KARA
Twins.Identical in almost every way.I peered at them from beneath my thick eyelashes. They sat side by side, opposite me on the dining table. Orion engaged animatedly in conversation while Miles spoke the bare minimum.Both were corded in muscles and stood easily at 6'2. Whereas Orion's emerald eyes sparked with mirth and warmth, Miles' eyes captured each shadow that flickered across his vision, holding it there until his penetrating gaze darkened.Each had high cheekbones and razor-sharp jawlines peppered in a dark sprinkling of hair but only Miles had a nose that was slightly offset as if he had broken it on more than one occasion. Orion's full lips were constantly hitched up at the corners whereas Miles drew his into a thin line, giving him a grim and brooding demeanor."It's weird, isn't it?" Denver whispered behind his hand from the seat beside me.The rest of the members who resided in this house had already been served their dinner. At the head of the table sat my father with my mother to his left and his beta, Denver's dad, to his right. I sat beside Ma and Denver beside me. The rest of the table was dedicated to our guests. Each Alpha had brought a total of three wolves with them. Each Alpha had left their Betas to run their respective packs."It's something," I deduced with a subtle shake of my head, "weird is putting this whole situation a little too lightly.""Are we going to get a hint about the first game, Alpha Killian?" Orion's chirpy lilt commanded my attention.My father's mouth twitched, "The first game will be held at sunset tomorrow. That is all I'll be sharing about the event.""Keeping these games rather secretive are we?" Orion enjoyed this and the fact that he enjoyed it made my skin itch.He was too thrilled to ruin someone's life just in the name of a game but had the gumption to want to be friendly with me. I genuinely hoped he lost the first game as I glared down at my bowl of three-bean soup."Are you looking forward to ascending as Luna?"The question made my heart stop. My head whipped up with such force I was certain my neck muscles would be balking in its protest for the next two days. Miles met my flustered expression with a flippant eyebrow raise. He may not have used words but anyone could decipher the gesture: I don't have all day. That was what it meant.Curling my fingers into tight fists beneath the table, I responded with as much disdain as one could muster, "Luna? I've been trained for that position my entire life. Unfortunately, I feel like I've outgrown that role years ago."This topic's turn had Miles's interest sinking its claws into me. I felt the way my parents scowled at me—their eyes practically burning holes into my skull as I held Miles' gaze instead of bowing my head in a submissive display."Would you like my candor, Red Wolf?" The way Miles dropped his voice by a single octave shifted the room. Everyone and everything melted away leaving him to speak directly and only to me.It was insane but I couldn't bring myself to acknowledge the others tucked around the table. Not when Miles beckoned me closer with a curl of his finger and my body unwittingly slid to the edge of my seat."I'm not sure I want it as much as you want to share it," I lied through my teeth.Everyone wanted to know what was going through Miles' head. Even if they didn't want to admit it.He blew out an amused breath, "I agree with you.""You what?" My father's loud, incredulous tone was the stone to break the glass house which divided Miles and me from the rest of the table.Miles casually placed his cutlery down and rested his elbows on the table. The stainless of his watch glittered against the warm yellow light from the chandelier above. My father may have been the one speaking to him but he directed his response to me."It's foolish. Who better to run a pack than someone who knows the inner workings of said pack? I think you'd fill an Alpha position exceptionally."Narrowing my skeptical gaze into slits, I quizzed, "Are you trying to use reverse psychology on me or something?"I didn't anticipate Miles' next set of words or the light chuckle that permeated the air and spilled from his parted lips."Many believe my brother and I divided our pack because we entered some sort of squabble. They believe that after my father died, he took over the pack and I was jealous."We had digressed into territory that was far more personal than I was comfortable wandering into. I shuffled, my seat suddenly growing too hot beneath my ass as Miles continued to stare down his nose at me as if, what he shared, was meant to be profound information."Those rumors are exactly that. My father died and it was my mother who ran the pack, albeit without anyone knowing. To the world, Orion made the decisions with me as his Beta but, in reality, it was my mother who made the decisions with us as her Betas," his melancholy rippled off him in sullen waves, "it's just sad she had to pull all the strings from behind us. We were proud of her.""You didn't resent her for not handing the pack down like she was expected to?" I challenged, finding the entire situation difficult to believe.Orion swiftly answered, not skipping even a single heartbeat, "Resent her? She was an inspiration. The pack adored her. They knew who truly ran things. The pack has only been divided for the past 6 months, ever since she..." His sentence trailed until an audible gulp followed the bob of his Adam's apple."I'm sorry for your loss," I whispered quietly and Lex whimpered her sympathy in my mind."Why was the pack divided then?" My father, ever the insensitive asshole, failed to read the room and jumped at the chance to obtain a piece of information the rest of the world didn't have access to.Orion scrubbed a hand over the stubble coating the angle of his jaw, "We may be twins, however, by pack laws I should rule since I'm older. It should have meant that I became stronger too.""It became blatantly clear that we were equals and neither one of us wanted to co-Alpha the