Chapter Three

Valerie wakes up in Leam's arms. She smiles softly at the feeling of his arms wrapped around her.

“Oh.. I could get so used to this.” Her wolf cooed as Valerie softly ran her fingers in lazy patterns on his arms as she enjoyed the feeling. She realized this was the first time she didn’t feel any fear towards them. She yawns and tries to slip from Leam's grip but his grip tightens around her waist. 

"Don't move." He mumbled to her.

"Why?" She felt her lips tug upwards once more.

"Why?! Because I'm comfortable!"

"Where is Lucas?" His grip tightens.

"Why?" His voice was hoarse in a sexy way making Valerie feel warm inside. 

"I was just wondering where he-" Next thing Valerie knew she was on her back and he was on top of her. 

"But I am right here. Are you going to ignore me?" He asked as he caressed her face. His eyes looked at her curls as he played with some of them before meeting her eyes. 

"I..um, of course not. I was-" He cuts her off with a rough kiss and she begins to tear up as an immediate reaction because of her trauma with Rayom. He was alway rough with her. Leam stops immediately and wraps his arms around Valerie as she tries to supress her sobs. 

"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked as he cradled her in his arms. She just shook her head. She looks up at him with tears down her face. Of course, he figured most of it out, he's not stupid. But he wanted her to be comfortable enough to tell him. She was his mate after all. 

"It's nothing." She shakes her head again and kisses him lightly on the lips. "I think I'm gonna go make some breakfast for you guys." She gets up and walks quickly out of the room with Leam watching her go. Leam's whole body tensed knowing something really bad happened to her and he knows it has to do with Raymon, the alpha of her soon-to-be-old pack. He quickly puts on his shirt and rushes to the office where Lucas was working.

Valerie stared at the scrambled eggs she was making and jumped when the toast popped out of the toaster. She mumbled to herself as she went to the fridge to get butter.

"Dumbass. You started to cry when your mate was putting moves on you. What the fuck is wrong with you!?" She said to herself as she buttered the toast and set them on the plates.

"No, because for real! We could have gotten dick!"

"You do not digest our trauma do you?"

"I wouldn’t say that. He is our mate. Why would I want to hold back?"

"Good Morning, Dear." Valerie flinched when she heard Khloe come in. She relaxed when she realized it was only Khole. 

"Ah, morning Khloe." She turned back to the eggs and bacon on the stove. "Do you live here?" Khloe laughed, causing Valerie to tense up slightly, afraid she had made herself a fool. 

"Oh heavens no. I actually came to visit them because they have been very busy and they haven't been eating for weeks. So I came to make the food but they got you now. I moved out when their father passed. I didn’t realize they wouldn’t take care of themselves like this." Valerie couldn't help but feel a tug at her lips. She had them now too, even though she couldn’t fully accept them right now. They have made it clear they care for her and respect her boundaries.. She turns the stove off and puts bacon and eggs on 3 plates. Khloe looked at Valerie confused as she settled a plate before her. 

"This is for you, think of it as a thanks for taking care of my mates while I wasn’t here. You don’t need to worry anymore, they have me now.” Valerie said with a sweet smile and Khloe smiled back, soft wrinkles forming around her mouth. 

“That isn’t necessary, you only made 3 plates. One was for you, is it not?” Valerie felt her heart swell at someone also caring for her wellbeing when she either rarely ate or was forced to eat too much.

“Thank you, but please. I truly insist.” Valerie said and Khloe let out a soft sigh as she picked up a fork and took a bite. 

“Wow, delicious. Thank you, Hun.” Valerie smiled and lifted up the other two plates in her hands.

“Well, I better.. You know.” Valerie said shyly and lifted the plates and Khloe nodded and waved her off with a full mouth. “Oh, wait…” Valerie looked in the fridge and spotted some orange juice. She pulled it out and poured a glass before setting it in front of Khloe. She then picked up the two plates once more and headed up the stairs. 

She took in the hallway once more. It felt a bit different from the first time as she has now been here a couple days. The framed photos and a homey hallway that didn’t seem creepy even though it is a long hallway. She paused just before the office door and took a deep breath. She was worried about Leam being upset at her for how she had left him in bed with no explanation. 

“He probably understood. I mean, I am sure they know what we’ve gone through.” Her wolf tried to reassure, although it was a poor attempt.

"Come in." She hears a voice rumble. She struggles to open the door but manages to and her mates immediately look at her. She feels a blush begin to creep up her neck. She sets one in front of Lucas and one in front of Leam.

