by Hettie Ivers
“So, in truth, we never considered it much of a handicap before,” Remy said with a Cheshire grin. “Until five minutes ago.”
A low growl began to rumble up through Alex’s chest. He was biting the insides of his cheeks and glaring at the floor in front of him.
“Now that his wolf”—Alcaeus smirked and gave the air quotes gesture as he said the word wolf—“has chosen to form this fucktastic attachment to you, it would seem that Alex is beginning to be affected by your feelings and emotions.” He’d barely gotten the words out before he busted out laughing.
“With any luck,” Remy said with a chortle, “it’ll only get worse over time.”
Alex groaned and scrubbed a hand over his face. “You two finished?”
“For now,” Alcaeus conceded.
“Good, then you will both leave my house and not come back until invited.”
“Aw, c’mon!” Alcaeus objected, still grinning. “Don’t be like that.”
Alex held his hand up. “Now,” he enjoined. “I have guests and business to attend to, not to mention a weepy little girl’s mind to peruse.”
“Alex, instead of assaulting her mind when you know she doesn’t like it, why don’t you just cut to the fucking chase and start by asking if her mother was a twin?” Remy suggested. “I think that’s the billion-dollar question we’re all anxious to know the answer to here.”
“That’s just an old wives’ tale,” Alex dismissed.
“No, it’s a prophecy,” Alcaeus said, “deserving of more regard than superstition or wives’ tales.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Alex rebuffed. “It’s irrelevant.”
“Then ask it,” Alcaeus challenged. “You’re so quick to waste time with DNA tests when we can all plainly see she’s Mateus’ child.”
No. No, I wasn’t. I couldn’t be. Raul’s father had been a weirdo and an asshole. He’d never even made an effort to hide his clear disdain for me the few times we’d interacted.
“Nothing is for certain without concrete evidence,” Alex maintained. “Forgive me if I don’t operate on irrational intuition and conjecture. Though undoubtedly you seem to think this pack would be safer in my hands if I did.”
“What if Mateus hid her from us for more than just the obvious reasons?” Remy asked. “What if he had cause to believe she was the vessel?”
Alex shook his head. “She is not the vessel.”
Vessel?
“So ask her then,” Alcaeus urged.
Remy didn’t wait for Alex. “Milena, honey, did your mother by chance have a twin? A twin sister?” he inquired softly, giving me a pathetic half-smile that I suspected was meant to be reassuring. It wasn’t.
Four sets of eyes watched me. I couldn’t hope to guess what the significance of my answer might be as I managed to nod my heavy head in the affirmative.
Alcaeus raised one brow and threw his arms wide, palms up, in a “told you so” gesture.
“Assholes,” Alex huffed, “there are over a hundred million twins on the planet. Her mother being a twin is irrelevant. Certainly it doesn’t make her the fucking vessel.”
“Your wolf’s reaction to her makes it relevant,” Alcaeus argued.
“I don’t want her!”
Alex’s roared words made my heart jump and my exhausted body jolt in Kai’s arms. His outburst sent his brothers into another bout of laughter—particularly when it was followed by frustrated cursing and then soft coos of comfort to me as Alex’s fingers found my pulse point again.
“The mother has to die in childbirth, according to the prophecy,” Alex contended, “and Milena’s mother just passed three months ago.”
“So now it’s prophecy?” Alcaeus snarked.
“What about her twin?” Remy asked.
Alex ran a hand through his hair. “I looked for one but didn’t find any at the funeral,” he admitted. “’Course, I was rudely interrupted before I could fully access all of her memories of the funeral.”
“You sure fucking were,” Alcaeus agreed, throwing a wink in my direction. “And it’s good to know you bothered to look for the twin—even though you thought it was an irrelevant old wives’ tale.”
“Milena, is your aunt still living?” Remy gently probed as all eyes turned to me again.
I felt a sinking feeling in my gut as I recalled the disturbing words of comfort a stranger who’d claimed to be an old friend of my mother’s had said to me at her wake.
