The Alpha Twins

Iris. (10)

I couldn't hold my emotions when they left. The tears I was trying so hard to hold back fell uncontrollably.

I always managed to stay quiet when I cried, but this time, it was too painful to be silent.

I thought I was doing everyone a favor by leaving. I didn't realize I was hurting either of them so much.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep their faces out of my mind. Phoenix's face was so full of anger and heartache, Chad's full of sadness and pity.

I sat on the ground, wiping the tears away that wouldn't stop falling, whatever I did.

I wasn't ready to join their pack, become a member and have all those unfamiliar faces eye-balling me, constantly. Not when I knew there were rogues searching for me, wanting to take me back to Alpha Felix.

"You shouldn't have told them you wanted to stay then," Aurelia snapped in my mind.

"I didn't think it would be like this!" I snapped back.

"What did you expect?"

I ignored her for a minute. Tears were still streaming down my face, and I'd get over it a lot quicker if she stopped making me feel worse.

"I'm only pointing out that you told them one thing and then did another. They're trying to make life easy for you, and you keep running off. After telling them, you won't!" she said furiously.

"I thought I'd at least have a few days to get used to the idea of being in a new pack, to get used to having two new mates, to even have a mate at all!" I clapped back again.

"It's all too quick, too sudden!" I sighed.

"It's safer that way. The Alpha knows the sooner you're in the pack, the better, the safer for you and everyone else. He's doing his best to protect the pack, and in that pack, you!" she bellowed.

I angrily wiped the last of my tears away, I walked back into the water, and washed my face.

"How can they have feelings for me already? We've only just met!" I said angrily, grabbing my bag and throwing it over my shoulder.

"Because they've accepted the mate-bond! It's the mate-bond!" she screamed furiously in my mind, frustrated.

"How can they accept me so easily? They don't know me,"

"They don't have to. They haven't had a bad experience with a mate before. You need to let it go, and trust that they aren't like him. You need to forget about him and move on," she told me defiantly.

"And if I accept them, and they hurt me?" I asked her. She didn't reply for a while, as if contemplating what she should say.

"I can't promise you that they won't, but I know they'll never hurt you in the way that Josh did, or anyone from that pack did," she said matter-of-factly, reassuring me to trust them.

"I'm just scared," I told her as I walked out of the water and walked the way they did up the river.

"Of course you are, but will you tell me if you truly think they'd ever treat you the way that Josh did?"

I didn't even have to think about it. I knew they wouldn't, I just knew. Something in me longed to be with them, and I think that's what truly scared me, above all else.

"They would never-" I began.

"Accept them, then, you'll see just how amazing and special love can be through the mate-bond" she said, and I could feel all of her excitement erupt in me.

"How in the world am I supposed to face them after this?" I sighed, continuing on up the river.

"They'll forgive you," she said, knowingly.

The sound of a branch crunching in the distance took us both by surprise. It wasn't ahead of us, but behind us.

"Phoenix?" I called out.

"Chad?"

"Iris, run!" Aurelia shouted in my mind.

I didn't hesitate.

With her words, I sprinted faster than I have ever run before. I had a horrible gut feeling that something was chasing me now. After a while, I wanted to stop, but I couldn't until I could at least see Chad or Phoenix. I couldn't be that far behind them now, they only had a little head start.

"Phoenix?" I shouted a little louder. "Chad?" I said, out of breath, but I could hear the loud footsteps stomping behind me. I didn't dare look back. I made sure to pick my feet up as I ran, so I didn't trip over anything. When, all of a sudden, I felt strong hands around my middle, and I was tackled to the ground by something very heavy. "Get off me!" I bellowed as I kicked and hit anything I could.

"You're trespassing, rogue!" a nasty, croaky, raspy, dry voice said loudly in my ear.

"I'm new to the pack!" I told him, pushing anything I could get my hands on away from me.

"Not in my pack, you're not!" he growled.

As I struggled to push this giant force off of me, I felt an incredible weight lift from my legs and middle. The next thing, a loud thud hit the ground beside me, and I could only just make out Phoenix on top of the raspy guy.

"Phoenix!" I called, all the panic I was feeling left me, and I couldn't restrain the happiness that was in my voice. A wave of something erupted pleasantly from my chest.

A different pair of hands grabbed me now, and I looked up to see Chad. He helped me up, and I wrapped my arms around his body, and he, too, wrapped his arms around me.

"Who are you?" I heard Phoenix ask the guy behind me. I pulled away from Chad to look, and he kept his arms around me.

"Phoenix?" The guy questioned. Phoenix looked curiously towards Chad and me.

He grabbed the guy and pulled him up, and his face softened a little, and then a slight smile appeared on his face.

"For goddess's sake, Teak, what are you doing?" Chad bellowed, facepalming.

"This is our part of the border! I was patrolling and could smell a rogue. I was going to take her back to my pack-house," he explained.

"She's with us, Teak. There wasn't any time to let you know we'd be on your border," Phoenix explained to him.

"What's your rogue doing on our land?" he asked. I could feel Chad tense up, and I saw Phoenix tense up.

"Forget about it, Teak," Chad said. "We are taking her home now," he called, but he looked at me as if it was a question aimed at me. I nodded my head in reply, Phoenix walked towards us, and Chad pulled my arm to turn me away from Teak, and towards their border.

"Good luck with the rogue, catch you later" Teak bellowed after us. Phoenix and Chad tensed up again.

"They don't like hearing you labeled as a rogue, when you could easily become a member of their pack. It's disrespectful when, one day, you'll be their Luna," Aurelia explained in my mind. I was so stupid. They must really think I'm an i***t. I know next to nothing about them, or their ways. I know nothing about Alpha's and Luna's. And, now I felt even more stupid when Aurelia pointed out the most obvious things.

"I'm sorry," I began.

" I'm really sorry for running away when I told you I'd stay, for trying to back out of becoming a pack member when I told you I would, and I'm also sorry for disregarding your feelings, or not even taking your feelings into consideration. I know little to nothing about packs and families. I have never had to think about anyone else, just me, and how to keep myself out of the way. I'll do better," I told them as we walked side by side back to their house.

A smile crept on both their faces.

"Does this mean you'll do the introduction tomorrow?" Chad asked me, and I could hear the underlying excitement in his voice.

"I will, I want to do it properly," I replied, equally excited.

"Are you sure, because it's a huge step?" Phoenix asked.

"I'm positive, though, I'll probably need you to educate me on certain things," I told them. They laughed a little, and all the tension that was there vanished, like nothing had happened.