"I, um, made breakfast for us." Lucas raises an eyebrow.

"Where is yours?" He asked.

"My what?" He pointed the fork as he was about to scoop some eggs from his plate. "Oh, I gave it to Khloe." Valerie watches the twins exchange glances. 

“Um, Leam…” Valerie breathed out. “I wanted to say sorry for this morning in bed… I just need some time to get used to having mates.” 

“Right, and it isn’t because of everything we have been through.”  Her wolf said snarkily and Valerie’s brows slanted. 

“Can’t you ever be on my side?” 

“Nope.”

“No, I get it. I mean, I am sure you didn’t expect to have two mates. It is a rare thing.” Leam said as he took a quick bite of the eggs. 

“That is true. It is extremely rare for someone to have two mates, even for twins. It is usually only alpha twins that have a single mate. Although it doesn’t make sense to me.” Lucas said and Leam nodded in agreement. 

“Considering we are encouraged to have many pups. Not exactly fair to our single mate, is it?” Leam mentioned. 

“Right, yeah. I was definitely not expecting two mates. I was expecitng more than one and I guess I am worried that I won't be able to satisfy you.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. That is the way mates work. You satisfy us with the way you are no matter what.” Valerie nodded softly as they fell into a comforting silence.

Valerie took this opportunity to look at the better. The first time she was in there she was too busy observing her mates.

“Yeah, because they were fine as fuck.” She shook her head softly as she couldn’t deny it. She skimmed her hands across the spines. The walls were lined with built-in bookshelves filled with many books. She had never seen so many books in her life. Books used to be her only escape when she was at the Nighthowler pack. Granted she only had three of them and they were all educational ones. A Math one, a geographical, and science. 

There was one old woman who Raymon used to send her to tend her wounds so she wouldn’t die frm something like infection or such. And she secretly taught Valerie to read until one day she lost her ability to speak. Valerie later realized it was because her tongue had been cut out, it was only because she was so young when it happened she had been too naive to realize until Raymon revealed it to her with a sickining grin. 

She stopped at a book that says 'How To Be A Good Alpha'. She slowly pulls it out of the shelf and jumps when Lucas appears behind her and puts his arms on either side of her. She slowly turns around trying to hide the fact she had the novel. Why? She wasn’t sure. She didn’t think they would get mad at her, maybe it was just a force of habit. 

"What are you doing?" He asked her, a knowing and teasing smile on his face.Valerie couldn’t help but feed off his teasing energy. 

"Um, nothing." Valerie prolonged the last word as she attempted to hide the book even more. 

“Yes. Get him riled up, Val.” 

"Are you lying to me, Valerie?" He said in a deeper voice than usual as his eyes darkened a hint of wildness in his eyes. She remained silent as she looked into his eyes, she didn’t want to lie. She wasn’t that great at lying either.

“Omg, do you SEE that? He is looking at us as if he could eat us whole.” He wrapped his arms around her waist, forgetting she had the book behind her back, she laughed at him. He quickly pulls the book from her hand and twirls her away holding the book to read the title. He raises his eyebrows.

"Give it! I wanna read it!" Leam snatches it from Lucas.

"How To Be A Good Alpha? Why would you even want to read this? You aren't an Alpha." He holds it above him knowing she was way shorter.

"Gimme! Gimme!" She jumps trying to get the book from him while they both chuckle at her struggle.

"Gimme got shot," Lucas said.

"Well gimme got revived!" She shot back at him. “I just thought it looked interesting. I really enjoy reading and learning. Um, books were really the only way I get to… explore the world. It is how I learn.”  Leam goes to his desk and pulls out two books from his locked drawer.

"I have something better for you to read, Valerie." Lucas sees the books and surprise was on his face. He had almost forgotten about the two books. Leam and him had agreed to give it to their mate when she arrived. If she ever arrived. But as they got older and she hadn’t arrived they grew to believe she would never arrive and when she found them they were truly stunned. Not just by her sudden arrival but her scars and her reactions to things. As if she had been locked away for years and abused.

"Leam-" Lucas starts to say but Leam holds his hand up to silence him.

"No, she deserves these. Didn't we always talk about giving them to our mate?"

"Well yeah, but are you sure? Do you think she is ready? She has only been here a couple days…" There were a few seconds of unspoken worries between the twins as Lucas asked. Leam hands Valerie the two books as his response.

"This was our mother's diary and this is 'How To Become A Great Luna'. They were both our mom's books." Valerie looked at them surprised.