Mystery's Alpha

The Twins

The road up the mountain twisted and turned. The sheer edges gave Mystery a small shiver of exhilaration, but she was an adrenaline junky, revelling in the natural dangers around her. Its fearsome features left her feeling free. The more the road twisted up the mountain, the lighter she felt in spirit. Nature and she became deeply connected and an unfamiliar sense of joy slowly filled her up.

When they started out, Drew promised to take her to a favourite picnic spot of theirs. She'd had a glimpse of the twins as they jumped into their brother's sleek and powerful car. From the glimpses she'd had of them, they weren't quite what she had expected. She watched their joyful greeting, each hugging their brother with a careless expression of love that left Mystery feeling envious. She had longed for that feeling all her life but had often wondered if it was real. She knew with certainty that this was real. Was she intruding? Being an outsider was nothing new to her, but for the first time, she wondered if this was right - If it was right for her.

This stunning drive through the Scottish mountain was washing away any concerns that she may have had. Even if she hadn't decided that she would enjoy some flirtation with Drew - a sleek bear of a man - the feelings that flooded through her along this ride were enough to push any questions completely out of her mind.

Every fibre of her body tingled and buzzed. It was an amazing experience. She'd never felt it before. The palms of her hands seemed to glow. It must have been an illusion created by the sun. In a momentary shock, she imagined that she could hear conversation in the car in front of her. She shook her head to turn this hallucination off. It couldn't be real.

Just as she thought that the drive couldn't possibly go on any longer, the road split off and Drew took a narrow, dusty trail that led steeply into tight splits between enormous sheer walls of mountainside. The mountain walls gave way to a gentle forest landscape and a flatter, less rocky terrain. Drew led her just to the edge of part of the forest trail and stopped. Stopping beside Drew, Mystery sat quietly for a while, staring ahead through the curtains of trees.

The first sense to be treated was her hearing. A waterfall. She could hear a waterfall up here! Ahead of her, from the gaps between the trees, she could see a clearing with grass and sleek boulders, but she couldn't see where the clearing stopped. It must be too steep for her to see how it continued. Slowly, she climbed down, out of her van.

The twins rushed up to her, each in turn, enveloping her in a hug. She froze at this contact, not knowing how to react. The girl - was it Tempest that Drew had called her - seemed to be babbling something that seemed to be a question. She drew a breath and interrupted the girl.

"Slow down." She held up her hand. "Take a breath and try again. Slowly. Please."

Tempest laughed, "Yeah, sorry. I got a bit carried away with myself. Drew has told us so much about you. We're really pleased to meet you, aren't we Storm?" She waved somewhere close to where he stood. He opened his mouth to speak, but all he could manage was a nod as Tempest continued, "What I was asking you was if I can have a look inside your van. It's so cool."

Before she had a chance to reply, Tempest jumped into the van, slipped between the two front seats and into the back. Mystery just stood there laughing to herself. She recognized this bulldozer enthusiasm too much. She might have never shown it the way Tempest was, but new things were to be explored and she always took, rather than waited for permission. Nobody was saying no to her. Mind you, she didn't ever remember asking before taking what she wanted. She turned away from Tempest as she heard a strong, quiet voice behind her.

"It's great to meet you. Sorry about Tempest but she's just like that." Storm held out his hand towards her. She looked at it and then stuck her hand out. Something about him was very compelling. There was a sense of endless energy deep within him that gently reached out to her. "It's good to meet you too." Mystery lightly touched his hand. Storm's response to the touch was gentle. It was as if he felt all of the fear inside her, whilst wrapping it up in the comfort of the small squeeze that his hand gave hers.

She drew in a small breath, thought that she saw a tiny glow between their hands and quickly looked back up at him. He was smiling, the edges of his eyes crinkled up as if he was thrilled. The oddest thing came out of his mouth, "You'll do."

The next thing she knew, Storm was running off to the car, pushing his brother out of the way, pulling things out of the boot. How they had fit it all in there was some sort of magic trick!

"Get out of the way old man." Storm called out to his brother.

"Old man! I'll show you who's the old man." Drew replied, picking Storm up by the waist and depositing him on the ground.

"Hey, watch the face. I was given this face for a reason. You can't mess up this rugged handsomeness. It would be cruel to all female-kind." Storm laughed at this brother.

As Drew stretched out his hand to help his brother up, Tempest jumped out of the van. "That is the coolest thing I have ever seen. Can we have a camp out together?" She laughed and threw her hands over my shoulder. "You know, like sisters on an adventure. It would be awesome to spend at least a tiny bit of time without so much testosterone hanging around." She pleaded as if her life depended on this one tiny moment of relief.

Drew called over, "Stop pestering her. Nobody would want to spend a night alone with you!"

Mystery whispered in her ear, "Sure. Why not? Let's get loads of junk food, a movie and just have a sleep-over." She'd always wanted to participate in the sleep-overs of other girls but she wasn't ever popular enough. Plus, she had been through the hands of some pretty tough foster parents. No fun was allowed for Mystery, the wild and evil child. This could be fun.