pack. We divided it straight down the middle and function as neighboring packs would," Miles completed the explanation Orion had begun.This new information turned my revelation from earlier into an ache. I thought they were competing with one another like they were for their territory but that wasn't it. They weren't competing at all. This was their...civil...way of handling a dispute. It was remarkable. Alphas were prone to resulting to violence. It was the key to solving every problem. These two were smarter than that.My train of thoughts derailed until the words were on a collision course, rolling off my tongue before I could hit the brakes, "Why did the two of you accept the invite to come here? More importantly, why did you accept to participate in a game where the prize is me?""I knew you weren't some meek little wolf accepting all of this, Red wolf. I just needed to see it for myself.""I told you not to call me that," I snapped at Miles.A wolfish grin peeled his lips apart until ivory-white teeth glinted. This was the first smile I witnessed Miles adorn and I wished to never see another smile of his again. It was sinister. Violent shivers left goosebumps in their wake and rattled my heart until the organ forgot to beat entirely."Although I agree with Miles, you should be able to lead this pack, this is just business. The pack can only go to one of us and we have to play and wed you in the process. You must know, neither Miles nor I would treat you as some ordinary Luna," Orion and Miles shared an indecipherable glance.This was not at all how I thought this night would play out. I planned on moving forward with the plan to make myself seem undesirable by maybe falling asleep in my bowl of three-bean soup. Maybe I would have even thrown in snores and snorts for good measure while blaming my behavior on exhaustion.Somehow, the rug I had set in place to pull from beneath their feet, was now pulled out from my own instead. These two encouraged my idea of taking over the pack and even implied that I would help make decisions with whichever one of them I ended up with.I hid my grimace by tipping my chin down, "That still doesn't make me want to wed either one of you.""Kara," Came my mother's chide, "this is a better life than any other alpha could offer you. Be more grateful.""If you don't want to wed one of us, maybe you could wed us both," Orion mused as if my mother hadn't said a word."Pity that we sometimes have a problem sharing," Miles added, somehow finding this a perfectly acceptable idea."Excuse me?" I wanted my voice to sound stronger but it slipped out on an embarrassing shriek which was sore to even my ears. The chair scraped against the hardwood floors as I jolted to my feet, a whip of rage flailing out of me as I spat, "No. Just no. That's insane. I don't even want one of you, why on Earth would I want two?""I didn't mean—"Before Orion could finish that sentence, my feet carried me out of the room with a storm brewing in its wake. My parents would have a fine amount to say about my behavior tonight.This was just too much. Too much. So much. I couldn't breathe. From a walk, my legs kicked into second gear to a jog. Then, I was outright sprinting toward the pack house doors, throwing them open and leaping from the top step until Lex burst free with an agonizing howl.I sunk my paws into the damp earth before taking off into the shadow depths of the forest. The burn in my muscles was a welcomed reprieve from the icy November breeze which wailed in my ears as I picked up speed.In a week there would be a winner. In seven days I'd have a fiance."Is running away still off the table?" Lex's grumble echoed in my mind."And become a rogue?" That wasn't an option."I have a feeling this will all work out the way it's meant to in the end," the surety of her words washed over me like a wave kissing your ankles as it crashed onto the shore.Leaping over a falling tree in my path before trotting to a stop at the edge of the cliff, I gritted, "And I have a feeling that everything is going to go downhill from here, Lex."KARAI made a conscious effort to avoid the two Alphas today. Keeping myself occupied wasn't as difficult as one would think. I went into town earlier this morning with a few of the other she-wolves so I could help stock up the reserves. Us wolves ate a fair amount of food so we consistently made trips to the town in Mystic Valley. The pups shared a school with the human kids. There was a total of one elementary school, one middle school, and one high school. Our pack may have been large but our town was respectively smaller than most so one of each worked well. We supported our local stores and boutiques as well as restaurants as much as we could. It helped build our little economy and most weren't prepared to make the hour-long drive to find a Starbucks or McDonalds. The humans who ventured out here to build a home for themselves and maybe their families came with the notion of idealistic peace and privacy in mind. With that being said, some of the Blood Wolves had chosen human mat
KARA"Someone's close," Lex murmured quietly in my mind. I wasn't sure why she whispered when no one but me could hear her but it somehow felt like a sin for my thoughts to be at a volume above that. The forest blanketed in thick shadow had fallen eerily silent over the last thirty minutes as if it waited with bated breath to crown the victor of our first game. We had run laps around the area to throw off the two participants in tonight's game. If they were tracking my prints, they were going nowhere slowly. And, if they were tracking my scent, it would take them a while to realize I had planted my scent in almost every direction I could in thirty minutes with the help of Denver.He had found more pieces of clothing and scattered them around the forest, rubbing the fabric against trees to leave a lingering trail behind at my behest. We had even gotten the wolves running border patrol to spread my scent around which led to us covering more ground. They'd be out here all night and I'd
