Accepting My Twin Mates

Chapter 59

Accepting My Twin Mates Chapter 59

Chapter 59 – Alaska?

Evgeniya

The room Astennu and Badru had arranged for my father truly was one of the best in the guest wing, usually reserved for the packs’ closest allies and high-ranking visitors. Whether they knew it or not, this was actually one of my favourite rooms because it came with a turret bay window. I had cleaned this very room a few times and knew how soft the bed was from taking a sneaky nap.

‘Sleeping on the job,’ Evva huffled in mock chiding.

‘So? Sometimes it’s nice to see how the other side lives.’

It was either nap on a mattress on the floor or nap in a luxurious room, with the added bonus of an open fire. Although, my mattress, unknowingly at the time, came with the combined exotic forest scents of my mates.

My father stepped further into the room, looking a little lost in his surroundings. When was the last time he experienced any home comforts? Simple comforts such as a roof over his head, a bed to sleep in, and warm food? This room held all that and more. A large fireplace, already set and lit, crackling away. A small seating area arranged by the turret bay window which gave a panoramic view of the forest and part of the grounds of the pack house.

“The closet is just here,” Astennu walked over, trying his best to diffuse my father’s discomfit. “And we had it stocked for you with clothing. This should keep you going until we can get you your own.”

The light in the small walk-in closet illuminated automatically, displaying the full rack of clothes in everything he could need. My mate removed a few items from the hangers, folding them over his arm.

“Anything in particular you like to eat?” Badru spoke up, offering his signature boyish half grin that gave him a true earnest expression. “We can have anything you want sent up?”

“In my most desperate need of hunger, I spit roasted rat,” my father replied in his deep Russian drawl.

Quite the awkward silence followed and I could tell Badru wasn’t quite sure how to respond, goddess bless his sweet nugget heart. “So… not a fussy eater, noted.”

I took the folded clothes from Astennu, handing them over. “Dad?” Saying the word to him for the first time aloud, that soft light in his eyes twinkled. “Here, take these and get yourself cleaned up. Then we can eat and talk, together.”

“As family?”

I nodded, gripping his hand from where I lingered, handing him the items.

As I watched him reluctantly leave my side and enter the bathroom, I wondered what my life would have been like, had I been raised by him. I could have felt loved and nurtured, just for being myself, instead of what I could have brought to the pack.

My wolf snorted, wryly, ‘we could have been even more blunt, if that’s possible.’

Our family genes had worked overtime on that one already.

To a certain point, I could understand Alpha Isaac and his actions. As he had said, a rogue appearing just after my mother was found, was highly suspicious. Even if he had ascertained, through a DNA test, that I was Konstantin’s daughter, how would the Alpha have known my mother wasn’t running from him? But how Alpha Isaac had handled it was fundamentally wrong, on so many levels. He hadn’t even

tried to hear out my father, even if he had held Konstantin in custody till he was sure. Given this pack’s stance on rogues, I would never have assumed one would simply be trusted two decades ago. But, given that he was meant to be an Alpha, and a father himself by that time, he hadn’t spared a grain of understanding that my father may well have been speaking the truth.

There were so many ways the Alpha could have handled this with more empathy. But once again, the pack’s prejudicial mindset towards rogues had played its hand.

For a pack that literally sat along a mountain range, the one mountain it had built itself was going to be the most difficult to overcome.

The whistling call of my phone pinging and vibrating in my back pocket shook me out of my thoughts. Her image flashed on the screen, a ridiculous selfie she had taken with me at dinner on our first day of meeting. Catalina. Goddess, she was loud, annoying and I deeply missed her.

Catalina | You found your father!

Me | Who told?

Catalina | Lucy. And stop changing the topic. Is he a lycan too?

Me | Yeah.

The three dots of her typing her message lingered.

Catalina | Is he hot?

And I knew, wherever she was in her home, a huge dirty grin was plastered on her face.

Me | I’m not answering that.

