Mated To The Wrong Twin

Chapter 3:

Amara's POV

Adrenaline fired through my veins, turning my blood into pure, uncut lightning as I ran through the dark, trees whipping past me like skeletal fingers trying to grab me.

I wasn’t just running to the house.. I was running from the f*****g nightmare I’d just witnessed. My life literally depended on me not tripping over a root and face-planting into a pile of wolf crap.

I hit the back door so hard the frame shuddered. I didn’t stop. I took the stairs two at a time, my lungs burning and skidded to a halt in front of my parents’ bedroom. I started pounding on the door with both fists.

“Mom! Dad! You need to open up! Now!”

The door flew open. My dad stood there, hair messy, robe tied tight. He looked pissed. Mom was behind him, her face pinched with annoyance, not worry.

“Amara? What in the Goddess’s name is this racket?” Dad growled. “It’s the middle of the night.”

The words just exploded out of me. I was breathing like I’d just finished a marathon, which, honestly, I kinda had.

“It’s Brielle! I followed her... she went into the f*******n woods! She met Vespera! The banished witch!”

Mom’s eyes went wide.

I kept going, the story tumbling out in a frantic mess.

“There was a spell! A diversion spell! Brielle didn’t get the bond... she stole it! She paid a witch to make Caspian think she’s his mate! It’s all a lie! A big, nasty, dark magic lie!”

I was waiting for it. The gasp. The outrage. The “we will deal with this betrayal immediately.” I was finally going to be believed.

But thhey just stared at me in uncomfortable silence and then a sweet sickly-smooth voice came from behind me.

“You think I didn’t hear you stomping through the bushes like a lost cow?”

I spun around. Brielle was standing at the door, looking calm and perfect, not a hair out of place. How did she get back so fast? A cold dread started crawling up my spine.

Mom stepped past Dad, her voice low and sharp.

“Brielle. How did it go with Vespera? Is everything… secure?”

The world tilted and my stomach dropped straight through the floor. How did it go? They knew? They f*****g knew?!

Brielle smiled, her eyes locked on mine.

“It went perfectly, Mother. The spell is holding. Everything is fine.” She took a step toward me. “You really are dumber than you look, Amara. You thought you could follow me and I wouldn’t know?” She practically spat the last word. “Bitch.”

I looked from her smug face to my mom’s cold one to my dad’s stony expression. The pieces clicked together with a sound that was almost audible. My whole family.. my whole f*****g family was in on it!

Dad pointed a finger at my face.

“You will never speak of this to anyone. Do you understand me? Not a whisper. Not a hint.”

“But… why?” I whispered, my voice shaking.

“Because Brielle’s future is the pack’s future,” Mom said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And you will not ruin it with your… complications.”

Brielle smirked.

“Yeah, ‘complications.’ That’s a nice word for it.” She got right in my face. “You breathe a word of this to anyone and you’re not gonna know what hit you. Got it?”

I just stood there, numb. My own parents. They’d always loved her more but this? This was a whole new level of f****d up. This was a super-villain family meeting and I wasn’t invited.

I don’t even remember going to bed. I just lay there in the dark, staring at the ceiling, replaying their threats on a loop. The family I’d always wanted to please had just shown me they’d sell my soul for my sister’s shot at being princess.

The next day, the whole pack was buzzing abd prepping for the big mating celebration the Alpha was throwing for Caspian and Brielle. It was like living inside a beehive that was also on fire. And for me, it was t*****e.

Every time someone cheered, I flinched. Every time they laughed, it felt like a personal joke on me. And the worst part? This weird phantom pain that would shoot through me whenever Caspian and Brielle were together.

A sharp ache in my chest, a hollow feeling in my gut. It was the bond, my bond, crying out because he was with someone else. It was like having a internal alarm system that went off every time they f****d… ugh. I didn’t even want to think about it.

By late afternoon, I was doing a great impression of a ghost, just trying to float through the house unseen. That’s when one of the maids found me.

“Amara? Brielle requests your presence in the backyard.”

“She requests?” I muttered. “What is this, a royal decree?” But I followed anyway. What else was I gonna do?

The backyard was set up like a salon. Brielle was holding court in a lounge chair, surrounded by maids doing her hair and makeup. She looked like a queen bee accepting tribute.

She waved a hand without looking at me.

“Amara. Good. I need you to run up to my room. I forgot my special perfume. The one in the crystal bottle on my dresser.”

I blinked.

“Why can’t…” I gestured to the three maids standing right there. “…one of them go?”

Brielle’s head snapped toward me. Her smile was sweet but her eyes were venom.

“Because I’m asking you. Or do I need to tell Mom and Dad you’re being difficult again?”

The threat was clear. I sighed, my shoulders slumping.

“Fine. Crystal bottle. Dresser.”

I trudged back into the house, my feet feeling like lead. This was just another power play. Another way to remind me I was the errand girl. I reached her door, shoved it open without thinking, and took one step inside.

And then I froze.

Because there, lying on his back in Brielle’s bed, was Prince Caspian.. and he was completely, totally, one-hundred percent n***d with his d**k out and all!

Holy. s**t. He was… all of him. Sculpted chest, strong arms and… well, everything else. Just… all of it. Right there. My mouth went dryer than the desert.

He jolted, grabbing the silk sheet and yanking it over his lap. But it was way too late. The image was already burned onto my retinas forever.

“Amara?” he said. He didn’t sound angry. Just surprised. And maybe a little embarrassed.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I just stood there, staring like an i***t.

This was the man who was supposed to be mine. The one my soul recognized. And looking at him now, even in this completely insane situation, a part of me still reacted. He was stupidly handsome.

But his eyes… they held zero recognition for me. No spark.. no bond.. nothing. Just polite confusion. The witch’s magic had wiped me clean from his heart. The pain that thought sent through me was sharper than any physical ache.

For a wild second, I wanted to scream it. She tricked you! It’s me! I’m your real mate! But the threat from my family echoed in my head. You’re not gonna know what hits you.

So I just swallowed the lump in my throat, pointed a shaky finger toward the dresser.

“Perfume,” I croaked. “Brielle sent me.”

He just nodded, pulling the sheet tighter.

“Right. It’s over there.”

I stumbled to the dresser, grabbed the stupid crystal bottle and practically ran for the door without looking back.

My hands were still trembling when I got back to the backyard. I thrust the perfume at Brielle. She took it with a slow vicious smirk spreading across her perfectly made-up face.

“Took you long enough,” she purred.

She knew he was up there still n***d from when she had f****d him dry. She knew he’d be n***d… and she sent me on purpose.

Why? To rub my face in it? To show me what she had and I didn’t? To see if the sight of him would break me?

There must have been a twisted reason why she did this and knowing Brielle, I knew I needed to be worried..!