“She needs rest,” Alex complained with escalating annoyance. “Save the interrogation for later.”
“She died,” I found the voice and wherewithal to answer, far too intrigued to leave this mystifying thread of conversation until later.
“When?” Remy pressed.
“Before I was born.”
“When exactly? How?” Remy looked as eager to know my answer as Alex appeared terrified.
“Car accident. The same … the day I was born …” I trailed off stupidly as I saw the brothers’ reactions.
“Sheesh, what a dingus,” Alcaeus said, smacking the heel of his palm against his temple. “You see?” He held his index finger up in proclamation. “Always said I liked the father Hector so much better than I ever cared for Mateus. Chalk it up to irrational intuition.”
Remy’s lips twitched at the corners. “Well, at least his choice of a cover story should prove exceptionally easy to substantiate.”
I didn’t like what they were inferring about my aunt and my mother. Not one bit.
“Coincidences do happen,” Alex noted unconvincingly. “I’ll wait to see evidence.”
“Of course you will,” Alcaeus said, slapping him on the back. “But in the interim, as a precaution, we should erase the memories of everyone who witnessed your reaction to Milena tonight.”
Remy nodded soberly in accord.
As did Alex, his dark eyes on mine. “Once you’re done, I need you to leave this house. For a few days,” he clarified, cutting off their immediate protests. “I need … time,” he justified stiltedly, “… with her.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
As the brothers recommenced quarreling, I vaguely remembered losing consciousness in the hallway. I resurfaced to feel the stinging sensation as Kai inserted an IV needle into the vein of my right hand. But then I was promptly drowning again atop a large bed amid a sea of comforters, an anchor of fatigue joining forces with a cocktail of intravenous chemicals to pull me under despite any semi-lucid desires I held to remain conscious.
I dreamt of enormous, vicious wolves chasing me through a dark forest. I was running so fast my lungs were burning in agony when I came to an abrupt, dead halt—my limbs refusing to obey my brain’s commands to move, right as one exceptionally large, pure black wolf encroached upon me.
Even in sleep it struck me how this was a variation of one of my classic, recurring childhood nightmares where I would be playing at a park as a little girl and suddenly unable to move or scream for help just as a pack of wild, angry dogs came charging at me.
In those dreams, however, I’d consistently woken up just as the dogs leapt for my throat. In fact, I’d always been rather good at perceiving when I was dreaming, and also at being able to awaken myself whenever an escape from altered reality was required. But now, as I tried to shake the nightmare off and regain consciousness as the huge wolf began circling me, I was helpless to penetrate the supplemental stratums of unnatural, forced lethargy weighing so heavily upon me.
As my heart rate climbed in panic, the black wolf morphed into Alcaeus—in all of his naked, quasi-human-form glory.
He pressed a forefinger to his lips. “Shh—s’okay.” His still-feral eyes glowed bright amber in the darkness. “I’m not here to hurt you.” He gave me a lopsided grin as his eyes raked up and down my form. “Sorry. It’s my nature as predator to give chase. I can’t always help myself.”
I was at a loss. For words … for coherent thought … anything … as I stared back at him. I tried not to notice his naked physique that looke
d like it’d been carved from granite. And though I didn’t want them to, my willful eyes traveled down the hard midline of his muscled abdomen anyway, to catch the briefest glimpse of the first real penis I’d ever seen in the flesh—or dream flesh, rather.
His large, semi-erect, purple-headed male organ jutted out proudly, ropes of protruding veins wrapping around it and making it appear strangely angry—and altogether just a bit scary, truth be told. I drew my eyes back up to his face.
He groaned, moving fluidly closer until I had to tilt my head back to look up at him. “And you make such tempting prey,” he added in a voice as seductively smooth and rich as butter rum sauce, “… even in subconscious form.”
He reached out and brushed my hair behind my shoulders, then trailed his warm fingertips leisurely over the tops of my shoulders and down the length of my arms. Goose bumps blanketed my flesh. The air was chilly in this dark dream forest of mine, and I was clad in the same shorts and tank top I’d arrived in Brazil wearing. I could clearly feel Alcaeus’ body heat, though, like a warm, welcoming fire beckoning me.