Catalina | Can you at least send me a picture of your Russian daddy?

Me | Stay away from my father! I’m banning you from the pack.

What was it about she-wolves and their horniness? I would concede that I may class myself in that group, too.

Catalina | Like you could keep me away, chica. Tell papi Ruso, hola. I’ll have to free up some time to visit him personally.

I shoved the phone back into my pocket, blushing and groaning.

“What?” Badru looked up from throwing a log on the fire and stoking up the flames.

“Just Catalina.”

The mere mention of her name and his face contorted in irritation. A suppressed smile made its way onto my face at his reaction.

“What does she want?” He grumbled away, stoking the fire with more aggression than necessary.

‘Trying to get into my dad’s pants,’ I grimaced in silence, side-eyeing the door.

Astennu huffed sharply, shaking his head. ‘She really has no shame.’

“She isn’t coming back, is she?!” The fire poker clanged loudly, shoved back into its holder.

‘Please tell him yes,’ Evva chanted. ‘I know it’s mean, but he’s such a cute nugget when he flusters and pouts.’

“I think she’s joking. But in all honesty, she may actually drop on the-” my words were interrupted by the bathroom door swinging open, a sparse flurry of steam following my father’s frame.

He hadn’t shaved, but he was clean. His beard was in desperate need of a good trim, to neaten and tidy him up. The one thing that was most apparent and had been hiding under his layers previously, were tattoos, peeking from under the rolled sleeves of his blue cotton henley t-shirt. They were only on one arm, his left, and consisted of a series of interlacing black lines forming bands across his skin.

“They are bands of staya Ognennoy Gory, Fire Mountain pack… my home,” my father held out his arm so my fingers could trace the thin lines. “I did them myself. I learnt as boy from my papa (father). He would do many for other wolf males, one for each year after their first shift.”

“Was it just the men who got them?” I raised his sleeve up, noting how they grew thicker as the lines ascended. He nodded gently.

“Is it part of your pack’s tradition to only do the left side of your body?” Badru asked, as my father lifted up his shirt and removed his arm from the sleeve to reveal solid muscle painted with the interlocking lines.

“No. It is because I do with right hand,” the simple answer, coupled with his raised brow, was enough to silence my mate.

The lines started low on his wrist and moved up to his shoulder, the tattoo there being much larger with more intricate lines. They descended down his left side, ending roughly at his waist, 26 in total.

“How old were you when you shifted?” I continued to double-count the lines, making sure I had the number correct. “And how come the one on your shoulder is bigger?”

“That one marks 25 years after first shift,” he slipped his arm back into his shirt and pulled it down. I had also spotted the couple of scars littering his skin; silver scars and like the one across his left jaw, they were worse than any I had seen before. “I shifted when I was 21.”

‘So, that puts him at 47 years old. I think he looks good for his age,’ Evva wagged adoringly at our father. ‘We need to trim that beard a little though. He’s looking like a missing member of ZZ Top.’

‘Did either of you ask for some scissors or a beard trimmer for the room?’ I silently asked my mates.

‘Yeah, it should all be in there for him,’ Astennu nodded his head to the bathroom.

I grabbed the pair of scissors and the comb and walked out, instructing my father to take a seat.

“I do not need this…” he tried to protest, struggling to find the right word. “Ukhazhivat, uh, fuss.”

“You should know, I turned out just as stubborn as you,” I shoved him into the seat by the bay window for the light, much to his surprise. “Come on, someone needs to look after you.”

He smiled as I dragged over a chair from the small dining table, plopping myself in front of him on the cushy pad and draping the towel across our laps. He reached out to cup my cheek, sinking into one of his memories.

“Your mother said same thing to me when we met… I didn’t know at time, I didn’t understand. She told me later,” he sighed deeply, glancing down at the locket I had hung around my neck the moment he had given it to me. “We were not each other’s for long, but it was long enough to give us you, our solnyshko (sunshine).”

