Night with The Twin Rivers

Ch.2

The two days passed quickly. Jeromy didn’t disappoint her and he gathered a lot of intel on them. Their names were Steven and Shawn. Clan name: River. Steven was two minutes older than Shawn. Steven was more aggressive out of the two. Shawn was known to be more personable, and reasonable when making deals with. Steven showed little emotion and has been known to scare off some of their clients, so Shawn usually took over talking to new clients. 

Steven liked his coffee black, with two cubes of sugar. Shawn preferred tea, typically his was a variation of fruit. Blackberry tea seemed to be his favorite and he liked sweets. Steven didn’t seem to like sweets but seemed to enjoy some junk food and was known to have a stash of chips. 

They were twins but it was clear that their personalities couldn’t be any different. Steven was more the business man and Shawn was more towards dealing with people. She couldn’t help but wonder what their wolves were like? Her wolf made a small noise as though she was curious to meet them. Jena had to remind her that they were the enemy and she wasn’t allowed to get attached or too interested. 

Jena looked herself over in the mirror in the bathroom one more time before heading down to her car. Feeling satisfied with her looks and attire she grabbed her briefcase and headed down. She made sure her attire was top of the line, and she held her head high. Although she hadn’t slept much in the last two days, she was confident moving forward. There wasn’t any information that she felt she didn’t have. Of course she was sure they would throw a curve ball at her, but she was confident in her own negotiating abilities to be able to get herself around almost anything. 

Reaching the car she slid into the back and Jeromy followed suit sliding in beside her. She wasn’t going to go alone and Jeromy had become her right hand. Her beta. He was skilled in conversation, but he wasn’t very good in debates and negotiations so she would do all of that. He was good, however, at watching her back. He took details to heart and could remember conversations in the most painstaking detail, as he reminded her a few times since they started working together. The perfect person to gather details for her about anything and everything. He was smart and quick. She was lucky to have him. 

They arrived at the River corporation and they walked inside. Immediately they were greeted by the receptionist that led them to the twin’s personal elevator. Jena couldn’t help but roll her eyes a bit, it was clear they were going to be high maintenance. Once inside they were sent directly to the top. As the doors opened there was a secretary that greeted them and led them both down a hallway and towards a meeting room. The door was opened for them and they were ushered inside. The twins weren’t there yet. Jena wasn’t comfortable sitting first, she wanted to be standing when they arrived. Sitting would allow them to have a dominating position when they first entered. 

It didn’t take long for her to sense their approach, and as the door opened a sweet heavenly smell washed into her nose and she had to hold her breath as two men entered the room. Her eyes locked with theirs and her wolf started panting in excitement. “Mates.” Her wolf yelled out. Jena cleared her throat and quickly forced herself to look away from them a moment while she calmed herself and her wolf. 

“Mates?” She asked her wolf. “You can’t have more than one mate.”

“Yes. Mates. They are both ours.” Her wolf stated. “They are powerful. Strong. Perfect for us.”

“They are our enemy.” Jena said to herself. 

“Not anymore. They are our mates. They wouldn’t harm us. We can work together.” Her wolf said. 

Jena turned her attention back to them. Steven was already sitting in a chair at the end of the table with documents laid out in front of him. He wasn’t even looking at her. She could feel a rock hit her stomach. It was clear her presence didn’t affect him at all. Wasn’t his wolf telling him they were mates?

She quickly turned her attention to Shawn who walked over to a chair near them and pulled it out, and then signaled for her to have a seat. He gave her a small weary smile. It was clear he was in deep thought with himself. Probably about the fact that they were supposed to be mates. 

Jena ignored her own wolf and had a seat pretending that nothing had happened. 

“Talk to them,” her wolf said. 

“No. Clearly they don’t care. It’s obvious that Steven doesn’t care at all.” Jena told her. “It’s possible they will just reject us.” She said sadly. Although Jena hadn’t been looking for a mate, or given it much thought, she couldn’t help but always dream of meeting her mate. It was always a fantasy. To meet your soulmate. Your eyes meet and suddenly you can’t keep your hands off of each other. What wolf doesn’t dream of their mate? Maybe it was just because she was a female that she thought of these things? Maybe male wolves didn’t dream about it. Maybe this just showed how weak she really was? That she was still full of childish dreams?

