Chapter 1

KENZIE

Was it just fate that caused twins to be polar opposites?

There was me, Kenzie, who was the responsible twin that kept to schedules and did not make life hard on others. Then there was Luca, who did not even know how to tell time and made my life all about keeping his ass in line.

“C’mon, Luca,” I said, tossing a pillow at his head. “Uncle is coming back today, and he always brings cool shit. Get the hell out of bed.”

I tore his covers away and immediately realized my mistake. I turned away and walked out of the room while slamming the door behind me.

I hated when he slept without clothes on. There was no rhyme or reason for when he did it, so I never knew what to expect. Sometimes I thought he had grown up and stopped acting like a prepubescent pup, but that was too much to ask for.

Twins were not all that common in the shifter community because a shifter’s pregnancy was more stressful on the mother’s body than a human pregnancy, so carrying twins could be dangerous. However, Luca and I came out healthy and stronger than they originally assumed we would. Our grandfather, Nonno, said it was because of the type of shifter we were. He was, after all, the Alpha King and had plenty of knowledge on this. We were Krosthani. Those of us who could shift were both the human and the wolf. Krosthani were bigger, stronger, and more durable than average shifter wolves. It used to just be our family that were the remaining Krosthani, but Mom began separating counterparts for a few different reasons. My fathers were the very first ones ever separated.

Nobody knew what to expect when Mom got pregnant with us. She had two mates after all. When we came out, it was very clear what happened in a Krosthani trio.

I resembled Papa, Kai, and Luca resembled Dad, Xander. Both were our fathers, but each fathered one of us. However, we were still twins. Confusing? Eh, you got used to it.

I skipped all the way to breakfast because I loved seeing Uncle and Aunty. They always returned with so many stories from outside the kingdom. It was easiest to think of them as the overseers. They went from pack to pack, ensuring that everything was going well, and they would bring reports back to Nonno and our parents.

Mom and our fathers spent the past eighteen years developing healthy relationships with the packs throughout the globe. It was the duty of our family since the Venscothi family were Alpha royalty. It was an honor to be in the position that we were. With them taking down Selene, they ushered in a new era for shifters. They wanted to ensure that everyone had what they needed, and cruelty was punished.

Mom had been through much adversity and pain growing up, so she ensured that the packs had someone to answer to. If an Alpha was mistreating their pack then Mom would step in. Everyone knew not to cross her because she was a total badass.

I came around the corner to the dining room and stopped dead in my tracks, trying to keep my heartrate under control.

It had been an entire year since I saw Aunty and Uncle, but I was not expecting Bellamy to be with them. He was always off training new witches. He was their ambassador to this kingdom and rarely came back.

We grew up together, but he left a few years ago. He never really explained why, and I missed him more than I would ever admit to anyone, even Luca. I always had a large ass crush on Bellamy. He was two years older than us and had always been Luca’s best friend.

I took a good look at him and internally sighed with appreciation. He had grown so much since the last time I saw him three years ago. He was much taller, probably topping out at a little over 6’0, and his muscles were broad and very well-defined. You could tell he definitely worked out and I could see the hard definition of his muscles on his arms and could already imagine that the rest were very well-defined also.

Seeing him in person beat all of my fantasies over the years, and there were many fantasies of all kinds. He was the only guy I really had a serious attraction to, but that would remain my own secret.

He was considered a hybrid because he inherited magic from his witch ancestors but was also a shifter. The term hybrid covered a few scenarios like that. It was not only first-generation like a witch and shifter spitting out a baby hybrid. He was a third-generation hybrid who inherited the magic whereas his father and grandmother did not.

He caught me staring but did not say anything, so I made use of the few more moments I had before it got too awkward.

His shoulder-length curly black hair had green tips. It was natural to him just like my blue streaks were to my curls. His square jaw was defined behind light brown stubble. His hazel eyes glinted with amusement. Oh, how I wished I was privy to what thoughts caused it. He was always incredibly hot, but now he was drop-dead sexy. He was mouthwatering, and I longed to taste every inch of him. I swallowed and looked him in the eyes again. He did a slow once over of me before coming over to me.

“My, my, Kenzie. You have grown up,” He said, flashing me a sinful smirk.

His voice was even more attractive than his body. It was deep and smooth. It certainly did great things to my body.

“As have you,” I replied with my own smirk.

I was not the bashful type, but he had me wanting to blush. So, I chose to get away from him. I needed distance and went to take my normal seat at the table. He took one beside his father, which was unfortunately right in front of me. So much for getting away to keep my blush at bay.

I turned to Uncle and greeted him. “It’s good that you’re back. Have any fun?” I asked.

Ezra was not my biological uncle. He and his mate had been rogues who joined our pack when they became bonded to Mom.

Mom was a complete badass. She was born the Alpha Princess, raised as a Gaisreen – warrior race that fought to protect humans – for centuries, then she was reborn as a she-wolf into a situation where her father was presumed dead and spent eight years being tormented, tortured, and shunned by her pack. Then she was rescued by Dad, Papa, and Uncle Ethan. She fell in love with Papa and Dad who turned out to be her mates. They, along with Uncle Ethan, took down the corrupt Selene the Moon Goddess. Now, she ruled the kingdom beside Nonno and my fathers.