“Tell me about her,” I wiped the tear that slipped from under his eye and grabbed the comb to make a start. “I know not all of it is going to be happy, considering the little I do know. But, I wanna hear it anyway, the good and the bad. So where was she from? When did you meet?”

“Year after I shifted, a mere lycan of 22. It was Alaska… her home, Tundra River pack. It sits on Yukon Delta, is what she called it”

“She was from one of the Alaskan packs?” My mates beat me to the question, speaking in near-perfect synchronicity.

There were two packs that lived within the tundra landscape, but they kept to themselves and were not known for speaking or working with other packs. They had a reputation for their ferocity, and it was widely known that even rogues kept their distance from them. Outsider wolves, and humans affiliated with packs, were generally not welcome.

“Yes,” my father answered, keeping his head straight for me. His eyes were unfocused, concentrating elsewhere. “They did not like me being there. The Alpha wanted me gone and threatened me with death. It did not help I would not submit. That angered him more. But Heather would not accept no. My tsvetochek (little flower) told me she had gotten in trouble for not doing as told,” that wistful smile was back briefly, easier to spot now I had trimmed back the moustache part.

‘Ha! Whoever could that sound like?’ Evva hollered in exaggerated wonder. And judging by the identical sly smirks on the twins’ faces, similar thoughts were flashing in their heads.

“I had to live on outskirt of pack for a year and Heather lived with me, determined to win me over. Her singing was beautiful,” he sighed, and I almost took out a chunk of his beard as he moved.

“So she was musical? Did she play an instrument?” I hoped that she did, that I could have some small connection to her.

“She did, a flute.”

“I play piano,” my fingers fiddled with my locket, having finished trimming and neatening his beard.

“And she’s real good too. You should hear her some time,” Astennu flashed me a little wink. Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“And you sing?” My father drew my attention back to him.

“Oh, no. I’m tone-deaf and sound like a screeching cat. Is that another thing I get from you?”

He chuckled, “I’m afraid so. I tried once with you and made you cry. I like to think you were just hungry.”

His laughing deepened, drawing into a weary exhale. “Heather sadly let it slip what I was, she did not mean it. She had much pressure to reject me, to take a better mate, and she argued. That pack, it is normal for them to reject mate if another will bring them more. They called me rogue and I had nothing… it was a whole new world I was learning,” he shook his head. “That is when I was told, I fight for them or I die. Your mother knew the Alpha would use our bond to make me do anything he said. To keep her safe, I would have done anything… so we ran. One thing her Alpha hated more than outsider, was deserter. And he hunted us.”

“Not long after we ran, your mother’s heat began,” he coughed, clearing his throat. “One thing led to another; Heather found she was pregnant, with you. One song she always sang, you are my sunshine.”

I knew the lyrics. There was one part that struck me, harshly, fresh tears springing up all over again. Please don’t take my sunshine away… because I was.

“I delivered you,” he gripped my hand, wiping my cheeks. “The morning her labour began, sky was golden, we had a beautiful forest around us, and I had never been more terrified in my life. But that moment I held you, after feeling our bond grow for so long, nothing will take that memory for me.”

And just as quickly as his face lit up, it fell.

“Our pace had slowed as your mother’s stomach grew. I carried her as much as I could after. It wasn’t far enough to put distance we needed. Hunting was becoming harder and I needed to travel further away. I couldn’t bring myself to leave your sides to hunt, scared her Alpha would find us. She was growing weaker because I was failing her, failing to provide.”

“Konstantin, you didn’t fail her. You were in an impossible situation. Anyone would have struggled,” Badru tried to reaffirm, but my father shook his head, not wanting to accept it.

“If I did not fail, then why couldn’t I protect her?”

In place of blaming those responsible, he was blaming himself.

“When Tundra River pack wolves found us… I tried to hold them back, but it was Heather they wanted, to make example that no one abandons their pack. They didn’t care about me. That is where this happened,” his finger ran along the scar on the left side of his face. “A knife made of that metal, silver. I thought my skin would melt off.”

