“I feel better already. Wow. I really feel all the way better. I literally thought that I was dying before you got here.” Amelia looked at him with surprise.
“You were,” Clayton said. “You wouldn’t have lasted much longer.” He shuddered as he said that.
“What do you mean?”
“When twin Alphas mate with a human female, they form a psychic bond that can’t be severed,” Holt said. “We all become sensitive to each other’s feelings and can read each other’s minds. After the bond is formed, we need to be in close proximity to each other, or the female will weaken and die.”
“What?” she stared at him. “Seriously?”
“It’s not usually quite as fast as what you experienced,” Holt said worriedly. “Normally, as long as you’re within, say, ten or fifteen miles of us, you’re fine, and normally you wouldn’t start to get sick for at least a day if you got further away from us than that. I think you got sicker because you came through the Breach.”
“So…you’re stuck with me?” She felt a ripple of pain run through her. These poor guys. They had no choice.
“We want to be stuck with you,” Clayton protested. “When we Claimed you, we meant it. What we’ve been afraid of, as soon as we realized that you didn’t understand the mating process in our world, is that you would feel trapped with us. We’d never do that to you, Amelia. We’ll do whatever you need for you to be happy.” He choked that last part out, and looked so miserable that Amelia tipped her head back and kissed his lips, with a hungry passion.
“What I need to be happy is never to leave you again,” she said, and he broke into the biggest, most relieved grin she’d ever seen.
The moment was shattered when she heard more shouting coming from outside of her room, a burst of shots, a scream and then the thud of a falling body.
Clayton and Holt moved in front of her protectively.
“Let’s get you out of here,” Holt said, moving her towards the door.
“Yes, lets,” she agreed with a shudder.
* * *
“All these werewolves are checking you out,” Amelia whispered to Karlie, as Karlie passed her another cup of hot chocolate. They were in the kitchen of their parents’ spacious farmhouse. Their parents had insisted on preparing a massive buffet lunch as a thank you to the werewolves who had saved their daughters’ lives. There were also several dozen human soldiers there as well.
The appearance of all these werewolves in their own world had thrown everyone into a tizzy. Newspaper and TV reporters were camped out on the edge of their property. The Chief Sentinel had been in talks with the Secretary of Defense, who had flown in to Cedar Heights; they were conferring on how best to proceed now that it was known that people and werewolves could, in fact, travel safely back and forth between the two worlds – through the spot on the Baxter’s property, or with the assistance of any of the female members of the Baxter’s family.
“They are not,” Karlie said scornfully. “Since when do guys like that check me out?”
“Werewolves like bigger girls. Clayton and Holt certainly did.” She shot Clayton and Holt a fond look; they were standing by the doorway, talking to a group of human soldiers who were fascinated by the fact that Clayton could cut his arm with a regular knife and it would heal in seconds.
“You are so lucky,” Karlie sighed.
“You could be that lucky too! Hey, the Claiming Festival has a couple more days to go – you could totally come over. Or, Clayton and Holt could introduce you to their friends. Alphas, Betas- they’re all hot.”
“No way, Jose. For the rest of my life, it’s just me and Bob.”
“Bob?” Amelia said hopefully. “Who’s Bob?” She hoped he was nice.
“Battery operated boyfriend.”
Amelia choked on her hot chocolate.
“Careful!” Holt called out, without glancing up.
“How does he do that?” Karlie demanded. “He knew when you banged your hip before, and you weren’t even in the same room as him.”
“Weird psychic connection thing.” Amelia wiped hot chocolate off her chin with a paper towel and then tossed it in to the trash. “And I am going to find a hot guy for you. You’re not going to spend the rest of your life dating a piece of plastic.”
“Absolutely not. I am going back to school, finishing up my Ph.D., and living man-less for the rest of my life. And that’s one of the main reasons why.” Karlie jerked her head to indicate Bradley, who was walking across the lawn towards the house, carrying a bouquet of flowers and wearing a hopeful expression.
Tiffany’s fortunes had taken a terrible turn for the worse in the last couple of days. Her father had been arrested as an accessory to kidnapping, for his part in helping the gang of smugglers who had kidnapped Amelia and Karlie, and additional charges were pending because of the silver smuggling scheme. He was being forced out of his position at the bank, and the sawmill looked likely to close down for good.
The Baxters, on the other hand, were the subject of international attention, and because of the portal on their property which led through to the werewolf’s world, there was a good chance that they literally owned the most valuable land in the entire world right now. The military was already in talks with the Baxters about paying them very handsomely for the right to travel through that portal, and wanted to hire Amelia and Karlie, and their other female relatives, to lead people back and forth through other areas of the Breach.
Not only that, but the government suddenly seemed to be making the repair of the bridge into their town, and the town’s infrastructure, a top priority. It looked likely that they’d be building some kind of institute on the Baxter’s property, to study the portal, which would provide job opportunities for many of the residents of Cedar Heights.
The werewolves had indicated that, as long as there was a guarantee that no silver would be brought through, they were open to discussions of trade and exchange of technology and magic.
Clearly, Bradley saw where the better opportunity lay – or so he hoped.
Karlie was backing away in disgust, shaking her head.
“I think I’m going to barf,” she said. “I can’t believe I ever thought I loved him. Ew.”
“Oh. My. God. Last time we saw him, he was Tiffany’s lapdog and he practically threatened to hit you,” Amelia spluttered with outrage. “If he sets foot in this house, I am going to slap him so hard-”
“What?” a handsome Sentinel named Zane, who’d been eyeing Karlie with interest all morning, spun around, a look of righteous fury on his face. “He threatened to lay a hand on you?”
