Accepting My Twin Mates

Chapter 3 - A Secret Double Crush?

Evie

I left the side room and walked past all the other Omegas without a second glance, noticing Janet was nowhere in sight. With any luck, I wouldn't run into her again for the rest of the day, or preferably a week, though that may be pushing my good fortune.

I grabbed the small duffle bag that I had brought with me and stashed it away and left for the training centre.

The cold outdoors was no longer suitable for my training sessions anymore, as we had been having some early snow flurries sporadically. Not that it affected the other warriors' and trackers' training; adverse weather only served to add to their challenge.

The brisk outside air whipping against my skin had me wishing I had grabbed a coat instead of thinking to myself, like a fool, it's only a short walk, I'll be fiiiine.

But the cold mountainous air was worth the views this pack was blessed with. Two Moons pack sat across the Cascade Range of Washington at the base of Mount Rainier, encompassing Crystal Mountain and the Puyallup River watershed all the way up to Puget Sound, an inlet to the Salish Sea of the Pacific Ocean, and bordered the Yakama Indian Reservation to our east. Crystal Mountain was where the pack's own ski resort was situated. It was free for pack members, though outsiders had to pay if they wished to visit the luxurious retreat. I had been but never as a guest, just as a lodge attendant trying to earn some extra cash over the snowy season. It may have been free for me to stay, but the skiing equipment wasn't and, unfortunately, it was expensive.

The Puyallup River watershed in the lowlands of the pack was a beautiful system of rivers, streams and lakes that flowed all the way to the Pacific inlet in the west. It was this very feature from where our pack derived its name. Two small lakes, one that flowed into the other with a short drop between them, situated not far from the main pack house. At night, the lakes' surfaces reflected the sky above, showing two moons. Before that, when the pack was still situated in Europe, along what was the modern-day Wadden Sea, it was named Howling Woods pack, or whatever the medieval sassisch language equivalent was.

The namesake of the pack was also the namesake of the Alpha heirs. Although their names were Egyptian in origin, they both represented the moon in some form, again, two moons. And there I was, right back with those damned men on my mind… what was wrong with me?

Walking down the corridor of the training centre, I could hear the echoes of some of the classes taking place. I made my way to one of the smaller studio rooms, designed for more one-on-one sparring matches. My trainer was already present, stretching out her limbs, no doubt having heard or smelt my approach. Her pitch-black hair was already tied up ready to get stuck in.

Tamlyn Nishimura. The current Gamma to Alpha Isaac. She was far younger than the Alpha and Beta, unusually, because that meant she hadn’t grown up around either of them. At 28, she was far closer in age to the twins and had not simply been handed the title as a birthright; neither of her parents had been a previous leader of the Two Moons pack. The head tracker to our pack had mated to the Gamma’s daughter of our ally at Opal Sun and moved here as a result.

When the previous Gamma found his mate in a rogue she-wolf, he was given the shittiest ultimatum possible: leave the pack with her, or reject the bond and stay without her. It was why there were no former rogues, other than myself, in this pack. They were never permitted to stay. I was only surprised I hadn’t been kicked out when I failed to shift and had no real use to the pack. Maybe the Alpha just felt sorry for me for not having a wolf.

The Gamma chose to leave, and honestly? I respected the hell out of him for that. That was the sort of love I wanted, someone who would give everything, as I would, without a second thought.

Tamlyn had proven, beyond doubt, that she was the wolf for the position. She had also been one of my personal trainers, diverting her attention away from her duties in training the trackers for me. Yet another reason why it had stung so much to have never shifted. Despite that, she carried on training me, albeit far less often, because of her limited time.

“You could have turned the lights on.” I called out, flicking the switch to illuminate the place further.

“Why? It's not as though I need them.” she stood, looking roughly in my direction, her dark brown almond-shaped eyes unfocused.

“Yeah, but I do,” I complained, beginning to strip off my clothes to get changed.

Had it been anyone, I would’ve been hesitant to undress so brazenly in front of someone. Most wolves were completely used to nudity and fully at ease around others with shifting continuously. I may have been fine with sleeping naked, in warmer months at least, as other wolves did. Getting naked in front of others was a whole other thing.

“Why do you smell like gone-off milk?” She crinkled up her freckled nose. She probably smelt me before I entered the training center.

“Yes, thank you!” I snapped, sarcastically. “Sorry, it's just been a shitty morning,” I sighed.

“So… you took a dairy bath?” She nudged my shoulder.

“After a fashion, yeah. I got breakfast dumped on me today, like the whole bowl of yoghurt. Blam. All over me.”

Tamlyn let loose a cackle of laughter, “sorry. I probably shouldn't laugh.”

“You might as well. Everyone else already did,” I shrugged, looking down.

“Great, now I feel like a bitch.” she said with a smirk.

“You are, but I suppose I should laugh about it. Otherwise, I'll just break down in despair.”

“Ok, chill on the melodrama and let's train.” she took my bicep so I could lead us to the centre of the room on the mats.

After a few hours of stretches, exercises and sparring, the two of us were pretty much spent and heaving on the mats.

“You pump some steroids this morning?... You actually… gave me a workout… this round,” she said between breaths, standing to offer me her hand.

“Hey! You say I'm a pushover normally?” I was tempted to yank her hand to faceplant her back on the mat.

“You, a pushover?” She snorted, taking my upper bicep as I led us over to the bench by the wall. “What I mean is, you really felt stronger. I struggled to sense your attacks coming.”