I glanced down at my own scar on my finger, from the time I touched silver to see if my skin would react to it. It hurt more than anything.

“Silver affects lycan far worse…”

“What about wolfsbane?” Astennu asked, an alertness to his tone.

“That too, it was how they knocked me out. It felt like I had been set fire to from inside, like I was having my first shift again, and that was from a weak dose. All I remember is falling from great height down through trees and rocks.”

“It’s a good job we didn’t start you on wolfsbane training,” Badru rubbed my shoulder, sitting beside me. “Who knows what that could have done.”

I was only half lycan, but considering the silver scar on my finger, I wasn’t sure I wanted to test wolfsbane’s effects.

“When I woke… I knew,” my father hung his head, heaving for breaths. “I was distraught, for days, sensing you out there and not knowing where. It had rained while I was out, I couldn’t find her trail. This

was first pack I came to,” he looked up at the twins. “Your father turned me away, instantly. He said nothing and no one had been to his borders and to go elsewhere. He asked no more of me when he turned and left.”

“Is that pack still out for you?” Astennu leant forward, resting his forearms on his knees from where he had pulled up a chair. “Is Evie gonna be in danger from them?”

“No… they got what they wanted… they won’t care for anything else.”

My father’s voice was so impossibly quiet, so small. I bunched the draped towel up, scissors, comb and all, hurling them to the side to throw my arms around him. His large arms encircled me, tucking my head under his chin to stroke my hair. He felt tired, as though all his fight had been drained from him. Whereas Evva and I wanted retribution. It may have been over two decades for him, but for us, it was fresh and raw.

He pulled back, stroking the side of my face. “I know that look, Evgeniya. It is same as your mother’s. I do not want revenge, not anymore. Nothing will bring her back.”

“But that Alpha should pay!” I scowled, my wolf’s growl rumbling at the back of my throat.

“And what will it cost? Innocents would die. How many mate bonds would it break?” He reasoned. “There would be innocents on their side too. I would not wish that pain on any wolf. They are not threat to you. That is all I care about. Let it lie.”

I huffed, a little louder than I meant to, having to concede this was what he wanted. And he had a point. Was losing loved ones worth personal revenge? No. Perhaps fate or karma, or whatever other force was out there, would serve them their dues.

“How did you do it?” I closed my eyes, swallowing my mix of anger and sorrow till it rasped my voice. “Each day, on your own?”

He averted my gaze, focusing somewhere outside past the glass of the window. “There were times I didn’t want to go on. Most days, uh, razmyty,” he struggled with his English translation again, using his hands to gesture in a mixing motion.

“Blurred?” I offered.

“Yes. I could feel our blood bond, I knew you were out there. That is what kept me each day. But without your wolf, I didn’t know where. Many days my wolf, Kirill, would not speak… he’s only spoken most since sensing you.”

A knock rapped on the door, jerking all four of us in its direction.

“Alphas? The dinner you requested,” a male voice called out on the other side.

Astennu answered while Badru rearranged the chairs around the dining table and I dealt with the towel and items. I heard a “thanks,” spoken behind me and a couple of trays hit the wood of the tabletop. The scents of roast fish, butter and herbs wafted their way over, coaxing me to hurry along with Evva’s demands for food.

A whole tray dedicated to roast salmon smothered in a dill butter and another to accompaniments of roasted winter vegetables greeted me. My mouth salivated.

‘I’d say this beats that rat he mentioned,’ Evva drooled at the array of dishes.

Astennu was first to serve up a plate for my father, making sure he had as much as he wanted. It was quite sweet seeing how my adorable goober tripped over himself to accommodate Konstantin, looking for approval. They both did, he and Badru.

“Can I ask?” Badru swallowed his bite of salmon. “How come lycans are more susceptible to silver and wolfsbane?”