He shot out of the house, banging open the door and running down the steps towards Bradley, who froze where he stood. Seconds later, he dropped the flowers, turned, and ran full tilt back to his car – after Zane shifted to wolf form, and fixed him with a menacing glower.
“Werewolves are very gentlemanly, and they flip out at the thought of a woman being abused,” Amelia said to Karlie. “And he likes you. I saw how he looked at you. And did I mention, hotness? Seriously, once you go wolf you’ll never go back.”
Karlie managed a pained smile. “My heart’s been stomped on one too many times, but thanks for the thought.”
Amelia raised an eyebrow.
“I know that look,” Karlie said. “Do not do the interfering well-meaning sister thing. I mean it. I’m through.”
“Okay,” Amelia said, not meaning it at all. She wasn’t going to let this rest, and she wasn’t forgetting about Mackenzie either. When she went back to their universe, she was going to do some more investigating into the whole Ajax and Barron situation.
“Let’s talk about you,” Karlie said hastily. “What about you and your two hot guys? If you moved in with them, you wouldn’t be that far from our house. You could come home and visit every week or two – just like if you got married to someone in our world. And we could visit you there.”
“You don’t think it’s totally weird? Me and two guys?
”
“Are you kidding me? You’ve got two incredibly hot, sexy guys who want you all to themselves. That is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard of. And I mean, it’s not weird over there, right? Everybody does it?”
“As far as I can figure it out, all Alphas do it,” Amelia said.
“Speaking of which, go to them. Enjoy. I’m going to my room to do some studying, now that I actually get to go back to school.”
Karlie turned and walked off. Amelia sighed. Studying, hiding in her room, not flirting with the hot werewolves who were ogling her. Well, she’d let it go for now, but she wasn’t going to sit idly by and let her sister give up on love – not when there was a whole universe of hot Alpha men who would be tripping over themselves for the chance to be with a woman like Karlie.
But for now, she finally had time to talk to Clayton and Holt. The last couple of days had been a whirlwind of activity. She and Karly had repeated their story, and their entire life history, to so many officials that she’d lost count and her voice had started to get hoarse.
She and Amelia had gone over to the Breach, with the Sentinels and the U.S. Military. They’d walked people through. They’d walked them back. Everyone had come through just fine.
From what she’d heard, the Sentinels had launched a massive assault on the Red River Pack, and dozens of other packs who’d been conspiring with them to smuggle in silver and overthrow their government. For now, the threat was under control. Hundreds of arrests had been made in Clair De Lune.
She’d had a little time to chat with Clayton and Holt, but not privately. During the day, they’d been meeting up with the Sentinels, talking to the military, even dashed across the Breach briefly to check in with their own family. She’d gone with them, but they’d all come right back to her world. The twins had slept in a room at her family’s house, and her parents had loved them immediately – how could they not? Clayton and Holt had risked their lives to save Karlie and Amelia.
Amelia waved at Clayton and Holt, who ambled over to her with smiles of warm affection.
“Let’s go outside,” she said. “I’ve barely had a minute alone with you guys.”
Holt grabbed her hand as they strolled away from the house, heading for the apple orchards. Clayton grabbed her other hand.
If she’d spied this scene a week ago, a woman walking with two men like that, she’d have thought it was extremely strange. Now, it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
They walked for a few minutes in silence, and Amelia enjoyed the sunshine pouring down on her and the closeness of the two handsomest men she’d ever laid eyes on. Finally, they stopped.
Holt plucked an apple from one of the trees and held it out to her. “May I offer you a shiny red apple?” he grinned. “As a token of my affection?”
“Hey, I’m affectionate too!” Clayton pulled two apples from a tree. “Two apples, so clearly, I’m twice as affectionate.”
“One of your apples has a worm in it,” Holt pointed out. “So your affection is rotten, while mine is sweet and pure.” Clayton tossed his apples aside and gave Holt a good natured punch in the arm.
She broke into a laugh. “You guys. I can not tell you how horrible it felt to be without you. It was like I’d lost a limb or a vital organ.”
Holt gathered her into his arms and hugged her hard.
“I thought we’d lost you,” he said fervantly. Then he looked at her, his expression anxious. “You do want to come back with us, don’t you?”
“Of course I do,” she sighed, resting her head on his shoulder as Clayton stroked her hair.
“I don’t want you to feel like you have no choice,” Holt said. “Clayton and I talked about it. If you didn’t want to be with us – we’d split our time between your world and ours. We have to be with our family, to watch over our human Wards and work on the farm, but we’d travel to your world with you so you could spend time here. We don’t want you to feel trapped.”
“But we want you with us,” Clayton protested.
“She has to make her own choice,” Holt chided him.
She reached back with her arms and pulled Clayton to her, so she was sandwiched between the two of them. She felt safe and protected and loved. She could feel their swelling erections pressing into her flesh, and it made her feel like the sexiest woman in the world.
“I choose to be the luckiest woman in this world and your world combined, in love with the two hottest, sexiest Alphas ever born,” she said. “I choose to live with you and wake up in your arms every morning. I choose to be part of your pack and your family, if they’ll have me.”
Holt and Clayton both let out huge sighs of relief. Holt bent down to claim her mouth in a hungry, devouring kiss, and Clayton began kissing her neck, and she bit back a whimper of desire.
“Ours,” Clayton murmured into her neck.
She pulled away from Holt’s kiss long enough to agree. “Yours,” she said happily. Their Forever Mate.
THE END
Twin Alphas: Claimed (A BBW Werewolf Romance) Page 10