“Your cane is at ‘4’, and your bag is at ‘8’.” I said so she could orientate herself.

Tamlyn had been blind since birth, a congenital condition that was rare among werewolves. Not once did she ever consider it a limitation. Her sense of smell and her hearing were second to none, the very skills needed in an excellent Gamma. In spite of her obvious talents, she still had to go the extra mile to prove herself to the other trackers, purely because of her blindness.

Female leaders were nothing new in the pack. Our Beta was one of the few she-wolf Betas around.

“Can I ask… are you feeling any different? Like a headache or…” but I cut off her from the path she was heading down.

“Don’t… I… I can’t get my hopes up any more than I already have.”

I knew the signs of when the shift was approaching; a pressure headache, itchy feeling of the skin, heart palpitations…

The Luna coming by the kitchens today wanting to speak to me and Lucy definitely gave me some heart palpitations, but that was just my normal factory setting when I was trying my damnedest not to spew my sarcastic flavor of word vomit. And the only headache I had was from being humiliated in front of a hall filled with wolves and the odd human.

“Evie, I wouldn’t write it off.” she handed me her water bottle from her bag. “Your wolf came forward early, at 14, to heal your leg and keep you from hypothermia. Ok, it was only temporary. But who knows what that did to your wolf long-term? Maybe that whole ordeal stunted her emergence, and you're only just showing now?”

“Yeah, and maybe it killed her off permanently!” I almost growled again, and harshly this time. “Sorry… it's just…”

That was the second time today I had startled myself.

“It's a touchy subject, I know…” she nudged my shoulder. “But I'll be honest. There's a marked difference in your performance today and it goes beyond a simple 'just getting better. I mean, you're a freaking A.m.a.z.o.n for crying out loud! I don't have to be able to see you know that.”

“Have you… heard much from them?” I tried to change the subject from tense silence. "The Tweedle twins?” I added the petty insult so I wouldn't sound too interested… which I wasn't!

“You're such a brutal bitch.” she chuckled.

“So I've heard.” I couldn’t keep the proud smirk from my face.

“Could you sound any smugger about it?” She cackled.

“I embrace it.”

This was why we got along so well with our brand of bluntness. Tamlyn was just far more diplomatic than I was. Even though she was the acting Gamma, she wasn't exactly best buds with her future Alphas and usually told them straight. They certainly didn't dislike each other, but they weren't about to hit up a bar together either. Despite that, they, and Alpha Isaac, did respect her opinions well, or so she told me.

“You know, they're really starting to get their asses in order now.” she stated in a rare show of defence. “Wish I could say the same for Finley, the little prick.”

Finley Jacobs, sadly, the future Beta and a complete asswipe. I hated his leering in high school, the comments he’d make when no one was around. He was arrogant, conceited and boastful, and had been best friends with Astennu and Badru. I didn’t know how close they were with each other nowadays. He had gone with them to Opal Sun, so luckily, I had had a decent break from his tomfuckery, but unfortunately, he would be returning with the twins. He was someone my opinion hadn't wavered on and I doubted it ever would.

I could barely believe he came from his mother and father, who were fairly decent and honourable. Kate Jacobs had been our Beta for as long as the twins’ father had been Alpha and her mate, Lance, was one of the top warriors.

Sometimes, I felt I should sort of cut him some slack, but then he’d open his mouth. Roughly six years ago, he had lost his younger brother, Arthur, to a rogue prisoner that had managed to escape the pack prison; which did nothing except solidify the view of rogues in this pack, as he had killed a few guards on his escape.

Arthur had apparently begged his brother to accompany him to the prison and had unfortunately gotten caught in the crossfire when he fought back against the rogue. We would have been the same age, had he been alive.

“And don’t think I can’t smell Lucy’s baking on you.” Tamlyn slung her bag over her hoody-clad torso and grasped hold of her cane to guide her. “You didn’t bring me a single one, some friend you are.”

“Dems da breaks, pal.” I opened the door for her.

We were barely out of the training room when I could physically feel the teasing smile playing on her lips. “So when were you going to tell me that you were personally helping to organise this big shindig for the grand return?”

"How is that gossip already?" The Luna had barely asked a few hours ago.

"Are you kidding?! A party where there'll be a ton of potential mates? It circulated faster than crabs in a whorehouse." she chuckled, while I grimaced at her crass simile.

"Is that guy you were friendly with from Opal Sun coming?"

So that was where Tamlyn was going with this.

"Adrian," I rolled my eyes at her. She knew we were a lot more than friends… emphasis on were. "Probably. We don't speak as much as we used to, though. But talking to a past hook-up on the regular kinda sends the wrong message to your new mate, don't you think?"

"Guess we'll have to find you a new hook-up then." she wiggled her brows. "Maybe that secret double-crush you pretend doesn't exist."

"Yeah, fat chance… wait, what?!" I muttered without thinking before her words hit, turning me bright red, which I was thankful she couldn't see.

She chuckled to herself, opening the main door and sending an icy blast into my face that cooled my heated cheeks.

"Just so you know, I don't think it's one-sided. See you later Evie, unless you want to come on my shopping date with Suzanna?"

"Uh… n-no, I'm cool," I tried to say with some semblance of composure.

She walked away waving her hand over her shoulder at me, still laughing to herself. Suzanna was her mate of nine years, a fellow tracker that she now trained.

I stared after her shrinking form, disappearing amongst the bare trees that lined many of the pathways in the pack.

There was no way either of the twins were interested. It wasn't a possibility.

And I wasn't interested either… not in the slightest.