The Alpha Twins

Chad. (12)

I couldn't sleep.

After what Phoenix had told me, it was hard not to be excited.

But then it dawned on me the day we had ahead of us.

It should be a great thing, Iris being accepted into the pack. But, knowing our father, and how he blames Phoenix for the need to accept a new member, crushed me. He had always made Phoenix's life harder than mine. I wish I knew why. Unfortunately, I knew that our father would make things hard for Iris. I just hope he has more love for me than hatred for Phoenix. Maybe then, he will lighten up a little.

I rolled out of bed at seven thirty, and I ran downstairs to make some breakfast.

I was so tired, but I knew if I went back to sleep, I wouldn't wake up on time.

I put a fresh pot of coffee on, and began cooking the breakfast.

Iris came down at around eight. Phoenix was right, she was... different.

She held herself a different way, as she was more open, more confident.

"You look surprised to see me," she said, as she took a seat on a stool, leaning over the island.

"No, not at all," I found myself stammering. She is much more confident now.

"Really? It looks like you didn't expect me to keep my word," she raised her eyebrows at me.

"It's not that," I told her calmly, as I looked back to concentrate on the eggs.

"What is it then?" she asked me, curiously.

"You're more confident now, it just took me by surprise," I told her, and she looked away shyly.

I was a little relieved that she still had her old mannerisms, and that the bond hadn't changed her completely.

"Are you nervous about today?" I asked, changing the subject, and seeing how she could talk to me freely now, without hesitation.

"Very," she said, as she nodded her head as I poured her some coffee.

"I wish I could tell you not to be, but you should prepare for-"

"For the millions of questions and the staring?" she cut me off.

"Phoenix told me yesterday," she explained when I looked confused.

"Actually, I was just going to say, prepare for the Alpha giving you a hard time," I told her, and now it was her turn to look confused.

"Our father has always given Phoenix a hard time, harder than an Alpha usually gives their pups," I explained.

"We think he'll be hard on you because of Phoenix," I told her. She looked confused, and then outraged.

"What about you?" she asked, her brows furrowed and her face in a frown.

"We have a good relationship," I shrugged my shoulders.

"Does that not bother you?" she questioned, in a defiant manner.

"It does," I told her.

"Then, why haven't you done something about it?" she asked in a more aggressive tone.

I was caught off guard, not by what she was asking me, but the way she was asking me. She was shocked to hear this revelation, angry about the way Phoenix was treated, but, and if it was possible, more angry at me for not stopping it.

"I've tried-" I began, but was cut off again.

"Not hard enough," she told me.

I looked at her, slightly bewildered.

"Iris... It's not that easy. I've defended Phoenix whenever I could, but our father is the Alpha," I told her.

Her face let up a little. I'd think of all people, she'd know about the Alpha's command.

"Have you ever asked him why he treats him that way?" she asked me.

"I did, once, when I was younger, but old enough to understand that I was treated better than he was," I told her, plating the eggs and bacon up.

"And?" she questioned, relentlessly.

"He told me that it was his business and to never ask him again," I explained, and she frowned harder than she did before.

"But, his own son?" she whispered quietly, still in disbelief.

"I haven't left Phoenix's side since that day," I told her.

"We've been inseparable ever since, though, he's still quiet and bottled up," I told her, plating the sausages up now.

"Does he know I am your mate too?" she asked me, and her big brown eyes were full of sympathy as she looked into mine.

"I think that's the only reason you were even allowed to join the pack," I told her. It took a lot for me to tell her that, as I didn't want to scare her away, but we needed to be honest.

"And the rest of it is because of his resentment towards Phoenix?" she asked.

I nodded my head as I passed her one of the plates of food. I told her to dig in as I went upstairs to wake Phoenix up.

I came back down minutes later to find her moving her food from one side of the plate to the other and back again.

"It'll get cold," I told her.

"I'm worried I'll bring it all back up at the introduction," she smiled lightly at me.

"Save it from when you come back then?" I asked her, as Phoenix walked into the kitchen, and took a seat across from her.

She pushed her plate away as I handed Phoenix his plate and a cup of coffee.

He didn't hesitate to dig in, as he stuffed his face like he had never been fed before.

"I'm confused about something," Iris said as she looked between Phoenix and me. I sat myself down at the edge of the island and raised my eyebrows.

"If this is the Alpha house, where is the Alpha?" she asked, and she looked around a little as if to see if she had missed him somehow.

"The thing is," Phoenix began, as he smacked his lips, finishing the rest of the food he had in his mouth. Something that Iris found fairly funny.

"We have a tradition in our pack, and it's been going on for centuries," he said as he shoved another mouthful of food into his mouth.

"The Alpha's," I cut Phoenix off with a look of distain. "Live in this house until their kin are of age to live in this house by themselves, then in their last years of being Alpha, they move to the pack-house to be the 'protector'—if you will," I told her.

"Weird," she hummed into her cup of coffee.

"Weird to you, maybe," Phoenix raised his eyebrows.

"Normal to us," I told her.

"So, you live your entire lives in this house, and then when your pups are old enough, you move out?" she asked.

"No actually," Phoenix began.

"We lived here with our father for the first eight—maybe nine years, then we moved to the pack-house, you know, to bond with our pack, make friends and go to school, then when we were of age, roughly eighteen, we moved back in here ourselves, with our future Gamma and Beta," I finished.

"It sounds a little complicated, no?" she asked us curiously.

"To you, maybe, it's completely normal for us, it's just the way it goes," Phoenix told her.

"But what's the point in all the moving around, from one house to the other?" she asked, looking wildly confused now, her head was tilted to the side, and her brows furrowed again.

"So that we grow up with our pack, get to know them, be with them. It's supposed to increase loyalty," I told her.

"It seems a bit extreme," she said, sipping her coffee again.

"It's supposed to be," Phoenix said, sipping his coffee to wash down the last of his food.

"The pack have to see the effort you make for them, or else, how will they follow your guide?" Phoenix said, wisely.

"If they don't know you, why should they respect you?" I asked her, and then it clicked in her mind.

"Bonding, isn't it? It's all about bonding?" she asked, a little excited.

"I guess so, yeah," we replied.

"We had better get going," I said, looking at the time and noticing that we had fifteen minutes to get there.

Iris looked at the time, and then her face dropped. I could see how the nerves filled her, and she became quiet.

"It'll be okay," I told her, and she nodded her head at me.

"You have us," Phoenix told her.