“I’m not sure,” my father wiped his now much neater and groomed beard. “In Ognennoy Gory (Fire Mountain) we did not know what such things were. We spent centuries separate and this knowledge was lost. Our wolves changed so much from yours, as we grew bigger and stronger. So too, did our weakness, we just didn’t know. All strength must come with price.”

“What happened to staya Ognennoy Gory,” I slightly clumsily tried to pronounce its name. “It appeared for like a decade and vanished?”

“We were known of?” He muttered aloud, more to himself. “Our Alpha knew our way was dying. After so long of being separate from other wolves, our numbers were barely 100 people, mate bonds were disappearing, pups were not being born. My sister and I were a rarity, siblings were never seen.”

“A sister? So I would have had an aunt?”

He nodded, finishing his huge mouthful. “Galina, she was five years older. You look like her a little. Same eyes, but she had black hair, as our papa (father).”

“She worked our crops with our mama (mother). My papa (father) was fisherman and drew the pack bands for the men; I was learning from him. We had always traded with the humans to our north. But it was not enough, our Alpha knew we must reach out to other wolves or fade. That sealed our fate.”

He polished off his plate before he spoke again. “I was very young when our pack reached out, only 5 years old, so I do not remember much. But I do remember the day it ended.”

The three of us fell silent, including my wolf, waiting for him to continue.

“I was 16 years old. Our Alpha had been speaking to another from far away for a while. He made promises to help us, but he wanted fighters in return. Our Alpha refused, he would never do such things to us.”

“The wolf your Alpha was speaking with, were they an Alpha too?” Astennu stacked our plates to the side.

“I do not know, I never heard that he called himself one. All I know is he was far to the west of us. It was late evening and I came home with my papa from our fishing. He said something was wrong and to stay in boat. I could hear the cries from our village, howls, fighting. Wolves I had never seen before, standing on four legs, not two, came towards us and a man carrying a weapon I didn’t know. He aimed it and fired a small tube that hit my father as he shifted to protect me.”

A tranquiliser dart, and most likely, filled with wolfsbane. If my father’s people didn’t know how wolfsbane and silver affected them so badly, how would an outsider?

“My father’s wolf fell howling in pain,” the memory was clearly still vivid, judging how his face grimaced. “I ran to him, wanting to help but…” he rolled up his right sleeve to show deep gauges from teeth, where his skin had healed somewhat without his wolf present. “I cried out for him and with whatever strength he had left, he killed my attackers. I wanted to go to our village to find my mother and Galina, but he said it was too late. I think he threw me into our small boat, I can’t be sure. I hit my head and woke up floating in the sea.”

“Did you know if anyone else survived?” Badru leant forward on the table.

But my father shook his head, “I never returned, so I wouldn’t know. I know my mother and father are dead… but Galina… there are times I think I can sense her, it is brief…” he sighed heavily, seeming confused. “Maybe my mind plays tricks. As fast as I sense her, it goes.”

“And that’s how you came to be in Alaska?” The chain of islands, the Aleutian Islands, from the Kamchatka peninsula would have led almost directly to my mother’s home pack.

“Along the Unangam Tanangin, yes,” he nodded. “I spent many years moving between them, feeling a coward for never returning. I shifted there, for the first time, alone.”

Knowing that, stung deeply. I had my mates with me when I shifted and it was still unbearable, a pain I wouldn’t wish on anyone.

“Do not be sad for me, Evgeniya,” he gripped my hand, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. “Whether alone or not, it would have still hurt. And later that year, my wolf led me to your mother, my tsvetochek (little flower). I did not trust her at first, she was one of those wolves that walked on four legs,” he chuckled with genuine fondness over the memory. “She won me over in the end, as I’m sure a pair of volchata (little wolves) hope to for you?”

A teasing grin twisted in an instant when I glanced at my mates, both a little flushed under my father’s scrutiny. Astennu just about held my gaze, a sweet hope in his luminous sapphires. Badru, as always, was eager to flash me his trademark boyish grin. Both asking the same thing. Were they winning me over?

Evva virtually purred her response in my mind, ‘I suppose they are.’