Uncle Ezra shook his head, but he could not contain his smile. I knew he thoroughly enjoyed his time away from the kingdom. Everyone that left did. Everyone tried to minimize the expression of their enjoyment of leaving Aedrul because I could not leave. However, it just made it worse as if they felt I was not strong enough to hear of their epic adventures.

He tossed me a gift. I caught it mid-air and opened the red box. Inside was an intricate rose gold necklace.

“It’s very beautiful. Thank you,” I said, admiring it.

The light hit it in a unique way. It was like the light reflected off each pore of it. It felt like there was an undercurrent passing through it, but I was probably just imagining it.

“How did you get your hands on a Delzet?” Bellamy asked his father curiously.

“What’s a Delzet?” I asked, looking at the necklace carefully. There was no denying its beauty, but Bellamy’s curiosity gave me pause. I looked up at Bellamy whose eyes were fixed on the necklace.

“A Delzet is a very rare amulet. Your parents said that it would help focus the power of the wearer. Your mother mentioned about your situation years ago, so I looked until I found one. Well, this should help,” Uncle said.

The situation he was referring to was the fact that I inherited the Nokaura poison that Mom had in her body when Luca and I were born.

My parents were able to eradicate most of the Nokaura over the years, but the poison remained in Mom until she gave birth to us and then it went to me. It was not as potent, but the poison did a number on me from time to time. They had to put dampeners in my room and around the castle because I nearly exploded the entire castle after one of them. Unfortunately, the attacks were getting more frequent lately which scared the hell out of me, but I would never tell them that.

“May I see it?” Bellamy asked, nodding towards the amulet.

The look in his eye had me wondering if there was more to this than Uncle was telling me. I handed it to him and watched as his eyes glazed over for a moment.

I had never seen him tap into his power before, but it was oddly entrancing. You could feel the power radiating off him, and something inside of me craved that power. I could feel it beginning to claw upwards, and I knew exactly what it was.

I stood up and quickly moved away from the table and definitely away from Bellamy.

“Uncle, please tell my parents that I’m sorry to miss breakfast. I’ll see everyone later,” I said, before rushing out of the room.

I made it to the medical wing before I crumpled onto the floor with the first spasms.

‘Lu, I need you,’ I called out.

I could feel him tug on the twin-bond to follow it to me. Twins were connected through a bond, similar to the mate-bond, but it was simply just a tether. We could feel each other’s emotions if they were extremely strong, but that was about it. The tether helped guide us to each other.

I felt something move over my body, and it was clawing to be released. Mom hated that I inherited the poison, but I was just glad that she did not have to deal with it anymore. I knew how bad it was for me, so I would never wish for her to deal with that ever again.

Mom always felt helpless when I had the attacks because my body responded differently than hers did, so only the serum worked. Papa and her blood did not work on me.

‘I’m almost there, sis,’ Luca said, and I felt him getting closer.

They clawed at me, and I could not hold back the scream of agony that tore through my throat.

I felt hands on me, but they were not from my brother. I looked up and saw Bellamy looking at me with concern creasing his eyes and furrowing his brows.

“What can I do?” he asked softly, pushing the hair out of my face, and wiping away some of the tears from my cheeks. His touch was incredibly gentle, and it felt good despite the circumstances.

“Second shelf…cold storage… marked N… next shelf down is –”

I was interrupted with an intense pain wracking my body. I clawed into my arm and bit my lip until the pain passed.

“On the next shelf down is a box of syringes. I need you to fill it fully and give me the injection. I can’t wait for Luca,” I explained with a gasp.

My body circled into a fetal position. Intense pain radiated throughout my body, and I let out a loud groan and dug my fingers into my arms.

I hated how weak I looked right now in front of Bellamy. Why could it not have been anyone else? He would never look at me the same way again. All he would see is poor and pathetic weak Kenzie.

He did not hesitate. Moments later I felt the needle go into my arm. It took a couple of minutes for the pain to fully leave and another minute before I could sit up.

I tried to discreetly wipe the evidence from my tears away, and I could not even look at Bellamy. I was absolutely fucking mortified.

Luca plowed through the door and dropped to his knees next to Bellamy. He placed his hand on my knee.

“I’m sorry Kenz. I was in the shower and got here as soon as I could. Are you okay?” he asked, looking over my body.

I nodded before pulling my knees up to my chest.  I cleared my throat, but I still could not look at Bellamy. I was afraid of what I might see there. I was not weak, but he just saw me at one of my weakest moments after being gone for three years. Yeah, great first impression, Kenz. Way to go.

“He was kind enough to help out. I’m going to go, but thank you for your assistance,” I said quickly before standing up and leaving the room.

I flew up the stairs until I got to the side staircase which led to the roof. It was one of my hideouts. I was not allowed to wander through the kingdom like Luca was, so it was the closest that I could get.

My parents meant well, but with the Nokaura poison inside of me, they worried about me. Mom remembered how strong it was, so she put me under house arrest for the most part. I could go out into Aedrul but only as long as Papa went with me. Even though the poison responded differently to me, Papa could still help mitigate immediate effects if an attack were to happen as a very temporary antidote until the serum could be administered. The attacks never happened out there, but they were still extremely cautious.

However, the poison still made me dangerous. Nobody had to say it flat out, but it was there in their actions and choices. I hated myself for it. I caused them too much worry.