She wasn’t going to let them walk all over her. They weren’t going to make her feel like she had to have their approval. 

“They wouldn’t reject us. They need us.” Her wolf stated. 

“They clearly don’t think so. If they want to play the ignoring game, then we can too. If they want to test our patience we don’t need them either. Maybe we will reject them for being assholes.” She said to her wolf. 

“Please don’t.” Her wolf said. “Give them a chance. Maybe they are shy.”

Jena almost laughed out loud from that and went straight to business with them. 

Steven barely looked up from the documents in front of him. Refusing to even give her a second look. Shawn on the other hand kept looking at her smiling. She wasn’t sure how this was going to go at all. Now that this happened she felt uncomfortable, but she gave herself an internal sigh and decided she would pay them no mind either. She ignored Shawn’s attempts to be friendly, as he was clearly feeling awkward. She wasn’t sure what their problem with her was, but she wasn’t going to let this continue. She started bringing up discussions immediately so she could move on. 

The discussions started and Steven chimed in. Shawn was clumsy whenever he spoke and it seemed to be irritating Steven to the point where Steven wouldn’t let Shawn talk anymore. Shawn shied away a bit feeling defeated and looked at Jena sadly like he had something he wanted to say but Steven wouldn’t let him have a say. She briefly gave him a small smile showing a little empathy. He smiled back as she turned her attention from him and continued to banter with Steven who was clearly agitated by her quick and witty responses. Nothing he said would unnerve her and she rose up to his challenge. It was clear that he hadn’t been expecting her to be ready for their meeting. Not to mention he was clearly someone who was always one step ahead of the other, and wasn’t at all ready to be a step behind. 

She was feeling pretty confident about their discussions and Jeromy just sat there looking between them all taking in all the details. He didn’t need to take any notes as he would remember everything that was discussed. 

Once things started to settle Steven stopped talking and sat back in his chair and took a deep breath. He looked between her and Shawn and was clearly irritated. Jena couldn’t help but look between the two of them curiously as there was something she was missing. She couldn’t stop herself from asking now that they were getting ready for lunch. “So, are you two telepathic with one another?”

Instantly they both looked at her. It was clear by Shawn’s face that it was a yes, but Steven tried to cover it up. Jena gave Shawn a small smirk already reading him like a book. Steven looked away irritated. 

“Does it matter?” Shawn asked her with a soft tone. 

There was a slight knock on the door and the food was brought in and placed on the table. 

Jena grabbed her food and shrugged, “not really. Most clans can still communicate with each other telepathically. Although, it does take a bit of effort to maintain for an extended period of time. With the way you two kept looking at each other it was clear you were both in a deep discussion while I was talking.”

“We weren’t trying to ignore you…” Shawn immediately tried to defend himself. 

Steven made an irritated sound upset with his brother. 

Jena chuckled a bit to lighten the mood. “No worries. It didn’t bother me that much. I was just curious that’s all. It’s obviously a natural thing between the two of you. A subconscious thing. You both probably don’t even notice that you are doing it most of the time.” She started eating her food. 

Shawn looked at her curiously. Steven was still keeping his focus away from her. That was bringing her some amusement. After sitting with them this long it was clear that her presence was affecting them both after all. Steven didn’t know what to do with himself. Shawn was nervous. It was clear that Shawn was enjoying her presence and it was probable that most of what they had been discussing was her, and what her presence was doing to the both of them. Steven clearly liked to be in control and she was shaking up that control. Being his mate caught him off guard and he probably didn’t like that. She could understand, it wasn’t something that she had been expecting either, however she was fine with rolling along with change. Nothing always goes according to plan. Though, she was already coming up with ways to make this work to her advantage. Shawn wouldn’t be willing to do anything that would cause her harm or discomfort. It would sow a little discourse between the two of them as they tried to figure out how to best handle her. 

Even though there were two of them and one of her, she was going to have the advantage if she played her cards right. She had the benefit of not needing to come to an agreement with another before proceeding. 

Shawn spoke quietly, “most people get uncomfortable when we do that.”

Steven shot him a small glare and then went back to his food. Trying to finish his food so they could continue with agreements. 

