Fight For My Loves

Elle POV Walking back through the door of the cabin-style manor I share with my twin brother, Edwin, I set my bag down, greeting my dogs, Pain and Panic. It had been a long week, and I was in need of a long hot bath and possibly a massage. Just because I’ve been alive since the 1700s, doesn’t mean I don’t get sore muscles. That’s right. I am Eleanora Hart Knight, born 31 October 1701 to the Knights of England. My brother Ed, as I so lovingly call him, and I are 323 years old. I am a witch with a wolf, and Ed is just a wolf. The two of us were the first and last set of twins ever born to the Knight family and now are just considered “distant relatives”. We have been alive for so long, only one family was chosen to know the truth, and even then, it’s ONLY the alpha. Not even his mate was permitted to know unless we told her ourselves. Which we have before. Though, some Lunas we simply did not trust. After being alive for so long, you tend to get pretty good at reading people and their intentions. We live just on the edge of the boarders of the Evergreen Forest Pack, led by Alpha Huntley Woods. I haven’t seen the alpha in seven years. His mate died shortly after childbirth, during a rogue attack. Their son, Calloway, was only six months old at the time. He doesn’t meet with many people outside his personal circle. Ed is the one who is a part of that, mainly because you can smell the witch on me. And many wolves don’t like witches. Back when there were more witches, my mother’s coven was huge, we could easily cover our scents if we were mated to a wolf. That way, the other wolves wouldn’t be able to smell us. I was able to develop a scent blocker that blocks your smell to everyone but your mate within the last ten years. My mother was the high priestess of her coven. After our parents were killed a few days after our 18th birthday, I went to her coven to seek help because I knew I’d be coming into my powers at 21 and, with mother gone, I needed someone to teach me, but…they’d all been wiped out. It was clear, someone was targeting the Knight family and our allies. Our father, Alpha James Knight, was killed in a meeting with the humans. Hunters and rogues had teamed up to kill him, and even though he was nobility, a Duke no less, they killed him. They came to our manor. Thankfully, we’d received dad’s mind link telling us to run and hide. We grabbed our most important items and ran. Though we’re both still in the family business of knights, we don’t use swords too much anymore. Ed runs the two businesses we built, Knight’s Trading Co, a family-named business started in 1730 by Ed at the age of 29. And he runs the numbers for my business, Knight Security. On the surface, it’s a cybersecurity business, and we also employ bodyguards for clients. Only trusted clients and those referred to by word of mouth know we are also an assassin’s guild. It has been since the start of it all in 1730, though things were a bit different back then. Thankfully, it can all be run remotely and, after being alive as long as we have, we have extensive experience with aliases, cover stories, disguises, etc. We also have a vast fortune, allowing us to travel anywhere in the world and the ability to disappear should we ever need to go dark. Ed and I are fraternal twins, but we both have so many of the same features that if I dressed more manly, or he dressed more feminine, we could be taken for identical. Both of us have strong features, sharp jaw lines, bright blue eyes with light blonde hair. Whereas we both have full lips, I have large eyes and thick lashes, while Ed’s eyes weren’t as big, his lashes were just as thick. “How did it go, sister?” “Just…dandy. Splendid. I’m thankful it’s over.” I said, stretching my limbs out, making my way past the living room to the staircase, so I could sink into my beautiful, porcelain, clawfoot tub. “Shall we take a holiday soon? We’ll need to visit the manors in England and France to make sure they’re being maintained properly. We should probably host a charity ball or two while we’re back, don’t you think?” “Unfortunately. That’s what I wanted to speak with you about.” Ed said, following me towards my room. Our rooms are right across from each other in the cabin. “What?” I asked, pausing just inside my walk-in closet. I stared at him for a moment before I continued walking deeper into the closet to grab a fresh set of black lounge pants, matching tank top, robe and slippers. “Jason called. It would seem there have been some…guests” he said, choosing his words carefully, “trying to visit the direct decedents of the Knight family.” Turning slowly, my clothing in my arms, pressed to my chest, as I stood in the doorway to the ensuite, I stared, once again, at my brother’s now grim face. I knew something was wrong. No one could know. No one should know. Only Alpha Huntley and his father know. Everyone else is dead and has been for centuries. “Who on” I stopped short. “Bollocks.” My heart began to hammer so hard I thought it was going to beat out of my chest. ‘It’s him. He’s looking for us.’ Artemis says. “What? No one should know about us. You haven’t told anyone, have you?” “Adrian.” “Adrian?” Ed asked. Looking confused. “Whitley? From when we were kids?” That was a name I hadn’t said or even thought about in nearly 100 years. Though, that’s a lie. I think of him, usually right before sunrise upon waking from dreams of him. “Elle. He disappeared, what? 300 years ago?” “I know! But he’s…he’s the only one who would know.” Looking at my brother, tears began to form, having thought, I’d finally moved on. Buried him, so to speak. There’s never been a body, so I’ve never been able to have anywhere to properly mourn him. The night we had to flee for our lives, I had saved everything he’d ever given me. The jewelry, the letters, his handkerchief, his coat he’d given me to shield me from the chill of that October night when he left, promises of returning the next night. That coat… I saved it and never wore it again. I still have had others made throughout the years. That is the only winter coat I own and have owned my whole life since he gave his to me. If it is him, he should recognize the style. His navy blue pea coat that, while fit properly for a man, was floor length on me. I’ve modified the length to be more feminine, but I have everything else the same. Same wool fabric, same brass buttons, same number of buttons down the front, gold thread on the lapels. Adrian and I had been sneaking around, word of our families arranging our engagements to other people had begun to surface. He was the adopted son of the Grand Duke, his majesty’s youngest brother, making Adrian third in line to the throne over the humans. And me, the only daughter of Duke Knight, his Majesty’s Sword. We had been planning on how we could be together. Neither Adrian nor I could have imagined falling in love. We’d met six months before we had to run, after Ed and I celebrated our half birthday. I was a mere 17 years old, only a week shy of my 18th birthday, when he disappeared. The day would be the last time I’d see him. Then my family was massacred. Three days after we turned 18, we were attacked by rogues. They killed my mother right in front of Ed and I. Ed had gotten us into the hidden wall space in Father’s office where all of our emergency items were in case we needed to hide, or run. We had just taken the scent blockers when they came into Father’s study. He fought as hard as he could, but there were too many. They held him down while the Hunters came in and stabbed him in the heart with a silver blade. Ed held me as we watched our father be restrained while mother was brought in. They were tortured, asking where we were, but neither talked. Mother was killed first. Then Father. After they tossed the whole pack house, unable to find us, they left. That was also the day we left our home for America. We had to get away from whoever wanted us. “303 years ago,” I whispered. “What?” Gathering myself, “It will be 303 years this 24 October. The week before our birthday.” I looked my brother in the eye. I needed him to see how this was affecting us. Artemis whimpers in my head, knowing Adrian was supposed to be hers for the last 303 years. We’ve missed so much time together. ‘Ready for mate. Hope it’s Adrian.” She says in my head, lying down. “That’s right. He never came back after that night, did he?” My eyes glazed over, seeing something much farther away, in a different time. A man who’s every feature, every detail, I have saved deep in my most precious memories. A single tear slid down my cheek. Ed swiftly stepped forward, wrapping me in a tight hug, “No. He never came back.” I whispered into his chest. This is going to be one hell of a trip back home.