“I came to check on you,” he said, his yellow irises steadily darkening to hazel, “make sure you’re okay.”
I was still panting for air from the sprinting I’d done. And perhaps from the effort it was taking to keep my eyes trained on his face and ignore the huge, stiff penis that was below my line of vision, bobbing and jerking every so often in my periphery. Lord, help me!
“Remy would’ve liked to come see you, too, but it’s a little harder for him to disobey a direct order from his Alpha.” Alcaeus’ eyes slanted mischievously down at me. “Alex did specifically order us not to compel you or to get inside of your head.”
Wait. I was dreaming still, wasn’t I? I knew I was dreaming. He couldn’t be … Could he?
“Of course you’re dreaming,” he confirmed with a smile. He took a step closer, bringing his heat with him into the diminishing space between us. “And you’re so irresistible like this. With your mind so open and fully accessible … so willing … pliant.”
My anxiety spiked. Was I dreaming that he’d invaded my mind inside of my dream? Or had he actually invaded my mind while I was dreaming and in doing so entered my dream? Fuckity fuck, it was all so confusing!
“Mm-mmm, I could compel you to do anything I wanted to right now.” His eyes ran the length of me. “And there are so many pleasurable, both sweet and wicked, things I want to do with you, Milena,” his soft bass purred. “The possibilities are intoxicatingly tempting.”
I felt my face heat despite the icy shiver that ran through me. My heart fluttered nervously and my stomach knotted as I wavered between desperate fear and some curious, inscrutable sense of excitement.
“Alex should know better by now than to think I’d listen to him when I don’t have to.” Alcaeus’ pupils were dilated with obvious desire as they meandered from my lips down the column of my throat to linger on my breasts. “Fool’s only succeeded in leaving your mind utterly vulnerable, ill-equipped to banish an intruder in your sedated state.”
Goddamnit! Was there no respite to be found from them? Even in sleep? Was it too much to expect peace within the sanctity of my own mind anymore?
My eyes that had widened in horror promptly filled with tears. “No!” I squeaked.
Alcaeus’ roguish grin vanished. “Aw, shit! Hey … hey now, it’s okay.” Closing the remaining distance between us, he captured my face in his hands and tilted it up to his.
His handsome features appeared genuinely concerned, his eyes sincerely contrite as they beheld mine. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just like to tease.”
He smiled tentatively, his thumbs wiping the fresh dampness from my cheeks. “And while it’s true I find you outrageously appealing, I promise I’m not here to take advantage. I only want to talk … get to know you better.” He cocked his head to the side. “That okay?”
I shrugged. Still sniffling. Still petrified.
“Aw, c’mere …” He pulled me close and enfolded me in his arms. “Fuck, I’m no good at this,” he mumbled into the hair at my crown. “Remy … this is Remy’s territory.”
He pulled me tighter into his chest. He was so tall his nipple was at my eye level. And he felt so warm, so solid … and hard. Oh Christ!
I squealed in my throat and began frantically trying to disentangle myself from him, my hands flapping as I realized that his erection was pressing into my abdomen.
“Ah! Sorry,” he chuckled when he glanced down and realized the source of my distress. “I forgot how uncomfortable humans are with nudity. Better?” He relaxed his embrace and stepped back. He was now wearing khaki cargo shorts, slung low on his hips.
While it was a blessed improvement, I couldn’t help but gawk at how well the shorts somehow served to further highlight his sculpted oblique muscles that formed a deep, tapered “V” shape disappearing into the low waistband.
He frowned and whined, “You’re not going to make me put on a shirt too, are you?”
I giggled. It had a conspicuously nervous ring to it. I was less terrified, but still awash with unease and apprehension on multiple levels.
