can open this without harm is in front of the Alpha. I open it with my heart in my mouth, and inside I find a stack of tiny teddies. “Go on,” Ronan urges softly, and I pull out the toys. Then suddenly, cold thick paint splashes upward, drenching my face, hair, and nightdress. I gasp and stumble back, choking as paint streams into my eyes, dripping down my skin like blood. The twins’ laughter cracks through the room in a satisfied voice. “My eyes! I cannot see!” I cry out, but they keep laughing. “What the hell is wrong with you two?” Alpha Ian roars, taking off his shirt and wiping my face. My eyes clear up a bit to see the smirk on their devilish faces. “It’s just paint,” Rowan says without an ounce of remorse on his face. “It is the season of Christmas,” Ronan adds. “She will wash it off or something. Merry Christmas,” he adds, but the Alpha’s face darkens. He tosses his shirt on the twins. “Clean this mess up! Get her cleaned up too, and after the Christmas party today, you both are grounded until school starts next year!” “Dad, it was just a harmless joke. It is not like it killed her or…” “Now!” the Alpha yells, and the twins grab my hand, dragging me down the hall to the huge washroom near the back door. They shove me inside, slamming the door shut. “Wash it off so we can get the hell out of here,” Ronan says, pointing toward the tap. I try not to act scared and brace myself for the worst. I shut my eyes. When I open the tap, a strong blast of freezing water slams into me, knocking the breath from my lungs as red paint streams off my body, pooling at my feet. I cry out, struggling to breathe. The twins step back, high-fiving themselves. Rowan chuckles. “Guess we forgot to mention the pressure.” Ronan smirks, crossing his arms. “Dweeb.” Just then, I lose my footing, about to kiss the ground. But Rowan jumps in and breaks the fall. The water cuts off abruptly as Ronan twists the tap shut. The moment my feet steady, he helps me stand upright. I look up at Rowan, still breathing hard and shaking. My eyes find his, wondering why he caught me. His gaze lingers for a second before dropping. That is when I look down to realize my nightwear has become soaked, leaving nothing to their imaginations…