Mating with the Lincoln Twins

8

Kael´s POV

"Are we going to tell her?" I asked my brother through our mental link. "That's why we planned this dinner, isn't it?"

Lean glanced at me while pulling out Selene’s chair so she could sit down.

"Partly, yes," he admitted, "but now I'm not so sure. It's still too soon, don’t you think?"

I smiled when Selene’s eyes met mine.

Goddess, she was breathtaking.

Our mate was truly stunning.

"Too soon? She was attacked, brother—by none other than our exes. Two Betas who could’ve torn our mate apart if they had wanted to."

"Do you think I don’t know that?" Lean sighed, sitting down as he grabbed the menu. "But telling her now won’t change anything."

"Of course it will," I countered. "She’d start training, learn to shift, activate her instincts—she’d be alert to potential threats."

"Is something wrong, guys?" Selene asked before Lean could respond. "You suddenly went quiet."

"I was just wondering if you like this place," I replied quickly. "Is it to your liking?"

"I love it. It's beautiful. I just hope the food tastes as good as it smells."

I smiled.

"We can't keep this from her, Lean. Every second she doesn't know the truth is another second she's in danger!" I insisted.

"You’re saying that because you want to rush things, brother. I know you too well—you’re thinking about yourself, not her."

"What are you implying?"

Selene started talking about re-enrolling in university, and while I listened, I kept the mental conversation with my brother going.

"What you want most right now is for her to know the truth about her nature so you can confirm whether or not she recognizes us as her mates. That’s it, isn’t it?"

"Well… yes, but I also care about her safety."

"I want to confirm it too, Kael. I want nothing more than for her to accept us as her mates. But for that to happen, she first has to acknowledge she’s not human—something she’s believed her whole life. Because she wasn’t raised among our kind, her wolf has been dormant this entire time. She should have awakened at least three years ago. But we have to be careful."

Selene wanted to start the semester as soon as possible, to re-enroll and continue the degree she had left unfinished.

"Journalism," she answered when I asked what she was studying. "I feel like, as a journalist, my words would carry more weight. I could reach more people going through situations like mine. You know, about what happened to my parents. I believe that if I were a journalist, the police would take the investigation more seriously."

Lean and I exchanged a heavy glance.

If Selene’s parents were killed by the ones we suspected, there was a good reason why the police weren’t making any progress. Even if she were Christiane Amanpour, it wouldn’t make a difference.

"See, brother? She needs to know—better now than later. She has to be involved in the investigation into her parents’ murder."

"And that’s exactly what worries me the most," Lean replied.

"What? What do you mean?"

"If we force her wolf to awaken without training, we could break her instead of making her stronger. What happens if she loses control in the middle of a crisis? If her wolf takes over and she has no idea how to contain it? What if she becomes a target before she even knows how to defend herself? Think, Kael. She’s never been trained. She knows nothing about combat, hierarchy, pacts, or even the most basic rules of our kind. She’ll be like a pup… except she’s twenty-one. And I’m not even sure if just knowing the truth will be enough to wake her up. Do you understand?"

"This isn’t a game, Lean. We can’t leave her in the dark as if nothing is happening. She deserves to know!"

"And what if she’s not ready? What if, in trying to protect her, we end up dooming her?"

I didn’t see things the way my brother did, but I understood his reasoning and his concern. The shock would be overwhelming for Selene, and we had no way of knowing how she would react.

But I still believed we had to tell her. The longer we waited, the worse it would be. And she would have every right to hate us for keeping something this big from her—especially if she truly was our mate.

"So, what do you two do for work?" Selene asked, snapping me out of my thoughts. "I mean, you do work, right?"

I was about to answer that it was… complicated, but Lean beat me to it.

"We’re lawyers."

I kicked him under the table.

What the hell was he thinking?

The truth was, as Alphas of our pack, our job was to lead, manage, and guide our people—nothing more. We weren’t expected to have a profession, at least not in the way humans understood it.

"You’re lying! Why are you doing this?" I snapped at Lean through our link.

"She wouldn’t understand, brother. How do you expect me to tell her that our work is leading a pack, ruling over it as its Alphas? She’d think we’re insane."

"We could’ve been honest with her. We should’ve been."

"Do you think it doesn’t kill me to lie to our mate?" Lean’s voice was laced with frustration. "It shreds me apart, but for now, it’s necessary. Just give me a few more days, Kael. That’s all I’m asking. A few days, and then we’ll tell her the truth—about her and about us."

It hurt to lie to Selene, even if it was one of those harmless lies, the kind people told themselves were for someone else’s own good. But Lean was always the more rational of the two of us, the one who analyzed everything from every possible angle. If he thought it was too soon to reveal the truth, I had to trust his instincts.

"Lawyers, huh?" Selene finally said, her tone unreadable.

"What did you expect?" I asked.

"Honestly? I thought you were just a couple of rich kids who didn’t need to work because your parents took care of everything."