“Well, now, that’s … sort of … a slight improvement.” He smiled, edging closer again as I wiped at my tears that persisted in falling. “Should I go?” he asked, even as he drew me into his arms again. I gave a feeble, one-shoulder shrug. It was becoming my go-to response.
“Thought maybe I could help. Perhaps … explain some things to you?”
Silence passed between us as his warm hands brushed up and down my arms and over my back. My temple fell against his chest as my body slowly began to relax.
“You’ll be safe with me, Milena. I give you my word.”
My brain ran in circles trying to comprehend his words and actions, not fully trusting his intentions, yet desperately needing to be able to trust and to be comforted by someone right now—even if it was only in a dream. And I did need answers. A lot of them.
“Fuck, you really don’t say much, do you? You know, I’m not quite as bad as Alex at understanding human emotions. And we don’t even have to talk if you don’t want to. You could just … uh … cry on me, maybe?” he offered. “I mean … if you wanted to?”
I burst out laughing, overcome by the incomparable strangeness of the entire situation I was trapped in, and now this big beast of a man’s incongruously tender suggestion that I cry on him. But laughter swiftly gave way to hysterical bawling, and I found myself doing exactly as he had advised. I literally cried on him—all over him. I was a complete mess!
Somehow I ended up in a crumpled, sobbing ball in his lap on the forest floor as he held and rocked me back and forth. And it felt good. I realized all that I’d been withholding for seven months straight during the time I’d kept it together to take care of my mom, followed by the semi-numb limbo state of nothingness I’d swum in after her passing as I’d continued to search for Raul while mechanically moving forward with all that needed to be done to sort through the estate business and pretend to everyone around me that I was going to be fine.
I knew I probably shouldn’t have done it—allowed myself to break down to a scary, supernatural stranger who had invaded my mind in my sleep. But it felt so damn good that I couldn’t stop. I couldn’t resist the temptation to be held and just … release. To indulge in the luxury of feeling safe, even if it was only in my dream, and with someone whose intentions might ultimately prove false or dangerous.
It felt so nice to pretend that he genuinely cared what I was feeling and wanted to comfort me. And so I let him. I threw shrewder judgment aside and let a stranger console me and croon all sorts of reassurances and promises he had no right to make and no way to follow through on.
At first I merely bawled while he held me. But eventually as my wailing subsided to sniffling, I somehow commenced blabbing like an idiot. I let loose and began unburdening myself to Alcaeus about everything.
It started with my fea
rs for Raul and for myself, then a little sharing about my mother’s cancer and rapid deterioration. Then at his gentle prodding I began word-vomiting about the injustices of the healthcare system and complaining about how my mom’s treatments had sometimes been delayed and her hospital stays curtailed because of stupid paperwork or plan restrictions.
Alcaeus’ fingers drew soothing circles on my back as I prattled on in unnecessary detail about the one lousy nurse I’d had to monitor by being at the hospital for the change in nurse shift each morning before school and again after school, to ensure that my mother got her meals and medications when she was supposed to.
Rationally, I knew there was no reason he should care a whit about any of it, but he listened so attentively, asking questions and encouraging me to share further. And share I did. I went on to reveal the financial struggles associated with my mom’s illness.
I took to sniveling anew when I got to the part about how the house that I’d grown up in would soon be in foreclosure because I’d been unable to keep up the mortgage payments with the limited funds left. This prompted me to sob on about how I needed to get home to take care of either selling or storing the remaining contents of the house.
It was at that point Alcaeus finally chose to stop my incessant chatter with a gentle shushing and a silencing forefinger to my lips, prompting me to blubber an embarrassed apology for dumping on him so much.
“No, no, honey, it’s not that. Fuck, I’m sorry. I honestly hate to stop you, but I need you to calm down a little, okay?” He eased me from his lap onto my back on the forest floor. Instead of my skin scratching against dirt and leaf litter, I found a soft blanket beneath me.
“Alex is preoccupied now,” Alcaeus said as he stretched out onto his side next to me, leaning on his elbow. “But if you stay worked up like this he’s liable to sneak away sooner to come check on you, understand?”