KARA"You've got to be shitting me!" I peered up at the scoreboard perched outside the pack house. Orion: 0Miles: 1"Kara," my father cut me a chastising glare which was more playful than anything else, "don't let your mother hear that."Alpha Killian Sommers might have been a scary, malicious man to the rest of the world but to me, he would always just be my dad. He was the one to tuck me into bed at night. The one to sing to me when the thunder roared too loudly or streaks of lightning lit up my room too brightly. He held me the first time I shifted for as long as my wolf would allow him and trained me as best as he could when he noted my exceptional tracking instincts. I had fond memories of my father so it made sense why this entire situation felt like one hard slap in the face. He had blindsided me and took advantage of the years of trust he built with me. "Of course not, she'd just blame you anyway," I quipped but my tone didn't hold the bite I wanted it to. An exasperated si
KARA"He hasn't left my side all day, save me," I begged, grumbling down the mind link between Denver and me. "I wish I could, Kara, but your father has made it a point to keep me extra busy," Denver's annoyance tugged at the link, causing it to grow taut. "He's really making it impossible for me to catch a break," there were about a thousand different things I could have been doing that didn't include Orion in them. Instead, I was stuck making small talk with the guy, "It's okay, I just have to put up with him until I get back.""You've got this, Kara," Denver said reassuringly before breaking the link. Too bad his reassurance didn't inflate my spirits and boost my confidence the way he hoped. During our border patrol, I learned that Orion's wolf, Diesel, had a pure white coat, unlike Miles who had white with black, smoky tendrils. The white of his wolf made it difficult for him to camouflage into the foliage, causing him to be an eye-sore. However, he resorted to muddying his coa
KARADenver had left the room before I woke up this morning. He had taken up residence on the floor while I slept soundlessly on his bed. Like the other wolves in this house, he had to use the communal showers. The only rooms with an ensuite were the main bedroom my parents slept in and my room. I grabbed the shower gel Orion had purchased before we could leave town yesterday and a shower bag with my towel slung over the top. He hadn't only purchased the shower gel, but also the set of leather gloves and the dress he desperately wanted to rip off of me. I protested but it was half-assed because I wanted to know if he was a man of his word. I wanted to know if he would make good on his promise. And I wanted to yeet myself out of a window for giving into such a temptation when I vowed to hate Orion and Miles. My body was a traitorous vessel that housed a mind with a weak resolve. I had this sinking feeling that, if Orion did do as he said, I wouldn't stop him and that scared the shit
KARAI listened. My hair was braided into a crown around my head and away from my face. Even as I braided my hair I could still feel Miles' thick fingers wrapped around it, tugging until a pang of pain blossomed on my scalp. I wanted so desperately to hate the feeling but the throb between my legs and the bottomed-out sensation still lingering in my stomach proved otherwise. What would it feel like if he coiled my hair into a fist while he completely obliterated me from behind? Would he talk dirty to me or would he simply enjoy the view as he fucked me?"No. No, that's a stupid thought," I muttered under my breath as I made a beeline for the basement. "Stop talking to yourself in public. You're making us look insane," Lex quipped. Sharing a mind with her was getting more and more frustrating. The gym in our pack house was built in the basement. It was a large, open space with half designated for machinery and the other for sparing mats. We held training sessions there every morni
ORION"This is stupid. Just claim her as ours and put an end to this ridiculousness," Diesel's guttural tenor rumbled off the walls of my skull. My leather-clad fist clenched as it connected with the jaw of a she-wolf I was up against while simultaneously dodging my feet from getting swept from under me by another wolf. We learned from a young age that a she-wolf could be just as dangerous as a male. On the battlefield, there was no room for you to take the moral high ground by refusing to fight a she-wolf. "We can talk about this when I'm not trying to avoid getting the shit beaten right out of me," I growled back, rearing my arm to elbow someone behind me. A burst of pain erupted from my stomach, knocking the air out of my lungs and sending a bout of delirium to my head. Shaking off the feeling before someone could land another blow, I grabbed a hand from the fray and initiated a maneuver that had the guy on his stomach with his arm painfully twisted behind his back. "Whose faul
MILES"This is going to hurt," I murmured but I couldn't stifle the grin which split my face in two. "Just get it done and over with," came my brother's muffled voice through the bag of frozen peas Kara had handed him for the swelling, "I have no idea how you've survived through a broken nose more than once. No wonder your nose looks crooked. I hope my nose doesn't look like that.""It just might, pretty boy," I chuckled, batting his hand away so he could remove the peas. Orion slid to the edge of my bed with a grunt of frustration, "Okay, on three?""Fuck that," I gripped his nose, ignoring his squeal with a roll of my eyes before setting it back in place with a sickening crunch, "there, just hold your head back and keep the peas on. You'll heal in no time. Just be grateful you're not human and don't have to sit with the pain for longer than a day.""Oh, how lucky I am," Orion sardonically quipped, falling back onto the mattress with a groan, "how many games do you think are left?"