I grinned, realizing that, in a way, she wasn’t entirely wrong. From a human perspective, our situation probably did seem like we lived off some old family fortune. What I loved most, though, was how bluntly honest she was. Selene never sugarcoated things—she said what she thought, straight to the point.

Lean might have had his reasons for keeping the truth from her, but I was impatient—impatient for her to recognize us as her mates, impatient to be close to her in a way she couldn’t yet understand.

If Lean wanted to hold back, then fine.

But I was done playing it safe.

If he wasn’t going to lead this dinner down a different path, then I would.

Selene´s POV

The table was smaller than I had imagined, and the twins' legs brushed against mine under the tablecloth. It wasn’t intentional… was it? Suddenly, every movement, every slight shift in their posture toward me, felt magnified.

Since when had their presence become so overwhelming?

We placed our orders, and the food arrived quickly. It was delicious—or maybe I was just starving. Either way, I was actually enjoying myself with the twins.

"How's your food?"

When I looked up, I found Kael’s eyes locked onto mine. There was something different about his gaze this time. It wasn’t just a casual glance; it was as if he were absorbing every detail of my face, committing it to memory. Heat flushed my skin under his scrutiny, and when I finally tore my gaze away, I ran straight into Lean’s. His expression was different, too—more intense, like he was trying to say something without words.

My heart pounded against my ribs.

What was happening?

I noticed the way they exchanged glances, as if silently communicating, like they could have an entire conversation without a single word. Was that just some twin thing? I had no way of knowing, but somehow, I had the distinct feeling that I was the topic of their conversation.

"It’s delicious," I finally answered. "Though it’s a little spicy."

Kael’s hand suddenly reached out, catching me off guard.

"You’re burning up, beautiful," he murmured, his fingers brushing against my cheek. The touch sent a jolt through me.

Did he just call me beautiful?

"It’s a Mexican restaurant, sweetheart," Lean added smoothly. "They put chili in everything—even the desserts."

I hadn’t noticed when exactly it happened, but suddenly, Lean’s hand was on my other cheek. Their touch was casual, light, too light—yet the sensation of both their hands on my skin made me forget all about the spice. Instead, I felt like I was burning for an entirely different reason.

I realized they were both still looking at me—but not like before. There was something different in their eyes now, something that made me feel bare, exposed.

This couldn’t be happening.

They were two. They were brothers. And yet, every inch of my body reacted to them as if they were magnets pulling me in, inescapable.

Lean leaned in slightly over the table, his arm brushing against mine. Kael mirrored the movement, his crooked smile sending a shiver down my spine.

"You’re different from the girls we know, sweetheard," Lean said as he pulled his hand away.

The warmth of his touch vanished, and I shivered.

"Different how?" I asked, my voice coming out softer than I intended.

"There’s something about you… something hard to describe," Kael answered, withdrawing his hand as well.

I wished they’d put them back.

"Something that calls to us."

I associated Kael’s words with the strange sensation I had felt when we arrived at the restaurant. That wild thing inside me, the one stirring in my chest like it was awakening for the first time. And the twins… they felt like wolves hearing my call, drawn to me as if we belonged together.

"Yes, sweetheart. You know we want to help you," Lean said.

At some point, I had stopped being Selene and had become beautiful and sweetheart.

I loved that change.

"Help me?"

"With your parents, beautiful" Kael clarified. "You don’t need to be a journalist—yet—for us to want to do everything in our power to get you answers."

A lump formed in my throat. I didn’t want to get emotional, but thinking about everything I had lost was suffocating. Before I could stop it, I felt a soft touch against my cheek.

Kael tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear with a gentleness I wasn’t expecting.

"You don’t have to be alone in this, beautiful."

I had no idea what to say.

The only thing I could do was hold his gaze… and notice how Lean’s eyes burned with something I couldn’t quite decipher.

The tension had shifted.

It was thick, warm, charged.

"You know, beautiful, if you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to think you’re falling for my charm."

Lean arched an eyebrow.

"Who said it’s you she’s looking at, brother, and not me?"

I couldn’t help but laugh—a bit nervously.

I felt trapped between them, like I was caught in a game where I didn’t know the rules. Kael’s eyes dared me to move closer, while Lean watched me like he understood something I didn’t. Between the two of them, I felt like the air in my lungs had grown heavier.

"Maybe it’s just because I’m tired, not because you two are as irresistible as you think."

"Or maybe we are that irresistible," Kael said, his voice teasing but his gaze anything but playful, "and you just don’t want to admit it."

I had no response.

I was frozen.

Was this really heading where I thought it was?

"Let’s order some tequila, shall we, brother?" Kael suggested.

"Only if our lovely guest agrees," Lean added smoothly.

I swallowed hard.

If we threw tequila into this already simmering tension, it was bound to explode.

I knew it would only make everything more intense—that if I agreed, there might be no turning back.

But when Kael shot me that wicked smile, and Lean tilted his head in silent anticipation, the words slipped from my lips before I could stop them.

"Yes, that’s fine. I’d like some tequila."