"Really?" Tempest squealed, making Mystery cover her ears in pain. Her highly developed hearing decided to be sensitive at that precise moment. Typical. "Wow! You have wifi in there? That's so clever. Did you rig it up?

"Yeah. I did the van conversion myself. I did it a bit at a time, but it was fun. I started out with a mattress and went from there. I'm good with my hands and it's amazing what you can learn on YouTube."

"Good with your hands are you?" Smirked Storm. Drew punched his arm playfully. "Watch your mouth kid." He warned.

"Anyway Drew," Tempest butted in, "somebody is going to be happy to sleep with me for a whole night in the future. It won't be long, you know. I just need to actually meet some people my own age." She harrumphed at the end of this statement.

Mystery was surprised at this statement. It was quiet and rural around here, but this was a town - albeit a very tiny town - with other people. "Surely there are other teenagers your age about." she queried Drew.

Drew looked up sharply. He seemed uneasy for some reason. He glanced sideways at his sister, almost like he was warning her. "We haven't been here long. Neither of them have had a chance to get settled within the community.

"Yeah, and he is a really strict parent." Storm chipped in. "We aren't allowed to do all kinds of things 'cos he is 'just protecting us'." He used quote marks around his comment and tried to copy his brother's voice. It was pretty funny and everyone laughed. Even Tempest joined in, despite having looked so concerned.

"As for thinking that you will be spending the night with anyone soon, forget about it. Over my dead body! You aren't old enough and nobody is taking advantage of you whilst I have any say about it." His glare was ferocious. He meant it.

Tempest lowered her eyes, but stubbornly replied, "I'm almost sixteen. I am old enough if I want to. It's my body and I will do what I want with it!"

Drew was about to say something back to Tempest's comment when Mystery butted in, trying to diffuse the situation. "Why don't we get this picnic started. I'm starving!" She was fully aware of how a teenage girl could become rebellious at this age. Besides, it was an interesting comment that Storm made about Drew being their parent.

Drew immediately started sorting things out. He spread a huge blanket on the ground, pulled out enough food to make a feast. Mystery's eyes widened. She was a big eater but he'd laid out a banquet. Drew caught the look in her eye and quickly explained, "We're big eaters, especially the twins. I also require quite a bit of food to fill me up." He chuckled.

"Well, you are right that you look like you could tackle an alligator by yourself." Mystery chuckled then blushed as she realised that what she was feasting on was Drew's body."

Drew had a smug look on his face. His smile widened. "We aren't known for being modest, as Storm demonstrated earlier." He flexed his substantial shoulder and arm muscles. "I know that I am built like a beast." He then laughed loudly with no inhibition whatsoever. As his head tilted backwards, the sun hit his hair and he seemed to sparkle. Mystery couldn't take her eyes off his muscled body and was then trapped by his eyes. Drew's smile became an intense look as he held Mystery's eyes. For a moment his light caramel eyes seemed to turn a dark brown, almost black.

The best skill that Mystery had to keep herself safe was her ability to see the truth. If someone was lying to her, she could tell. Instantly. Drew was openly flirting with her and she felt compelled by his strength and masculine power. Instead of being afraid or cautious as she would normally have been, she was comfortably engaged in this flirtation. She smiled deep into his eyes and this time, he was the one to shake himself back to reality. Mystery heard him make a comment about her putting him under a spell. He had only whispered it quietly to himself but Mystery heard it loud and clear.

"Hey, you two." Shouted Tempest, "Stop making eyes at each other long enough to finish putting out the food. Let's eat. You two can make out when Storm and I race up the rocks later."

Mystery didn't even feel embarrassed by Tempest's comment. She just smiled, looked at the 'rocks' that she had referred to. "Those aren't rocks. That is the mountainside. There's no way you can climb that." She dared the two, comfortable that they couldn't get very far.

"Watch us. We'll be out of sight before you can blink." Storm stated as he stuffed a huge sausage roll into his mouth in one go.

"Yep." Tempest agreed, through her own enormous bit of a ham, cheese and pickle sandwich. When she finished her mouthful she complained to her brother, "You know I hate pickle. Just use brown sauce instead of brown sauce with vegetables in it. It's disgusting!"

Well, I love it," Storm told her, "and I made the sandwiches. Serves you right for being so lazy earlier on. Anyway, Mrs B's sandwiches are packed full of roast beef and pork. I don't know why you had to touch my ham and cheese sandwiches."

"Shut up, the pair of you." Drew laughed. "Why you had to bring more food when you knew I was getting a picnic from Mrs B is beyond me. She produces enough to feed three times what you actually need."

Mystery leaned back on an elbow, tucking into a delicious roast pork and apple sauce sandwich. Whilst she savoured the flavours, she also soaked in the comfortable squabbles of a loving family. She felt like she belonged and just for now, she was going to let herself belong. It was too perfect. She wanted this feeling.

A little flicker of warning growled in the back of her mind but she pushed it down and ignored it. This was definitely an interesting bunch but despite feeling that there were secrets between them, she threw caution to the wind and let herself have this fantasy day.