III

Ace

Kaiya turned sixteen today and I had intended to give her a small gift. It was nothing special, just a token of kindness, but it seems my kindness to her was misplaced.

Kaiya transformed in front of our eyes on the training grounds and her wolf was the most adorable, fluffy ball of silver fur I had ever seen. She has an unusual red petal mark on her forehead, which I haven’t seen before. It reminds me of something out of an old fairytale. I wanted to run my fingers through her fur that looked so soft, but I knew she would be embarrassed, so I picked up her clothing and held it out to her so that she could transform back and we could train. She wasn’t ready to train in wolf form yet. 

As we turned our backs on her to allow her a modicum of privacy, I caught Dylan’s eyes and his glazed expression. He is rarely moved or surprised by anything since our mother’s death. I suspect he is shocked. I mean, her wolf’s fur doesn’t match her chestnut colored hair, the petal mark is close, but more vibrant, so that is a factor. But I also suspect he thought she would be more scrawny and scraggly, not fluffy and adorable.

When I felt the surge and tingle of the mate bond I knew what it was and there was a slight thrill, but shock and fear overtook me. I had to have Dylan touch to see if he sensed the same from her.

I remember our first meeting, but I had seen her at a distance for years. She was always busy, working diligently and I heard it said she was an orphaned Omega. I felt bad for the adorable little girl with the chestnut hair and mossy green eyes.

But now I am dating Rebecca and I can not have an Omega as my Fated Mate! Rebecca would be furious at me and at Kaiya and I cannot deal with that drama as I prepare for my formal Alpha Training.Then to discover Dylan and I share our mate! It is absurd! It is bad enough that father wants us to share our title, but to also share our mate? No!

I don’t know what freaks me out more, the idea of Rebecca hurting Kaiya, the idea that Kaiya is my Fated Mate or the idea of having to share Kaiya with Dylan. My emotions war with one another as Dylan and I argue.

“She is in a weakened state! We can reject her once she has time to recover from her first shift, if you insist,” I snarl at my twin, once again.

“You want her! You want her for yourself,” Dylan says in a change of tone as he narrows his bright blue eyes at me.

We both have blue eyes, but Dylan’s always seem so bright, while mine change with my moods and what I wear. It is one of the ways people can tell the difference between us, not that most people are observant enough even with us wearing our hair differently, having unique personalities and distinct personal styles. Dylan is more casual sporty meets bad boy meets frat boy and my style is more casual but refined. 

“I don’t want drama and if being with her is going to cause drama, which it will, I don’t want to deal with it, however, I believe she deserves to live,” I sigh and run my fingers through my hair.

“What if we didn’t reject her? I know I am the one who has been pushing for it, but….I don’t know,” Dylan mutters. 

I have never seen Dylan so flustered in our entire twenty and a half years of life. That is when we both turn suddenly at the sound of someone screaming. I see Kaiya at the top of the stairs, but can’t make out what is happening from this far. Dylan and I both rapidly switch gears and bolt to the scene unraveling before us.

I notice Rebecca bleeding and unconscious, but her uncle who is a pack doctor is tending to her. With a nod from him, I continue up the stairs and hear and see what  Beta Carson is saying and doing, while the little maid who sucked my cock on my eighteenth birthday shrieks that Kaiya pushed Rebecca down the stairs. 

My emotions are all over the place, but one thing is certain…Kaiya isn’t the sweet, innocent little Omega I always thought her to be! 

Dylan reaches the top of the stairs first, but he hesitates as a look of shock and dismay crosses his face. I shove past him and snarl.

I cannot keep the venom out of my voice as I snap, “You jealous, traitorous whore! How dare you hurt my girlfriend?”

I kick Kaiya’s ribs harder than I ever have in training. In training I don't want to hurt her, but right now, I want to cause her a great deal of pain! Right now, I am satisfied with the sound of her breaking ribs. 

I nearly scoff at how weak Dylan’s response is. 

‘Maybe his wolf talked sense into him!’ My wolf, Aspen, scoffs in my mindspace. 

‘Oh! Now you speak up! You haven’t spoken to me in months!’ I snarl in response.

‘You don’t listen! You still chose to date Rebecca and now you refuse to understand that had you not dated Rebecca, this probably would not have happened. Maybe we would be mating our Fated Mate, now. But you don’t listen to me, nor do you use your big head to think, Casanova!’ Aspen scoffs again. ‘I am not talking to you!’

Aspen retreats back to the back of my mindspace where he has been hiding for over six months, ever since I gave into Rebecca’s seductions. He has gotten angry about any women I have had sexual relations with, but not as angry as he has been with Rebecca. I can feel his anger with me and his desire to take over and pull Kaiya into our arms and mark her. I will not allow it!

 “Enough! I am still Alpha here!” My father’s voice rings through the horrific scene .

‘This had better not have anything to do with your womanizing, Ace!’ My father says through the mindlink.

I feel a smidgeon of guilt, but the anger I feel far outweighs any quilt I have.

            As dad goes through his questions, I think to offer to punish Kaiya, but he refuses me, for now.

Dad banishes Kaiya from the pack and sentences her to five years’ imprisonment in The Iron Keep in Red Fields. I have only been to the place once, but it is a place rumored to be stained red from blood, when in fact the red is due to the high iron content in everything from the stones to the water. Even the soil takes on a red hue and the trees that grow there are gnarled and twisted. The Iron Keep is the most brutal werewolf prison in our region, but this is not enough punishment.

As I watch Rebecca get placed on a stretcher and Kaiya’s limp form dragged away, I turn and whisper to Dylan, “I should have just done it! None of this would have happened, but now she will pay!”

Dylan pauses before replying, “She is already paying for our mistakes brother. I feel...no, nevermind.”

“What” I ask in a snarl.

“I feel like we are missing something,” Dylan replies with a furrowed brow before I turn and follow the ambulance so I can attempt to be there for Rebecca.

How could Kaiya have seemed so innocent when she is capable of such cruelty?

“Rebecca has a concussion,” her uncle Bill informs me as I arrive at the hospital. “And she appears to be in a coma, yet alive.”

A coma!