Jena nodded, “I could understand that. It certainly does seem unfair that you two can discuss things between each other more quickly than I can follow. You can have twice the thinking power.”

“And that doesn’t bother you?” Shawn asked, ignoring his brother. 

Jena shook her head, “no. Not really. Should it? I find it refreshing actually. I don’t mind a good challenge.” She gave him a playful smirk. 

Steven pushed his food containers away. Within moments someone walked in to gather their trash. He cleared his throat, “I think we should continue discussions. We have another meeting to get to after this and I would appreciate this coming to a conclusion sooner rather than later.”

She nodded, “very well.”

As the discussions continued, Jena gave them a little wiggle room in negotiations. Giving a little on her own terms, but in the end they were both falling exactly where she wanted them to. Shawn barely wrote anything down, and Steven was the one taking most of the notes. Once they were in agreement Jena looked up at Shawn and locked eyes with him. He gave her a charming smile and her wolf moaned a little wanting to be let out. To smell him. To leave her scent on him. Claim him as her own. 

Jena felt suddenly a bit mischievous as Steven felt uncomfortable. “How about we make this all more interesting?”

All three men looked at her curiously. Seeing Steven look up from his paperwork to stare at her made her full of energy. 

“I propose that we play a little game. Whoever wins the Cloud company as a client gets the first point. The loser gets to decide on a date for the winner.” She looked at them both curiously. 

Steven’s jaw dropped. It was clear he wasn’t expecting her to mention anything about being mates, or starting a challenge between then. 

Shawn let out a big grin. “Agreed.”

Steven looked at him and didn’t get a chance to say anything. 

Jena stretched out her hand and Shawn took it quickly and shook on it. “Very well. I look forward to our little friendly competition.”

“What if we don’t want to go on a date?” Steven stood up quickly and gave her a small glare. It was clear he was trying to intimidate her. It wasn’t going to work. 

She stood up and gathered her things as she spoke. “Then we don’t have to. You are free to back out of this challenge. If nothing happens between us by the next full moon, then we can mutually reject each other and move on.”

Her wolf cringed at the thought. It was clear that the mention of rejection made Shawn cringe a bit as well. He clearly struggled with keeping his emotions in check and concealed. Without another mention of it Jena turned from and then and headed for the door. Turning to them one last time she gave them her best playful smile, “I look forward to working with you both in the future. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you need anything. I am sure you have questions before planning our date.” With that being said she left and headed towards the elevator. 

Once inside she didn’t bother to look at Jeromy who was clearly confused and looking at her for an explanation. When she gave none he finally asked as they headed out front and got into the car to take them back to the company. “So what the hell was that about? Did you just challenge them for a date?”

She shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, “it was clear they weren’t going to mention anything about being my mates. I thought I would just get it out of the way instead of dragging it out.”

“Mates?” He paused a moment, “seriously?”

Jena sighed and nodded, “apparently so.”

He shook his head, “I can’t believe that. Steven could hardly even look at you. It explains why Shawn was acting weird. He looked like a boy with a sudden school crush.” He laughed a little. “Two mates? Seriously? What are you going to do about that? I haven’t heard of anyone having two before.”

“I have heard of people having twin mates before. Although, it’s rare.” She paused as their building came into view. “As far as what I am going to do…I don’t know. Turning this all into a competition for affection was just something sudden I did to throw them off their game a little more.”

“You were completely owning them though…Steven was very uncomfortable.” Jeromy laughed. “I thought he was going to lose his cool several times after you owned his ass.”

Jena chuckled, “I was starting to feel bad. It was clear he doesn’t like to lose control of anything.”

“You were in complete control. Then you owned them further by bringing up the uncomfortable fact that you were all mates. Kudos to you for standing your ground and giving them a timeline. This way you can move on and find someone better if they chose to ignore you.” Jeromy stated. 

Jena worried she might have come off too reckless and hasty with her decision. However, it was like her mind had a life of it's own suddenly. What the hell came over her? Why would she be so bold? There was nothing she could do about it now, the damage was done. Now it was time to prepare herself for the battle, and she didn't like to lose. That, and she had never planned a date before. The fear of suddenly needing to prepare a date scared her more than anything, it was great motivation to drive her forward.