The Alpha Twins' Elusive Mate novel Chapter 5

Fiona

My breathing is heavy and I've broken out in a sweat. It's midnight, and my mating ceremony has begun.

The only problem is, I wasted too much time trying to get away from Alice and Harry, and now, I'm nowhere near my own pack. What if I attract the wrong person?

I push forward through the forest separating the Diamonté and Veratis packs. I can't give up now, I can still make it—

A howl cuts through the air.

Oh no.

I hasten my steps, trying to get away from the source, just as another howl cuts through the air again. This one even louder.

They're getting close.

— * —

Harry

I can't hold back anymore, I howl as well as my bones crack and readjust. My form changes, becoming stronger, faster, more primal.

My wolf is in charge now, and he will not rest until he finds the source of the scent driving him insane. I rush out into the forest after Harold, too far gone to question why my brother and I are both attracted to the same scent.

And what it could mean for the both of us.

I dash though the woods, leaping and heaving with everything in my body. The scent gets stronger with every heartbeat, and I follow it without question.

Harold, having got a headstart, bounds ahead of me, howling at intervals. It's a competition now, because the last thing I want to do is get there after him.

I must find her first. Whoever she may be.

This scent is quite familiar, but it's been bombarding my senses lately that I can't seem to fully place where I first came in contact with it. It seems to surround Alice, but never in this intensity. Never enough to make me mad with need.

And here I was thinking that I would never experience sexual attraction to anyone. That I would be frigid forvever.

Another wave of the scent slams into me, overriding my senses. I raise my snout and howl to the moon, going even faster and tearing through the grasses and between the trees like a demon.

At last, we come upon a clearing in the woods, where the scent seems to be strongest. Harold gets off all fours and starts to walk slowly, trying not to scare the woman.

I follow him, eager to see her as well.

Her dark hair fans across her face as she sits on the floor, knees folded beneath her. Just as her eyes fall on both of us, she falls backwards with a sigh.

Apparently semi-conscious.

Harold and I share a glance as her face is exposed. I bite back a groan of disappointment.

It's just Alice.

I walk over to her form and gently tap her cheek. "Alice?"

With a small moan, she opens her eyes. "Oh, Harry. I knew you'd come for me." She immediately presses herself into my arms. "I was so worried."

Oblivious to Harold who is carefully hidden in the shadows, masking his scent, she begins to press kisses along my jawline, pressing her body into mine.

"After you told me to leave, I was so scared. I heard something strange here and came to see what it was. I knew that only you would be able to save me if anything went wrong, so I released my scent." She straddles me and then kisses me. With the need swirling dangerously inside me, it's hard to resist her.

She nicks her lip on my sharp teeth, and the metallic taste of her blood settles unpleasantly on my tongue.

"Fiona?" He calls softly, too softly. He steps into the room, opening the door wide enough for me to enter as well.

As I step into the room, I cough. My senses become overwhelmed once again, and it nearly throws me off my feet.

What is this?

Harold turns to look at me, expression folorn. "Do you understand now?"

I fall to my knees. "It can't be. It can't . . . be."

Harold shouts, clearly pissed. "I should have stopped her from leaving. I shouldn't have left her alone."

His words strike a chord within me. "What? You mean she's gone?"

My brother looks at me with more pain in his eyes than I've ever seen before. It then occurs to me that Harold must have a strong attachment to this girl.

No wonder I always had a strange pull towards her. I always thought that Alice was my fated mate, and because of that, I suppressed the emotions that Fiona stirred up within me. I even went to the extent of being cold and mean to her.

She almost died because of me. No wonder she left.

It's all my fault.

"It's all your fault," Harold says to me, eyes full of undisguised bitterness. "If you treated her better, she wouldn't have been so eager to leave!"

"I didn't know," I say quietly, looking around the room she once occupied. "I didn't know."

Now, with her gone, I might never truly get to know her.

And that is so much worse.